Read Ephesians 4:11-14

“We’re following the leader, the leader, the leader.  We’re following the leader, wherever he may go!”

Playing “Follow the Leader” at recess was always one of my favorite things. Everyone would get in a line and we would walk behind each other, imitating any actions the first person did. We would wave our arms when they did. Walk in circles or tap our heads.  Anything they did, we would do it too, until it was our turn to be the leader. It was a mindless game where no one needed to have any training to become the leader, you just did it.  That is ok for the playground, when you are a child but not in the game of life.  

Leaders lead but they also equip. 

You wouldn’t just toss your car keys to your child on his/her 16^th birthday and say, “Good luck!”  In the same way, you wouldn’t want to discover that, once your plane was on the runway, the pilot had never flown before!  “But hold it!” you might say.  “Those situations are a matter of life and death!” Exactly, and so is the relationship you and the people around you have with Christ.

As a teacher, I have often marveled at how Jesus taught/equipped His disciples and got them ready for service. There is a kind of “golden rule of teaching” that says, “Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember; involve me and I will understand.”  The disciples lived it, saw it and participated in all that Jesus needed them to know.  They heard the words, saw the miracles of healing, multiplying bread, calming storms, walking on water!  Using everyday objects like birds, sheep, lilies, and soil, Jesus cemented in their hearts and minds the lessons He was trying to impart.  So later, every time they saw one of these objects, His lesson would pop into their heads.  Once He was gone, all they needed to do was tell about their own first-hand experiences which they did in their books of the Bible.

All that is expected of you today to be able to lead others to Him is to go TELL your own story of what He has done personally for you.   

“Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”

What is your story?  Are you ready and willing to share it?  No one can dispute it because it happened to you, not anyone else.  Maybe take some time just to reflect on your life or make a list of all the times God has been there for you.  You might surprise yourself, once you stop to think about it and write it down.  

To be a leader, you need to first equip yourself for service and then go and equip others.

Pat Arnold