Book Review
Leona Bergstrom
Building Below the Waterline: Shoring Up the Foundations of Leadership. By Gordon MacDonald.
“God, do you have a fresh call for a 60-something guy?”
This question, posed by author Gordon MacDonald on the very last page of his recent book, Building Below the Waterline: Shoring Up the Foundations of Leadership, captured the cry of my heart. The entire book pulses with wisdom, insights and honest transparency. But this particular rhetorical question throbs with urgency as I cross off the final months of life in my “fifties.”
One would think from the title that this is another book on becoming an effective leader in the 21st century church. And yes, it has sage advice for all leaders, particularly pastors, about building a strong inner life that will withstand all of the storms of ministry. But, from my vantage point, it is a manifesto for all of us in midlife who wonder if we have what it takes to minister, much less lead, for a lifetime.
Painting an image of crossing the Colorado plains only to butt up against the impenetrable Rocky Mountains, MacDonald depicts a common angst: “You get the feeling you can’t go anywhere. You’re trapped. The illusion of barrierlessness is inverted. ….That’s the perception of more than one midlifer in leadership. The freshness is gone; the fears of mediocrity, of ineffectiveness, of being lost in the shuffle are malignant.”
Do not despair. Gordon MacDonald doesn’t, and his journey of renewal and transformation inspires one to focus again on calling, mission and finishing extraordinarily well.
“It was a significant day when I was hit with the question: What kind of an old man do you want to be? And I opted for growth and grace as my old-age lifestyle. …I looked around and discovered I didn’t know many old men who impressed me with the same traits as in Tennyson’s poem “Ulysses.”* Why? Maybe because most men and women never build a growth plan for the old years. And if you don’t plan for the kind of man or woman you want to be when you are eighty (God willing) and begin building that when you are forty or fifty, it’s not likely going to happen.” (pp 28-29)
What MacDonald presents in this 250-page, can’t-put-it-down thesis, is a personally seasoned guide for identifying mission and purpose; for building a strong inner soul that is marked by a deep, intimate walk with God; and for developing relationships with loved ones that are significant, revitalizing, and FUN. He probes like a skilled surgeon around the infections of the inner soul, calling the reader to repentance and renewal. The anecdote is grace – “The older I become the more I realize my condition as a barbarian loved by my Father. And this may be the most important insight that comes with aging. Almost all old people who are growing have certain common traits. One of them is that they know without equivocation that they are sinners. And they have come to appreciate the central importance of grace.” (p. 37)
The book is actually divided into two parts: The Inner Life of a Leader, and The Outer Life of a Leader. The first section addresses the issue of personal spiritual direction, including advice on journaling, praying, studying and growing. The second section offers profound insight into the public side of ministry – including dealing with church conflict, how to guide a church through change and transition, and how to know when it’s time to leave a congregation. Lessons learned by a man who has been a pastor, leader, author, mentor and long-time disciple of Jesus.
The book caused me to reflect and even weep – tears of repentance as well as of anticipation. Through his writings MacDonald has coached me in experiencing anew that “fresh call” for this almost 60 –year-old gal.
You may experience the same.
*MacDonald states (p. 28), “I love the words of Tennyson in his poem Ulysses. He imagines the old, travel-worn Ulysses brooding on what one might do for an encore after having seen the world:
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Leona Bergstrom is Director of Lifetime Ministries (a division of ChurchHealth), a ministry dedicated to assisting churches in developing powerful and effective programs for and by older adults. Along with her husband, Richard, Leona is co-director of 2nd ½ for Him Ministries of the Baptist General Conference. This review was also published with Converge Worldwide | 2nd 1/2 for Him.
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