Many Christian leaders are “losing altitude” in ways that most of us do not see or understand.  When we “suddenly” hear of a respected executive in our church whose marriage has disintegrated, or a well-known pastor caught in moral indiscretion, we should remember these “crashes” are usually the result of numerous bad decisions made during a long, downward emotional, mental, and spiritual spiral.  Sometimes the leader was seeking help during his descent toward disaster.  Often it was concealed to everyone.

Biblical Leaders in Downward Drift

The Old Testament does not disguise the emotional struggles of Israel’s great leaders.  We read about Moses losing altitude when he became overwhelmed with the monumental task of leading God’s complaining people.  He asked God to kill him and put him out of his misery (Numbers 11:15).

The first king of Israel, the strong and impressive King Saul, lost altitude when he became jealous toward the young and popular David (1 Samuel 18:9–12).

More than once, David, the anointed future king, lost altitude from weariness over running from Saul.  On one occasion, he fled to a Philistine city.  Afraid for his life, he pretended to be insane, slobbering on himself and scratching the walls in a ploy to survive.  On another occasion, he fled again to a Philistine city where he made an alliance with these enemy armies, which led to deeper complexity and disaster (1 Samuel 27:1).  Leaders losing altitude can behave strangely and irrationally.

Even the prophet Elijah, the recipient of God’s direct revelation, lost altitude after an intense confrontation with the prophets of Baal at Mt. Carmel.  Alone in the wilderness, deeply fatigued and coping with the threats on his life by Queen Jezebel, he prayed that God would let him just die (1 Kings 19:4).

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul at one point gave up hope of survival in the face of the severe trials in the province of Asia (2 Corinthians 1:8).  Similarly, the young leader Timothy lost altitude when he was overtaken by fear amid the spiritual challenges of leading the church at Ephesus (2 Timothy 1:7).  Demas, a trusted associate of the apostle Paul, lost altitude when he began to fall in love with the things of the world.  Eventually he completely self-destructed, abandoning his ministry (2 Timothy 4:10).

These are just a few of the many stories that remind us of the vulnerability great leaders can experience during the storms of ministry and the pressures of responsibility.  This kind of spiritual vertigo is nothing new to human leadership.  Everyone in leadership, modern and ancient, proves faulty and susceptible to the downward spiral.

Trained to Trust

When pilots are preparing for their instrument rating, instructors go to great lengths to train them to thoroughly understand and trust the instruments.  Textbooks for flight students and aspiring pilots address the physical challenges of flight with great detail and candor.  They call these the “human factors” of flight and note that human factors account for over 80 percent of all accidents.  One textbook published by the Federal Aviation Administration warns that flying in poor conditions can “result in sensations that are misleading to the body’s sensory system. A safe pilot needs to understand these sensations and effectively counteract them."

Textbooks on flying typically address three of the body’s sensory systems: the visual (eyes), the vestibular (ears), and the postural (nerves).  The effectiveness and complexity of these systems are a testament to God’s profound creative work.  Each is essential to safe flight.  Yet the three systems are fallible.  This unreliability leads to disaster if a pilot is not keenly aware of aviation physiology and resolute in managing each physical system with great care.

Disorientation That Can Lead to Disaster

During flight in “visual meteorological conditions” (clear visibility), the pilot’s eyes are a primary orientation source that usually provide accurate and reliable input.  As one training manual states, “When these visual cues are taken away, false sensations can cause the pilot to become disoriented."

The pilot’s inner ear and nerves can send confusing signals.  When the sense of balance is off, it is called vestibular disorientation.  When the nervous system becomes confused, it is known as spatial disorientation.  This disorientation can cause a pilot to overcompensate for perceived plane-control problems in ways that can endanger the pilot and passengers.

The worst of these confused attempts leads to “graveyard spiral,” where the plane dives rapidly in a circular pattern.  The pilot is usually completely confused about what is going on prior to the resulting crash.

Pilots actually practice controlled maneuvers during their flight training to gain a comprehensive understanding of this danger of disorientation.  They must learn through these training experiences about their own susceptibility to disorientation – and that their subjective judgments about the direction, pitch, and turn of their aircraft based on bodily sensations are frequently false.  All of this leads to a greater confidence in relying on the flight instruments rather than their own subjective sensations.

In What Do We Trust?

The task of leadership has several fascinating parallels to the task of flying a plane.  Just as a pilot’s vision can be restricted by poor weather or unusual conditions, so a leader’s perception of a given situation can be limited and flawed.  Just as the physiology of the inner ear can become confused, so a leader’s inner voice can give input that is confusing and erroneous.  And just as a pilot’s nervous system can misinterpret the environment, so a leader’s emotions can create subjective scenarios that lead to bad decisions.

Trusting our flawed perceptions, our confused internal conversations, and our wide range of emotions feels natural, but is ultimately perilous.

Choosing to Trust the Instruments

One popular textbook for pilots tells of the early airmail planes with limited navigation equipment, flown during an era when weather information often was unavailable.  Of the first forty aviators hired to fly the mail, thirty-one were killed while flying.  The reason:  Their planes were not equipped with the proper instruments and navigation equipment to allow pilots to safely fly in the clouds or in low visibility conditions.

So what instruments do we need to lift off and climb above the storms when they come? In my book, Defying Gravity – How to Survive the Storms of Pastoral Ministry, I describe a “leadership instrument panel” that presents nine vital areas of concern for the enduring leader.

1.  Applied Truth

2. Spiritual Intimacy

3. Personal Integrity

4. Biblical Identity

5. Genuine Accountability

6. Eternal Significance

7. Healthy Family Life

8. Indispensable Pain

9. A Captivating Call

Your gauges may be different – but I pray you identify them and trust them as you look intently into the unchanging and life-giving Word of God.  Proverbs 3:5 reminds us, “Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.” (AMP)

In life and leadership, storms are inevitable.  Survival is optional.  Victory and endurance are possible – and promised – as we trust the things we know to be true, available to us in the person, presence, and promises of Jesus Christ.