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A Touch
Of The Unattainable
by Commissioner Joe
Noland
The chart above is very revealing. Notice
when the upward swing begins, resulting in unprecedented,
dramatic population growth. The Salvation Army was born on the
cusp of that growth. It flourished momentarily into the 19th
Century, straight up like the graph, and then began to wain
remarkably by comparison. I wonder why? Could it have
something to do with safety and the corresponding creeping
subtly of status quo?
Whilst sitting on two High Councils I knew
exactly what I was looking for in a General: A releasing,
empowering VISIONARY, pure and simple. And I can tell you from
experience that they are few and far between, narrowing the
field considerably. We’re I to be sitting on this High
Council, I would have in front of me two column’s as follows:
VISIONARY
MAINTAINER
The long and short of these lists would be
very revealing. My first High Council was called to elect the
successor to General Paul A. Rader, a visionary in the purest
sense of the word. Perhaps that’s why he was selected to write
the chapter on “Vision” in the book, Hallmarks of the
Salvation Army. This book may not be readily available to many
who will be sitting on this High Council. Thus I share a few
selected quotes from that chapter, beginning with the
following prophetic statement:
“Having a vision can be the difference between thriving and
extinction,”
followed by what I consider to be it’s seminal paragraph:
“As Max dePree observes of vision in the corporate setting,
fragility is part of the nature of vision. There are no
guarantees. The vision must be widely shared and translated
into what Donald McGavran used to call ‘hard, bold plans.’ A
compelling vision will have about it a measure of risk, the
promise of change and a touch of the unattainable. Not
everyone will welcome a disruption of the status quo. Some
will resent the moving of the goal posts. The visionary leader
with his or her team will be required to live the vision—to
celebrate it, to clarify it to affirm and reaffirm it, and to
align policy and practice with it, if it is to maintain it’s
motive power.”
Disrupt the status quo? Is there a
risk-taker with “a touch of the unattainable” sitting in the
High Council chamber? Is that someone willing to move the goal
posts and stand up to his/her critics and naysayers, some of
them “on the team” in word but not in deed? Is that someone
discerning enough to know the difference and make the ‘team’
adjustments necessary? And what about enough boldness to align
policy and practice with the vision? Live, celebrate, clarify,
affirm and reaffirm? We’re not talking about the ordinary
leader here, and this brings us to the concluding paragraph of
the Chapter:
“Overly ambitious? Perhaps. If God owns the vision, nothing is
impossible. God will bless issues from his heart. As veteran
missionary to Korea, David Ross, observes, ‘Only
those who know God’s heart are invited to know his plan for
his people’. If so, then the urgent cry for visionary
leadership in our time must first be for us all a serious call
to intimacy with God. Therein is the true meaning of visionary
“teamwork.”
There are leaders and then there are
leaders. Out of many, few are available: “timing,
preparedness, giftedness, discernment, boldness, intimacy with
God” - a touch of the unattainable. Out of few, one is chosen:
“extraordinary” - a touch of the unattainable! And God is no
respecter of persons, nationality and culture having
absolutely no bearing on the choice. God wants us to focus on
the person, not the culture, on the intimacy, not the
continent, on the character, not the accent, on the
giftedness, not the color.
Don’t let culture and continent define the
vote; let “a touch of the unattainable” define it.
JN
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