Insecurity in Ministry Leadership

The best leaders are those who are willing to mentor others. Whether you go to a leadership seminar or you read about leadership in a book, you will find that the element of mentoring, raising up others, is extremely important for a couple of reasons. One, any leadership and organization or company that's built upon one person and it rises and falls with that one person, it will end as soon as that leader is gone. Second, is if you do not raise up other leaders, what happens is all the work and responsibility is dumped on one person and it is overwhelming and one person cannot handle this. We see this in the life of Moses, where God had used Moses to lead the people out of Egypt and Moses was faithfully doing the ministry and dealing with people's problems. He was getting so worn out by what the people were bringing to him to solve their situations and problems. Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, said, you know what, you're only one man, why don't you delegate this responsibility to some other men? So Moses listened to his father-in-law's advice and delegated this responsibility to some others and he himself would only handle what he would need to handle in terms of the very difficult cases that he would have to seek the Lord for the answer. There is an element of mentoring that is vitally important, especially when it comes to ministry. Ministry and spiritual activities cannot be left up to just one person with the potential of that entire ministry or work of God falling because the leader would not raise up others to even think about possibly taking their place. A very insecure leader is one that fights for his position or her position. A very secure leader is one who knows themself and is raising others to even surpass them, to do better than them. If you look at the best leader ever, Jesus Christ, Jesus called 12 disciples. Now the question is, why did Jesus call the 12 disciples? Did Jesus actually need their help? The answer, no. They were more of a difficulty than a help. If you think about it, the main thing they did almost the entire time, those three and a half years they were with Jesus, was they were fighting over who is the greatest. Two of them wanted to burn an entire town. At one point they were keeping parents from bringing babies to Jesus for him to bless them. At another time they were arguing with people. At another time they were becoming jealous. Peter cut off the ear of the high priest's servant, almost drowned in the water. On top of the mountain he said foolish things like, it is good that we are here Jesus because you're talking with Elijah and Moses. Let's build three tents. And the cloud came down and the Father from heaven spoke and said don't compare Jesus with Elijah and Moses. All the disciples deserted him in the garden. These men hardly ever understood what Jesus was talking about. He had to further explain to them the things that he was teaching when everyone else understood. These men were not called by Jesus for the purpose of helping Jesus, even though he would delegate some things to them. But when you go back and look at why Jesus called them, he said come follow me and I will make you fishers of men. It wasn't come and follow me because I need your help. In fact we see after Peter denied Jesus three times. He actually left following Jesus, went back for fishing, and Jesus had to go after him to call him back into the ministry. So what was the purpose of Jesus actually having these disciples with him? One of the purposes of Jesus calling these men was one, he can prove to us that God can use anyone for his glory. We read about this in the book of Acts where the disciples, some of them were at the court case of the Sanhedrin, and they were commanded not to preach in the name of Jesus anymore. And they said how can we do that? It's the truth. We will continue to speak in the name of Christ. And it says that those who were there recognized and saw that these were unlearned or uneducated men. It does not mean they were stupid, it just means they were not as educated as those who were in the area. It says but they recognized that these men had been with Jesus. So God wanted to prove to us that he does not simply select the elite or the special or only a certain group of people, but he is looking for those who are willing to follow Christ. And in that you see all these disciples were being mentored by Jesus, and mentoring is not something that happens by simply sitting down with someone and teaching them, it happens by life transferring life. Paul was saying follow my life in regards to how I speak, how I deal with others. Or we could say look at my family life, it's an example for you. Look at my marriage life, it's an example for you. Look how I conduct myself with others, it's an example for you. Look how I study God's Word, and it's example for you. Look how I pray, it's an example for you. Look how I worship, it's an example for you. Look how I handle money, my position, how humble I am. Look at these things that are tangible, and these are the things that you must follow. My brother, my sister, all of us are in some form of influence. The average person in their lifetime will influence at least 10,000 people in their lifetime. That may be directly or indirectly. Think about this, when you were in school, how many classmates did you have? Whether you realize it or not, you had an impact on every single one of those students. Maybe a small influence, but you had an influence. Either a negative influence or a positive influence. God has given us the opportunity to use everything around us to bless others. Facebook, how many friends do you have? Even if they are simply acquaintances. At church, how many people do you know? At school, how many people do you know? At the market, how many people you come across? Even if we only meet them one time, how we respect them, and