RePositioned

By Jermone Glenn

Who are you? Most people answer this question with what they do and the roles they play. We try to categorize ourselves in ways that are relatable to our audience. Often, titles, occupations, experiences and relationships are things we highlight in our introductions. The truth is, it’s easy to get caught up in titles and positions, but those things don’t define who we are.

We live in a world where positional leadership is the primary focus of our culture, and it’s easy to feel inferior if we’re not in charge. Our culture teaches us to always be first, to be the leader, the entrepreneur and the boss. On the surface it seems more powerful to say you’re the chief executive officer than the executive assistant. It’s more prestigious to be the judge than the courtroom stenographer.

Anything less than that seems less important. But does not being in charge automatically make us less important? Does it mean we don’t have a valuable contribution to make? Everyone knows the school principal by name and reputation but rarely thinks about the janitor. But without the janitor, the school won’t be a healthy, safe and thriving environment for children to grow. A CEO without a team is rendered useless, and a pastor without a leadership team is overworked and out of purpose.

It’s not about who you lead, but how you lead. You are first the leader of your life, and that doesn’t change, no matter where you are seated. This is easy to say but harder to secure in your mind. It took me a while to get here too. Time and time again, God has used my life story to prove this point to me. If I am who God made me to be, then wherever I go, I am leading from the seat He gave me. However, before I could get to that point, I had to learn to see seats for what they are––temporary places to reign and rest as God leads.

MY JOURNEY

In 2020, I journeyed from being a senior pastor and planter of a church for 14 years to being an executive pastor. We transitioned our lives very publicly from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Chicago, Illinois, to do what was virtually unheard of: merging in ministry for greater kingdom impact.

I knew my partner in ministry, John Hannah, before coming to New Life Covenant Church Southeast. But New Life needed to get to know me. The tension between new and old is not unusual, but the constant evolution of two leaders who are also working together made me realize how challenging it can be in the second seat.

There are many dynamic duos in culture, and in each pair there is the person in command that people gravitate to and the other leader. Think about it: Kobe and Shaq, Jordan and Pippen, Batman and Robin, L.A. Ried and Babyface and countless other duos show us how powerful partnerships can be.

From the outside looking in, it’s simple, but when you are in the second seat, you must learn to manage the song and dance—especially if you’re coming from a senior leadership position. (You don’t know leadership drama until people outside the unit try to pit you against each other while you’re on the same page in the same room.) We can laugh at these things now, but it took getting used to.

Ours is a marriage in the Spirit. We didn’t align it, God did. And because we are in covenant with Him, we are committed to growing together. God put grace on our unity. But it also takes leadership capacity on both sides. Thankfully, I have decades of experience being a second man. Even still, it was a big change for me.

The more I have explored my life and observed the experiences of those around me, I realize every leader serves another leader at some point in their lives. We can become so engrossed in ourselves that we forget that God calls us to other people. The problem isn’t in being in the second seat but in understanding how you lead, no matter what seat you’re in.

Everyone is a leader. Some people lead households, and others household brands. Both are necessary. We must learn to be content in the leadership roles that God gives us. If not, comparison comes in and gnaws away at our desire to lead from an authentic space. Suddenly, we have to be No. 1, seated in the most prominent space.

But that’s not reality. While we can all lead, we aren’t all called to every area all the time. But when we align with God and where He’s calling us to lead, incredible things happen. My goal isn’t to convince you where you are supposed to lead. My job is to share insights about how you lead from any seat God calls you to.

ALIGNMENT VS. POSITION

It’s a matter of alignment, not position. It’s like Rosa Parks taking her seat on the bus. She had no idea what would happen as a result of that decision. But one act of alignment sparked a movement that brought a revolution to our culture in America. I believe there are precise moments like that for every believer, when God wants to do something extraordinary in your life that will benefit many people around you. But you have to be willing to take your seat and rule from wherever He sends you.

As I experienced, going from senior pastor at my own church to an executive pastor at a church I didn’t plant, there’s something about being the second man that presses against your identity. It forces you to answer the question, Can I be comfortable sitting where God sets me? That is the same question I will pose to you: Can you be comfortable taking your seat?

Ironically, I had taught this lesson for more than 13 years in ministry. I had always been about translating power to the pews. I believe everyone is a leader, and I pushed that message in my church for years. Instead of traditional models of hierarchy in our teams, we employed ground leadership, where everyone focused on their strengths and executed them well. Now it was time for me to put these principles into practice.

