A New Breed of Piranha?

   

A decade ago there were 18 in the tank. In the end, it was just him. Some died; he ate the others. He was the lone survivor. He's gone now. But for the last 10 years, Bill the Piranha (pictured on top) witnessed almost every major decision made at Fellowship. From the vantage point of his tank in my office, Bill saw the highs and the lows of the church.

I named Bill in honor of my friend Bill Hybels. Bill (Hybels, not the piranha) typifies what it takes to survive in church leadership over the long haul. He's tough; he's tenacious; he's persistent. And it takes all of that to lead out in ministry.

To be a pastor, you've got to have the instincts of pygocentrus mattereri, commonly known as a piranha. You have to be willing and able to make cutting decisions and have a razor-sharp edge. You have to swim strong in the face of danger and go deep into waters that others want to avoid.

No one does that as well as Bill Hybels. He's a breed of leader who is tough, instinctive and persistent. Maybe it's the new breed of piranha we should all emulate: hybeletrus pastoreri.

Comments

[Beja Foster]

I remember when Dad brought Jenny and George home to my brother and I. They were goldfish, and we immediately loved them. After watching them swim around for awhile, Dad let us know that they wouldn't survive in the water they were swimming in because it wasn't treated. He lives in Alba (about 25 mins or less from Allaso Ranch), and has a small fish tank he dumped them in. We thought that the catfish would surely swallow them, and we would never see them again.

The next time we visited him was a few months later, and when we got there, he said, I wanna show you something. He walked us to the tank, and our feet left the ground because our goldfish that were tiny 2 inch long wimpy sized fish were bigger than the catfish. They had been eating everyone else.

When I hear your story about your piranha, it made me look back at that and see that like those goldfish, when God put me in seemingly unfair situations where I thought everything was at stake, but He was actually putting me in an environment where I was being grown to thrive.

God bless the entire Young family for being in tune with His will, and for your willingness to travel unpaved roads for building the Kingdom. Stay creative like your Creator!

[Jeb Buie]

I too had fish that lived much longer than expected. When the store owner I purchased my tank and fish from found out the types of fish I had in my tank- I was told that was impossible and that those fish would surely eat each other. I could only shrug and comment that they obviously didn’t know any better! They must have had a tenacious streak in them.

Tenacity is a vital trait for any leader, and from my perspective a trait rarely found anywhere. It’s a shame that in our current culture, people like Bill Hybels aren’t spoken of more often. I’m almost finished with your book High Definition Living, and Bill is certainly a walking example of those qualities.

Thanks for your insight- I’m struggling to Live the Dream!

[Ashley Jensen]

R.I.P Bill (the piranha, not the pastor)

I agree, Bill has stood the test of time... I just listened to one of his latest podcasts and he still has the goods to inspire others, he is the man when it comes to leadership.

[Henry Zonio]

Even more so, though, I think Bill has learned to be vulnerable, honest and teachable... all much more important qualities, I believe, in an effective leader with character.