Slow Down Jesse!

Never had I seen a more perfect example of poor leadership. This past weekend a ministry group in our church comprised of 30 teenagers was gathered at our weekly meeting, and between extended periods of sitting, I thought it might be a good idea to burn off some pent-up energy and I enthusiastically organized a round of Extreme Follow The Leader. I chose Jesse as the leader (whose name has not been changed, since he's not innocent....) because I knew he'd have the proper vim and vinegar to be at the front.

When I sent these 30 young people out into the wild blue that surrounds our church, I quickly realized my mistake, and instantly learned a handful of valuable lessons about leadership.

Jesse hit the gravel running. He's a 15 year old boy - what else would he do? Despite my pleas for him to slow down for the sake of the rest of the group, he was off at warp speed. What I imagined would be 30 teens enjoying a fun five minutes of jumping, climbing and animated silliness, turned into about six boys racing around the parking lot and the surrounding fields while everyone gave up the pursuit.

Hm. OK, we were just playing a game and it was really all kind of funny how it went down, but there were some obvious conclusions to be drawn:

Lesson #1. Leadership should not be entrusted to those who do not comprehend the purpose of the mission.

Lesson #2. Leaders should not lead as if those following them are exactly like themselves.

Lesson #3. Leaders should look back once in a while to see if anyone is still following.

Lesson #4: Leaders are allowed to make course changes, but not until everybody is up to speed.

That's not a comprehensive list by any means and there's plenty of room for changes due to special circumstances, but I think these basic rules have a wide application. Next week, we'll parse out the particular lessons to be learned from "Duck, Duck, Goose!" (Just kidding...)

"Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ." 1 Corinthians 11:1