{"id":30288,"date":"2023-01-19T19:42:11","date_gmt":"2023-01-20T03:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=30288"},"modified":"2023-01-19T19:42:11","modified_gmt":"2023-01-20T03:42:11","slug":"when-a-leader-raises-more-leaders-more-is-accomplished-in-perpetuity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/when-a-leader-raises-more-leaders-more-is-accomplished-in-perpetuity\/","title":{"rendered":"When a Leader raises more leaders, More is accomplished in perpetuity."},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2007, our ministry started on a trajectory of exponential growth; from one church congregation and one school at the end of 2006, we had four schools by September of 2007, and this growth continues to date. One incident in 2007 came to mind as I read Tom Camacho\u2019s book, Mining for Gold.[1]<\/a> We recruited a very energetic and talented middle-aged man that started very impactful programs for the children. This gentleman left after two years, and with him went his programs; he had not trained anyone to continue with the programs. We learned a great lesson on ensuring that our programs and activities are structured for sustainability and the need to intentionally develop leaders to manage and sustain the exponential growth in ministry. This was reinforced by another incident in 2008 when we had to travel outside the country for an entire month and had no access to the young leaders we left behind to run the ministry. We were anxious that things would not work, but, to our pleasant surprise, these young leaders surpassed our expectations by not only doing what we had specifically assigned them but also making very bold decisions in our absence. This was the beginning of an intentional leadership development program that has allowed us to grow into twenty-eight new communities in Kenya and two locations in Liberia in West Africa that we\u2019re currently establishing. J. Oswald Sanders says, \u201cChristians everywhere have undiscovered and unused spiritual gifts. The leader must help bring those gifts into the kingdom’s service, develop them, and marshal their power. Spirituality alone does not make a leader; natural gifts and those given by God must be there too.\u201d[2]<\/a> Camacho points us to an important mandate imposed on us by virtue of being Christian leaders to seek out and develop others that God brings our way to be leaders. Camacho\u2019s symbolism in the process of \u201cmining\u201d and the precious and refined \u201cgold\u201d is a very good pointer that leadership development is a painstaking process of the intentional human effort in coaching but, more significantly, a refining divine process by The Holy Spirit to produce quality leaders, that are kingdom minded. He bases his work on six principles:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Refining leaders into gold is the work of God. We must surrender our lives to and allow The Holy Spirit of God to refine us.<\/li>\n
  2. Helping people to find their true identity in Christ is the foundation of tapping into their great potential.<\/li>\n
  3. Leaders and coaches should focus on directing people to God, who helps them discover their God-given design or gift.<\/li>\n
  4. Every person God brings your way has a sweet spot where they naturally bear fruit.<\/li>\n
  5. As we consistently point people to the cross as the primary refining tool, they will grow into kingdom-minded leaders.<\/li>\n
  6. It is through developing genuine relations that people grow and thrive in leadership.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    From seeing potential in people even when others do not see to coaching them, mining for Gold, and helping them to thrive, Camacho brings out an essential message on leadership multiplication and raising kingdom-minded leaders. Graham Cooke says, \u201cI think the responsibility of leadership in the church is not to do slick meetings and not to figure out how to get 5,000 people through a facility in a weekend. It is to produce a people like Jesus. Let\u2019s be people producing something on the ground that could annihilate the enemy in our city. That\u2019s our job!\u201d[3]<\/a> The importance of having the right mindset to see leaders even in people that do not look promising. Just like David was not seen as a leader in the human eyes of his family and Esther was far from being seen as a likely candidate for the king\u2019s wife, as we allow God to use us to identify and coach believers to bring forth \u201cgold\u201d that will increase the influence of the church. He sees the thriving of Christian leaders as a birthright, quoting John 10:10, and describes a thriving leaders as Flourishing leaders who are growing and thriving; Planted in a community with deep roots and lasting relations; doing God\u2019s work with commitment in seeking God first and His righteousness; bearing fruit because they\u2019re living in their God-given design and thriving in their sweet spot; and they are continually being renewed, experiencing freshness and regular renewal.[4]<\/a> Jesus sets a great example for us in how He walked with His disciples from His first encounter with them to the time He commissions them to \u201cgo and make disciples.\u201d Coaching cannot be done other than in close proximity and in serving them, in conformity with Jesus\u2019 example in saying, \u201ccome, follow me,\u201d in telling his disciples, \u201cdo what I do\u201d rather than \u201cdo what I say.\u201d Christian leaders must be close enough to see and hear them make mistakes, coach them and help them get into a relationship with God that allows the Holy Spirit to refine them into gold. Antoine de Saint-Exupery says, \u201cIf you want to build a ship, don\u2019t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.\u201d[5]<\/a> John C Maxwell says, \u201cA leader knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.\u201d[6]<\/a> As Christian leaders, our example can be our most persuasive influence on the followers we desire to see empowered to be leaders. Do others imitate us because we model Christ? Jesus prepared His disciples, modeled leadership development through coaching, and got so much work done, which will continue perpetually. For me, it\u2019s a great challenge to leave a legacy of many kingdom-minded leaders that will continue o use this leadership development model.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    [1]<\/a> Camacho, Tom. Mining for Gold: Developing Kingdom-Minded Leaders through Coaching<\/em>. (Nottingham. Intervarsity Press, 2019).<\/p>\n

    [2]<\/a> Sanders, J. Sanders. Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence for every Believer<\/em>. (Sanders Spiritual Growth Series). (Chicago, Illinois, USA. Moody Publishers, 2017)<\/p>\n

    [3]<\/a> Cooke, Graham. A Divine Confrontation<\/em>. (Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. Destiny Image Publishers, 1999).<\/p>\n

    [4]<\/a> Camacho. Mining for God<\/em>. Pg 171<\/p>\n

    [5]<\/a> Antione de Saint-Exupery. The Little Prince<\/em>. (New York, NY, USA. Reynal & Hitchcork \/Harcourt, Brace, 1943).<\/p>\n

    [6]<\/a> Maxwell, John C. Quotes from John Maxwell: Insights on Leadership<\/em>. (Nashville, Tennessee. B & H Publishing Group. 2014).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In 2007, our ministry started on a trajectory of exponential growth; from one church congregation and one school at the end of 2006, we had four schools by September of 2007, and this growth continues to date. One incident in 2007 came to mind as I read Tom Camacho\u2019s book, Mining for Gold.[1] We recruited […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1555,1574,2007,579,1558],"class_list":["post-30288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-camacho","tag-coaching","tag-dlgp","tag-leadership-development","tag-mining-for-gold","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30288"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30290,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30288\/revisions\/30290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}