Monday, March 17, 2014

3 Things I Learn From Moses About Leadership-- Part 3: We MUST Invest in the Next Generation

Deuteronomy 34:9
And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him.  So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses.
I can remember a senior pastor for whom I worked once remarking about the young men on his staff.  He clearly recognized God's leadership on their lives, and he certainly was grateful to have them on his staff, but there was a pressure that he felt by the "Young guys knocking on the door!"

It certainly is easy to be a bit intimidated by the next generation.  Their ideas are different and a bit more radical than you are comfortable with.  They move faster, listen to different leadership mentors, read different publications... well... just about everything they do is different.

Andy Stanley once made the statement (and I'm paraphrasing) "The next generation will always figure out how to reach the next generation.  As senior leaders we can either fight them, or fund them."

Moses understood that God wasn't going to allow him to take the Jews into the promised land.  It would be easy at this point to throw his hands up in disgust and fade away into history.  But he doesn't.  He cares so much about the Hebrews that in Numbers 27 he asks God to appoint a leader to take over after he is gone.  God commanded him to take Joshua, lay his hands on him, and then invest in him.  And Moses does what is commanded.

As leaders we must be willing to invest in the next generation of leaders.  Yes, it takes time.  Yes, it can be frustrating.  Yes, we may not always understand their mindsets or methods.

But they are the future.

And if we really care about the people God has entrusted us to lead, then we will take time to empty our cup into the cups of the next generation, so that they might lead our people to the next level.

The next generation is the future.  We can either fight them, or fund them.

--Jeremy

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