Nobody likes a party pooper. Worse yet, a naysayer or "doom and gloomer" can get in the way of any one of our best laid plans for the future. But we all have had those moments in our lives when we have been convicted. And sometimes that conviction comes to us gently, nudging us to change gears, redirect our thoughts, or to have a total change of heart - to see things more clearly. Sometimes conviction may not come so easily, perhaps through intense trials, pain, and struggles. But no matter how convictions come to us, they have the strengthen a new resolve in us that spurs us onto new levels of leadership, causing us to have a wider area of influence and impact.

Yet, this "principled" leadership is costly. And it's different than being a naysayer or party pooper, whose motive may be a bad attitude or disagreeable spirit and typically has the effect of just producing guilt or anger in us - versus true conviction. Principled leadership requires, well, principles. Not thoughts, opinions, preferences, or tastes. And principles, if properly grounded in truth, become the foundation of our convictions, which allow us to stand firm, address unpopular opinions, cut through the emotional and murky waters and Lord willing, do the right thing and lead others to follow in doing the right thing.

So is it worth it? Personally, my work in the area of bioethics takes me to very unpopular positions almost on a daily basis. For example, as I speak out against human cloning and embryonic stem cell research I am frequently called "anti?science" and accused of caring more for the embryo in a dish then the sick person desperately in need of a cure. Or worse, I am a religious zealot who just wants to push my morality on others.

Perhaps the invitations to speak at secular conferences only come to me in order to give the appearance of a "fair and balanced" event (e.g. "We've presented all sides of the story, now we can know without a doubt these people against human cloning are really crazy!) At the close of one event, my colleagues and I stood at the post event reception like the outcast lepers. The media swarmed over the pro-cloning scientists for interviews and the conference hosts gave them red-carpet treatment, while we quietly left without even a thank you from the host for our participation. My grandmother would have said that is just plain bad manners. So the cost has been a smear in the paper, or a negative name calling attack. Having the awkward moment of being at a reception where you know you are not welcomed.

Even in church settings, as I take an unpopular stand on the way the church has perhaps uncritically welcomed in-vitro fertilization technologies into our bedrooms, I speak with principles, which have been born out of my convictions based in biblical truths about marriage, sex, and pro-creation. And what has been the cost? Sometimes, I've not been invited back again. Sometimes I've been told that the issues I deal with are too scientific or political for their church.

So as I personally count the cost, in my mind it doesn't add up to much. But if the cost were of Dietrich Bonehoffer proportions it would be the strength of my convictions, based on principles rooted in truth, which would help me to lead. And ultimately, that is the true cost of principled leadership. As we are called to lead, and we respond to that call, we are willing to lead no matter the cost.