I gave two special lectures to the graduating class. One was about “The Fish and the Pond,” and the other was about “Short-Term Projects.” Of course, I had talked about both subjects many times before, but this was the first time I presented them specifically as graduation lectures.
The first lecture, “The Fish and the Pond,” was about the relationship between people and the institution they belong to when they graduate and begin their ministry or other work.
Whether it is a church, a ministry, or another organization, something similar usually happens. When an organization first begins, ordinary people gather. This seems to be true both in Korea and here in Africa. But as time passes, new people come. Among them are people who are more capable, more intelligent, or have greater financial resources. In a simple word, the big fish begin to enter the pond.
And this is often where the real problem begins.
The pond may not be ready to receive the big fish. The institution may become confused or even feel threatened by the sudden arrival of people who are different from those who were there in the beginning. At that moment, the true test of leadership begins.
The important question is this:
Will we make the pond bigger, or will we drive the big fish away?
Every pastor and every organizational leader will eventually face this moment. If an organization is going to grow, it must be able to receive new people—and especially better and more capable people. If it cannot, the organization will eventually become stagnant and may slowly decline toward closure.
Why, then, do organizations sometimes have difficulty accepting bigger and better people?
One reason is vested interests. People who have been there from the beginning may feel that their position, influence, or authority is being threatened.
Another reason is the limited competence of the leader. Sometimes the problem is not the new person but the leader’s inability to manage, develop, and integrate someone who is more capable in certain areas.
These are essential leadership challenges. They are also among the most difficult moments because they require direct confrontation with ourselves and with others.
The second lecture was about “Short-Term Projects.” Here I shared some of my own experiences, especially the process of founding Melvin University. I based the lecture on a book I wrote, The 7 Principles for Short-Term Projects, and focused especially on the principles and exceptions that can help a short-term project succeed.
The students seemed to understand and accept both lectures very well.
I believe the reason was simple. These were not merely theories for them. They were challenges that would touch their lives immediately after graduation.
When they walked out of the graduation ceremony and entered society, whether into a church, a ministry, or another organization, they would encounter these very issues. They would have to deal with people, leadership, growth, competition, limitations, opportunities, and projects that must be started and completed.
In that sense, these were not simply lectures about ministry.
They were lectures about life after school.
I have also come this far by going through many of these same experiences. I have seen organizations grow, struggled with people and leadership, started new projects, faced unexpected challenges, and learned through both success and failure.
Therefore, when I spoke to these graduates, their concerns felt very close to my own.
Their questions were my questions.
Their challenges were challenges I had already faced.
And their future reminded me of my own journey.
That is why I wanted to emphasize these two lessons so strongly.
Graduation is not the end of learning. It is the beginning of discovering whether what we have learned can actually work in the real world.
And perhaps one of the greatest tests of leadership is not whether we can build a pond ourselves, but whether we can make the pond large enough for bigger fish to swim in it.