A633.4.4.RB_GarciaCaleb

 Should the "Boss" Always Know the Answers?

In this blog I will recount a situation where I was in a leadership position and felt confronted with a seemingly impossible decision to make, a good example of an instance when I truly did not know the correct answer or course of action.

During my undergraduate college experience I became heavily invested in a startup church plant called H2O Akron, which we registered as an official student organization on campus. The initial team that planted H2O Akron was a group of seven recent graduate students from other network H2O campuses who committed to spending 1-2 years of full-time service helping to establish the church for students at The University of Akron. I was one of the very first 9 students to join the organization my sophomore year, and totally threw myself into it, quickly taking on responsibilities in areas of musical worship, international student outreach, and mentorship of younger student members. In total, I was trusted with leadership early on and maximized those opportunities over the course of six years in which I organized and led two hurricane disaster-response auxiliary trips to Puerto Rico after hurricanes Irma, Maria, and Beryl. I also worked part-time as a paid intern for the parent organization which ultimately materialized into a post as a church deacon in church operations, met my wife, roomed with my now brother-in-law, and saw many of the students I mentored in turn become mentors to others. To say I was totally committed to our community is an understatement.

Even though over seven fruitful years our church thrived, in 2022 we received shocking news that three of the four full-time staff members including one of our two pastors were moving on. Although likely for a traditional community church this might not have devastating impact, in our 98% student demographic church, it was fatal. We had personnel in place to continue carrying out operations, but our parent-organization required a minimum of two full-time staff to maintain status as a recognized church. We were diagnosed with a terminal condition that would end either quickly or very slowly depending on how our core leadership team decided to direct our constituents. I can honestly say that myself, nor any of my co-leaders knew the answer. All we knew was we needed to prioritize the long-term well-being of our church members after H2O Akron closed its doors.

During the next few weeks we met regularly to discuss our options. We applied several tenants of adaptive leadership to bolster our efforts including establishing objectives, engaging others, and providing feedback. All activities and decisions taken were made in plurality, seeking counsel from those with the most experience. There were many emotional moments as well due to the raw pain associated with seeing something we loved, and created so much love, come to an end after so many years of hard work to build it up. Additionally, we also felt the weight of responsibility to guide our constituents, whom had placed their trust in us, towards a healthy future. The goal we set was to close H2O Akron sooner rather than later, and we set a deadline. So as to not leave our members without options, we decided to procure three "endorsed" options as new churches they could transition to. We also invited any member who needed additional support of any kind to reach out to us. To those that did, we assured them that they were not alone in their feelings. Finally, we hosted a series of town hall meetings for open dialog and feedback. During these meetings, there were a few who would consistently voice dissent and dissatisfaction with our current course. I recall one instance where I spoke up and publicly reminded these members of our priorities as a community, the importance finding those elements that are in control in the midst of chaos, and that the only way to reach a healthy future would be as a unified body. This had a good effect and from then on there was no more discord. 

H2O Akron closed in summer of 2022. The process of guiding the church alongside our other leadership was sorrowful, challenging, and stressful. There were many moments I doubted we were doing the right thing. However, our decision resulted in a clean transition that everyone was able to prepare for. Feedback after-the-fact from former student members has been gracious filled with thankfulness for the wisdom exercised during that time period of chaos, COVID-19, and obscurity. It was definitely an example of not knowing what the answer is, and moving forward in faith.

-Caleb