You've been in ministry long enough to know what forward feels like.
Does it feel like that right now?
Not spiritually.
Not theologically.
Operationally.
Is your church actually moving toward something...
or just staying very active in the general vicinity of progress?
There's a framework I came across from a performance coach named Dusan Djukich that I haven't been able to shake.
He says every leader, every person really, is operating from one of three patterns.
The circle.
The zigzag.
The straight line.
Once you see it, you can't unsee it.
And you'll probably diagnose yourself before you finish this article...
which is helpful, but also a little offensive.
The Circle: Exhausted and Exactly Where You Started
The circle pastor is not lazy.
Let's be clear about that.
He's busy.
Genuinely, measurably busy.
He's in every meeting.
Answering every email.
Processing, discussing, praying over, and conferencing about everything that needs to change.
He's read the books.
He's attended the conference.
He came home fired up and highlighted his notes like a man who had finally found the missing key to ministry momentum.
His small group structure has been "in transition" for fourteen months (which is a polished ministry phrase meaning nobody is totally sure what the plan is) but everyone is trying to sound mature about it.
His staff has sat through three vision-casting sessions this year...
And can now detect a new strategic initiative by the tone of his opening prayer.
His personal health goals get revisited every January 1st with deep sincerity...
(and the occasional purchase of boneless skinless chicken breast).
And yet.
Same place.
The circle isn't the absence of movement. It's movement that curves back on itself.
You cover ground, burn energy, log miles, and return to the starting point.
It's a treadmill with a church logo on it.
Here's what makes the circle genuinely dangerous for pastors:
It has spiritual cover.
Endless processing gets called "being prayerful."
Perpetual discussion gets called "seeking counsel."
Chronic indecision gets called "waiting on the Lord."
Meanwhile, the Lord may be wondering why this has required four meetings, two follow-up calls, and a whiteboard.
Nobody questions the pastor who's always in a meeting.
Nobody pushes back on the guy who says he's "still seeking clarity."
The circle is the only trap that looks like faithfulness from the outside.
Which is exactly why so many good pastors live there for years.
Not because they don't care.
Because they do.
And because circles feel strangely responsible when everybody around you is also carrying a notebook.
The Zigzag: Sincere, Scattered, and Secretly Exhausting to Follow
The zigzag pastor is not confused about his calling.
He's just committed to too many versions of it simultaneously.
Sunday's sermon fired him up about evangelism.
Monday he's restructuring the outreach team.
Tuesday, Brother Calvin from the deacon board raises a concern about internal discipleship.
By Wednesday it's all about small groups.
Thursday a guest speaker on generosity wrecks him in the best way.
The giving campaign is now the priority.
By Friday, someone mentions young families and now he's pricing playground mulch with apostolic intensity.
His staff is not unmotivated...
They're just quietly waiting to find out what this week's B is before they laminate anything for last week's.
They've learned to nod with enthusiasm while keeping their emotional bags unpacked.
The zigzag shows up in personal health too.
Keto for three weeks.
Then intermittent fasting.
Then someone's podcast convinces you to try a different protocol.
Then nothing.
Because the thing didn't stick...
and starting over feels embarrassing.
Then you buy electrolytes with a name that sounds like military hardware and promise yourself this time it's different.
The zigzag isn't a character flaw.
It's an unanchored leader responding to the loudest signal in the room.
And in ministry, something is always loud.
A complaint is loud.
A trend is loud.
A conference speaker is loud.
A big church's Instagram strategy is very loud.
The difference between the zigzag and the straight line isn't intensity. It's direction.
The Straight Line: Not Who You Think It Is
Here's the reframe.
The straight-line pastor is not the driven, hard-charging, type-A guy who steamrolls his elders and never returns a text.
He might be quiet.
He might be the least impressive person in the room.
He might not even own a laser pointer.
But he knows his B.
He identified the objective for his church, his health, his family, his own formation, and he keeps returning to it.
Not perfectly.
Not without interruption.
He still gets the 11pm email from Brother Gerald about the thermostat, which apparently remains one of the most contested doctrines in Church life.
Sister Patrice still has thoughts about the worship set.
Deacon Ray is still deeply invested in the parking situation (as though the advance of the kingdom depends on diagonal striping).
None of that redirects him.
Because the straight-line leader made his decisions from intention, not reaction.
His inner stance, the position he operates from, was consciously chosen.
Djukich calls this the most important leadership distinction there is.
Not skill.
Not gifting.
Not vision.
Stance.
Where you "come from" (internally) determines the actions you take and the actions you don't take.
The straight-line pastor does the uncomfortable thing on Monday.
Not Thursday.
Not "when things settle down."
Monday.
Because things do not settle down.
That is not a season.
That is a fictional destination pastors keep trying to book.
The Gut-Punch Moment
Here's the part nobody wants to hear.
Sincerity does not disqualify you from the circle.
Busyness does not disqualify you from the circle.
A genuine love for your church does not disqualify you from the circle.
You can be completely exhausted, completely sincere, completely sacrificial,
and completely stuck.
The circle isn't populated by lazy pastors.
It's populated by good ones who never stopped to ask whether their motion was producing movement.
Pastors who love Jesus, love their people, and still somehow have a desk drawer full of postponed decisions and half-finished plans.
So here's the diagnostic...
Think about the three things that have been on your list the longest.
Not the newest items...
The ones that keep getting carried forward, week after week, quarter after quarter.
The ones you've rewritten so many times they no longer feel like tasks...
they feel like office décor.
Now ask yourself one question:
Is there a decision I've been postponing that, if I made it, would change everything (or, at least, many things at once)?
If yes, that's your straight line.
Everything else is the long way around it.
And some pastors have been taking the long way for so long they've started calling it discernment.
The Shift
You may not need a new system.
You may need a new stance.
Your stances have almost all been unconsciously assumed.
(Mine, too.)
You didn't choose "I need more information before I can act."
You didn't choose "I'll try to get to that."
You didn't choose "things will settle down and then I'll address it."
Those stances chose you.
And they've been running the show ever since.
Quietly.
Efficiently.
Like a church refrigerator nobody wants to clean out, but everybody somehow keeps contributing to.
The move is simple.
Not easy.
Simple.
Name your B.
The real one.
Not the aspirational one you put in the annual report.
Not the one that sounds impressive in a retreat notebook.
Not the one you'd print on a mug but never block on a calendar.
The specific result you want your church, your health, your marriage, your leadership to actually produce.
Then ask:
What is the one action, taken today, that moves me toward it?
Do that.
Not tomorrow.
Today.
Before another week disappears into "important conversations."
Bottom Line
You were called to lead people somewhere.
That's not a metaphor.
That's a direction.
And you cannot lead others in a straight line if you aren't living in one.
The circle is comfortable.
The zigzag feels responsive.
But neither one gets your church, your body, your family, or your calling to B.
You already know which pattern you're in.
You probably knew halfway through the Circle section and got a little uncomfortable during the thermostat part.
The question is whether you're willing to choose a different one.
Today's a good day to choose.
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