One Question Wednesday – A Different Perspective

February 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Welcome to One Question Wednesdays.

Today all we want to do is offer you a question that will help your students grow closer to Jesus, learn more about themselves, and develop the gift and calling of leadership that God has given them.

Use this question as a prompt for a devotion, an introduction to a lesson, or as a discussion topic whenever you meet with your students collectively or individually.  These questions make great mentoring prompts.

Make sure you ask yourself this question as well.  You never know what God is looking to do in your heart today.

Today’s Question Is:

What Would Others Say About Your Witness?

 

From time to time, it’s a good idea to slow down and look at yourself from the point of view of others.  It helps us see ourselves from a different perspective.  What would our teachers say about our witness?  What would our parents say?  How about our youth pastor?

Often we only see ourselves from our point of view.  Take some time and see things from a different perspective.

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Mini-Me Leadership

February 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Here’s an older post, but one that we had better take seriously.

What kind of leaders are coming out of your leadership program?

This is a very important question.  The purpose of leadership development is not to turn out clones of you.  I can’t think of a more egocentric way to pollute the world.  What the world does not need is another you.  I’m sorry, but it’s true.  What the world needs is a man or woman that God has created specially and specifically for their own task.

Let’s stop trying to turn out mini-me’s and let’s start listening to God to serve Him in turning out the kind of leaders that He wants.

Our job as leadership developers is to work with and hone our students as individuals, allowing them each to become what God has intended them to become, not what you are.  This is very difficult for some leaders to put into practice, because they are very familiar with what trained and honed them as leaders.  Each of us are different though, and each of us are going to need a different “program” to train us as leaders.

Let me give you a good negative example.  I am a reader.  I read voraciously.  I learn from reading, and I love it.  Right now I am mentoring a young leader who is not a reader (not that they don’t read, but they don’t read like me; see how egocentric this can get?).  At first, I tried to make them read.  That didn’t work so well.  When that didn’t work I found out what kind of a learner I was dealing with and began to teach to their strengths.  That worked much better.

What this means for us is it’s not going to be easy to train new leaders.  It’s hard, messy, and time-consuming.  But nothing worth doing was ever easy.

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Free Leadership Lesson Thursday – Embracing the Weird

February 16, 2012 By 1 Comment

Embracing the Weird

He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”  (Genesis 22:2 ESV)

 

The Point:

God asks strange things of us.

Teach It:

Isaac was the child of promise, the the child that God promised to Abraham and through Isaac to become a great people that God would use.

God asks Abraham to sacrifice the son of promise, which in Abraham’s eyes had to look like God was going back on His word.

God often asks us to do strange things that almost seem contradictory to what we think He wants from us.

If God is in a thing, then not only will it be good, but it will be for His glory and your good.

No matter how strange something sounds, our immediate obedience is proof that we believe God is who He says He is.

God didn’t make Abraham go through with killing his son (He was teaching Abraham something about Himself, and testing Abraham’s faith), but often He expects obedience to even His strangest calls.

 

Discussion Questions:

What do you think was going through Abraham’s head as God was telling him to sacrifice his only son?

What would you have done?

What role does faith play when God asks us to do something that we think is strange?

What strange things do you feel God calling you to?  Why are they strange?

 

Activity:

Make a list of all the strange things God asked people to do in the bible.  Then have them discuss and list things that they would consider strange if God asked them to do them.

 

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One Question Wednesday – Learning to Share

February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Welcome to One Question Wednesdays.

Today all we want to do is offer you a question that will help your students grow closer to Jesus, learn more about themselves, and develop the gift and calling of leadership that God has given them.

Use this question as a prompt for a devotion, an introduction to a lesson, or as a discussion topic whenever you meet with your students collectively or individually.  These questions make great mentoring prompts.

Make sure you ask yourself this question as well.  You never know what God is looking to do in your heart today.

 Today’s Question:

 Are You Sharing Your Brother’s and Sister’s Burdens?

Scripture tells us to share the burdens of our brothers and sisters (Galatians 6:2).  From doing housework to grieving over the death of a loved one, and loaning someone a few dollars  to get through till payday, burdens covers it all.  When we live in a community of faith, we never walk alone.  What burdens are you sharing, and what burdens are people taking from you?

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5 Foundations of Christian Leadership

February 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

 

Five Foundations of Christian Leadership

For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.  (Titus 1:7-9 ESV)

 

I think we’ve all heard the metaphor of the foundation before.

A sure foundation is what holds the whole building together, keeping every other piece of the building square, stable, and sound.

The foundation that God wants under His leaders is well spelled out for us in the scripture; in not one but two places God lays out the qualifications for those that would steward His church.

Even though these are the qualifications for those that would be church leaders, the same basic concepts apply to every leader, because all Christian leadership is God’s stewardship.

So what are you teaching as the foundation of your student’s leadership?

