Leadership: My Thoughts

Shortly before Spring Quarter began at OC, I got a call from Joey. He had been praying a lot about a young adult group and told me that God had put me on his heart for a position of leadership. I, figuring that Joey would know what he's talking about and that one should answer when God calls, accepted.

Joey brought up the idea of a young adult group around Winter Quarter one night when we were hanging out at Ty's house. I was excited about it. Near the end of winter I wondered if it was still gonna happen, but Joey assured me it would.

After this phone call I started wondering to myself, "What does God want me to do?" I've been trying to think of the things I'm good at and seeing how they could help.

Music: Okay, I'm a fair musician. I can play guitar, bass, and piano and, according to some accounts, sing. Maybe worship leader? But I worry that I might focus too much on the music rather than just worshiping God, so I've decided to put that out of the question for now.

Drawing: I draw, too. I'd like to try painting sometime. But how on earth does that help with leadership?

Writing: I've been writing for a long time. Creative writing is my specialty. I like writing short stories, or at least thinking them up and trying to find time to write them. But again, how does that help in a position of leadership?

Those are probably my three main skills. They don't really account for character or personality traits. I can be patient and I'd like to consider myself a good listener. I'm not rude, or at least I try not to be. There are probably other things that can be said.

One interesting thing during my phone conversation with Joey is that he expressed interest in having an actual website rather than just a MySpace or a Facebook. I hadn't told him before but I told him then that I was going to be taking a Web Page Development class this quarter. So far I'm loving it. Maybe God's trying to say something there?

I also wondered if maybe God's intending for me to be led by Him by being in this position. I know being in a leadership position will require me to be more accountable. Hmm?

Just various thoughts of mine that I felt like sharing.

Fellowship

So earlier tonight I met up with my Bible study group, Momentum Ministries, in the Student Center after my English class. We were talking about community, one of my personal favorite subjects to talk about since community is awesome. During the discussion, I was reminded of a few things I hadn't really thought of.

As we talked, I found times to express my thoughts. The question was, "What is required to build a good community?" After someone brought up that we should have the desire to help our brothers and sisters when we can, I spoke up with my thought.

I think the desire to help others is an awesome thing. I really do. But I also believe that, conversely, we should have a desire to be helped.

Don Miller put it really well in his book Blue Like Jazz. He said that he used to pray a lot for his friends but never for himself because he felt that it was selfless. Unfortunately, I don't have my copy of the book with me (I think I lent it to my uncle) so I can't remember how, but Miller came to realize that such a thing wasn't selfless; it was prideful. He was basically going with the old "I can do it myself" mentality, but that's obviously not a good mentality to have.

In my opinion, the same thing applies to our circle of friends. It is so essential not to isolate ourselves in our own little world. God made us to be with people; it's all over the Bible.

Back during Winter Quarter of 2008, I remember hanging with Ty and Joey and various others after my classes. We'd usually go out to eat. One of our most frequent dining places was King's Wok Buffet in Silverdale. Those were some of the best times of winter. Before that there was the Winter Conference. Joey, Sedy, Andrew and I all shared a room and got to know each other a lot better through the nights we spent talking and praying about a bunch of things. It was awesome.

Coming back to the discussion, we continued talking about community and I, thinking about winter of 2008, brought up that community doesn't necessarily have to be Bible studies and prayer meetings. Not to say those aren't really great; they just aren't the only thing. I was just hanging out with my friends (who were all fellow believers) and I felt this strong sense of fellowship and genuine caring for one another. It's what I loved about winter.

Just to sort of add to that, the spring afterwards sucked. I was taking online classes and I was laid off from my job. So I didn't see a lot of my friends. Sometimes, but not much. I felt alone and it was kind of frightening really.

That's not to say that I can't handle myself alone. I do a lot of things by myself. After work I go to school and go to classes with a completely different group of people, most of whom I will probably never see outside that classroom. So, in essence, I'm still by myself.

But what was this realization I had? I mentioned being reminded of something involving community. Well, I realized during the discussion that I was being prideful. I was always there to help my friends when they needed it; Andrew asked me to be his prayer partner over the summer and I said "Absolutely;" Joey asked me to come to his house a couple weekends from now to help him and a group of other guys with manual labor work; other friends come to me with their problems. But rarely do I ever talk to them about my own issues. I act as if none of them would want to be bothered by my problems but I know that's not necessarily true.

It was just interesting. I love constant reminders of things I've learned. Goodness knows I need them as I'm obviously a forgetful person. It's easy to get distracted in this world. But I need to remember to be distracted by God and His ways.

That is all. Have a good night, everyone!