how we talk to them, and how we are thankful to them, will impact their life. So mentoring is more than just giving people books. It is actually life being lived before them. And this is what Jesus said, come, follow me, be with me, and I will make you fishers of men. Another great mentor in the scriptures we see, and there are so many, is the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul was one of the greatest leaders in the Christian history. This man was extremely brilliant, raised in a very good home, a Pharisee of the Pharisees. His education would be equal to several PhDs, wrote much of the New Testament, the epistles that we read. And we see that while he was a persecutor of the believers, and was going from place to place, persecuting, killing, and putting in prison believers, because he believed that this was right in honoring to God. On the Damascus Road, Jesus met him. It's one of the things that he claims to be an apostle. If you remember, the original apostles, original disciples, were those who were with Jesus, who saw him. And here, Paul the Apostle also had the experience of seeing Jesus. A bright light shone down from heaven, and Saul, at that time his name was Saul, Paul was knocked down from his horse. And there on the ground, he hears a voice, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he responds and says, who are you Lord? He says, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. And Paul realized the believers that he is persecuting and putting to death, they were genuine followers of God. And by hurting them, he is hurting Jesus. At that point, Paul's life would never be the same. Not only would he be known more as Paul than Saul, but his life would no longer be one where he persecutes and kills Christians. Rather, the great persecutor becomes the great proclaimer of Jesus Christ. It was Barnabas, who actually would be with Paul, and encourage him, and be one of the only ones who would trust Paul for a very long time. I myself would not trust Paul if Paul said, oh don't worry, I'm a Christian now. I have followed Jesus with my heart, and he has saved me. I would say, Paul, that's a good idea. You stay there, I'll be here. Your testimony is one that you kill Christians. This is a trick. You're just coming in here to pretend like you are a Christian, so that you can get information and kill us. I would be very scared of Paul, but Barnabas, which is the son of encouragement, his name means encouragement, what a wonderful name, is the one who mentors Paul. Barnabas is lesser in education than Paul, lesser in position, but yet because he is able to be an encouragement to Paul, Paul is being mentored by Barnabas. So it really doesn't mean that you have to be older, or smarter, or better than someone else to be able to mentor someone, because mentoring happens with life. Very often teachers forget this. They don't realize that the greatest influence they have in the classroom is their life, not the lesson. One of the principles of teaching is this, be interested in the students and their lives, and they will be interested in what you have to say. Too many teachers are only interested in their paycheck, and they just simply want to cover the material, have the exams, and move on with the next group. Whereas genuine teachers see the potential of the students, are genuinely interested in every single student, and the students know that this teacher loves them, and therefore in response, the students want to please the teacher, they want to do the studies, they want to learn. Think about this, when you think back to your studies, whether it was in school, like high school, or grade school, or in college, or even in Bible college, whatever you went through, you have a few teachers that stand out in your mind as your favorite teachers. Now the question is, do you even remember what they said? And second, why are they your favorite teachers? We all have our favorite teachers. The answer to those two questions are, you probably don't remember much of the subject. Quite funny. You go to college, you pay so much money, and you don't even remember a lot of what your teacher said. Second question is, why were they your favorite teacher? Most probably because they showed you kindness. There was more to that teacher than just their intellectual giving of information, it was something to do with their life. Whether they helped you after class, on their own time, and encouraged you in your studies, or maybe they prayed for you faithfully, or maybe they encouraged you in the class not to give up. But that is probably what happens. You don't remember much about what the teacher said, but you remember the teacher, and you remember the kindness of the teacher, and because of that, you are teaching today as a teacher. Or you are pursuing a certain career because of some teacher that influenced you in a positive way. Teachers can be great mentors. Even parents forget that they are not just parents to their children, but they are mentors to their children. Too many parents, especially husbands and fathers, believe that their role is simply to make their children to obey. Discipline, correct, hard work, those are true, those are very important, and should never be neglected. But do you ever sit down with your children, and talk to them, and share with them? One practical thing I would encourage families to do, if possible, is do not eat your dinner in front of the TV. Sit at the table, or sit on the floor, whatever you want to do, but sit together as a family with your children, and talk to your children. Ask them, what did you learn at school? Don't ever ask them, did you have fun at school? Did you learn anything? Ask them, what are you learning at school? Engage them in conversation. Ask them if anything interesting happens at school. You have no idea how difficult school is now. You have no idea that your children may be bullied, or other