I’ve seen many different ways of teaching the basics, but I don’t think they mean anything unless they line up with scripture.  We can blather on about a lot of different leadership principles and techniques, but if our students don’t have the basics mentioned in Titus or 1 Timothy, then they aren’t really Christian leaders, are they?

So what are those basics?

 

A Christian Leader is a Follower of Jesus.

That kind of goes without saying, but hear me out.  Before a Christian can lead, they have to follow.  A Christian leader is at all times aware that they are not the end of the food chain, and that One much greater than he is in charge.  Notice that Paul calls a Christian leader a “steward?”  That’s because no matter what we lead, it’s on loan from God.  We’re leading it for Him and in His place.  It ought to look like God is leading it and not us.

 

A Christian Leader is a Lover of God’s Word.

Paul says an steward must hold firm to the Word of God, and that means knowing it.  That means that a steward is in God’s Word constantly, and is an ongoing disciple.  We represent God in our stewardship.  We make decisions, act, and speak on the basis of God’s instruction to us, which is found in His Word.  A Christian Leader knows that Word, loves that Word, and lives that Word.

 

A Christian Leader is Repentant.

Paul says a steward is to be blameless.  That doesn’t mean that they don’t sin, but it does mean that when they do they confess that sin and repent.  You can’t be blamed for something you’ve already confessed, confronted, and made right.  A Christian leader doesn’t get mired down in their sin, but meets it head on and then moves on.

 

A Christian Leader Serves Others.

Notice that Paul says that stewards are “lovers of good” and not “greedy for gain.”  Those traits are indicative of someone who lives for others and not themselves.  They have truly “become last” and are servants at heart.  A steward can’t do much if they are busy serving themselves.  There’s no place for God in the ministry of an leader whose primary goal in life is to advance themselves.  A Christian leader can’t be that way.  We are called to die to self;  we are called to serve others.

 

A Christian Leader is Not of This World

Paul says that a steward is to be “holy.”  That means that they are set apart, that they don’t act like everyone else.  They’re different, strange, not with it.  Scripture continually confirms that the more that you involve yourself with the world, the less you involve yourself with God.  A Christian leader is focused on God and His mission in the world, not the world and it’s steady heartbeat of “me.”

 

In a world where leadership advice is everywhere, where the line between secular and Christian leadership has become so blurred,  isn’t it time we got back to the foundation of leadership?

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Free Leadership Lesson Thursday – You Never Know

February 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

You Never Know

As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.”

(Genesis 19:15-17 ESV)

The Point:

Because we don’t know the plans of God, our obedience must be immediate and complete.

 

Teach It:

God may have secured Lot’s safety, but it was up to Lot to leave before the city’s destruction.

Having recognized the angels who came in, and having been warned the previous night, Lot is still being slow about leaving when the angels issue this last warning.

Lot’s procrastination became so bad that the angels forcefully carried Lot’s family outside the city to save them.

We never know what part we play in God’s plans, or if God is trying to save us from something.  When we read something in scripture that we know we need to obey, or when we have are called directly by God to do something, we need to act immediately and completely.

 

Discussion Questions:

What’s the hardest thing you ever obeyed from God?

How hard would it have been for Lot to leave the city he lived in?  Why?

How did God show his mercy to Lot even in disobedience?  Why?

What are some things in your life right now that you know you need to obey?

What are the consequences of not obeying those things?

 

Activity:

Have Your students analyze the following characters from the bible and answer the following questions:

What did God ask them to do?

Did they obey immediately?

What where the consequences?

 

Here’s the people they should analyze:

Gideon

Jonah

Peter when Jesus meets him in Luke 5

The rich young ruler

Paul, when he was told to go to Jerusalem to deliver the collection

 

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One Question Wednesday – Hiding

February 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Welcome to One Question Wednesdays.

Today all we want to do is offer you a question that will help your students grow closer to Jesus, learn more about themselves, and develop the gift and calling of leadership that God has given them.

Use this question as a prompt for a devotion, an introduction to a lesson, or as a discussion topic whenever you meet with your students collectively or individually.  These questions make great mentoring prompts.

Make sure you ask yourself this question as well.  You never know what God is looking to do in your heart today.

 

Today’s Question:

Are You Hiding Sin in Your Life?

This is a really important question.  Paul tells us that one of the qualifications for Church leadership is to be blameless (Titus 1, 1 Timothy 3).  Blameless doesn’t have to do with not sinning, but more with your reaction when you do sin.  Hiding it isn’t good.  It has all sorts of implications with God, those you serve, and you.

Confessing to one another isn’t something that’s commonly practiced in the church today, but it needs to be.  I hope your ministry is a place where your students can feel comfortable confessing to one another knowing that they’ll find forgiveness and healing.

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3 Cheap Leadership Activities for Your Youth Ministry

February 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

You need inexpensive ways to promote leadership in your students.

You have a heart for developing young leaders, but your budget doesn’t match your passion.  With the economy being what it is, everyone is having to make cutbacks in their programs, and if you run a smaller youth ministry, you probably don’t have very much money at all to allocate towards a leadership development program.

