On Thursday, Aug. 3, pastor and author Albert Tate shared a transparent message with attendees of the Global Leadership Summit (GLS), providing encouragement to leaders who are discouraged or overwhelmed.
“If I’m honest, I’ve had a really hard year for about three years,” Tate, co-founder and pastor of Fellowship Church in Los Angeles County, admitted at the beginning of his talk.
Tate went on to joke that one of his more recent struggles has been that his new book, “Disobedient God: Trusting a God Who Goes Off-Script,” was released on the same day as T.D. Jakes’ new book, “Disruptive Thinking: A Daring Strategy to Change How We Live, Lead, and Love,” adding that the two pastors have the same publisher and same marketing team.
Noting that he saw via an Instagram post that Jakes’ new work was promoted on a jumbotron at Times Square, Tate joked, “Y’all could have at least called me. I could have come over and stood in the back with my book and just, ‘Cheese!’ Just smiled. Just let me get in a selfie. Tag me on Instagram or something!”
On a more serious note, Tate expressed that he has been enduring a difficult season of leadership, causing him to wonder how it could be that he is a featured speaker at the world’s largest leadership gathering when he feels like he isn’t even leading well.
Albert Tate on Finding Encouragement During a Difficult Season of Leadership
“The year really has been rough,” Tate said. “Some personal struggles, organizational struggles, challenges with navigating family and trying to find balance and priorities.”
Nevertheless, Tate recounted having lunch with Craig Groeschel, whom Tate considers a mentor, and telling Groeschel about his current leadership struggles. After asking Tate how many years he had been pastoring Fellowship Church, Groeschel revealed that his most difficult years in leadership came during the season of life in which Tate currently finds himself.
“I was like, ‘Yo, that’s amazing,’” Tate exclaimed, indicating that it was a relief to find out he wasn’t alone. Noting Groeschel’s transparency, Tate said, “It lets me know that you can have a hard season and still be a good leader.”
“My charge to you is to lead where you are, regardless of if that’s from a bad place, from a struggling place, from a discouraged place,” Tate said. “Lead where you are.”
Calling on the Old Testament account in which God provided daily bread, called “manna,” to the people of Israel and comparing it to both the joys and struggles of life, Tate said, “This is what God has provided for today.”
“And I guess what I want to say is, lead from right where you are, trusting God’s portion of manna for the day. He’s given you what you need for the day,” Tate said, pointing out that the people of Israel were strictly instructed only to gather the amount of manna they needed for the day, rather than storing it up for the coming days.
