Courage

Max Lucado shares a story of a decisive battle fought in 1066. 

William, Duke of Normandy, dared to invade England. The English were a formidable opponent anywhere, but next to invincible in their own land.

But William had something the English did not. He had invented a device which gave his army a heavy advantage in battle. He had an edge: the stirrup.

Conventional wisdom of the day was that a horse was too unstable a platform from which to fight. As a result, soldiers would ride their horses to the battlefield and then dismount before engaging in combat. But the Norman army, standing secure in their stirrups, were able to ride down the English. They were faster and they were stronger.

The stirrup led to the conquest of England. Without it, William might never have challenged such an enemy.

Because they had a way to stand in the battle, they were victorious after the battle. 1

Courage to stand in battle is essential to bring victory. The increasing pressures of our day suggest it is time for us to level up in terms of courage.

What challenges do ministries face today? Let me suggest a few. The recession officially ended in 2009, but most folks across the U.S. apparently haven’t received the word. While overall giving is up to ECFA members, the solid increases in giving to larger ministries masks the overall decreases in giving to smaller ministries—you may be serving an organization that sees giving decline each year.

The rapidly changing social climate is also impacting many ministries. Continued threats to reduce charitable giving incentives are troubling to many. You may be experiencing unexpected staff transitions. There are often challenges to find quality board members.  Perhaps there is a lawsuit here or there. The list goes on and on.

Yes, courage is definitely required to lead a Christ-centered organization today!

It is easy to use courageous words. But courage takes more than words—it requires action of leaders in the context of their beliefs. There is an increasing appreciation for words backed up by courageous action—because we are seeing far too many words that are not backed up by any action, let alone courageous action.

Three things happen when courageous leaders stand in battle:

1. Victory is assured. “Those people who keep their faith until the end will be saved” (Matt. 24:13);
2. Accomplishment is assured. “The Good News about God’s kingdom will be preached in all the world, to every nation.”  (Matt. 24:14); and 
3. Completion is assured. “Then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14).

A courageous leader is eager for the fray. Staff do not want to go to sea with a captain who would rather stay in port.

A courageous leader abhors the status quo, paves the way for change, and brings continuous renewal to the organization.

Courageous leaders make bold moves. “You will never take big hills without making bold moves. The alternative is incrementalism. ... Make a few bold moves, or you’ll breathe your last leadership breath far too soon.”2

A courageous leader sets the tone for integrity at the top of the organization, realizing that integrity rarely starts at lower levels of an organization and works its way up.

A courageous leader bravely pours oil on troubled waters, directly communicating with those who may have been offended.

A courageous leader discerns consequences—is not blindly courageous—looks through the lens of experience and failure … the lens of the future.

A courageous leader is vulnerable, obedient, and humble. “Jesus was so vulnerable that He was perceived to be weak, He was so obedient that He opened himself to the charge of insanity, and He was so humble that He became the object of contempt.”3

A courageous leader does what Jesus did—becomes dispensable, approachable, and touchable.

A courageous leader delegates authority. When Jesus delegated authority to His disciples to heal the sick and cast out demons, He never took it back.

A courageous leader knows when his or her work is done. Jesus knew when His work was done and when it was time to leave. He let go at the peak of His power and counted on the Holy Spirit to fulfill His promises to us.4

Courageous leaders go the distance. The Brazilians have a great phrase for this. In Portuguese, a person who has the ability to hang in and not give up has garra. Garra means “claws.” What imagery! A person with garra has claws which burrow in the side of the cliff and keep him from falling.5

It’s not the gifts we have cultivated, the lessons we have learned, or the goals we have achieved as leaders. It’s about the courage to rely on God (Zech. 4:6).

1    And the Angels Were Silent, Max Lucado, Multnomah Press, 1992, p. 123–24.
2    Axiom, Bill Hybels, Zondervan, 2008, p. 33.
3    Christ-Centered Leadership, David L. McKenna, Cascade Books, 2013, p. 46.
4    Ibid, p. 47.
5    And the Angels Were Silent, Max Lucado, Multnomah Press, 1992, p. 123.

Then and Now

“If ECFA had not been formed, another organization would have been needed to fill its role,” said Lauren Libby, ECFA board member and TWR president.

Still, questions are sometimes asked, such as “Where would we be if there were no ECFA?”; “Why ECFA?”; and “Why does ECFA get to set biblically-based standards for nonprofits in the areas of sound governance, financial oversight and accountability, and stewardship practices?”

To answer these questions, it is helpful to take a brief look at history. Thirty-four years ago, there was no evangelical organization setting standards for sound governance, financial oversight and accountability, and stewardship practices.

Billy Graham and a handful of other leaders had a vision to serve the evangelical community by forming ECFA. They envisioned an evangelical organization which set high standards, accrediting other evangelical organizations. Ministries would voluntarily apply, requesting to be held accountable for compliance with the standards.

The leaders knew that ECFA would not provide integrity to a ministry; ECFA accreditation would be an external reflection of a ministry’s internal integrity.

In 1979, significant questions were being raised about how certain religious leaders were handling funds provided by their supporters. In those days, the media was quick to criticize ministry leaders and extrapolate the misgivings of a few to the entire religious community. Sound familiar? There is generally a similar rush to judgment by today’s media.

