The Leadership Arc: The Leadership Pipeline Process as Story

I love a good story. One filled with adventures and turns, where plot twists wait in the next chapter—and where, even when the hero stumbles, we watch them persevere and overcome whatever life throws their way. I’m captivated by stories of protagonists overcoming stacked odds with the help of supporting characters who shine like stars on a dark night, who stand selflessly alongside them. And the stories where you sense the character will find their way—to the right place, the right path—those are the ones that inspire me most, even when my own life feels like a sailboat lost in the middle of a storm.

Perhaps it’s just me, but I am often more drawn to the supporting character than the protagonist. Where would Frodo have ended up without Samwise’s unfailing support? Would Anne of Green Gables have accomplished what she did without the unwavering love and care of her friend Diana? And where would Harry Potter be without the emotional trust, support, and challenges of Hermione?

But what is it about those characters that helped set these heroes into motion in the first place? Would Frodo have completed his mission if it hadn’t been for Gandalf sending him off, encouraging him along the way, and believing in him? Would Harry Potter have been the hero without Mrs. Weasley kindly guiding Harry to Platform 9 3/4 his first year at Hogwarts? And what about the apostle Paul? Would he have become the hero of faith had God not stepped into his life and called him by name?

When I think about my own life—the places God has set me, the people He has placed around me—I don’t always know precisely the role I will play in someone else’s story. But trusting that He has placed me here helps me trust He has written a story that allows our lives to impact one another. Trusting that God has a purpose not only for me but also for choosing to work in and through me, inspires me to believe that calling, empowering, entrusting, and challenging others might be the catalyst that allows them to play a bigger role in someone else’s story.

I haven’t always felt this way. I’ve felt the tension firsthand when I’ve been asked to discuss someone’s potential with others. Planning a meeting with other leaders specifically to talk through someone’s next steps has sometimes felt forced or inorganic. Does that make these planned conversations disingenuous? Perhaps not. Intentionality is not the opposite of authenticity. What’s helped me think about these conversations differently is thinking about them in terms of the character and leadership arc God is writing for them. When I view my life and theirs as characters in God’s story, I never know which role I may play. A question, a challenge, or an invitation might be the precise catalyst God might use for their next adventure.

The path my life has taken has been marked by God allowing it to arc and intersect with others—some for a season, some for just a moment. The Leadership Pipeline Process can feel daunting, but it’s an intersection of my story with the story God is writing in others’ lives.

Identifying needs within our ministries can feel challenging or even unnecessary (after all, we all know there are needs), but naming the gaps is the first step on the journey. How could Frodo have been sent on a mission to destroy the ring if no one had first recognized what was at stake?

Assessing who might fill those needs means paying attention to where God is already at work in people’s lives and inviting them to take their next step. Although the prophecy marked Harry Potter’s life, he was still given the opportunity to make choices that shaped his story and developed him into the person who ultimately sacrificed himself to save those around him. In much the same way, we are not assigning roles but rather inviting people into growth, trusting that God will use both their calling and their choices to shape who they are becoming.

Developing those identified individuals is creating space for people’s stories to continue unfolding in ways that might go far beyond anything we could have imagined. This is the heart of the Leadership Pipeline: seeing where God is already at work and coming alongside others to take their next step. Similarly, after God called Paul, the people and journeys he encountered shaped his life as a story of lasting faith and impact.

When we find ourselves in a process like the Leadership Pipeline, let’s not shrink back from allowing our story to intersect with those around us. Let’s choose to see the conversation before us not as a task to complete, but as an opportunity to step into a new story—contributing to a chapter, a page, or even a single sentence as it unfolds. We may not know the arc someone else is on, but God can use these moments—the questions, the challenges, the invitations toward next steps—to shape a new and beautiful story in them and in us.

I wonder—what might it look like for you to approach your next conversation as a moment of story, not just a step in a process?