Christian Leadership and Resiliency

Bold Decisions: Leading with Faith, Not Fear

Romeo Life Coach

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Bold Decisions: Leading with Faith, Not Fear

Fear holds us back. It paralyzes our decisions and prevents us from stepping into the leadership God has called us to. But what if you could make bold, courageous decisions, not out of arrogance, but from a place of righteousness, love, and a sound mind? Join us as we explore how Christian leaders can move past the fear of failure to lead with the boldness of a lion. 

In this powerful episode of the Christian Leadership and Resiliency podcast, Christine Agaibi and Romeo El Chaer dive deep into what it means to make bold decisions through faith. They tackle the common fear of failure that paralyzes leaders and discuss the difference between true boldness and arrogance.

Drawing on powerful scriptures like 2 Timothy 1:7 and Proverbs 28:1, they reveal that Christian boldness is rooted in love, a sound mind, and God's power. The discussion also highlights the incredible story of Queen Esther, who made a life-saving, bold decision, and explores the importance of building trust and rapport with your team. This episode challenges leaders to reflect on the legacy they want to leave and to be humble, self-aware, and loving as they sharpen and elevate those around them.

#ChristianLeadership #BoldDecisions #ChristianPodcast #FaithNotFear #Resiliency #LeadershipDevelopment #2Timothy1_7 #Proverbs28_1 #Boldness #ChristianLife #LeadWithLove #CourageousLeadership #Esther #Caresilience 

Dr. Christine E. Agaibi -  M.A. & PhD Training in Counseling Psychology
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Romeo El Chaer - Keynote Speaker - Resilience Through Faith - Life Coach
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Welcome to the Christian Leadership and Resilience Podcast, where faith meets leadership and resilience is more than just a mindset. It's a calling. I'm Romeo Char. And I'm Christina Gebe. And we are here to guide you through real conversations that equip you to lead fearlessly, serve humbly and rise strongly, no matter the challenges ahead. Every episode we dive into stories, principles, and practical tools rooted in scripture and lived experience to help you grow as a Christian leader.

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Hello. Today we're coming back to talk to all of you about another wonderful topic related to Christian leadership and resilience. Today we're gonna be talking about making bold decisions through faith, which has a lot to do with how do we make decisions when things are hard? Oftentimes, leaders hesitate to make big decisions. They're afraid of failure. They're afraid of doing the wrong thing. And fear can be quite paralyzing or can make us fight or flee or fawn and we don't make any decisions. So today we're gonna be discussing this topic and looking forward to another discussion with you, Romeo, about this interesting and wonderful

RomeoElChaer.com

Good

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

topic that leads us to more resilience.

RomeoElChaer.com

is, this is gonna be a tough one. You know, it's, and I like it so much because, you know, being bold these days, it can be some people, like I've heard, like I don't want to offend others. It's like. Wait a minute. You know, being bold, just being bold, it's like it's, there is a difference between being bold and being arrogant, or being bold and being rude. bold is just standing for things that you think that this expresses you. And if in a small bit of politeness and backed up with values, that's what makes it really amazing. And just how it goes, you know? That's how I see the boldness. It starts there. It has this softness, this beautiful thing.

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

I agree. I think we have to be firm and standing behind our decisions. And that means to think about it wisely. It doesn't mean we have to make a quick decision, but we have to think about our decisions wisely. Again, using the integrity that we talked about last week. And I think the verse that really captures what boldness is from 2 Timothy 1:1 one or chapter one, verse seven. For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of sound mind. And the word fear there has also in other translations is. Timid. So just being a little bit, scared or worried maybe about what you're saying. It is normal to think about things sometimes when we're making wise decisions, but then some people don't take decisions at all or. Pass that decision to somebody else or wait till a decision is made for you. And those kinds of things, again, can be quite paralyzing and no decision is made at all. So today we're gonna be discussing several different characters in the Bible that were bold in their decision making. And for example, I would like to talk about Esther because she ended up saving an entire nation by her boldness. What do you think Romeo?

RomeoElChaer.com

you know, you said something very important in the scripture. There's three things that I just, I had to write them down. Power, then love, then sound mind. This is the

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Mm-hmm.

