Do you feel like a leader?
Sometimes, we can see our daily actions or lives as a survival mode. We are trying to live out our faith, get the to-dos done, work requirements, and help our family. The word evangelization can be intimidating and counterculture. We get stuck on the idea that leaders look or act a certain way. They are our high school coach, the priests, missionaries, managers, or CEOs. Or maybe we see them as perfect, sinless, and well educated, but whatever it is our image is ultimately not me.
Positional Leadership
However, the leadership we are talking about is not a position. It is a way of life. You are a leader in all phases of life. You are either leading people towards Jesus or away from him. You are having an impact on those around you. Our goal is to help you make your impact intentional, one that brings a vision into reality and helps transform all those around you into their greatest potential.
Our interactions and positions may change in different phases of life, but in all stages, careers, vocations, ages, and days we can be leaders. As a stay-at-home mom, I can get stuck in the idea that I was once a leader, as an Air Force officer running big and small teams to complete and manage multiple programs but I am no longer one. My day-to-day life can seem to have no significant leadership impact. But the reality is these souls that I have been granted the honor and responsibility to mother are incredibly important.
My purpose is to become more Christ-like, to know and serve God and to help those around me reach this goal. The first place I need to focus on is my family, but I also interact with friends, neighbors, and strangers. Not only physically, but through phone calls, text messages, and social media. All of these relationships create opportunities for me to impact and allow the Holy Spirit to work through me to change and inspire others.
Disqualified
I can also take a look at my own life and get discouraged by the sins I’ve committed, the disordered habits and addictions that still hold me. Maybe you feel that you don’t know enough, I don’t have the training or experience to help mentor others. I can think, who am I to be leading this bible study? This young adult group? This ministry? Or this family? But, Pope Benedict the 16th once said, “To evangelize means: to show the path [to Christ], to teach the art of living” (Address to Catechists and Religion Teachers, Dec 12, 2000).
Maybe we don’t feel like a masterpiece today, but trust me, you have already come so far, God has already transformed you in so many ways. It is by sharing your story and joy, not just the facts or perfectness that influences others to believe conversion is possible for them.
You are also not called to do it in a cookie-cutter way. St. Catherine of Sienna said, “If you are who you were meant to be, you will set the world on fire.” We ask you to be yourself, for you are created for a specific purpose, with great dignity and potential.
My Impact Is To Small
The goal of our leadership and this way of life is again to help teach the art of living. We’re not asking you to convert the whole world. Not even Jesus did that in his lifetime. We’re not asking you to convert your entire college, or company, or town.
We’re just asking you to start by investing your heart into one person. Then you two each find one more person. In a little over 30 years, you could set the entire world on fire. This is spiritual multiplication, which requires a servant leader who is more concerned about the depth and a genuine change of heart than numbers and purely behavioral modification.
This is the example we see in Jesus in the scriptures. Jesus spent most of his time with 12 dudes that smelled like fish. They were not sinless, profoundly educated, or holy. And he dove deep with just three of them: Peter, James, and John.
We have no excuse for not stepping up and being leaders because every one of us can significantly impact three people. And the ripple effect can change the world.
The last thing Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew was “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” Tell me something more important than this?
We hope that watching this video will inspire and remind you that you are a leader, and can have an incredible impact on the lives around you!
All Are Called To Lead | Episode 4 Of Thicker Skins, Bigger Hearts
