Developing Leadership

One of Our Eight Core Values

Numbers 27

Introduction:

Two weeks until the Winter Olympics start!  We probably each have a favorite event.  Personally, I think one of the most exciting events is the speed skating relay.  I can hardly stand up on skates myself, but nonetheless, I enjoy watching how fast the skaters can get around the track without wiping out.  In the relays, perhaps even more important than the sheer speed, is the hand-off of the baton.  In many cases it is likely that the race is determined by how well the baton was passed.

This morning we are going to examine the “passing of the leadership baton”.  My goal is to help each of you see how important this is and how it applies specifically to you.

We are currently in the midst of a teaching series that is titled “Qualities of a Healthy Church”.  The basis for this series is the Core Values of Grace Church.  [do a plug for the business cards].  The Core Value we will be focusing on today is Developing Leadership.  [you will want to follow along on the insert in your bulletin]  Defined as: “We commit to train and equip believers to become leaders who model the character and priorities of Christ within their sphere of ministry”.  Some of you may be saying, Jeff, I can appreciate that Developing Leadership is important to Grace Church, but I’m not leadership material.  Well, for today, I would encourage you to focus on one portion of this core value.  That is, “…train and equip believers to become leaders…” another way we might phrase that is “multiplying our leaders”.  So, my hope is that by the time you leave here today you would be challenged to see that you can develop leadership qualities.  Furthermore, I want you to see that you can reproduce those qualities in the lives of individuals that God has placed within your sphere of influence. 

Why Should We Multiply Leaders

Simply put, because it’s the biblical model.  Lets look at some examples and see what we can apply. 

First of all, (On the bulletin insert, or in your Bible) take a look at Numbers 27:18-19.  This is near the end of Moses’ life and we find God instructing him to transfer his leadership to Joshua.  Why Joshua?  You may remember Joshua and Caleb from the spying mission.  But why Joshua?  Why not Caleb?  Let’s examine that a little further.  We tend to only see Joshua as the mighty warrior, but we have no idea what he was like before the conquest of the promised land.  Joshua’s pursuit of serving God had to start somewhere.   At the time of the exodus from Egypt Joshua was about 50 yrs. old.  Moses must have seen some real potential in Joshua and brought him on staff as his own personal aide.  By the time Moses actually transfers his leadership to Joshua he has had 40 years of training with Moses.  I really like the model that is presented here.  Think about all the exciting events that transpired during those 40 years of Moses leading nearly 2 million people around in the wilderness.  I can’t help but picture that Joshua was right there.  Living and learning every day under the wing of his trainer.  Now, don’t be misled and think you have to be trained for 40 years before you can become a leader. That’s just not true.  I think God has laid before us a model for the process of multiplying leadership.  Don’t forget that Joshua and Moses had to start at square one just like you and I.  If we only look at the highlights of their lives and numerous other Bible characters we will miss out on the process of how they developed into leadership.   Remember our relay race.  It’s not just one person racing around the track with the baton.  There are continual hand-off’s.  It’s no different with developing leaders, we have to transfer the skills in order to keep the ministry going.

Secondly, think about Christ’s model of multiplying leaders.  What did he start with?  Certainly not 12 Bible scholars!  Again, those 12 men started from scratch in their spiritual development at some point. By the time they met Christ, they were likely at all different levels of Spiritual growth.  The bottom line, Christ started with those who were willing to follow and willing to learn.  The disciples surely didn’t understand everything that was involved with their decision to follow Christ.  They expressed a desire; Jesus took that simple yet sincere decision and built on it.  After just three years of developing leadership, Jesus entrusted the future of the Christian church into their hands.

The Biblical examples go on and on in regard to developing leaders.  Paul with Timothy.  Barnabus with Mark.  Let them all be an example to us.  If you’re saying, but I’m not worthy of being developed in leadership, I don’t have anything to offer anyone.  Let’s look at the total extreme case in Lk 8:38.  Jesus has just healed the demon possessed man (you remember the story, cast the demons into the pigs and the pigs all run off the cliff).  This man is a brand-new believer, with an unimaginable past, and yet he is begging to follow Jesus.  What does Jesus do?  Jesus tells him to go home and witness to your family.  This man was now a leader and he was going home to develop more leaders! 

