LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
Vision Paper
Submitted to Dr. Kimberly Martin, in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the completion of the course
WRSP 530
Principles of Leadership for the Worship Leader
by
Rachel Morway
1
The longer I have remained in ministry, the more I have realized the vital importance the
Word of God is to not only the work of the church but our personal lives as well. With that being
said, I wholeheartedly believe in the infamous passage found in Proverbs 29:18 – “where there is
no revelation, people cast off restraint.”1 It is incredibly essential for anyone leading in a
ministerial context to have vision for their own personal lives, families and ministries.
Otherwise, you are setting yourself up for future failures and ambiguous or misguided direction.
The textbook readings from this semester so far have helped clarify the vision I have for
my personal life and the ministry I currently lead. Upon studying the wisdom inside these pages,
I have even recalibrated some principles and values that I deemed significant enough to change.
In this paper, I will highlight the concepts I have learned concerning vision that have most
impacted me personally and professionally and outline some changes I plan to make and goals I
seek to accomplish in the near future.
In Maxwell’s book The 360-Degree Leader, John emphasizes the powerful impact a well-
rounded leader can have on an organization. He encourages the reader to not wait until they rise
to the top of the organizational food chain to learn what it means to be an influential and
formidable leader. In one of his opening lines in the text, he uncovers a shocking statistic that
would be sure to get anyone’s attention: “The reality is that 99 percent of all leadership occurs
not from the top but from the middle of an organization.”2 The beauty of these figures is the hope
that any leader on any level of influence can impact a group of people in powerful ways if they
learn how to lead in all directions up and down the corporate ladder.
1 Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the New International Version (Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995).
2 John C. Maxwell, The 360-Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the
Organization (Harper Collins Leadership, 2005), 1.
2
In these first three sections of The 360-Degree Leader, I have been challenged to refocus
and redirect certain aspects of my personal life and ministry. In the first section, The Myths of
Leading from the Middle of the Organization, I learned that the myth I struggle most with is The
Inexperience Myth, leading me to believe that should always strive to be on the top of the ladder
of leadership success in effort to be in control. Reading the words of John Maxwell explain the
tendencies of this mindset was quite humbling. I realized that I had not been honest with myself
in my leadership efforts, especially in my own home. I am a type of person that loves to control
things because I believe the way I do things is the most efficient and sufficient. This attitude
continues to cause frustrations in my marriage and home life, and through this book, I have
learned that if I want to be the type of leader I need to be in ministry, it must start in the home. I
also need to abolish the thought of thinking that “life ‘at the top’ is easier is to think the grass is
greener on the other side of the fence. Being at the top has its own set of problems and
challenges.”3 We never have the amount of control that we desire in this life, and if we think for a
second we can control things once we rise to a certain level of leadership, we are kidding
ourselves. This piece of humble pie was much needed in order to make lasting change in the way
I view leadership in my personal and professional life.
In the second section of The 360-Degree Leader, The Challenges 360-Degree Leaders
Face, I learned that attempting to lead from the middle of the organization presents the leader
with many possible challenges. Of all the challenges listed, I believe I struggle most with the
Multi-Hat Challenge, bringing me to the conclusion my ability to multitask and do ministry on
many different levels can be my best friend and my worst enemy. It makes total sense why I have
been consistently exhausted and not feeling like I am performing to the level of success I would
3 Maxwell, The 360-Degree Leader, 13.
3
like – it is simply impossible to be excellent in everything. This statement from Maxwell really
helped me gain greater perspective into my current situation in ministry: “To become leaders,
people must be able to do many things well, but in order to become leaders at the top, they must
do fewer things with great excellence.”4 In order to re-envision my ministry and even my
personal life in this challenge, I have to become better at delegating and trusting other people in
my life, from ministry leaders at work to my husband at home, to take a few hats off of my one
head and allow them to take the lead. This will give me the opportunity to focus on what I can
really do well and be successful in and allows others to take on the challenge of leadership roles.
In the third section of The 360-Degree Leader, The Principles 360-Degree Leaders
Practice to Lead Up, I came to the startling realization that I do not lead myself as well as I
would have hoped. I believe I do a good job of managing my time well in my ministry
responsibilities, home obligations and in my personal walk with Christ, but there are many
aspects of my life that I know I can improve on, and that requires motivation and accountability.
