I am not always a great listener. Just ask my wife, Deborah. There are times when I walk through the front door with my head still at the office. She starts sharing something, but I’m not truly in the room yet. I’m distracted. In those moments, I’m failing at an essential act of presence.
Listening is hard work when our heads are full of noise.
Since last summer, that noise has been deafening. Following the July 4 floods, we were hit with a wave of information overload on what happened and how to prevent it from happening again. We had floodplain studies and reams of input on risk management. We had new camp safety laws from Austin. We also had ongoing stories of loss and grief by the thousands in Kerr County.
Listening well is a spiritual practice that requires slowing down and letting go of control.
While our leadership team is aligned, moments like these surface internal disagreements. What’s the best way forward? Where are the true signals in all this noise? And how do we make space for other challenges, from hiring practices to long-term strategic planning and more?
In the middle of all this chaos, I realized that listening well is the key especially amid noise and conflict. It is a spiritual practice. It requires slowing down and letting go of control. That’s when we can begin to hear what is true.
I often think of working with Howard Butt Jr. In the middle of tricky leadership challenges, he would pray, “Lord, give us wisdom.” It was never “give me wisdom.” He knew that the best plans come from a “multitude of counselors.”
That is the posture I’m taking as a leader. I want to lead with listening and encourage others to do the same. In this issue of Echoes, you’ll see this kind of listening in action. Patton Dodd reflects on how the dinner table surfaces stories we might otherwise miss. A. M. Clark explores how small groups create space for voices that often go unnoticed.
Listening is often risky. But if we commit to hearing each other out and staying curious, we open ourselves to a wisdom that is deeper than quick decisions. Here’s to holding space for each other, for truth, and for whatever God might be whispering beneath the noise.
