Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Multiplying the Next You


10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescuedme from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3:10-17
The key to success in leadership is leadership succession. Many leaders are short-sighted because they are only thinking about their personal accomplishments rather than developing the next generation of leaders. But how do we effectively develop new leaders in our church on a regular basis?
There are two keys to effective leadership development. First is relationship. Paul reminded Timothy of his personal knowledge of the life and ministry of his mentor (vv.10-13). This is crucial, because without relationship there can be no life transformation. Leaders must learn to invest themselves in the lives of future leaders. A leader must make intentional efforts to expose future leaders to the realities of what it means to be a true man/woman of God, whether positive or negative. Second is revelation (vv.14-17). Potential leaders must be taught the word of God. They must learn from it as well as learn how to teach it to others. The key to growth and maturity of any leader is God’s word, the Holy Scriptures. Many would-be leaders become ineffective simply because they are not adequately grounded in God’s truth.
Relationship with revelation results in leadership multiplication. This is the key to developing potential leaders in the local church on a regular basis. It’s simple but powerful. Leaders must invest time and effort in developing key relationships with (i.e. mentoring) potential leaders as well as teaching them the word of God from the very beginning. Those who respond well to these two influences are really being prepared for every good work to the glory of God. It’s time to make the right investments in the lives of potential leaders.
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