Youth Leadership Resume: Intimacy

A Christian leader has a piece of the puzzle that a non-Christian doesn’t have: a relationship with Jesus Christ. Many people would ask what in the world this has to do leadership, but I would say “everything!”


Jesus didn’t lead like other people. He spent a lot of time drawing the line between the world’s leaders and the way that his disciples were supposed to lead. Living the Christian life gives a person a sense of leadership that others don’t have.

Now, let’s get one thing straight. We don’t read the bible and culture a relationship with Jesus in order to become better leaders. In fact, a Christian leader is called by God through their relationship, in order to serve. The Christian leader is also equipped by God through Spiritual gifting and sanctification, the process of being made more like Jesus. So rather than us using God to improve our means, it’s quite the other way around. God uses us as leaders to advance his kingdom and to equip His people to serve Him.

Our relationship with God, in fact, makes us worth following, and gives us the true way of leadership. This being the case, teaching our students to foster a relationship with God should be of high importance to us.

That is easier said than done, obviously, because we don’t see our students every day. It’s hard to help them set up lasting habits even with something as important as a relationship with God. That means we have to work even harder and smarter in helping our students do so. We have to partner with parents, work with our students, and model intimacy for our students in our own lives.

If we are to have a generation of Christ-followers as leaders in all areas of society, they will have to have an intimacy with God that informs their purpose, calling, and leadership.

Question: How are you teaching intimacy to your students?

Training Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,

Matt

Youth Leadership Resume: Humility

Humility. I’m not real good at that. I tend to go the other way: rampant, arrogant pride. So does most of the world.


Leadership goes hand in hand with pride. After all, you’re in charge. You’re the man (or the woman). You get it done. With all of that, it’s no wonder that most leaders do not show any humility. Even though this makes sense, it’s not the way it should be.

At its core, humility is recognizing who and what you are. If you are a Christian, then you know that everything you are comes from God. If everything you are comes from God, there shouldn’t be any room for pride, but rather worship, praise, and thanksgiving.

Many leaders, even Christian leaders, seem not to make this distinction. A young Christian leader is going to need to learn humility early, and continue to work on it as they gain in respect, influence, and stature. The higher up they get, the more they will probably struggle with pride.

Pride is an easy trap to fall into, and the world expects high-placed leaders to be prideful. But imagine a group of leaders who gave glory to God for results rather than glory to themselves. Now that’s counter-cultural.

In the course of our leadership development, we have to address humility. Humility, in its naked form, shows just what a person believes about God and themselves.

Question: how are you teaching humility to your students?

Training Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,

Matt

Youth Leadership Resume: Integrity

Over the next week, I want to talk about three elements of character that are most important to a leader. As Christians, we find ourselves in a world that wouldn’t agree with most of our character traits. We seem weak to the world; we seem different. I think different is good, but all too often Christians, in an effort to fit in with the world and not be seen as an outsider, will adopt the world’s standards.


If young Christian leaders are going to have an impact in the world at large then they must remain different. We must be set apart. The three elements of character that I have picked to write about this week represent what I believe are the core aspects of leadership that set us apart.

The first character trait is Integrity. My dad was big on integrity, and I grew up hearing that word every day. Unfortunately, many people didn’t grow up with my dad.

Integrity, at its heart, means doing the right thing all the time, even when people aren’t looking. I think that last part is the most important, because it talks about more than behavior; it talks about attitude. I can follow the rules to a person’s face, and as soon as they turn around, dump all the rules out the window. That is a sure sign that I don’t have integrity. I’m following the rules because it gets me ahead. Integrity is when we do what’s right because it’s right.

In a world of situational ethics, instilling integrity in our kids isn’t easy. In fact, it’s an uphill battle. But it’s a battle worth having. In fact, it’s a must. People follow a person with integrity. They look up to them. They’ll follow them because people with integrity are so different.

We need different. I don’t want the status quo in charge anymore. If we’re going to raise up the next generation of leaders, let’s give them some tools to be different. Let’s show and teach them integrity.

Question: how are you teaching integrity to your students?

Training Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,

Matt

Long Term Hope for Haiti

The third and last blog on Haiti this week is going to talk about a long term strategy for rebuilding Haiti.  Specifically, what our churches can do in the long term to help rebuild the country and share God's amazing love with the Haitian people.

Something I've been thinking about is organizing the church into teams of people with a specific skills mix and sending them down in shifts to help with rebuilding projects.  It would take a great amount of planning and coordination, but could really help when a full-scale rebuild is underway.

First, what will the Haitians need in the long term? 
Architects
New infrastructure
Consultants
Construction Workers
Carpenters
Teachers
Long Term food supply.
Counseling
Temporary workers in proffesional jobs where people were lost
and the list goes on.

Does anybody in your church fit this list?  How about your list? 
The resources to help rebuild this country are right here, under our very noses.

I'm curious.  What can your leadership team alone supply in the way of expertise or skill?  I'd be interested to hear from you.

Training Tomorrow's Leaders Today,
Matt