Healthy Roots for Leaders Must Be Stronger Than the Storm
When a tree topples, typically no one is harmed, but a toppling leader brings damage to everyone surrounding the leader: a family, a company, a congregation. Trust is broken. Dreams and goals seem to be ruined. People are disoriented, struggling to reconcile the beauty that occurred under the leader’s direction with the ugly truth of what has been revealed. When a tree falls, the cleanup is done within a few days, new grass grows pretty quickly, and a new tree is often planted. When a leader falls, the cleanup lasts for years, sometimes decades. There is a lot of damage, and the debris can’t simply be put in the back of a pickup truck and driven away. This is especially true when a pastor topples.
With trees, toppling most often occurs when storms meet unhealthy roots. Storms + unhealthy roots = disaster. The same is true with ministry leaders.
The Burden and Storms of Pastoral Leadership
Whether leading in the home, in the marketplace, or in local church ministry, there are always storms in leadership. The apostle Paul knew about storms. He catalogued his suffering in a way that sounds almost absurd: beatings, imprisonment, shipwrecked not once, not twice, but three times. Stoned. Left for dead. In danger from rivers, from robbers, from his own countrymen. But then he ends the list with something unexpected. After everything he faced from the physical torture, the near-death experiences, to the relentless persecution, he names what pressed on him most: “the daily pressure” he carried for the people he was serving (2 Corinthians 11:28). He was declaring that the internal burden of caring for God’s people was heavier than the beatings. Heavier than the stoning. Heavier than being shipwrecked and left in the open sea.
There is no such thing as leadership, especially pastoral leadership, without storms, so we must concern ourselves with the health of the roots. Two trees in the same field can respond very differently to a storm. The one with healthy roots endures; the one with unhealthy roots doesn’t. Before the storm, they might look identical. But the storm reveals what was already true about the roots.
Healthy Roots for Leaders Begin With Character
If a leader’s competence is greater than their character, toppling is almost certain. “Fake it till you make it” may sometimes work with competence. But the cliché never works with character. When the apostle Paul instructed his protégé Timothy to invest in other leaders, he told him to find the faithful who will be able, not to find the able who will maybe one day be trustworthy. Paul believed that faithfulness (character) was most important and that leaders could grow in ability (competence). The order must not be confused. (2 Timothy 2:2)
When a Leader’s Platform Grows but the Heart Grows Cold
If a leader’s platform grows while their heart grows cold, devastation is looming. Pastors can lead a growing church while their hearts grow cold. A leader with a cold heart will make stupid choices, as sin always makes us stupid. Success—however it has been defined—puts more eyes on the impending toppling, a toppling some would love to watch.
The Inner Life and Healthy Roots of a Pastor
The prevalence of toppling and the burden of ministry leadership is why the inner life, the roots beneath the surface, in the life of a pastor matters so much. The apostle Paul endured challenging seasons and storms not because he was superhuman, but because he was rooted. His identity was not in outcomes or applause. He knew who he was and whose he was. That rootedness is what allowed him to carry a weight that would have crushed someone leading from a shallower place. Paul did not list the burden of the churches as a complaint. He listed it as evidence of how much he loved the people he served. The burden was not separate from his calling. It was the cost of it. The burden is a blessing, given from God, so we will love and serve the people well. But we must be aware of the weight of the burden so we will, with great intentionality, ensure we are healthy.
Building Healthy Roots for Leaders That Produce Lasting Fruit
In The Rooted Leader, which is releasing in August 2026, I share more about the roots beneath the surface that bring about the fruit leaders and the people they serve long for: vision, conviction, servanthood, perseverance, credibility, transformation, and resolve.
By Eric Geiger
