The salad bar is a common feature in many restaurants, but the salad for today is the leadership salad. I would recommend this salad for those who desire to improve their leadership effectiveness. The salad consists of five different kinds of lettuce blended together in a powerful mixture that will change your diet forever.
The salad is actually found in the Bible – in the New Testament: Hebrews 10:22-25. “Let us (lettuce #1) draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. Let us (lettuce #2) hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us (lettuce #3) consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us (lettuce #4) not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us (lettuce #5) encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Each exhortation (or let us) is rich with leadership vitamins and life changing principles. The idea of the salad bar is an attempt to be cute, but the exhortations are very serious concepts. This posting will explore the fourth and fifth challenges from this passage.
“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” The conjunction that connects these two exhortations reflects a contrasting relationship. The first lettuce shares what leaders should NOT do (let us not give up....) while the second lettuce delineates the positive attitude of effectiveness (but let us encourage...)
As we sample the first lettuce, we experience the taste of temptation. Many are in the habit of failing to meet together. This failure brings weakness to the people. Giving up coming together and meeting as an organization (whether it is a church, a school, a factory, or a business firm) can be very detrimental to the health of all the stakeholders. Failing to meet with one another will water down good communication. The absence of face-to-face time weakens the bonds of loyalty, causes misunderstandings, and blurs the clarity of the mission of the institution. Coming together promotes a shared vision, enables inspiration and motivation, and allows for personal exchange of ideas and emotions. The communication gates of the ears, eyes, and mouth are critical for understanding the very existence of an organization.
I do not like meetings. Someone once shared that meetings are activities that take hours just to produce a few minutes. I have been part of a number of meetings that ended without resolution, that seemed to be a huge waste of time, and that produced frustration or boredom or both. However, without the meeting together, much of the structure of the organization runs the risk of disintegration. Without good communication we fall into what I call the judges syndrome – everyone doing what seems right in his eyes (Judges 21:25) – the message is vague, the vision is out of focus, the purpose is skewed, and the path is foggy.
Meeting together keeps the focus and allows the institution (the church, the school, or the organization) to maintain a sense of unity. Meeting together communicates to those involved that “we are all in this together.” I really enjoy watching college basketball and March Madness is always an exciting time of competition. Every team in the tournament has great dreams of the final four. Communication on and off the court is vital to keep each member of the team on the same page. I loved one of Baylor University’s approaches to team purpose. This university published their unity on their warm-up jerseys. As they met together on the court getting ready for the battle of roundball they all wore warm-up shirts that had these words on the front: One Team, One God, One Goal. Let us not give up meeting together.
The second lettuce in this part of the salad bar is, “But let us encourage one another.” The Greek word used here for encourage is a rich word with many meanings. So many of the nuances of the word might be applicable as we reflect on the relationships we are building in our lives. Let me put a few meanings in place of the term encourage and see if it brings someone to your mind:
But let us persuade one another.
But let us console one another.
But let us admonish one another.
But let us invite one another.
But let us implore one another.
But let us send for one another.
But let us comfort one another.
Finally, notice the urgency of this last piece of lettuce – encourage one another all the more when you see the Day approaching. Encouragement is so important to the health of any relationship, any organization, and any leadership endeavor. Encouragement is so needed during times of trials, situations causing anxiety, and times of tension and stress.
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