Machine Gun Mission

I watched ‘Machine Gun Preacher’ the other night.  Gerard Butler was outstanding in the movie.

It’s the story of Sam Childers, the real-life machine gun preacher who still works in the Sudan.  This guy had a rough background to say the least.  After getting out of prison he ‘found Jesus ‘and then started a church for outcasts (like he was) in Pennsylvania.  At one point he was moved to help on a ‘missions trip’ to Africa and there became exposed to the unspeakable violence of child-soldiers & Joseph Kony’s Lords’ Resistance Army.  That was a tipping point that led him to a single-minded campaign to build an orphanage and further to defend that orphanage from Kony’s LRA soldiers by use of force and by leading armed rescue missions directly into LRA territory (his own ‘get it done with a gun’ history still influences him).

The movie affected me emotionally like only one other movie in my life – Kramer vs. Kramer (waaaay back in the late 70’s!).  I was newly married when I watched Kramer vs. Kramer and it made me angry how couples could choose to marry, choose to have kids and then so irresponsibly and acrimoniously tear it all apart.

Machine Gun Preacher did the same emotional number on me but with obviously different issues at play:

·         It makes me angry that Joseph Kony and so many other characters like him get away with the ego-centered violence that they do.  It’s such a messed up world out there.

·         It makes me angry that we in the world so easily keep our distance from getting engaged in the messiness of evil.  Assad and Syria is a current example of the world (READ: the UN) pontificating a moral stand but basically doing nothing of true import to end the conflict.

·         It makes me angry and sad that I am also guilty of seeing what is wrong out there, articulating a moral opinion about what is awry, and then hope someone else will take action while I go on my way, untouched and untouching.

Got me thinking about being a leader who considers the benefits of Sam’s ‘Machine Gun Mission’ approach for what I lead and who I lead.

Sam Childers (born 1962) is a former gang biker who now dedicates his life and resources to rescue children in the war zone of South Sudan. Childers and his wife Lynn founded and operate Angels of East Africa, the Children's Village Orphanage in Nimule, South Sudan, where they currently have more than 300 children in their care. (Wikipedia)

Sam would be chided for his approach by most international development professionals.  I am among those who say his approach was very ego-centric.  However I am not here to argue for or against his developmental philosophy or his use of guns, but to draw some lessons from his actions; because he at least accomplished something versus doing nothing.  Here are those thoughts:

1.       His approach was radical, but he DID something.  How many times do we seek the magic bullet, the perfect approach, the comprehensive ‘game-changer ‘plan?  I find the more we do that, the greater the likelihood we rationalize, analyze and even spiritualize our way out of action.  This world, our cities and neighbourhoods, are highways littered with the remains of good intentions.

2.       He did not change a system to save everyone, but he did save some.  Forget about your grand plans to change the world.  You can’t.  But you can impact someone, something, somewhere.  Bishop Oscar Romero was martyred because of his tireless advocacy for the poor in El Salvador; cut down before he could accomplish all he wanted.  In his eulogy, Bishop Ken Untener said: 

It helps, now and then; to step back and take the long view....we accomplish in a lifetime only a fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.  We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing this.  This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.  It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lords grace to enter and do the rest.  We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the Master Builder and the worker.  We are workers, not Master Builders; ministers, not messiahs.  We are prophets of a future not our own.” 

3.       His work wasn’t perfect – but it worked.  Just because our work may not fit a known system or model of good development, or be part of the latest trend does not mean it isn’t worthwhile.  I want to remind us that our models are not the mission.  Professional associations, academic institutions, businesses, relief and development agencies, churches etc. have to protect themselves from becoming so invested in a model that they lose sight of the desired outcome.  If your model isn’t producing what’s at the heart of your mission, it seems obvious to me that you need to re-examine what you are doing!  Dr Phil’s question is a great one to apply to our particular mission strategies: “How’s that working for you”?

4.      WARNING: His ego almost became his mission.  Sam’s initial motivation was pure, innocent, and yes, ill-informed.  But overall it was a good mission.  However, his mission ran into trouble when when his ego and identity became so wrapped up in the cause that he lost sight of the purpose.  IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU – IT’S ABOUT THE MISSION.  Sam foolishly risked his finances and ran roughshod over his closest relationships – signs he was losing mission-focus.  How much ego vs. mission (to benefit the investor) has been involved in Wall Street financial deals that have melted down in the past few years?  How many ministries have focused on the leader and not the people?  How many non-profits have been started which now serve the leadership and the donors but not the poor? This is a good reason to never go it alone on any mission.  Who is your team and how are they speaking into not only the process, but into YOU as the leader?

Could it be that the approach you are taking right now is no longer prospering you or your mission?  Could it be you need a more simple yet radical, machine-gun mission approach?

I have named this blog the ‘Nomadic Leader’ for a reason.  Leaders in our world and in our organizations need to be ones who do not settle too long in one place, in one strategy, in one way of thinking.  There are times when you have to look around, see that the place you are in is no longer ‘feeding your tribe’ and prepare to move on.

Perhaps it’s time to pull up stakes, roll up the tent and seek a new context or approach so that your mission will make its intended impact. 

If it’s not you, then who?  If not now, then when?

Harv Matchullis

www.visiontracks.ca