Monday, December 10, 2012

A Prayer for Competence

In my nonprofit ministry CEO years, I had the privilege of serving almost 20 board chairs. I discovered that when board members prayed and discerned God’s direction, the board chair they selected was frequently the right person at the right time—for the unique season of ministry that confronted the organization.

Recently, one of those board chairs (a stellar and God-honoring leader) emailed me with a very unique prayer request.  He recently re-joined an association board (not faith-based)—and the stakes are high.

His email ended with, “Need prayer to be competent and a witness.”

Wow! I cannot recall ever praying for competency. I’ve never asked anyone to pray that I be competent. Until last week, no one had ever asked me to pray that they be competent.

What would happen in our boardrooms if we stopped micro-managing the silly stuff—and got on our knees for the strategic stuff?

“Lord, we want to be competent as stewards of your work.”

Richard Kriegbaum’s wonderful little book, Leadership Prayers, includes a prayer for wisdom. He prays (in part): “If I were brilliant, if I had the knowledge and strengths that I admire in so many other people, if I were a spiritual giant, I would simply ask you to help me do my best. But my best is not good enough. I do not know enough, and I cannot see clearly enough. I am your child, and I want to learn, but unless your Spirit teaches me, I have little to offer. I need your wisdom.”

QUESTION: As a board member, what is your prayer?

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