after school, attending ball games, student body activities, going to social
functions, taking them out for a pizza or burger and fries, inviting them
into our home. As I developed relationships of trust, and built friendships
with these teenagers, I increasingly focused in on the key young leaders.
I tried to give them more concentrated time and attention.
During those early days of ministry, I certainly had no clear-cut “game
plan” in mind for building Christian leaders. I just knew that some of the
ones God had given me favor with had great leadership potential - and I
wanted to capture and develop those abilities for the Kingdom of God.
Other than the very practical spiritual nurturing I had received from my
own two wise Christian parents growing up, my only other model of
training people was the way in which Christ discipled His disciples. In just
three short years, He had spent enough time with the twelve to prepare them
for the greatest leadership challenge in the history of the world - leading His
church!
“In three short years Jesus prepared His
disciples for the greatest leadership challenge
in history – leading His Church!”One of my seminary professors was Dr. Robert Coleman. His lectures,
which were later published, greatly impacted my thinking. His now
renowned book is entitled The Master Plan of Evangelism. As the title
indicates, it is a practical study in how our Master, the Lord Jesus,
evangelized and discipled people. Dr. Coleman pointed out how Jesus
spent most of His earthly life with just twelve men – not with the
masses of people as Christians often think. Within the twelve, He had
three to whom He gave more concentrated time and attention – and they
were Peter, James and John. Within the three, He had one “soul mate”
that He spent even more time with – and that was John the Beloved.
I knew I could not improve on Christ’s Master Plan of discipleship
and leadership development. That understanding and relational
approach became a vital part of my model of discipling...mentoring...
leadership development.
Even though I did not have a “worked out and written down” plan, I did
clearly understand from Christ’s model that there were several essential
ingredients to discipling people and building Christian leaders: Selectivity,
simplicity, time, discipline, focus, practicality, and life application. With this