RomeoElChaer.com

way to explain the boldness that I was talking about. You know, it's like we need to stand out for what we think and, you know, when you do this from the perspective of the Bible and faith, it's mixed with love and understanding without judging and without imposing, like, shoveling things into the other person's throat. It's just. You know, expressing things not to hide it. And I will give you one of the examples that the first time I just encountered this here in the state I was with knight of Columbus brothers of mine, we were standing doing a Tutsi Rolls fundraising. And we were like in front of the big shopping malls. And everything was going fine. And like I noticed that my brothers, they Won't be saying it like some words like, God bless you on mentioning God, or something like that. And I was like, what? Okay. And I asked them, guys, have a question for you. And this was after arriving to the state, like maybe a year. I asked them why when you like someone like donate, why you don't say like, God bless you, or something like that. one of them, he said to me, we don't want to offend others. I stopped for like, I was like, It's like, wait a minute now I am offended. Guys, we are Knights of Columbus, so people know we are what we represent and what the message that we support. by not saying that, it's like I am the one offended, like, like you're telling me. Don't say that out loud. Well, I'm gonna say it out loud. God bless you. I'm not insulting them if they don't believe in God. This is, this is their opinion. It's their thing, and I respect this because God gave that free will to believe or not to follow him or not. It's not me for me to judge, but for me as a Christian in faith, I will always wish that God will be with every single human being on this planet.'cause that's what I believe in. And there's no harm in wishing because God is good.

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yeah.

RomeoElChaer.com

it is not like you the devil to be with you. It's like wishing you God, the goodness, the power, the love, the infinity, the grace. It's everything. Good. that's kind of thing that I encountered here, what that, me at the beginning. And now I'll ask, you know, all the. For all the leaders out there for the decision making, how, how bold are you willing to put your idea out there make it heard by others make a change and of course when I say put your idea out, it's when it's mixed with power, love, and sound mind, because that's wisdom by all means.

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yes.

RomeoElChaer.com

That's how I see it.

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Indeed, because there's still the kindness there, but you are making a decision that could impact your company, impact employees, impact other people. So that's where we again, lean on the integrity that we talked about last week. A good leader has to have integrity, but then. Use that integrity to make good decisions. And again, in the case of Esther, for example, she could have been killed herself because she was not called to approach the king, and she decided to approach him anyway in order to save her people. And that was a bold and scary decision, but she took it and saved her entire. All the people that could have been, killed because of the evilness of others when that judgment came down. So it's going to be about discernment also, like this decision could impact a lot of people, but if I'm rooted in that integrity, rooted in love and power and sound mind as you're saying. Then I'm making a good decision. Even if it is not the popular one, it is still a good decision and I think that's where people sometimes get a little trepidatious. It's not the popular decision. And so therefore I'm just gonna follow the crowd and follow the rest of everybody else. But that's not necessarily the right decision. Just because you're following a group doesn't mean it's correct. And there is a group mentality that we talk about often in psychology that people just follow the crowd without thinking, is this good or is this not good? So it really is truly about being discerning, even if it's not a popular decision, but it's rooted in good discernment, good wisdom, good integrity, love, kindness, those things. It is the right decision.

RomeoElChaer.com

If boldness is not built on these elements, it's gonna be rude. It's gonna be like. You know, imposing it on others and that's not kind of love and respect, it's just imposing. Like am the one that I have the truth, I have the right to do so and I will do it. You like it or not? That's kind of boldness that we don't want to impose because you know, after all, we are dealing with people and as a decision makers, as leaders, we are touching souls. So we, with those decisions, we can crush them. we can elevate them. when you approach your team or your company about some new ideas or some bold decisions, it needs to be built on the love and, and, and sound mind. Like that's the wisdom and that's what Ester did. She knew that if she don't do that, people will die. So because of her love, she approached death. Literally, decided to confront the king, Hey, this is not how it's gonna be done. that's because of that boldness and because of the love, she knew how to approach the king, but behind the scenes there was something there, which is so

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Mm-hmm.

RomeoElChaer.com

She did it with faith. If she relied on herself, believe me, as humans, we can say the wrong words most of the times and do the, it turned to be a wicked

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yes.

RomeoElChaer.com

instead of being a sound approach. And that's where I want to go to this scripture that, when I read it, it was like mind blowing. it's from the Proverbs 28. One, the wicked man flees though, no one pursues, the righteous are as bold as a lion. We are called

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yes.

RomeoElChaer.com

be lions in decision making, not to devour others, of course, because,

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Mm-hmm.

RomeoElChaer.com

it's just to lead others into the. The safety shore into that leap of faith to take them from A to B in a safe but bold way. Because you have to push forward to make things happen. We cannot just sit on our seat think that, yeah, we need to move that wheel. You have to push the wheel to start, you know, you cannot adjust it there. It's all combining, you know, it's all connecting.

