Cast the vision. Live the life. Preach the Word. Lead the change.
Those four statements are my self-described job description. I’m a Lead Pastor in a church of about 325. God handed me that mission just over a year ago, and it’s been a great focusing tool. From time to time, I draw a graph and rate myself on each of the four focal points. This morning, I realized that I’ve been really strong on “Cast the Vision” and “Preach the Word,” and lower on “Live the Life” and “Lead the Change.” I’m glad God showed me that. And it relates to some of my recent posts on John the Baptist.
John attracted followers, even though his mission was to point people to Jesus. But we’re all learning to follow Jesus, and sometimes it’s easier to follow a person who is following Jesus for awhile, while we learn the basics. This is what “Leading the Change” is all about.
I need to prescribe basic applications of God’s word while people are learning to hear those themselves from God. But I also need to encourage people to move beyond those prescriptions and listen for themselves. When that happens, I celebrate that people have graduated from following a mere mortal to following the God of the Universe.
Lord Jesus, give me grace to do this, and especially grace to hold my followers loosely, in anticipation of the day when they hear your voice and “leave” to follow you. Amen.