Dare to Drop the Pose

I have been reading this book by Craig Groeschel entitled Dare to Drop the Pose.

My first interaction with Craig Groeschel was at Catalyst 2010 Conference. Craig, after reading this book I feel like I can call him by first name, spoke with such a passion on that day that I had to see what else he had written. Craig, along with Andy Stanley, are huge forerunners in the world of leadership. I find a ton of wisdom from these two men in the realm of leadership and take great interest in leadership in general. So, back to this book.

Craig just basically rips himself apart. I have not even finished the book just yet but I cannot seem to put the book down unless I am obligated to do so. He is very real and very in tune with who he is and what Jesus has done in this life. One of my favorite chapters is the one I most recently finished. The chapter is entitled “I Feel Completely Inadequate”.

We all do Craig. I assure you. In my studies as a college grad I found myself battling with this core idea, I am not the smartest human to walk this earth. I am not the dumbest, I hope; but I know I am not the smartest. I know that there is this thought inside of me, and this drive to do what is right in the midst of all that is going wrong in this world, and I hope that some day I will be one of the men in the front of the lines fighting for people to come to know Christ as I have had the privilege to know him. Though, there are days where my entire world does not even seem to shape up. I stumble and fall all of the time.

I am currently a leader at a Youth group where I am fortunate to be involved with leading a small group of 10-15, pending the week, seniors in high school. I tell them every time we meet that the day is coming, and it is coming soon, where they will have to start making decisions based upon their own beliefs, their own desires, their own futures, and their own dreams. There is a day of “reckoning” if you will, where they are going to have to choose for themselves what is right and wrong. They are going to have to choose for themselves how far is too far with a girl, whether it is okay to do this or that with their friends, what is right and wrong. I mean you are probably reading this and saying something along the lines of, “well duh… we all have this moment”, and you are absolutely correct in that thinking. My point is not to push myself up and say I am doing all of these things, check me out! My point is that I am put in this position of leadership and I still struggle. I struggle in my own way to not look at that photograph. To be at this computer and not jump online to see the most recent bikini shot on the newest cultural definitions of beauty is also something I struggle with. Why is it so hard? I have no idea, but then again, no one ever proclaimed this life to be easy. Even the Apostle Paul, who arguably had things kind of figured out in his world said this: “brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do (consider myself to have taken hold of): forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize to which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (NIV, words in parentheses added by me)

I guess we were never really supposed to be clean, perfect Christians. We are to strive to be in our future. This is why Craig’s book is inspiring, not because there is a lot of “WHOA” moments, even though there are, but because it is real. It is uncut and uncensored. I am glad that he took the time to write this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone.

We are not here to be a hero, we are here to tell the heroes story. This is something I had learned about myself a couple of years ago, but this is also something that we as Christians tend to forget at times, or at least I do.

This is my recent thought of this whole idea expressed in Chapter 7 of this book. If you feel inadequate in some way or another in your leadership role in ministry, or need a book that will challenge you to be bigger than you are or prepare you to answer some questions you may be afraid to ask, check this book out.