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

It is, and with leaders who are trying to lead a team, and also again, from a Christian perspective, but also from this boldness perspective, we want to have a good relationship with that team first because they're not gonna. Trust your bold decisions unless you have built a good relationship and a good rapport first. And so even that's how we rely on God. We trust God. Um, we lean not on our own understanding as the verse and proverb says. And because we know all things are going to work together for good and we have faith and we trust him, we know that. If we're asking for guidance to make a certain decision, he will guide us towards the right path. And then likewise, we are able to lead others. And so one of the best ways, even when I talk with parents about how to parent their children. And how to lead their children correctly with also believing in their bold decisions. As parents, you have to have a lot of respect and a lot of love. So again, it goes back to those same elements, and even the research supports that, that when we respect others and we care about them at the same time and we give them kind of rules or parameters to follow, they're more likely to follow it because they now trust us and trust our perspective. So. You know, despite that sometimes things may be challenging and we have to make a bold decision, and sometimes it feels like there's no right decision here. But yes, you approach it with faith and know that God is gonna turn all things for good and you're gonna make the best decision possible after you've thought about it, after you've been discerning about it, after you've considered other people's opinions who's gonna be impacted here. And then you make this decision and you go with it, and you stick by it. And that leads us to the correct path of how to move the situation forward.

RomeoElChaer.com

In the Christian values is to fear God. And with the last,

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Mm-hmm.

RomeoElChaer.com

What call this of the com, the 11th commandment I which is the summary of the 10 Commandments. Love each other as I loved you. It's just the way that wisdom of a leader needs to approach his team and building that rapport if it's built on that. There will be respect. You know, it's a mutual respect and teams need the leaders to see them, to appreciate them, to elevate them. And nowadays these things are not happening, there's some leaders that are doing it, but there's other leaders and encountered those leaders, not directly to me. I I took that poison anyway, but didn't let it get me. But I've seen that in people. I know they are living in the corporate world and they will, they are extremely under stress and anxiety because that duality in how their leaders, their direct bosses are dealing with them. Instead of uplifting them, telling them where they are doing good and how they are doing it, and then say, but you know, there is this thing that you can improve, but what's happening? And that's was astonishing. I was surprised. They leave everything that this person is doing. For the organization and they just highlight on something that even it's not relevant to the job. Like imagine saving a life

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yes.

RomeoElChaer.com

someone comes to you and say, you know what? You had a type of that you didn't put the comma in the right place. What? This is what you're criticizing me instead of telling me like, you did a great job. You saved a life. That's, that's cruel. That's cruelty.

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yeah. I.

RomeoElChaer.com

I saw like team building, then the boss goes and destroy the whole like individually the people working there. And I think this comes from a mis about, know, if we push. If we push over the limit, they can give more. If we push hard, the person will give more. Actually, it's the

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yeah.

RomeoElChaer.com

If you push more, you're crushing their souls

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yes.

RomeoElChaer.com

they won't be able to deliver with

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yes.

RomeoElChaer.com

care, with wisdom. They're gonna be like every step on all the way now because. You always showed the, the mistakes.

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Mm-hmm.

RomeoElChaer.com

you didn't support them when they need, when they did good. Make a balance. Okay. You don't want to be the easy boss. Fine. But find a balance. You know, explain how to improve with those mistakes that happen, but also show the success, the accomplishment, the achievement that that person did, because. If you do this, you'll not go as for a raise, it just will be personal satisfaction achievement. Like I'm doing it, I'm doing a progress. Then they will focus on let's make it perfect by eliminating those mistakes. That's how you elevate your team, not by crushing them. And I'm seeing this Christine, and people are coming to me and

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yes,

RomeoElChaer.com

you know, as a coach and telling me about this and this is really frustrating, and I feel with them and like, why are you doing this? Why?

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

yes.

RomeoElChaer.com

That's what I would approach.

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yeah. It is very important to focus. It's very important to focus on people's strengths, what they already do well, and what they bring to the table. What part of their personality or characteristics are important. Bold decision making is take, is the courage to act. Yes, but courage. What's interesting about boldness and courage is that you're, you know, you're facing this potentially difficult situation. Not in a cruel way, like you said, but in a way that uplifts this other person focuses on their strengths, using their strengths to identify what potential weaknesses they have and how to fix those with the strengths. But like you said, you're right. People tend to push people to the point of burnout, which is interestingly enough, another topic we have coming up. And that doesn't, that isn't really boldness. You aren't a leader. By just bearing down on people and asking them to submit and not taking their opinion and not looking at their strengths and not looking at what makes them the leaders in and of themselves, like what do they bring to the table to help this organization along or your business along. They must bring something positive to the table, but people, like you're saying, are not focusing on that, and they think that boldness means. I have to tell my subordinates to submit and they don't have any strengths and I'm the only one that knows everything, which unfortunately is ego, not strength, not boldness, not any of that. It's all ego and it's not the way to lead anyone.

