The Unbreakable Team

By Léonce Crump Jr.

Imagine being born in 1900. Your 14th birthday ushers in World War I, a cataclysm that rages until your 18th, leaving 22 million souls lost. Barely catching your breath, you’re slammed by the Spanish Flu, a pandemic that sweeps the globe until your 20th year, claiming a staggering 50 million lives. Then, on your 29th birthday, the Great Depression descends, with 25% unemployment and a 27% plunge in global GDP, a soul-crushing crisis that lingers until your 33rd birthday. And just as you think you might catch a break, at 39, World War II erupts. By your 45th birthday, another 75 million will be gone.

Most of us have reveled in extraordinary stability compared to that generation. But let’s confront a hard truth: stability is a fragile illusion, a fleeting exception, not the enduring rule. Disruption is the new normal. The relative calm of recent decades has been an anomaly, and we desperately need to adjust our expectations.

Any team, any organization, is perpetually one “hit” away from chaos, from the derailment of momentum, from the precipice of collapse. But God has called us to a good work, and we’ve invested too much, bled too much, to let it crumble. What we need now, what our teams are crying out for, is a secret weapon that forward-thinking Christians, psychologists and sociologists have long recognized: resilience.

Resilience—the ability to rebound from the mat, to recover from the wounds, to become stronger and more successful after facing adversity. It’s the capacity to stand tall, to keep moving forward, even after a crushing blow.

In today’s turbulent world, resilience isn’t just a desirable trait; it’s a nonnegotiable leadership imperative. If your church, ministry or organization is to navigate the swirling uncertainties of the future, you need to cultivate an unbreakable team, a resilient force that can weather any storm and even flourish in the process.

But how do we forge this resilience? How do we shift our mindset to not just accept disruption but to embrace it? How do we empower those we lead to do the same?

FIVE PILLARS OF UNBREAKABLE TEAMS

Here are five crucial principles, five foundational pillars, for building resilience in ourselves and in those we lead:

Embrace the inevitable disruption. The “old normal” is a ghost. We’re not returning to a comfortable, predictable past. Unpredictability is the new standard, the constant companion. In a stable environment, management might suffice. But in this era of relentless upheaval, leadership demands something more: innovation, imagination and, above all, the unwavering strength of resilience. Leaders must not cling to a bygone era but equip their teams not just to survive but to thrive amidst constant flux.

Accept the reality of distrust. The cultural landscape has shifted beneath our feet.

• Traditional leadership models and expectations are being fiercely challenged.
• Direction is often twisted into dominance.
• Clarity is misconstrued as control.
• Expectations are perceived as burdens.
• Accountability is branded as abuse.

While domineering, controlling and abusive leadership is, of course, utterly unacceptable, resilient leaders must acknowledge and accept the pervasive skepticism that exists. They must adapt their approach, rebuild trust from the ground up and navigate this new reality with wisdom and empathy.

Mine the pain, unearth the purpose. Even when you’ve endured unimaginable suffering, God’s work is not done. He has more for you, and He has more for your organization. The path forward, however, lies in confronting the pain head-on, in acknowledging the wounds that linger and finding, within those very scars, the strength to persevere.

Extraordinary visions are often forged in the crucible of pain. Take, for instance, the civil rights movement. While countless factors contributed to its rise, the barbaric murder of Emmett Till, and his mother’s unwavering insistence on an open-casket funeral in 1955, served as a catalyst, igniting a firestorm of righteous indignation. The nation was forced to confront the brutal reality of racial injustice, and a movement of transformative power was born.

Resilient leaders learn to mine their pain, to extract the gold of purpose from the dross of adversity and to channel their suffering into a driving force for positive change.

Focus on the sacred fight. What is the sacred fight that your team is truly engaged in? Is it:

• Providing clean water where it has never existed?
• Fostering authentic community in an increasingly isolated world?
• Finding a loving home for every orphan?
• Cultivating marriages that reflect God’s glory and not just fleeting happiness?
• Building families that withstand the relentless pressures of modern life?
• Creating workplaces where people find joy, purpose and fulfillment?
• Raising a generation of present, engaged and loving fathers?
• Shaping communities that journey together through the messiness of life?
• The promise of an eternal home in the presence of God?

Clarify your “big why.” Reconnect with the powerful purpose that once fueled the pioneers, the builders and the dreamers. This shared vision will serve as an unshakeable anchor for your team when the storms rage.

Embrace the courageous conversations. Most leaders know, deep down, that they need to have those difficult conversations: about calling, about alignment, about passion, about commitment levels. But they hesitate, they procrastinate, they avoid them like a plague. Resilient leaders, however, understand the fierce urgency of these conversations.

Reasons to embrace courageous conversations:

• It aligns with the core biblical principles of speaking the truth in love, practicing forgiveness, letting go of grudges and pursuing peace.
• Your mission is too vital, too sacred, to be hindered by unresolved issues and unspoken tensions.
• The right people will inevitably leave when the wrong people are allowed to linger, creating a toxic environment.
• It sets a standard of accountability, integrity and excellence, communicating the gravity of the work.
• It fosters a safe, healthy and thriving environment for all team members, protecting them from the damaging effects of low commitment, poor performance and mismatched talents.

Resilient leaders don’t cower from difficult conversations; they embrace them as opportunities for growth, clarity and deeper connection.

BUILDING FOR THE BRUISED, YET UNBROKEN

2019-2021 were, without a doubt, the most challenging years of my adult life. In 2019, the church my wife and I poured our hearts into, the church we planted with trembling hands, suffered an incredible disruption, triggered by a painful betrayal from a trusted member of our staff. The entire year became a relentless cycle of conflict, agonizing meetings and soul-wrenching mediation. Our church, our community, was deeply wounded, and our leadership was fiercely questioned.

Then, in 2020, as we were still reeling from the aftershocks of that crisis, the pandemic descended, forcing our church doors to close for over a year. And in the midst of that global upheaval, my dear friend and mentor, the one who walked alongside us through the fire of that terrible time, the one who held our hands and spoke words of hope, took his own life, overwhelmed by the cumulative losses he’d suffered over the previous decade.

And finally, in 2021, my younger brother, my confidant, my teammate, succumbed to his three-year battle with cancer. He was only 38 years old.

I share this with you, not seeking pity or praise, but to offer a testament to the power of resilience. When you intentionally forge resilience as a leader and cultivate it in your team, there truly is very little that can keep you down. You can stand tall against adversity. You can keep moving forward, even with the scars of the past etched upon your soul.

With God’s help, you and your team can navigate the relentless challenges of this post-pandemic world. You can press forward with unwavering faith toward the new vision God has placed within you.

The mission remains, but the landscape has shifted dramatically. Leaders who thrive in this brave new world will be those who cultivate resilience—in themselves and in those they lead. This is the key to building an unbreakable team, a force equipped to face anything and flourish in the process.