about my leaders

Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.

Hebrews 13:7

Three words are used here in reference to Christian leadership that are worth thinking through. In a sense I am the product of Christian leadership… the sum of all those interactions with people I respected who showed me how they lived. It started when as a child, church leaders outside my own parents began to instruct and care for my soul. I am told to remember them. And so I do.

I remember the VBS teacher, a simple woman who shared the gospel story with a first grader. The moment I understood it, she helped me at the age of seven to confess my sinful need, trust in my Savior, and embrace His Lordship over me. I remember countless Sunday School teachers and AWANA leaders who faithfully taught me. I was listening, even when it looked like I wasn’t! And to every Christian School teacher who valued my soul’s growth… thank you! Every Bible College and seminary prof who put up with my attitude and questions and poked me into a deeper understanding and real thinking about my faith… to you I owe respect for God’s wisdom you helped instill.

I consider the outcome of men and women who discipled me. My faith got quite serious at 14 years of age, and the people who invested in me at that critical juncture are still models of ministry I can look to today! I hope I can be half as impactful for someone as they were to me. I still look to them for life wisdom. They still bless me as they gracefully age with kingdom commitments clearly in their focus. I want to be the same.

I hope that I am imitating the best of these lives as I care for others in pastoral ministry. I hope I can carry their legacy forward. My greatest achievement will not be measured in wealth or possessions or human acclaim. I pray that I will have a very simple life that is worth imitating. My hope is that if others imitate me they will find Jesus at work in them. The people I have imitated have that kind of faith and impact. Thank God that I can remember, consider, and imitate holy men and women whose lives make a difference for eternity!