Thirty-four years ago, ECFA took a stand on behalf of religious organizations—for self-regulation and against additional government oversight. Today, through the Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations, ECFA is doing exactly the same thing as it facilitates responses to Senator Charles Grassley on a host of nonprofit tax policy issues.

Commission Chairman Michael Batts said, “ECFA exists to foster a policy of integrity in the form of self-regulation and accreditation without burdensome government regulation. That’s what ECFA exists to do. It is an opportunity to provide meaningful input into these areas that will really make a positive difference for the Kingdom.”

So, what are the differences between then and now? Then, there were no standards for governance, oversight of finances, and the raising and handling of charitable gifts. Then, there was no peer group to accredit evangelical organizations—no standards to achieve and no accreditation of Christ-centered organizations.

Now, ECFA’s standards are a model for the Christ-centered arena and other accrediting organizations. Even the Internal Revenue Service has come to embrace some of the governance principles of ECFA’s standards as their own.

Today, ECFA has a time-tested approach of accrediting Christ-centered organizations and assuring their supporters that they are complying with all of the standards—all of the time.

Today, more and more givers look for the ECFA seal of approval. ECFA helps accredited organizations operate within the ECFA guideposts—think of them as a guardrails or bumper guards. These guideposts allow more freedom to provide ministry within the parameters than if there were no standards to follow.

What was once a dream has become a reality. Today nearly 1,750 Christ-centered organizations, with 1,200 related entities and programs, are demonstrating integrity in that they utilize independent boards, engage independent CPAs for their annual financial statements, avoid conflicts of interest, handle charitable gifts with care, and much more.

So, “Why ECFA?” Because for more than three decades, ECFA has modeled consistent, confidential, and fair application of high standards—many of them beyond the law. The ECFA seal enhances trust of givers, providing increased resources for ECFA accredited churches and nonprofits to fulfill the Great Commission. Christ-centered organizations increasingly want to participate in ECFA’s peer accountability process, so they can show third-party accreditation as evidence of integrity, transparency, and accountability.

Integrity Slipping

What are the greatest household risks? Some are what you would expect: 460,000 people a year are injured by kitchen knives; manual and power saws account for about 100,000 injuries a year. Some risks are surprising. Got any draperies? Every year, 20 people in America are strangled to death by drapery cords. Some 4,000 of us seriously injure ourselves on pillows.

What is one of our greatest dangers for injury? An issue that tops the charts is the potential for a spiritual 911-type injury is when our integrity slips.

Politicians spin promises, telemarketers scam the elderly, job seekers enhance resumes, repair shops pad bills, and students steal essays over the Internet.

People do these things even though they know the scriptures say: “The Lord abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are his delight” (Proverbs 11:1).

But, you say, “Those examples do not often relate to Christ-centered organizations. What are some examples that apply to us?”

Having an integrity slip can happen in many ways. Here are two examples.

Integrity can begin to wane when we focus too much on comparing our organization with another.

John Ortberg tells the story of a conversation with two other pastors. One man said to the other, “So, how is your church going?” The pastor responded, “Excellent, we have about 1,000 at our church. How’s your church going?”

The first pastor said, “Well, the Lord’s blessing us all right. We run around 1,500 or so.”

John says, “Then they looked at me. I knew what was coming next. I was working at a church that had 250 attendees at the time. And then a little voice, so quiet I was hardly even aware of it, began to whisper a management impression strategy to me: Say the church has about 300 people. 250 people is really small.”

“Right at the same time, another inner voice responded: What are you doing? You don’t even know these men. Are you willing to trade your integrity, which, when you come right down to it, is all you really have, for the sake of the status you would gain by 50 people?”

Ortberg continues, “So I said we run about 2,000. Not just transfers from other churches, either. Seriously impressive converts—Hugh Hefner, Jimmy Hoffa, the Dalai Lama.”

A related integrity loss chart topper can involve competing. Many of us are driven to compete. Professor Jonah Berger, the James G. Campbell assistant professor of marketing at the Wharton School of Business, suggests that people who are slightly behind in a competition are more likely to win than those who are slightly ahead. He found that NBA teams that were down by one point at halftime were more likely to win than teams that were ahead by one point at halftime. It’s all about competing. No sports arena sells a giant foam hand holding up two fingers.

As an author for more than 20 years, I am curious, but not obsessed, about how books written by other authors are selling. As Ortberg says, “My hunch is that Jeremiah never checked out Israel Today to see if he had passed up Isaiah on the nonfiction bestseller list. William Shakespeare didn’t look to see how many copies of his plays Christopher Marlowe sold.”

Our attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant” (Philippians 2:6-7). The entire life of Jesus isn’t the story of somebody climbing up a ladder; it’s a picture of someone coming down—a series of demotions. The problem with spending our lives climbing up the ladder is that we will go right past Jesus, for He’s coming down.

People who are servants—humbly, honestly, and joyfully—keep getting revealed as the biggest winners. People who recognize and embrace their smallness keep getting bigger and bigger in God’s eyes.  It’s the oddest scoring system.

So, step up and sign your own non-compare, non-compete agreement. Paul said it best: “Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct” (Galatians 6:4-5).