Leading to Follow.

I wasn’t a natural born leader, not the  “who’s who” of the youth group. When I arrived on the Bible college campus I attended, I was insecure, homesick, unsure of myself, and scared. But I knew I was doing what God wanted me to do and that I was where He wanted me to be. I did not make choir (funny, because I would end up being a worship pastor) or travel with any ministry groups (this was a big deal). I often felt overlooked and I was afraid to speak up in class.

Everything changed one day when sitting in my missions class, where I remained strategically hidden for fear of being called on. The professor, David Wyns, shared about a class project that would be completed under the direction of five group leaders he would select.

As he called out those names, I was stunned that he chose me as one of the five class leaders. I thought, “No, I am not a leader. I am not the one. I have tried to stay hidden from the group so that I am not chosen. Is he not aware that I cannot do this?”

That evening as I contemplated my situation, I determined the only solution was to meet with the professor the next day and plead with him to let me step aside so the group could be led by someone more capable. When the meeting took place, I came with a carefully written list of all the reasons why I should not be one of the leaders.

When I finished talking, I said, “Brother Wyns, you have picked the wrong person to lead the group.” He responded, “No, Lisa, I have picked the right person. You just don’t know it yet.”

Moses, at his burning bush experience, tried to give many convincing arguments to God as to why others would not follow him. The underlying truth for Moses, and for all of us, is that none of these reasons have substance in light of the One who calls: “In this amazing dialogue Moses experienced the great paradox of calling: God is saying, in essence, it is all about you (because you are the one I have called) and it’s not about you at all (because it was all about me and my work in and through you).”[1]

The word leading has a variety of meanings: main, chief, prime, most significant, and most important. When compared to Jesus’s leadership model, however, none of these words or phrases seem relevant. Jesus chose to wash feet before having His feet tended to. He taught a principle of the last being first and the first being last.

Calling requires us to lead in following Christ, and part of that requirement means dying to self—taking up our cross to follow Jesus. Dying happens early in the calling process, and it happens continuously. I am a little like Peter when it comes to talk of dying—“All this talk of dying Lord—No!” But Jesus rebuked him and said, “Get thee behind me Satan.” Death and dying will always remain part of the process.

Words such as selfless, sacrificing, giving, and dying are not often-used words—at least, not by me. The connotations of the words usually bring fear that someday God may hold me accountable for the weightiness of each word. Who wants to embrace hardship?

Embracing hardship and unwanted circumstances, however, is part of the process of dying to self. It can mean sickness, loss of a loved one, loss of finances, and unwillingness to forgive, transition, and so on. The reality remains that we need jostling out of our comfortable place to die to self and lead well.

In calling and leadership, you will experience many “dark nights of the soul,” a poignant phrase written by the sixteen-century priest and poet, St. John of the Cross. Jesus spoke to His disciples about the hard road they would travel. In referring to this, author David Platt writes:

On another occasion, right after Jesus commended Peter for his confession of faith in him as “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus rebuked Peter for missing the magnitude of what this means. Like many people today, Peter wanted a Christ without a cross and a Savior without any suffering. So Jesus looked at Peter and the other disciples and said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”[2]

 The leading to follow call means having the willingness to go to the hard places, do the hard things, and allow discomfort in life for the sake of the gospel—taking up one’s cross and following Him, wherever this may lead and whatever the cost.

So, maybe you don’t know that you’re a leader yet, but I know that God has picked the right person. You are on the road to discovery, my friend!

[1] Barton, Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership, 81.

[2] David Platt, Follow Me: A Call to Die. A Call to Live (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2013), 11.