children may be saying mean things to them, and unless you engage them in conversation, and life conversation, you will never know those things, so that you will never be able to encourage them. Ask them life questions. Teach your son about life. Teach your daughter about life. Engage them in what is interesting to them. Of course, watch television with them, watch a movie with them, fine, but engage them, and talk to them about life, and when they see that you are interested in them as an individual, they will want to listen to you. One thing that you must pay attention to, is if your son or daughter, especially little children, are very active, and they seem to disobey no matter how many times you spank them, there may be an element that you are neglecting, that they want your attention. A child wanting your attention is not a bad thing, and very often children who don't get the attention of their parents, the love of the parents, and the time with the parents, especially if their temperament is one that they need time, then what you will find is a child will disobey purposefully, just to get the attention. Now, that behavior is not correct, but it is something to pay attention to, because they may be disobeying, and misbehaving, and acting up simply to get the attention, and if you spend a little time with them, talking with them, sitting with them, not paying attention to the TV only, or the newspaper, but put the newspaper down, turn off the television, and talk to them, and ask them what they're doing. Ask them how that puzzle is going. Ask them about their toys, and their homework, and their coloring. Ask them about their favorite cartoon, and you will see the attention that you give them, it may be what they actually need, and their heart will be softened, and they will become more obedient. Mentoring is not classroom sitting. It is something that is life-giving life. Paul the Apostle, writing to Timothy, and he wrote two books, or two letters, 1st and 2nd Timothy, to this young man he picked up when he was about 15 years old, and for the next 15 or so years, Paul mentored him into the ministry, and Timothy took over the ministry after Paul was beheaded in Rome. And Paul begins his letter to 1st Timothy by writing this, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the command of God our Savior and Christ Jesus our hope. To Timothy, my true son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Here, Paul is acknowledging Timothy as his true son in the faith, and of course, Paul says this to other people like Titus and others, who are people that he sees that are like his children, and he is praying for them and mentoring them in the ways of the Lord. One of the greatest responsibilities for those of us who are older in age and also older in our faith, we are required by God to be examples and mentoring those that are younger than us, not in just spiritual activities, but practical physical life skills. It's a chance for us to take the knowledge that we have gotten and pass it on to someone else so they can take that and expand on it and run even further. If we are serving in ministry or we are in some sort of spiritual leadership, it should be constantly on our mind, who am I mentoring, and who am I mentoring possibly to take over the ministry for me so that God's work will not be hindered. You must have a list of young men and young women that you are praying for, that God would call them into the ministry, or potential people that could rise up to the occasion in leadership and you are praying for them and asking God to bless them. But we see Paul the Apostle sees Timothy, even when he is 15 years old, sees the potential in this young boy to be a great leader one day, and Paul spends much of his life having Timothy be with him, writing him, explaining to him things, giving him the time, and what we find is that Paul was very successful in the ministry and he was very successful in mentoring Timothy to continue the ministry. If we pray and we ask God to help us to be secure in our leadership, that we would find others to mentor, and that we would have the heart of Jesus to really see people and their potential, then we will be able to mentor in the way Jesus mentored, and we have good examples throughout scripture like Paul and Timothy, Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, and we see great men and women who mentored others into the ministry and into great leadership. Let's pray and ask the Lord to help us understand these things. Father we thank you for the example of mentoring that we see in Jesus' life, and in Moses' life, and in Paul the Apostle's life, and we see that Paul the Apostle had a wonderful heart to see Timothy as his true son in the faith, and he saw the potential in this young man even at 15 years old. Lord for those of us who are in some form of leadership or spiritual leadership, we ask that you would help us to be able to impart mentoring to others, that we would see our leadership as not something to protect, but something to be given away, and in that our leadership has strength. I pray for each of my parents that are there raising their children, that you give them insight into being able to mentor their children also. We ask for your blessings in Jesus' name, Amen. My brother, my sister, remember this, the Bible has the answers for life, and God's promises always comes true. If you have a question about life or something in scripture, please write to us or call us and we'll help you to be able to answer those questions. There's an excellent book that I would encourage you to get written by our Metropolitan. It's called Against the Wind. It's a special study in the letter of 2nd Timothy. It's on leadership and mentoring, and I would encourage you to contact us to get a copy of that book. I know it will encourage you. May the Lord bless you as you experience God's grace, especially in your leadership today.