In order to accomplish certain goals in my personal life and ministry, I have to be willing to lead
myself well enough to reach out to others for guidance and be honest with myself in what I need
to change. “We often think that self-leadership is about making good decisions every day, when
the reality is that we need to make a few critical decisions in major areas of life and then manage
those decisions day to day.”5 If I cannot attempt to achieve the goals I set out for myself in
foreseeable ways, I cannot lead people to the capacity I have been called to and need to make a
drastic change in the overall vision for my life and ministry.
4 Maxwell, The 360 Degree Leader, 45.
5 Maxwell, The 360 Degree Leader, 81.
4
In addition to reformulating the vision for my life in the first three sections of The 360-
Degree Leader, the information has confirmed and consolidated my current understanding of the
vision and purposes that God has given me for my personal life and ministry in a few ways.
There were multiple passages in the text that confirmed there are parts of me that encompass a
360-Degree leader who has the ability to lead from different notches on the totem pole in
ministry. When God first called me to be a worship leader, I thought he was calling me to take
the current “worship culture” by storm by writing songs, getting famous and touring the world
leading worship. However, it was not long before I realized God was actually calling me to
something even more important and beautiful – His purpose for my life was to develop the future
generation of worshipers so that they may take the world by storm. In this way, I have learned
over the years how to develop young and seasoned musicians and worship leaders, and I believe
they teach me far more than I could even teach them.
In McIntosh’s book Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership, Gary unearths the
dangerous truths behind the weight of responsibility in leadership roles and how we constantly
need the accountability of the Holy Spirit to “guide us into all truth.”6 While Satan “seeks to
devour” those especially in ministry, those who rise up the ranks of leadership often experience
the dark side that attempts to take over and rule their minds.7 The only way to overcome this
darkness, however, is to confront it head on, typically causing immense pain and suffering on our
part. The author honestly points out the need for this confrontation in the first part of the text:
“…incredible danger is possible when we allow ourselves and others to be victimized by the
6 John 16:13.
7 I Peter 5:8.
5
dark side because of our failure or refusal to take that inward journey and ‘ride the monster all
the way down,’ regardless of the pain it may cause us.”8
In reading the first seven chapters of this book, I have been faced with the haunting
awareness that if I do not protect my personal life and ministry from the dark side, I am
extremely likely to experience some form of leadership failure in the future. I learned between
these pages that even the most incredible of leaders, like King Saul in the Bible and the infamous
Jim Bakker, eventually surrendered under the weight of the darkness by refusing to admit their
deep-rooted issues. As ministers, it can be extremely difficult to be honest with ourselves and be
willing to let the power of the Gospel continue to change us after knowing the Lord for years and
years, but this is the only way we can confront the enemy’s attempts to drag us into the dark side.
I love that McIntosh encourages his readers with this statement: “Leaders who are aware of their
dark side and are willing to deal openly and honestly with it before God are empowered for
greater effectiveness.”9 In my current and future personal life and ministry, I want to be the type
of leader that is not afraid to admit she is wrong, openly desiring accountability and constantly
asking the Holy Spirit for guidance and strength to push through the dark side of leadership.
While I noticed various characteristics I needed to recalibrate concerning the vision in my
life in the pages of Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership, the text also confirmed my current
understanding of the vision and purposes that God has given me for my personal life and
ministry. I believe that my testimony of overcoming darkness makes me a more relatable person
and pastor to the people in my life that I serve alongside. Because of this, God receives so much
glory for that testimony and draws people closer to Him. I wholeheartedly agree with McIntosh’s
8 Gary L. McIntosh & Samuel D. Rima, Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership. (Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker Books, 1997), 47.
9 Ibid., 66.
6
uplifting declaration here in regard to purposefulness in the dark: “We can use our dark side to
serve God’s purposes in our life rather than only our unmet needs.”10 There is always a deeper
purpose in our pain, and it makes going through difficult times so worth it when we see the gold
at the end that God produces from it.
Without vision, we indeed succumb to the patterns of this world, rendering us ineffective
for ministry and living a life that does not please the Lord on a personal level. We can only
obtain and maintain revelation in our lives by keeping God at the center, allowing Him to shape
and mold us to look more like His Son, and to be the leaders we are called to be.
Bibliography
Maxwell, John C. The 360-Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the
Organization. Harper Collins Leadership, 2005.
McIntosh, Gary L. & Rima Samuel D., Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership. Grand Rapids,
MI: Baker Books, 1997.
New International Version. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995.
10 McIntosh & Rima, Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership, 100.
