This week in my planning phase, there's a focus on leadership development. I'm sure you're wondering "shouldn't he focus on leadership development every week of the year?". Well, I do. Throughout the summer, it's a goal to meet with every volunteer youth worker who I serve with. But I also take time to review and look to the future of how we disciple our teenagers at LRC.
One thing that we've been big on over the past few years with our senior high youth group is "student leadership". Essentially, it's a handful of students in our ministry who say "I want to be discipled for one year and take part in serving at my youth group". These students go through a discipleship track throughout the year with myself and essentially run the show on friday nights. Without our student leaders, our youth group would be a bunch of adults spouting off a bunch of words to teenagers for a few hours, entertaining them here and there with a game or a movie and then telling them to go be entertained in big church when they graduate... and I'll stop my rant there.
Every year, I sit down and go over the leadership lessons that we go through once a month. Most of it is mishmashed from previous years and we do our best to teach biblical leadership with the least amount of extrabiblical heresy as possible. This year, I've developed an acronym for the word LEAD.
This year, our students will be learning that if they are going to lead, they are going to be
Learning that leadership is about learning from Jesus and from others.
Empowering other students to serve and be a part of their faith community.
Asking tough questions that challenge the status quo in order to do things better
Directing those who are watching and following them by not just "going" but "showing".
Think it'll work?
Till next time,
