lwagner's blog

What do little leaders do? What are they about? John gives us a couple of things from his gospel: John 1:19: “Who are you?”

Now that’s a good thing. I like this question because apparently John’s ministry has been growing…he’s got a following…he’s shaking things up. So they send some leaders out to ask him: “Who are you?”

I don’t know if that’s ever happened to you. You’ve been involved in a ministry or a project and things are going well and people begin to ask questions. I used to love it when parents would call and ask, “What are you doing in that youth group? My son has completely changed, he’s like a different kid. He’s nice to his sister. He’s doing well in school. Yesterday we came home and he was on his knees in his bedroom praying. What is going on in that youth group? I mean…is it some kind of a cult?” And I’d just say, “Your son has fallen in love with Jesus and Jesus is reshaping him.”

Jim Wallis writes: “I once coined the phrase, “A budget is a moral document.” But being a dad to Luke and Jack, I now have a new phrase, “A calendar is a moral document.” As many have pointed out…all the social data shows how critically important fathering is for children -- both boys and girls. As Roland Warren so aptly says, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” And it’s all about the calendar. I used to say that a budget tells you what and who are most important to a family, a church, a city, state, or nation. And that’s certainly also true about a calendar. Who or what is most important?”

To quote someone else (who’s name I can’t remember): “No one comes to the end of life and says, ‘I wish I spent more time at the office.’ But too many people do come to the end of life and wish they spent more time with their kids.”

What do you remember from your childhood? The times when you experienced special accomplishments? The difficult times that you didn’t know how you were going to get through? Chances are, you also remember the people that you shared these moments with…including your parents. Your parents were with you when you got the “A” in that most difficult class (they probably played an important role in your grade!). And they were walking with you during those dark days. Their presence was so important during your growing up years.

A couple of months ago I wrote that when it comes to parenting, who you are matters more than what you do. This is because who you are, even more than what you do, helps to shape your kids into the people that they will become. I identified 10 traits that Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott write about in their book, The Parent You Want to Be. Let’s look at 3 of them…

I don’t know if you’ve noticed it but we live in a culture that is pushing us toward bigger and, at the same time, scripture is constantly calling us to smaller. If you have wrestled with bigness (desire to be known, desire to grow your business or ministry or reputation or…), .then you can breathe a sigh of relief today in knowing that God is looking for vanishing leaders. He’s looking for men and women who are going to understand that their life goal is not to become bigger but, instead, to become smaller and ultimately to just disappear altogether.