Sacred Digital: Chuckk Gerwig

Last month I was pondering the importance of authenticity in leadership.  I recently remembered an authentic pulpit event that deeply impacted me. 

I became a Christian when I was 21, I found Jesus at a large seeker sensitive church inSouthern California .  After I had been attending this great church for about a month when the Sainted Senior Pastor, Larry DeWitt (whom I thought was the most perfect man I had ever come across) began to preach about his wretched deep seated sinfulness.  He was teaching through Romans 7:21-25 and admitted that he still struggled with sin.  He told us how in his mind he was at times a fornicator and liar, covetous and jealous.

I was new at this church stuff but I knew in an instant someone better turn this guy over and baste him, he was done  - I was certain he had just lost his job in front of my very eyes.  What I didn’t know was this, I was totally mistaken.  He had simply spoken the authentic and total truth, we are imperfect people in need of a savior, in need of forgiveness and in need of grace.  His honesty descended on me like a stone from space - I was leveled. 

I had an epiphany… If God could use him in such great ways even though he was an imperfect creature I too could live the Christian life and maybe even be of use to God.  It was a true turning point for me, I knew that I too could make it as a Christian - it wasn't for perfect people only. 

Larry Dewitt was also the first person to tell me that God was going to call me to ministry, God bless you Larry.

As a pastor, father, husband and friend I want to be even more real, authentic and unguarded.  The key is in being willing for people to think less of me as a person and leader and in doing so be even more truthful with them and for them.  We Christians like to play at plastic holiness to keep people from seeing our reality, in doing this we lose honest authentic leadership.  We wonder if people would love, respect and follow us if they found out we have feet of clay extending all the way to our necks on a bad day.

Here are 3 Ideas:

- Don’t only tell stories that end with you as a hero, tell the stories where you end up as a chump.

- Real authenticity speaks the stories of our CURRENT failings, not just stumbles from the distant past.

- Read the Bible - it’s the only religious text on the planet that seems to major in disclosing the authentic, raw and real failures of its greatest leaders.  You'll feel better about yourself after you read how some of those cats blew it.

Disclaimer: The writer of this blog is still in the development phase of the fullness of his own transparency and claims no invulnerability in his vulnerability.

And no, I am not writing this because I fell into some kind of terrible sin.