RomeoElChaer.com

I had this conversation with one of the, bosses in one of big, organizations he fired one of the three because of that attitude. He didn't know. Yeah. He saw always the part that when he

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yeah.

RomeoElChaer.com

that person. then things started to go from below, like started to complain and then he opened an investigation.

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Mm-hmm.

RomeoElChaer.com

third in command, was really very well positioned. He was sent out in a very. Polite way it was sent home. Yeah. So that's where, you

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yeah.

RomeoElChaer.com

that

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Mm-hmm.

RomeoElChaer.com

We all admire success and achievements and you know, in corporate level, when you go to higher ranks, it's kind of an achievement and that's is built on decisions. But for decision makers out there, leaders, we are meant to lead others and not to walk on their bodies. We are not here to kill the souls. We need to

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yes.

RomeoElChaer.com

that leadership spirit within them. Because when you grow up in your ranks, those team also needs to grow in the ranks

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Mm-hmm.

RomeoElChaer.com

You will have some people that they're gonna lead behind you.

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Mm-hmm.

RomeoElChaer.com

And what's the more legacy you can have

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yes.

RomeoElChaer.com

team members lead the way you led them? That's a legacy. That's the achievement. That's the power of being a leader with a good decision making being bold, gentle, respectful, caring, loving those people that they have not only skills, they have spirits, they have souls, they have families, they have dignity, they have respect. We need to all these element. Needs to be combined when we do both decisions so we can elevate those people. And that's how God dealt with us. He still see telling us, you are so worthy in my eyes. And for that I sent my son to die so you can be safe because I know that you cannot, you know, just humans.

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Mm-hmm.

RomeoElChaer.com

so I can elevate you and telling you how worried you are, even if that meant for my son to die for you. That's how the leader, we need to sacrifice and

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yeah.

RomeoElChaer.com

That's how things go.

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yes. A good leader, definitely sacrifices. I mean, even the verse Christ said, I did not come to serve, but to serve others, not to be served. And so a leader, you know what better example of a leader than Christ? Very humble, but had a large following because of his kindness, his strength. I always talk about gentle strength, which sounds like a. Kind of an oxymoron and opposite, but you can be gentle and strong and Christ is an example of that. But as you're saying, sacrificial, knowing the needs of the people, having empathy, having understanding of what somebody may be experiencing or going through. And again, not barreling down on people, but having wisdom and having discernment, and having kindness and gentleness and all the fruits of the Holy Spirit, if you think about it, long suffering and gentleness and kindness and self-control. All those fruits of the spirit also come into this bold leadership because you're leading by example, by your own character, by your own personality, by your own growth. And if your character is corrupt or harsh or breaking, you're not gonna get very far with your team. And I've seen even in my own work over my many years of training, some places are a revolving door. People come in and they're very short lived there, and they leave. And why is that? It's because the head, the leader is not. Taking their skills and talents that they already have and sharpening them. Instead, they're putting them down or they're unkind or they're distant or they're not listening, and that kind of job becomes a revolving door and people leave. And then they wonder, why doesn't anybody stay? Nobody stays at your job because you're not leading them correctly. You're putting them down. You're not being a bold leader, you're not doing any of these things. And so I've seen it in many places that I've worked, but then other places where the leader in the head is good. People stay. People grow, people reach their full potential and beyond. And they stay for as long as they can grow. I think that is what bold leadership is about.

RomeoElChaer.com

You are

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

People will stay as long as they're growing.

RomeoElChaer.com

you are throwing just jewels. You know you mentioned the iron, I just, I

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Thank you.

RomeoElChaer.com

that iron sharpen iron? So, you know, as being

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Iron?

RomeoElChaer.com

as a

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yes.

RomeoElChaer.com

you need, you know, being bold. That means you are made from a good iron. You know, you're solid, you are bad. You need to sharpen the iron to, and for others, you need to sharpen them, to make them also leaders

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yeah.

RomeoElChaer.com

sharpen, you just hit, you're gonna break that. Yeah, and we don't want to break them. We need to sharpen them.

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yep.

RomeoElChaer.com

Different

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Mm-hmm.

