Justin Cofield outlines key factors as to why developing leaders in the Church is critical.
Here are some of the main points:
Here’s what I want to talk about for just a few minutes, we’re going to talk about developing leaders and why we should do it.
Why should you develop leaders? Why?
The first reason that I could think of is that Jesus did it. If you look at Matthew 4, Jesus has just been baptized by John the Baptist, He’s just been in the desert and tempted by the Devil. He’s about to begin His ministry, but before He heals anybody, before He preaches a sermon, before He teaches on the steps of a synagogue – Jesus walks by the lake – the sea – and He sees two brothers fishing.
He says, “You follow me. I’ll teach you to be fishers of men.” Immediately they drop everything and start following Him. He sees two other brothers working with their dad, fixing the nets, and says “You follow me. I’ll make you fishers of men.” Immediately they drop everything. They leave their father and follow Jesus.
Before He did anything else in ministry, He chose men that He was going to develop. He knew His time was short. He knew He didn’t have long, He knew it wasn’t going to be an endless amount of time on Earth.
He chose men to develop first. That’s what He did first in ministry. We should do it too.
Second reason, we gotta take care of the bride. How many of you guys that are married, that left your wife, maybe some kids at home, to come here for this week? How many of you called your wife last night? You got back to your hotel and said, “Hey babe, you doing okay? How are the kids today? Are all the doors locked? What did you guys do for dinner? Do you need anything? Can I help you in any way?” How many of you guys did that last night? A few of you.
How many of you – if you went to the doctor and the doctor says you’ve got three months to live and you’re done – how many of you would make sure with everything in your power, that your wife or husband is taken care of after you’re gone? You’re gonna save every dime. You’re gonna try and scrape together. You’re gonna try and pay off the house. You’re gonna try and make sure your kid’s college is taken care of. You’re gonna take care of your bride.
I think it’s on us as worship pastors as leaders in the Church to care about the bride. Let me let you in on a little secret: Nobody else is going to care about worship leadership for your people like you’re going to care about it. The pastor might care about it a little, maybe the family pastor, maybe some of your congregation, maybe some of the musicians in your band, but nobody is going to care about it as much as you care about it.
So you should be thinking about who is going to lead people, maybe not when you’re gone from that position. Even being here this weekend, you’re staying here in Austin. How many of you guys are staying on Sunday and somebody else is leading at your church?
You know who is leading, don’t you? Somebody you’ve trained? Somebody, you have confidence in? Somebody that you know that is going to stand on that stage and shepherd your sheep well. It’s on us. We gotta take care of the bride. We’ve gotta give her good things. We can’t just get that one guy who can kind of, sort of play the guitar. “He’ll be okay to fill in while I’m gone.” It’s on us to care about the bride.
This is my campus. This is where I lead on Sundays. I’m not leading here this Sunday, but I know that Dietrich is leading here Sunday, I have full confidence in Dietrich’s pastoral skills to speak with clarity, to lead with confidence, to pastor anyone who comes up to him afterwards. I have full confidence in Dietrich to lead our people well, to shepherd the bride this Sunday.
It’s on us to take care of the bride. We’ve gotta want the best for our bride.
Last reason that I think we should – well it’s not the last reason, it’s one of the three that I felt are really important – we’re called to replicate.
That’s a word I feel like has been a buzzword in the church over the last few years and usually “replicate” is always kind of synonymous with “discipleship,” but we’re called to replicate because we’re only as good as our last day.
If you get in a plane crash and you die on the way home, you’re only as good as the last day you spent here. Really, when you think about it, the only thing you can do on this Earth with lasting eternal value is invest in someone else, to give a piece of yourself to someone else.
