The past year has brought more than its share of hardship and trial. I don’t think any of us would choose to relive it if given the option. But seeing through the eyes of faith means we are able to look at it all and trust that the Lord has indeed been at work in all of it. It means coming to terms with the fact that none of us know the mind of God. His hand of providence can indeed be heavy and mysterious.
It all seemed to happen so fast. One winter weekend early last year, I was teaching my Sunday school class at church. As usual, we were sharing prayer requests at the beginning of our time together. One of our members, a woman from East Asia, asked for prayer for her church back home which had been forced to suspend their in-person gatherings due to a rapidly spreading virus. At the time, it seemed like such a distant reality, one that most of us had a hard time grasping in our own understanding and imagination. Within a matter of weeks, even days, things changed dramatically around the world, including right here in Louisville.
It was one year ago today that our leadership team met and made the decision to send students home, to move employees to remote work models, and to take all of our classes to online platforms. Our president led the entire institution through a whirlwind of decisions that had to be made, many of them with urgency and information that was coming to us incrementally. Early on, we sensed this was a massive disruptor, one that had the potential to destabilize broad sectors of American society, including education.
Of course, we could never begin to imagine what the twelve months to follow would be like. The shockwaves of a global pandemic left no corner of our lives untouched.
I would never choose to relive the past twelve months. But the Lord has graciously brought opportunities for growth in all of them.
The Pandemic Has Been a Stress Test
Early on, I remember telling fellow leaders, both at work and at church, that we were at the beginning of what we should expect to be a stress test, which would provide us with some helpful diagnostics about our organizations. Little did I know how true that would prove.
Stress tests are never particularly enjoyable. After all, the whole concept is predicated upon elevating the pressure or stress on a subject so as to reveal any internal deficiencies of health or vitality. The idea is that when things are “normal” those deficiencies can hide, going unnoticed for lengthy periods of time, but meanwhile growing stronger and deadlier.
Of course, stress tests can also reveal strengths we did not know were there. I have seen firsthand how colleagues have stepped up, taken on additional responsibilities, provided servant leadership where needed, and shown previously unseen abilities or gifting. You learn a lot about an organizational culture when it is subjected to this kind of pressure. Team members will either turn against one another or draw closer together. They will either turn inward, fixating on their own frustrations and fears, or they will turn outward, actively seeking ways to care for the needs of others within their orbit. In my own context, I have been amazed at how colleagues have joined together to advance our mission and done so with joy and hope in the Lord. In particular, our faculty and staff have been extraordinary, demonstrating a unity of conviction and purpose that feels almost historic.
I wish I could tell you I only saw positive test results. But that would be far from the truth. In so many ways, the stress test of the pandemic has revealed dysfunction. This is true of our national life, just as it is of our institutions. The acrimony and bitterness that has marked so much of our public life—culminating in an actual mob insurrection in our nation’s capital—was brought to the fore under these pressures. The pandemic did not create these dynamics, it merely revealed them.
That kind of revelation has been traumatic for many. Organizations and businesses have been faced with difficult, even excruciating, decisions. Conflict is inevitable and to be expected in these stress test scenarios. Some are surprised by the presence of conflict. But the real symptom to watch for is how the organization handles the emerging conflict. Passivity and fear have prompted far too many leaders to surrender their responsibility in an attempt to placate the loudest and most disgruntled voices. Admittedly, many organizations could never have anticipated all that would emerge in the context of COVID-19. But leadership demands the ability to quickly assess what is happening and to respond decisively with the necessary strategy.