I'll keep this message brief as I combine these two definitions.
I've become convinced over 19 years that there is an "intense heat" a Founder experiences that can't really be understood unless one has worn that cloak.
"I wish I had your life."
If I had a dollar for every time I've heard this statement from well-meaning, good-hearted student-athletes. I mean...who wouldn't want to live a "mission trip" day in and day out, right? Lodging, meals, and transportation are taken care of, and all ya have to do is show up! ANNNND, you get to use your talent as an athlete to enrich, encourage and empower others 24/7!
It makes sense to me why they say it, and I, too, am thankful to have "my life", even as I am well aware of the enormity of the cost on every level to create and maintain environments where a team can walk off the plane and feel welcomed as family!
My standard response.
"Be careful what you ask for"
By NO means is that a complaint or inferring discontent. But "Trip week" comes at a cost and one person carries that for Ignite.
I'm a firm believer that leading an organization is like leading a team - it's coaching. The founder sees the vision, the big picture, even if no one else can see it. The founder stays in the grind when everyone else has checked out. The founder is like Noah who kept building and kept building and kept building - because He had been given a Word, and apparently that "word was in him like a fire, even if he tried to hold it in, indeed he could not." Hmmmmmm.
Blessed are those founders who have a board of directors and leadership team who catch the vision and run hard to ensure it is successful. But the Founder, regardless of others, does everything in his or her power to avoid and remove all obstacles, giving credit to others for success, and demonstrating fortitude in bearing the responsibility in times of loss.
It means being present for your people, walking through the ups and downs - sometimes at all hours of the night and in multiple conversations from multiple countries all at the same time. They all know to whom they can turn. I'm thankful for that - may it always be true!
It means when a patriarch transitions to Eternity in Nicaragua, you have a bag packed and get on the next flight to stay for three weeks and literally WALK with your "voice and right arm" and her family through the most painful loss of their lives.
At times it means embracing monumental birthdates alone, just as you accept the pressure and keep going when the spigot shut off in March 2020.
It means when subjected to intensifying heat - while others would suggest you let the dream burn up or die out....you stubbornly fan that flame again. And NEVER stop believing in that to which you've been called.
Commitment is never revealed in convenience - but through inconvenience.
SO, let the heat turn up however it may. Ignite International has a Founder who is completely unafraid of being subjected to intense heat, nor shaken when promises made are not promises kept, or the climb feels like Free Solo (I've referenced this before - click
here if you aren't familiar).
