Path for Growth · Operating in Overflow · Colorado Springs
The Time
To Lead.
leading faithfully in the age of AI
Late one night, at my computer
Forty
seconds.
work it took me a decade to get good at
The one sentence to carry out of this room
Change never asks permission.
It only asks one question
Will you be shaped by it, or will you shape it?
the tide is coming either way. builders get ready.
That's the whole ballot
And if you lead people, you're not voting just for yourself.
everyone you lead inherits whichever box you check
27 years of walking into dark rooms
I've seen this feeling before.
1999Y2K
Canned goods stockpiled because the calendar might end the world.
2001Dot-com bust
Unstoppable companies vanished overnight.
2008The collapse
Clients disappeared. We wondered if we'd make it.
2020Covid
A real team, real overhead, five kids at home, no answers.
NowAI
And it feels exactly like a dark room again.
What those seasons taught me
People aren't afraid of the dark. They're afraid of what's in the dark.
leaders bring the light
But notice one massive difference
AI isn't starting as a crisis.
Y2K, 2008, and Covid began as emergencies we reacted to. AI is a tool, and we still have time to decide how to use it. That should change our posture from bracing to building.
Why this wave is different
The last three waves changed how we reach people. This one changes how we work.
after web, social, and mobile
The leadership claim
You can delegate the tooling. You cannot delegate the responsibility.
waiting for clarity is choosing to lead from the back
Positioned, not safe
"Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
Esther 4:14
Let's be honest about what this costs
Four tensions every faithful leader is holding.
Tension 01Efficiency vs. People
The math is real, and so are the mortgages, kids, and callings of the people it points at.
Tension 02Speed vs. Wisdom
AI will make you faster at being wrong. Speed only counts if you're pointed in the right direction.
Tension 03Capability vs. Character
AI can't fix a toxic culture. It will expose it faster. It multiplies whatever is already true.
Tension 04Provision vs. Trust
"God, I thought you provided through this skill. What happens when it gets commoditized?"
Sit with that last one
This moment is exposing where our security actually lives.
that's uncomfortable. it might also be a gift.
Three ways leaders are responding
Camp 01Ignore
"It's a fad." Tried it once, wrote it off, waiting for someone else to figure it out.
Camp 02Panic
Fear drives the bus. Reactive cuts, chasing tools they don't understand.
Camp 03Integrate
Not ignoring the risks. Not paralyzed by them. Experimenting, learning, adjusting.
both camps are running on fear. history favors the integrators.
The future worth building is both
The machines take the tasks
Highly
autonomous.
More of the work than we ever imagined: the writing, the research, the routing, the repetition.
&
The people take the people
Deeply
human.
More presence and more care. Love, lead, discern, create, and care.
Those sound like opposites. They're not.
Getting both at once is the whole job of leadership in this era.
five principles for how
01
Principle 01 · Presence over panic
Stay curious.
Enter the room.
the question that changed our company: "could AI help with this?"
You cannot lead a moment you refuse to enter. Fifteen minutes a day with real work. That is how you build the judgment to know when the answer is no.
02
Principle 02 · Convictions before capabilities
Decide what it will never do.
automate tasks, not relationships
You will not develop convictions in the middle of a deadline. Write the never list before the pressure arrives. One page. Values with teeth.
03
Principle 03 · Human first, AI multiplied
Multiply people, don't subtract them.
scarcity asks "how many salaries can this save?" abundance asks "what could this person become?"
Your people are watching to see whether AI in your hands means they matter less or more. That perception gets set this year.
Why I believe this one in my chest
AI didn't replace my son's thinking. It removed the barrier that was blocking it.
the kitchen table, then and now
The second meaning of the title: your time
01What is your time producing?
02What is it costing?
03Who benefits from how you steward it?
the one asset given equally and never replenished
04
Principle 04 · Overflow is the point
Steward the dividend.
"you're not the owner. you're the manager. and managers give an account."
When a process drops from ten hours to two, decide out loud where the eight go. Unassigned margin always evaporates. If AI only makes you faster, you wasted the windfall.
05
Principle 05 · The provision question, answered
Anchor identity above output.
AI handles the what. leaders own the so what.
If your worth is your output, AI is an existential threat. If your worth is settled in Christ, AI is just leverage.
The channel is changing. The source is not.
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Hebrews 11:1
The five principles, one card
01Enter the roomFifteen minutes a day. Real work. Calibrate your judgment.
02Write the never listAutomate tasks, not relationships. Values with teeth.
03Multiply peopleRedeployment before reduction. Human first, AI multiplied.
04Steward the dividendName where the freed hours go, out loud, on purpose.
05Anchor identitySettle the provision question before the next board meeting.
For the year ahead: breathe
You're not behind.
US homes2.2%
of American households pay for an AI subscription.
US businesses25%
of businesses pay for AI. Three out of four haven't started.
The headlines feel late. The adoption data says early. And AI isn't a wave that crashes once and recedes: it's a rising tide. The question isn't "how do I catch up?" It's "how do I build a sustainable practice of learning and leading?" Consistent beats heroic.
What I'm confident about
You're holding appreciating assets.
Asset 01Trust
Everything AI floods the market with drops in value. Trust rises.
Asset 02Judgment
Average output is free now. Knowing what's right is not.
Asset 03Relationships
The machines aren't devaluing your humanity. They're repricing it upward.
One year from now: two leaders, same tools
The difference was never the technology.
Held back. Stayed vague with the team. Let fear set the culture by default.
Entered the room. Wrote the convictions. Told their people they matter more, not less. Pointed the dividend at things that last.
both of them voted
Where we started this week
Faith is leaning in when it's easier to hold back.
holding back is still a vote. it's a vote to be shaped.
For such a time as this
It's time
to lead.
unafraid of the future, because you know who holds it
