Leadership Texas Baptists participant learns wisdom comes from experience

By Brooks Kimmey, pastor of FBC Robinson and member of Leadership Texas Baptists Cohort 4 

I was listening to an interview recently with New York Times columnist David Brooks. In it he quotes a saying regarding a key difference between knowledge and wisdom:

“You can be knowledgeable with other men’s knowledge, but you can’t be wise with other men’s wisdom.”

In other words, some things you just have to learn for yourself. And oftentimes that learning has to come the hard way. Christian leadership is like that. And one of the greatest gifts I received from going through Leadership Texas Baptists, was hearing other well-respected leaders share the very same thing. 

From September of 2018 through May of 2019, myself and several other young leaders in Texas Baptists, met once a month to connect with each other and learn together from some of the most accomplished leaders in various areas of service through Leadership Texas Baptists. From experts in the medical field to corporate executives, administrators in higher education to denominational heads—our cohort interacted with incredibly gifted men and women. None of them made it seem like leading was easy.

The best leaders have certain gifts for the task, to be sure. But everyone called by God to Christian leadership will sooner or later be confronted with the reality of his or her own inadequacy. They will be called to greater heights of dependence. And from that place of weakness, Christ’s strength to lead will manifest itself. 

As a young and relatively inexperienced pastor, going through this cohort was a refreshing reminder to me that no one has it all figured out. Sometimes I am tempted to believe that leaders only come in the dominant, type-A form, or that they always know exactly what to do and when to do it. But if that were always the case, what would be the point of leadership cohorts? Or why would all these accomplished leaders take time out of their busy schedules to encourage younger leaders like us? They did it because they know it is hard; and they did it because someone else took the time to encourage them.

If you are a young leader looking for encouragement along the difficult journey of Christian leadership, I invite you to be a part of this incredible initiative of the BGCT. The books you will read and be exposed to, the people you will learn from, and the friendships you will have the opportunity to develop make this 9-month leadership cohort indispensable in your discipleship journey. 

May you grow in both knowledge and wisdom—and above all, in dependence on the Lord!