Do you aspire to leadership?
Great! Then grow your heart! God is supremely more concerned with the interior of your life than the exterior. Remember when God showed the prophet Samuel this truth when he sent him to anoint King Saul's successor? God tells him to set a meeting with Jesse because one of his sons would be chosen. Jesse proudly parades seven of his handsome, winsome, skilled sons before the prophet but none is selected. Samuel, perhaps puzzled, asks the patriarch, "Are all your sons here?" Jesse replies, "There is yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep." Can you hear the skepticism in Jesse's voice? There would have to be a catastrophic, Job-like event that killed his seven brothers before he would even be the son of choice to inherit his father's riches. How in the world could he be king of a nation? His father didn't even consider the possibility that his youngest, the one out doing the menial work would be the chosen one. But God had spoken to Samuel when Eliab, the elder son, stood before him: "Do not look on his appearance or the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as a man sees: man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart." (1 Samuel 16:8) Sure, pursue education to develop your mind. Gain emotional intelligence to help you relate better with others. Learn all you can about strategy, philosophy, and principles from mentors, reading and seminars. But character will always be the trump card! And, as at least one presidential hopeful will eventually realize, your name isn’t the trump card—character is!
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There are times when my focus gets blurred and I think about all the things I don't have or I get consumed with the obstacles that seem to be blocking my way rather than seeing what resources I do have.
This past Friday night was an historic night in the life of The Stone Church. Eleven people made an intentional decision to take a significant step of faith and go public with their faith by being baptized! We heard a nine year old boy share how he asked Jesus to be his Forever Friend while he was walking his dog in the neighborhood; we listened to one of our "Classic Citizens" in her seventies share a beautiful story of God's love while her daughter and grandson stood with her and were also baptized. We were humbled as students declared their faith and love of Jesus; and we cheered as a former professional wrestler went down for the count for reason. What's baptism got to do with focusing on your resources rather than your limitations? One of the first things you may notice at our church is that we do not have a permanent (or even temporary) place to baptize--which is a limitation if you're a church that practices baptism by immersion. So what do you do? Do you whine, complain, and grumble? Do you jealously wish you had what the church down the road has? Do you focus on the limits or the obstacles or do you start looking at what you do have? Do you have a Tractor Supply Story? Then you can build something out of a cattle trough like my church planting buddy Spencer Breedlove at Statham Community Church chose to do? (Which is very cool by the way!) Do you have anyone who lives in a subdivision with a clubhouse pool? Yes, but that didn't work out? Could you partner with another church in the community that does have a baptistry? Yes, but we didn't sense that this was the right time for that? Do you have a state park with a lake nearby? As a matter of fact... That's a great idea! We rented one of the picnic pavilions on Lake Allatoona at Red Top Mountain State Park and I'm glad we did! We could not have had a more beautiful setting for our first baptism celebration! It was idyllic! The weather was perfectly delightful for mid-August in Georgia! The fried chicken was perfectly crispy for chicken connoisseurs , and the glory of the night was perfectly aimed at Jesus! I'm glad our limitations forced us to seek God's resources. This night felt so much like I imagine baptisms in the days of Jesus. An excited believer standing in calm lake with numerous families and friends seated on the banks, crying and cheering. Here we were with people of different ethnic backgrounds from different generations with different spiritual stories all declaring their salvation in Jesus. It was a thing of beauty! His resources and his ways are always so much richer and higher than anything we could imagine. One of my boys favorite things to do when we are held captive at Target is to fully investigate the toy aisle and see how much noise we can make by pressing as many "Try Me" buttons as possible all at once. I look at it as a kind of Quality Control Challenge to make sure that the electronics are up-to date. Boys are built to push buttons!
Now, admittedly, it may be a bit annoying to some of the employees but when you look into the eyes of the three-year old punching buttons on every thing he can find, do you see a nuisance or do you see a potential spiritual leader? Perhaps one day he’ll push the buttons on the thermostats in the church building to make sure they are correctly set. Perhaps one year he’ll press the buttons on the sound board to make the 4 year old girl who’s currently singing the theme song from Frozen for the 1000th time today, sound like Elsa as she leads us as she sings Amazing Grace. Perhaps one day he’ll even learn how to push the right relational buttons to help a struggling couple as their relationship counselor. The work of developing spiritual leaders requires imagination--a God-inspired imagination. Seeing the potential in a three-year old is one thing, but seeing the potential in a thirty-three year old that is acting like a three-year old is another. That takes imagination and patience. |
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