RomeoElChaer.com

noticed, you know that lately the study stays that now the average of people working in corporations is like three to five years. It's very low. So the rotation is high. I've seen it so many places, you know, I worked as an employee for a short period of time, but I've seen. How people are crushed and you won't believe. It's like they expect from you. They, they just, when you're in, it's like the big smiles and then when you are inside, boom, boom, boom, boom. They start hitting you hard. wait a minute, they just like the first month, they want you to make like amount of achievements. And I was, and I wasn't dealing with this because I was.

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yes.

RomeoElChaer.com

in the, in, in, I had, when I was in Lebanon, in our diocese, I opened with the bishop an office for recruiting office. And it was to help for free the community so they can find jobs and work with the dignity instead of asking help from here and there. And it was, you know, you need to work on people. People, they have feelings and they are. to be respected and not to be And you know, with all the human resources that I, managers or business owners, I talk to them there is between six to 12 month. So really the employee, the new recruited employee to start being productive, that's the norm. That's, everybody knows the rules, but unfortunately what's happening that. They want that, that person in three months to be fully functional. And that won't happen because that, you know, you need, this is human being that is being adapted to needs, time to adapt to the functions and how the process is working. If you miss that point and you push them over the edge, he will say, okay, thank you.

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yes.

RomeoElChaer.com

So all you will leave, all that person will leave.

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Mm-hmm.

RomeoElChaer.com

the cost having a new recruit. It's high it's an average of$200,000 in the state. That's the cost.

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

We have to know the value of people too. Yeah. Not just a monetary value, but people are humans. We have to understand the value of what you are bringing in. And that as you are sharpening them with these bold decisions, not to take them to the breaking point. And a bold leader knows where that breaking point is for each individual person. And again, not sending them to burnout, which we will talk about, but again, sharpening and helping them to grow slowly, incrementally. What are the hallmarks of resilience that we've talked about? Flexibility, adaptability, and learning. And so am I teaching these people so that they can learn? Are they adaptable to this position and are they growing? Are they flexible? And so a bold leader encourages those characteristics in us. And again, Christ is doing the same thing with us. God is doing the same thing with us when we're growing. We're not expected to change overnight, but he sees us through that growth and development. Hopefully when we look back, we see that there has been growth.

RomeoElChaer.com

to learn how to approach him and to be deeply sharpened through our

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yes.

RomeoElChaer.com

and to understand the worthiness that he has for us so we

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yes.

RomeoElChaer.com

to be in his kingdom later on. So what would be my advice for the leaders and what to

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yeah.

RomeoElChaer.com

not the advice to think about. What legacy you want to leave behind you the people that you are

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Mm-hmm.

RomeoElChaer.com

what legacy you are

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Mm-hmm.

RomeoElChaer.com

So, and what do you want them to remember?

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yes. Are you harsh? Are you kind?

RomeoElChaer.com

I,

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Are you gentle

RomeoElChaer.com

I

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

strength,

RomeoElChaer.com

it to each.

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

of course.

RomeoElChaer.com

Leader out there to think about it

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yeah.

RomeoElChaer.com

go reflect on the way he's leading. also as leaders, we need to admit that we need to learn from our mistakes. And nobody is free from mistakes, but can learn, we can grow, we can make changes, we can adapt. That's the power of resiliency when we are open for a change. To grow our mindset and to change and being flexible to change so we can empower our people, the people that we need to care, but also to be also sharpening them so they can also be a future leaders because what we need in life. The most needed part is having those leaders that elevate others and not to crush others. So think about what legacy you want to leave behind you.

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

Yeah. I would end by saying that part of this resilience is humility and self-awareness, and if a leader does not have those two things and they're just. Not what we call in positive psychology is savoring, slowing down and paying attention to the things that are around you to the people's needs, to your subordinate needs, your family's needs, whoever you're leading, to have humility and that takes to kind of push down the ego a little bit, but also to be able to be discerning and self-aware. And then you can make good, bold decisions and your people trust you

RomeoElChaer.com

Amen

Christine Agaibi - Caresilience

and are willing to follow. Amen to that. So this has been another great episode on leadership and Christian resilience and stay tuned for more in upcoming episodes. I think the next one will be, all interesting as well, kind of leading off of this one. So we'll see what that one is all about, but go forth and make bold decisions. Leaning first on Christ, who is the ultimate leader, and then also on your own wisdom that comes from a power of sound mind and love. Thank you.

Thanks for joining us on the Christian Leadership and Resilience Podcast. If this episode has encouraged you, share it with your friends. Leave a review and stay connected with us on social media. Next time we'll dive into another topic that will boost your resilient leadership. Until then, lead fearlessly, serve humbly, and rise strongly in faith. God bless.