Sam Picken
Sam Picken graduated C3 College in Sydney in 2004. Sam and his wife Jess are the lead pastors of C3 Church Toronto in Canada. C3 Toronto exists to connect people to God with a strong focus on Team and Connect Group health. As of January 2020, this focus has caused the church to thrive in three locations, resulting in over 6000 people making decisions for Christ.
DECISION vs HESITATION in Leadership
I have not been leading for long, but I can tell you without any HESITATION that DECISION MAKING is one of the most crucial skills we have as leaders.
Being decisive does so much for our churches. It builds trust, confidence, courage, following, assurance, direction, peace, stability and clarity. The problem is, there’s always so much of the opposite of these things leading up to the many critical decisions we must make. We as leaders feel insecurity, doubt, shakiness, fear and hesitation. This is normal!
It’s good news that James 1 says that wisdom is freely given to ALL who ask for it.
“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to ALL without finding fault…”
I remember when I was considering starting a third service time at our West location in Toronto. We already had two partially full services, and logic might have said to wait until the others were full. Also, if we were to start a third service, it would be for 12:00pm. Who goes to church after 12:00?
But in prayer one morning, I was feeling a lag in momentum and had a gut sense that we needed to expand now. Godly wisdom was telling me to have courage, move now. Then I reached out to a pastor friend in Kansas City who I looked up to. He confirmed what I felt God was saying. He told me that the fear of a partially full room was my ego stopping this God opportunity to reach more people. He was right.
We started that third service time, and now it is our largest C3 Toronto service, with over 400 in attendance and averaging 25 salvations each week in that service time alone.
When I was at C3 College in Sydney, one of my favourite classes was Ps Phil’s leadership class on FAITH. Here are three key practices that I will never forget from those sessions. When faced with important decisions, I encourage you to do these three things:
Gain Wisdom - Pray! Ask God for wisdom; don’t doubt that He will provide direction through the Holy Spirit. And be prepared to do what He says, even if it’s not what you expected.
Gain Advice - Being exposed to better leaders than myself has always benefited me. Being humble enough to drop my ego, and ask for advice from other leaders has never let me down. We live in a generation that bucks against submission to authority, saying the leaders don’t have a right to tell me what to do, “It’s me and Jesus”. But Hebrews 13 says submission to leadership is to our advantage, because these leaders “watch over” us. This means they see more than we do. Who doesn’t want to be saved from a bad decision?
Gain Intel - It’s harder to make good decisions if we don’t have all the intel. No one is impressed by the blind directive. There are many smart, intelligent people around me who can help count the cost. When we say, “This is where we’re going…” and “here’s why...” it builds trust through those we’re leading. The church shouldn’t be filled with blind faith, it’s knowing the cost, what is at stake, and believing God above all the obstacles.
Being a leader is learning the power and responsibility of being a decision maker. Isolation is not the answer here. God never wanted us to lead that way. As we devote ourselves to prayer and surround ourselves with good, Godly people, you will find the power in DECISION MAKING. It’s attractive, magnetic and will cause great momentum towards what God has asked you to do.