Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

Leadership

Best Resources on Transition

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Are you praying about making a move? Trying to discern God’s will, but not sure how to decide?

Change is the one thing that’s constant in life. And as I recently outlined in my last two articles, Christina and I have gone through a lot of change!

So, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite resources on transition to help you discern your next step in life and leadership:

1. Bible and Journaling

The Holy Spirit is the ultimate guide. So the best way to position yourself to hear from God is by spending time reading and praying through the Bible. Although I haven’t always been the biggest fan of journaling, I’ve actually found that it’s helped me focus and process what’s going on. After all, moving and changing jobs is one of the most stressful transitions that no one talks about.

And here’s a #protip for journaling: Journaling isn’t about you and the journal. Journaling is about you and God. So when you journal, write down your prayers to God and process what’s going on as a prayer to God.

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The Difference Between an Opportunity and a Calling

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“That was the worst sermon you ever preached. Why are you even here? Just go back to Nashville.”

It’s true. I heard those words.

It happened when Christina and I were interviewing at Beulah Alliance Church this last year. As I shared last week, God had unsettled our hearts and led us to the point where we knew our next right thing was to go up to Edmonton and interview.

Now whether coming back to Beulah was just an opportunity or a calling, we weren’t certain of. All we knew was that the next right thing was to go to Edmonton. So that’s what we did. With an open heart and a deep desire to live our lives wholeheartedly for God—wherever, whenever, and doing whatever—we hopped on a plane and flew to Edmonton. After all, for as long as I can remember, this has been our family motto: “Lord, here I am. Lord, here we are.”

So we went. And it went well.

Thursday. Friday. Saturday. Interviews. Meet and greets. Meals. Everything went well. Incredibly well. Honestly, I don’t know if I could’ve planned it any better. So clearly this meant that God was saying yes, right? That He was opening up the opportunity for us to come back and help lead Beulah to accomplish its vision to reach 1% of greater Edmonton for Christ…right?

Isn’t that how God leads?

Didn’t someone say that a lack of obstacles is another sign for God’s leading? That if you’re in God’s plan, no man can be against you?

I hope you’re shaking your head and vehemently disagreeing with me because that last paragraph was 100% sarcasm.

In the Bible we see that trials and opposition are actually a good thing—and to some extent a matter of joy—because it’s one of the ways that God shapes our faith and matures us (James 1:2-4). We see this all throughout the Scriptures with Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, Paul, and the disciples.

Trials and opposition are actually a good thing—and to some extent a matter of joy.
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But if you look at it the other way, the presence of opposition doesn’t necessarily equate to God’s leading either.

So what is it? How does God lead?!

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The Most Important Question When Discerning Your Next Steps

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Not making the decision isn’t the issue. The issue is not even having the option of making the decision.

It’s not that I don’t like double negatives, it’s just that they can sometimes be tricky to navigate—much like decision making. And boy, was this last year ever a year for decision making.

Five years ago, when we moved down to Nashville to serve the Church in her mission of making disciples with LifeWay Leadership, I never thought we’d be back up in Canada this soon. In fact, we had just gotten permanent residency in the States, which was a long, complicated, and expensive process.

But last Fall, Christina and I began sensing that change was on the horizon. There was this unsettledness in our hearts that couldn’t be explained. We loved everything about our lives in Nashville. Our community was incredible, our church was healthy and growing, our podcast was impacting marriages and families, and my work at LifeWay was affecting and changing church practice. I was also in the middle of writing my third book, while continuing to accept invitations to speak on my previous one. In other words, there was no human reason for us to move, or even consider a change—especially if you’re an Enneagram 3 like I am. In fact, I even heard some people remark that I had their dream job.

So you can probably anticipate how surprised I was when, only a few months later, Christina and I started praying about coming back to Beulah Alliance Church—especially since it was in the middle of an Edmonton winter (#ifyouknowyouknow). And to be crystal clear, this wasn’t some trite little “prayer” that we carelessly tossed up to God. No, this was one of those all-hands-on-deck, get-on-your-knees, everything-is-up-for-grabs, I-can’t-believe-I’m-actually-praying-this kind of prayer.

Here’s why it was one of those prayers.

When Keith Taylor, the Lead Pastor of Beulah for the last 28 years, asked us to pray about coming back, it wasn’t just to fill a gap. He had been asking God to unsettle the right person’s heart who was going to come alongside him and lead Beulah into the future.

Unsettle?

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What Mazda Can Teach You About Core Values

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With so many options out there, how do you choose?

I remember the first time I went grocery shopping without my parents and feeling paralyzed by all the different options for salad dressing. I only had one job—to buy salad dressing—yet I couldn’t make the decision.

Do I go for classic ranch or caesar? What about garlic caesar? And why are some cheaper than others? Raspberry vinaigrette sounds good too, but balsamic vinaigrette is the safer option.

And now with Amazon and online shopping, it’s even worse. There are over 8,000 results for “salad dressing” on Amazon!

Well, fast forward several years later, I felt the same way when shopping for a new car…

…but this time, I saw the leadership lesson underneath the surface.

Did you know that clay is still used to design cars? No, I’m not referring to a small lump of clay or Play Doh that you model into a miniature car. I’m referring to full life sized models of cars made out of clay!

Okay, to be honest, I didn’t know that clay was ever used to design cars, but it makes sense as a medium…of the past. From 1927 to the end of the 1950s, Harley Earl of General Motors used clay to design cars. But that was then! These days, car companies have 3D printers, design software, and virtual reality at their disposal, so why would they still use such an archaic method for design?

I didn’t understand why, until I came across this one particular Mazda commercial.

Now, is Mazda the only car company using clay to design their vehicles? By no means! Yet, that commercial helped me see Mazda cars as sculptures of art, rather than hunks of metal or utilitarian modes of transportation.

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How to Create a Discipleship Pathway

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After surveying and studying the discipleship pathways of thriving churches across North America for my book No Silver Bullets, I discovered that ownership matters when it comes to creating a discipleship pathway.

Most discipleship pathways are typically organized around what the church can do for individuals. This is because churches typically see their discipleship pathway as the ways disciples are formed through the ministries of their church: weekend services, classes, events, groups, and serve opportunities. And while I don’t disagree that the church needs to offer environments and opportunities for individuals to get plugged in and grow, I’ve come to discover that the goal for a discipleship pathway is never to get someone through it; the goal is to get individuals to own it.

The goal for a discipleship pathway is never to get someone through it; the goal is to get individuals to own it.

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