SECONDHAND DREAMS?

The fear of losing yourself in someone else’s dream is real. The idea that you could be forgotten stays in the back of your brain. How do you give your all to serving someone else’s dream? Do you ever get the chance to serve yours?

What happens when God shows you a vision? Where do you share that vision? Who sits in the seat of the dream interpreter in your life? Have you ever had a really good idea but told it to the wrong person? Before the words roll off your lips they have shredded the dream into a million pieces, leaving you feeling empty, violated and upset!

We don’t need vision vultures to pick apart our ideas. We need incubators who can interpret and carry our ideas so they can grow. Of course, when it’s time to execute, we need discerning individuals to challenge our dream so we won’t fail. But not when you are simply sharing.

As leaders who serve leaders, we are often misunderstood. But that’s OK. Everyone isn’t meant to see the same thing. Perspective helps us solve problems faster. God grants each of us a unique opportunity to see through our gifts, heritage and history. In that way, we are similar to Joseph in the Genesis 37-47.

In the biblical story of Joseph, we see that his family were vision vultures. He went to them sharing the dreams he had, and instead of understanding, they dismantled what he told them. They couldn’t see past Joseph’s promotion or protect his discovery. As the adage goes, we often fear what we don’t understand. In his dream, everyone had a role, but the brothers couldn’t comprehend that they were stars. Because their shine wasn’t the brightest, they tried to diminish Joseph’s. While he was looking for someone to interpret the dream, they interrupted it.

While things may have gone differently for Joseph had his family accepted his dream, we can’t say what that would have looked like. What we can deduce is that God needs to seal a vision in you before you share it with others.

It’s pertinent to your success to understand your vision. But perhaps more importantly, your ability to see other people’s vision properly makes you incredibly valuable. A lesson we can all carry with us as we serve is to not become embittered like Joseph’s brothers. Because you are trusted and gifted as second in command, you will be called to interpret the dreams of others. You have to learn to do it without complaint.

Contentment in your role comes from giving your gift freely. If you learn to respond when someone shares their ideas with you, you will gain favor with them. Think of it in reverse. Who do you go to to share your great ideas? For me, I go to my wife. I know she’s going to celebrate with me, she’s going to help me develop a strategy for execution. She is seated in that position in my life. If she is not secure about being second in that moment, she can ruin the dream for me. And vice versa. When she’s the dreamer, I can’t be focused on what it means for me. Instead, I ask how I can fit into her dreams to make them a reality.

I believe the No. 1 blockage to being able to receive somebody else’s dream is frustration. When we become frustrated with our own thoughts, dreams, visions and ideas not coming to pass, we project that frustration onto other people. That’s why you have to be in tune with the God of your dreams first. If you can’t pursue your dreams, you will become frustrated and distracted trying to help somebody else pursue theirs.

Frustration can cause you to forfeit your seat. I want to help you eliminate it before this idea is demonstrated in your life. To do so, we must take a moment to eliminate all outside distractions. I want you to put your titles on hold, set your rules aside and take a moment to focus on the reason God created you.

HANDLE WITH CARE

Having your personal dream qualifies you to handle somebody else’s dream. It is the breeding ground for you to understand how to bring them to life. If you know how you want your ideas handled, it better qualifies you to handle somebody else’s. Most of us are walking around blindly when it comes to our own dreams. We believe that if our dreams don’t look exactly as they did in our minds, then we haven’t achieved them. We become fearful of failure, so we forget our ability to achieve.

In the sidebar, “Understanding Your Dream,” I’ve included an exercise to help you gain a better understanding of your dreams, and how your talents, gifts and ability work together.

Now that you have taken a look at your dream, what do you think? Are there surprising things that you didn’t know were there before? Are you actually living out the ideas that you have from childhood in your life today? When I was young I dreamed of impacting the youth through media, messaging and music. At the time, I associated that with being an R&B superstar. But as an adult, I see what God was giving me a glimpse of in my earlier years.

Today I lead tens of thousands of people, including younger generations, to know God better. I bring Christ into culture through media, messaging and music. It’s as a pastor. Who would have expected that? I didn’t. But once I learned to reconcile the differences, I knew what seat I was called to sit in. I can handle a seat as second in command because I see how it allows me not only to serve my dream but the dream of others.