We have examined how multiplying leadership is a biblical model and that it applies to everyone.  So, whether you’ve been a believer for 40 years or 40 days or 40 minutes.  There are skills and attributes that God has given you for the purpose of multiplying into the lives of others.

How Do We Multiply Leaders

Perhaps a hang-up for some is the definition of a leader. My bet is that many of you have this stereotype of a leader being a high-profile individual like a military general, the President, or a prestigious coach.  Someone, who has great plans, can speak well, or who will help your team succeed.  Here is the definition I would like to present to you.  A leader is someone who is willing to be developed and who is willing to develop others.  Like I said before, we all have to start somewhere.  I think of the individual who is a new Christian.  They are eager to learn about the Bible.  They struggle to adapt to their new called faith.  There are days they feel like they take two steps forward and then slide right back.  What makes the difference in their life is that fellow believer who comes along, reaches down helps them up and says, “I know what you’re dealing with, I’ve been there too”.  Then, they take that new Christian under their wing and they begin to multiply their leadership into that new Christian.  Before long, the new Christian is growing in their faith and now it’s their turn to repeat the process.  We need to be willing to bring others up to the next level and in much the same manner we need to be willing to be taken to the next level ourselves!

Closer to home, is my position of pastoral intern here at Grace Church. I have the benefit of watching and learning from Rich.  I view this internship as a Biblical training model that I hope to see multiplied throughout our District.  This internship model also goes along well with Nu 27:20 (take a look at it). We see that God instructs Moses to give Joshua some of his own duties.  What a great way to demonstrate the passing of the baton to the people!  People see the multiplication of leadership in action.

In his book “Purpose Driven Church”, Rick Warren addresses the topic of multiplying leaders and he links this to Spiritual growth. Warren points out that one popular myth is that Spiritual growth is automatic once you become a Christian.  Sadly, many churches assume that Christians will grow to maturity and become leaders if they just attend church services. The result is that churches across our country are filled with people who have attended church services their entire lives, yet are still spiritual babes.  A vital part of our development of leadership qualities involves the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives helping us to grow to the next level. We need to be intentional about helping others to grow spiritually as well as helping to multiply their leadership skills.

When Multiplication of Leaders Does Not Happen

So, what happens if we decide we are comfortable just staying at our current level of spiritual growth?  We don’t feel the need for anyone to help us up to the next level of leadership and we don’t want to get involved with bringing someone else up to our current level.  Well, let me paint a couple pictures for you.  The first picture goes back to the life of Joshua.  We left off earlier with the model of Moses training Joshua.  What happens after Moses dies?  In Judges chapter 2, we find that the people served the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime.  After Joshua died, the people also served the Lord throughout the lifetime of the elders (quite certainly trained by Joshua).  Then, after that whole generation passed away.  Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord.  You see, the leadership development stopped!  They dropped the baton!

The second picture is one that we are witnessing within our own country.  Where is Christian leadership development in the United States today?  80% of Americans are unchurched.  North America is the only continent where Christianity is not growing.  No county in the US has a greater % of churched persons today than 10 yrs ago.  As a country, we are continually bobbling and dropping the baton in Christian leadership development.  

Look at the trends in our two pictures.  Years of work went into the development of leadership.  Lives were dedicated to the cause of making sure that the ministry proceeded.  Yet, as soon as the people lost the vision for developing leaders, the ministry began to crumble.   Leadership development is certainly an investment in the future.

So, you paint the last picture.  We have a young developing church here.  We have a core group that for the last two and a half years have been committed to seeing this church not only get started, but also to grow, and play a vital role in the Viroqua area.  The question is, How significant of a role will we play?  That will be highly dependent on how well we develop leadership.  So that’s our challenge.

But let’s remember, it’s not up to the core group or the Provisonal Leadership Team to develop leaders.    

Leadership Development is everyone’s responsibility.

And just like my speed skaters….in the relay race.  To be a good participant on the team, you need to be ready to receive the baton as well as to pass the baton. 

Jeff Gordon