Standing in hard places

In 2020, at the height of fear, grief, and uncertainty, the mayor of Orlando asked me to do something both simple and weighty: gather as many pastors as possible, across denominations, backgrounds, and traditions, and pray for our city.

Pray for first responders who were running toward danger while the rest of us stayed home.Pray for medics who were exhausted beyond words. Pray for families who had lost loved ones without closure, comfort, or ceremony.

We gathered on the front steps of Orlando City Hall with no platforms, no politics, and no posturing. Just leaders standing in the gap for a hurting city.

What I did not expect was what stood behind us.

Stretched across City Hall was a large banner that read “Come Out With Pride.” It was Pride Month in Orlando, a city known for its large and visible LGBTQ community. We did not put the banner up. We did not request it. We did not remove it. We prayed anyway.

That moment made the front page of the news. What should have been a moment of unity quickly became, for me, a moment of criticism.

People who knew my voice but not my heart saw a photo and wrote their own story. Some assumed endorsement. Others assumed compromise. A few friends, colleagues, and people I had walked closely with went silent. Doors quietly closed. I was blacklisted without a conversation.

It is a hard lesson, but a necessary one.

A photo can go viral. Truth usually does not.

Context Is Quiet. Criticism Is Loud.

Shortly after, a pastor in the city called me. His intention, he said, was to bring correction. He was deeply concerned about the image of the church and how the moment appeared publicly. But the correction came without context, without curiosity, and without a single question about why we were there or what the city was carrying that day.

I listened. And then I said this:

“Where were you when I invited you to join me? Leaders do not avoid difficult places. Moses stood at the edge of the Red Sea. David stood in the Valley of Elah. Elijah stood alone on Mount Carmel. Leadership has always required standing where the tension is, not hiding where it is safe.”

That conversation stayed with me, because it revealed something deeper than disagreement.

Leadership will place you in moments where optics speak louder than intent. Where symbols drown out substance. Where people react to what they see instead of asking why you showed up in the first place. That day was not an attack on any community. It was not a political statement. It was not about ideology.

It was about unity.

The win was not the banner behind us.The win was a city being covered in prayer.

We were not gathered inside a church building or at a church event. We stood in the public square. Scripture is filled with moments like this. Paul stood at Mars Hill in Athens, speaking about the unknown God in the center of public debate, surrounded by competing worldviews and constant scrutiny. In Philippi, Paul prayed in public, confronted injustice, and was beaten and imprisoned for disrupting the status quo. In both places, Paul did not control perception, avoid tension, or retreat to safety. He stood where the people were. Our intent that day was not to endorse Pride Month or any ideology, but to pray for the city and its people in a moment of crisis. For some within my own faith community, however, that posture became a reason to withdraw rather than lean in with understanding.

That tension reveals a defining truth about leadership.

Live for Applause and You’ll Die by Silence

If you live for applause, silence will undo you. The crowd is generous with claps until you stop performing for them. Leadership that depends on approval will always retreat when affirmation disappears.

Some of the deepest wounds do not come from public criticism, but from the silence of people you thought would understand you. Leadership maturity is learning this truth:

Not everyone who walked with you will stand with you.

And that does not mean you were wrong.

Courage Looks Like Standing When Everyone Else Hides

Standing in the gap means taking heat from both sides. If you are close enough to the pain to make a difference, you will be close enough to the tension to be misunderstood.

Firefighters do not pause to debate who started the fire. They run toward the flames. Cities in crisis do not need leaders with perfect optics. They need leaders with conviction.

Leadership is not about managing applause. It is about carrying weight.

Do Good Anyway. Stand Anyway.

Doing what is right will sometimes cost you relationships. Doing good will occasionally be repaid with silence. But clarity of conscience will always outlast clarity of perception.

If you know the story.If you know your heart.If you know why you stood.

Then do not retreat.

Stand anyway.Serve anyway.Lead anyway.

Because history does not remember who commented from the sidelines. It remembers who showed up when the city was hurting and had the courage to stand when everyone else hid.

Three Practical Ways Leaders Can Stand in Hard Places

1. Decide where you will stand before the pressure comes.

Moses did not decide at the Red Sea. David did not decide in the valley. Conviction is formed long before the crisis.

2. Refuse to confuse misunderstanding with disobedience.

Being misunderstood does not mean you are wrong. Sometimes it means you are early, trailblazing into unfamiliar territory, or standing alone before others are ready to follow.

3. Choose faithfulness over fame.

Applause fades, but obedience forms something deeper than recognition and fame. It builds integrity that endures and a reputation with God to trust you with more!