Fearless Heretics

There are moments when I question the passion that I carry. Most people have a passion for something...something that captivates the quiet moments of the mind's private reverie. For me it has always been women and leadership. In his book, Tribes, Seth Godin writes this: "In a battle between two ideas, the best one doesn't necessarily win. No, the idea that wins is the one with the most fearless heretic behind it."

This statement haunts me because for so long I was not fearless in regard to my passion to see women free to lead as God truly intends. I thought I was the only one on Earth (in church circles, that is) to hold such beliefs, beliefs that must surely be unGodly and evil and wrong. Since discovering the truth about it, I still feel at times that I am alone, although my disclosure has certainly aroused the passions of a few other women and men who have boldly declared their agreement. And while I am still unclear as to where this passion and this resolve will lead me, I do know that it is with fearlessness that I must move forward.

The truth about fear is that it never truly leaves. When banished from the spotlight of someone's life, it finds contentment lurking in the shadows and taunting from the sidelines. Godin asserts that the fear must be drowned out by something greater, by the all-consuming passion of the human soul. A passion that was put there, inside of you and me, from the beginning of time by the God of all creation who knows where His passion inside of you will lead.

And so I pray that He will connect me with the "tribe" I am to lead and that I can help give voice to other men and women who carry this same passion, that we might all make a difference in the church, in the marketplace and in the arenas where we each have influence. I pray for you, too, that you will become more than familiar with that "thing" deep inside of you that you long to see made right. May the "fearless heretic" within you come out and make a much-needed difference in this world.