We all know what it’s like to have more ministry ideas than money.

So, whether you’re tight on money or just looking to make every dollar count, what are the best activities that teach leadership and won’t break the bank?

Here’s are 3 cheap activities, including a cost estimate and what leadership qualities the activity will build.  This is just a tiny bit of the stuff that’s out there, and we’ll be sharing more as time goes on.

 

Field Trip

Make a visit to a local business with a Christian owner, or have the owner come to you (be respectful here, a small business owner is very busy).

Cost:  Almost nothing.  Offer to feed your guest, and pay for any gas they might have used coming out.

Leadership Lessons:  Inspiration, learn what it takes to run a business, trade secrets in that business, how following Christ intersects with running a business

 

Youth Sunday

If you don’t already do this, I’d suggest it.  Basically, your students run a morning or evening service.  They set up worship and the sermon (if you have anyone who is called to preach or share, etc.)  Your leadership team can help plan this out and can play roles in the service such as taking up tithes, ushering, leading worship, and even speaking.

Cost:  Nothing but time

Leadership Lessons:  Planning, Preparation, learn how a church service runs, service, Cooperation

 

Drive By Prayers

Drive By Prayers are a fun way to pray for people in your community, teach your students to pray, and share the love of Jesus with people that you wouldn’t normally get to talk to.  Take Prayer requests, and list each person that needs prayer.  Next, get their addresses.  If you have multiple drivers, divide up the names by geographical area (this could be anything from neighborhoods to small towns), pile your students in the car and hit the road!  Go to the house of each person on the prayer list, praying for those people (this works really well with people that are shut-in, or sick, or who are going through a rough time).  We carried drive by prayer cards on us, which were really just business cards.  If a person wasn’t home, we’d write a prayer on the back of the card and just leave it in their door.  Make sure to come back to the church or wherever you started from and debrief any experiences your team had.

Cost:  Minimal.  A few dollars in gas, and if you use drive by prayer cards, a few dollars for those, although many on-line printers will offer free business cards as a marketing ploy.

Leadership Lessons:  Prayer, Service, Cooperation, Love, Coaching, Evangelism

 

With a little ingenuity and some work, you can teach valuable leadership lessons to your students with little or not cost to your ministry.  And remember, every Thursday the Becoming Last Blog bring you Free Leadership Lesson Thursday, a free leadership lesson every week that you can use in your leadership development ministry.

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Free Leadership Lesson Thursday – The Invitation

February 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Invitation

So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD. Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the LORD said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”

(Genesis 18:22-32 ESV)

The Point:

God Invites Us Into Conversation With Him, and It Changes Things

Teach It:

God was ready to wipe out the settlements of the Jordan Valley, Sodom and Gommorah among them.

Abraham, knowing that Lot and his family were among the inhabitants, pleaded for the safety of the towns if so many righteous people could be found there.

Abraham didn’t plead once, but six times, each time lowering the number of righteous people that God would spare the city for.

Each time Abraham asked, God relented and promised to spare the city if that number of righteous people were found in the city.

Now, God knew the number already, and knew how it was all going to go down, but still He was patient with Abraham’s prayer, subtly teaching Abraham about God.

God still destroyed the cities of the valley, because ten righteous weren’t found there, but Abraham’s constant prayer for God’s mercy was heard and answered.  As God said, He would have spared the people on account of ten righteous.

God didn’t stop and listen to Abraham because He needed to, He was teaching Abraham about compassion, prayer, and how prayer can change the course of things.

 

Discussion Questions:

How does prayer change things?

Why do you think God wants to talk to us about what’s going on in the world?

What can Abraham’s pleading with God teach us about compassion?

What can Abraham’s pleading with God teach us about the issues of our day?

If God would change one thing for you, what would you choose to have changed?

 

Activity:

Have your students make a list of all the things in the world that they would like to have changed.  Explain to your students that these are all things that they should pray about, no matter how big or unchanging they seem.

Pray for each of the things on the list, knowing that God hears.

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One Question Wednesday – Snapshot

February 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Welcome to One Question Wednesdays.

Today all we want to do is offer you a question that will help your students grow closer to Jesus, learn more about themselves, and develop the gift and calling of leadership that God has given them.

Use this question as a prompt for a devotion, an introduction to a lesson, or as a discussion topic whenever you meet with your students collectively or individually.  These questions make great mentoring prompts.

Make sure you ask yourself this question as well.  You never know what God is looking to do in your heart today.

Today’s Question:

What is the vision God has given you for your life?

Most of your students probably won’t be able to plot out a complete answer to this question; you probably won’t either.  That’s because God doesn’t usually give us all of the pieces at once; He wants us to sojourn with Him.  We depend on God for the next piece of the puzzle, until one day it’s complete and He calls us home.

Even though we probably won’t be able to give the full picture of God’s plan for our life, it’s good to take a snapshot of where we are right now, and praise Him for the journey.

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