Surprise surprise, 2 am the night before I give a Catalyst sermon (at this point I almost feel wrong not typing these), and there's a strong sense of discomfort behind tonight's topic: Leadership. There's a great excitement (as always) to teach, partially because I feel unqualified to teach it, which is a good sign. But the sermon tonight is also going to be very self-convicting, and I wonder if I'm ready for that.
A lot of people think I'd be screwed if I went backpacking (granted I don't really know what people put into backpacks that large other than extra phone chargers). But if Bear Grylls has taught me anything, its the importance of choosing a path and sticking with it. Paradoxically, they'll be many times in which in order to stay on the chosen path, you'll actually have to change what you're doing on it. I think this is very similar to the church, and to a leader. We have the path, the goal of spreading the Gospel and building people up with the Spirit's help. However, society changes rapidly, and what worked for people 10 years ago may not work now. So we may have to critically change how we spread the Gospel, while not changing the Gospel itself; the path we're on.
Makes me wonder how Moses, a man who in no way felt qualified to be a leader, did it. 40 years of people going through an exhausting backpacking trip (with no cellphones btw, though they got free tablets at the end [haha!]) without a clue of where they were going. By the end you had a large proportion of people who were born along the way, already in adulthood, trying to understand why they're following a supercentenarian through a desert (sounds absolutely ridiculous, which is why the Israelites complaining in the Bible is actually pretty reasonable). Ultimately and undoubtedly, keeping them motivated and retaining their trust were key factors in keeping as many of them as he did, with God given miracles throughout the way.
I wonder how well I'm doing that here at CSF; helping leading you guys through the desert with God's help. I guess I'll know more certainly in the months to come...
-Abraham Sylvestre
A lot of people think I'd be screwed if I went backpacking (granted I don't really know what people put into backpacks that large other than extra phone chargers). But if Bear Grylls has taught me anything, its the importance of choosing a path and sticking with it. Paradoxically, they'll be many times in which in order to stay on the chosen path, you'll actually have to change what you're doing on it. I think this is very similar to the church, and to a leader. We have the path, the goal of spreading the Gospel and building people up with the Spirit's help. However, society changes rapidly, and what worked for people 10 years ago may not work now. So we may have to critically change how we spread the Gospel, while not changing the Gospel itself; the path we're on.
Makes me wonder how Moses, a man who in no way felt qualified to be a leader, did it. 40 years of people going through an exhausting backpacking trip (with no cellphones btw, though they got free tablets at the end [haha!]) without a clue of where they were going. By the end you had a large proportion of people who were born along the way, already in adulthood, trying to understand why they're following a supercentenarian through a desert (sounds absolutely ridiculous, which is why the Israelites complaining in the Bible is actually pretty reasonable). Ultimately and undoubtedly, keeping them motivated and retaining their trust were key factors in keeping as many of them as he did, with God given miracles throughout the way.
I wonder how well I'm doing that here at CSF; helping leading you guys through the desert with God's help. I guess I'll know more certainly in the months to come...
-Abraham Sylvestre