The Ohio Independent Baptist, June 2002

The-: <>bi.<> I:..d.~p~.._c:Icc:..t B~pti.~t The Newsletter Promoting Interdependence Among The Ohio Association ofRegular Baptist Churches Vol 75 No. 3 ver the pa t four year / in thi State Repre entati ve po ·ition I I have learned a great deal- not the lea t of which i that leader. do not ju t happen. It I would be nice if they j u t " hawed up,, automaticall y at our church and agency door with little effort expended on our part. I have become convinced that part of my ta k is to do everything I can to rai e up a new generalion of leaders fo r our Fel1owship. I cannot wait passively unti l they come my way: I mu t be proactive in developing them-hence thi artic le. I do value human leadershi p. Leader are legitimate in the work of God and arc to be recognized as such (I Thess. 5: 12- 13). Lee Roberson's famous cliche 5ti ll ring. true in my soul, "Everything ri es and fa lls on leaderc., hip." I also believe that we can lose everything we have gained as a cllowshi p of churchc<i in just one generati on. That'\ about al I it wou Id take. So ... How do we rai se up a new generati on o f leaders in our churche~? 8 ) 1node ling, by n1ent <>ring, and by ..nlone) 1 ng." Modeling All of LI\ do n1odc ling whethe1 we real i1c it or not. All o f u, can he po't iti ve role n1odcl~ to up and c.on1ing young people. lt can be J ··scary" thought that young pec>plc are v. atching us ltke hawk\ and that we do n<>t al\>\•ays know CAatt ly \\ hat the) a1e cn1ul ating. But ll ,.., .... t11l 1he lt uth . l~very <)llC of U\ can c.J cni c>n"i trate to young people ~on1e ' hr1 ~ll ,1n \ 11tu1.?. We al l sh<>uld be able to s~t) \\i th l'aul , .. l·o II O\\ 1 ne as I J o ll< >\\ (. 'hrist.'' Pau] reali zed that hi in1pact on oth rs wa ' not j ust from hi . talking to them. Hi ~ teaching went beyond lectures and n1e re word . He ac tuall y influenced people more by hi , li fe tyle than by hi s lec ture . He re1ninded Tin1othy. "You have carefull y fo llowed my doc trine. n1anner of li fe, purpo. e, fa ith , longsufferi ng, lo e, per. everance. persecuti on~. afni c ti ons ... ,. (II Timoth y 3: 10- 11). He exhorted hi . Philippi an fri ends, ' ·The things whi ch you learned and recei ed and heard and . aw in me, the. e do .. .' ' (Phi li ppian 4:9). Paul modeled- both by life and by lip. His teaching was prin1arily life touching life. The neat th ing about n1odeling is that every one of us can do it. Male or fcn1a lc, ri ch or poor, educated or not- al I of us can in fl uence the next gene rati on fo r god line. s by the v. 1 ay we live . Mentoring Mentoring is a ~tep beyond 1node ling. Intentional it y co11c~ into the pictu re . It bcco,ncs our task to di \covcr young people who exhi bit both interest and abi lity and to cu lt i, ate then, for the Lord . Mentoring requ ire\ us to thinJ.. beyond oursc l cs and t<> foc us on the poten t ial or son1eone e lse. M entoring n1ay in o l, e these ingred ient !-,: • A weekly or bi -\\cckl) 111ecti ng for one hour • 14i\ tCning and pra) ing toget her • Stud ying a hook of the Bibl e or another boot.. toge ther • Men,ori,ing. Scripture tngc thc, • ln\o l, 1ng the )<)ung pcr,on 111 ( ' h1 i'-lltan ,er, tL'C al , at 1ou, IL'\ t' l, • l· 11< .. ·ou1ag1ng the) tl ung pet '-ll Hl 111 Ill, or h c I e 11 o I t \ a, 'A t• 11 .1, ho Id 111g t ht• 111 aLt'Oll llt ttblt: 101 thc1 1 Ill\ ol, t'lllt'll t s . • June2002 People will re. pond to individualiLed at tenti on. The 1nentor not onl y gives n1uch by way of ti inc and e ffort but also rcce i es a great deal in return . I have di. covered that 1nentoring i~ a rec iprocal arrange n,ent. " Moneying" Beconi ing a Christ ian leader norn1all ) invo lves not onl) being a leading Christian hu t also get ting a good education. And education co. ts n1one). Big n1oney. Most young people could use son1c fi nancial he Ip ,vi th the ir cducat ion. In order to rai se up a ne\\' ge neration or Christian leader~ for our churches,, e ,, ill have to "put our n1oney \Vhere our 1nouth . " I ~. l an, vcr\ thanJ.. ful for 111\ hon1c church - J (Trinit Bapti~l hurch orTa 1 1or. Michigan ) that sent n1e 5 1 0 per 1110111 h for over ~c , en years plu. too~ up ~l)lllL' ~pcc ial offe ring, to he Ip pa) fnr 111) college bill .... . Pat' s hon1c church (E, angel Bapt isl hurch or Ta) lor. I\ 11ch1ga11) aI o he I pcd \\ hen "pccia l ncl:'d"- arose . l lt' Ip ' an1c 10 u, hoth fro1n ind 1, ,dual,,, uh ,n thC'iC churchc" a, ,, e ll a, fro1n thL' church trea,ur\ it~elf. J 'f olla) . t'\ en ,non: than fort) ) c.tr ..., dgl) , such financ ia l hel p for L'l)llcgL' , tud t• nt, 1, both 11111t: l) d11<.l llL'cdcd . t>t•op lc he,1dt•d 1'01 1ni11i \t l') need to gradu.1tc .1, '-· lt,,L, ltl dL' hl freL' .l \ pl)\\lblt' \ lll l'l' tht') pltlb,tbl\ \\ill no t ht' n1.1~1ng h1g but·J.., tu p.1, llll , ·hno l In.in, \ \ ' L' L'.\ll t'\j""ll'L'"" lt',tl conftdt·nL·c in thu,t' ,, c n1cn101 h\ ~L'L t1n ~ ~ ' thL' lll o, t'I tht' ri11.111c1.il liun1p lll ,.:nlk·~t· L' l )\I\ l\1odt•lin~ ~h.· 1Hll1111~ ··\hHlt'\ 111 ~ .. . . ~ c11.1hltng u, lt l 1.11,t' up .1 llt'\\ ~L'th.'1.111 ... ,11 \ ,t ( ' h11 , t1.t11 lc,1dt•r, llll ou1 thu1tht'"