Stretch assignment (for real)
Managers sometimes like to give their employees stretch assignments—projects that are usually much more challenging than anything they’ve done before. The theory, I suppose, is that the employee is capable of more than he typically delivers; and with the right encouragement and motivation, he could deliver a lot more. When the employee is successful, he then moves to a new level of confidence—and presumably a new level of performance.
Some managers, though, are less skilled at stretch assignments. They throw down the gauntlet of an impossible goal to an employee or a team under the guise of a stretch assignment, but what they are really doing is simply overstating the objective, hoping the team will deliver one fifth of the stated goal. I find this sort of thing uninspiring.
Our heavenly Manager also gives stretch assignments—but he follows a different model from both of these. In one sense he’s more like the unskilled manager: he sometimes lays before us ridiculously impossible tasks that make us despair of any hope that we will succeed. But he’s different in that he then comes alongside us to work in us and through us (or in spite of us!) to achieve the unachievable. The result is that we gain more confidence—but not in ourselves. He strengthens our faith in him—in his power, as well as in his love for us and our assurance that his intentions towards us are good.
We have a major stretch assignment: give away your life of ease here in comfy Austin; leave behind your family and friends who love you; quit your job at which you have been blessed for nine years; get on a plane and fly into the big unknown of Central Europe; become part of a movement of the Spirit of God to shape individuals, families, a city—perhaps even a nation—for the kingdom of God.
Pray for us: that we will not despair, and that we will not lean on our own strength or understanding. Pray that we will trust God to bring about his purposes for his glory in our lives. Pray that we will always give him the credit and the glory—for all the power is his.