Tag Archive - Selection

Problems in Raising up Better Leaders

January 25, 2011 in Leadership, Ministry, Movement Building with 3 Comments

In addition to some of the positive ideas stated yesterday in How to Raise Up Better Leaders than Came Before (mostly: raise up passionate followers of Christ who really get the gospel!), here are some problems we need to Fight Against and Figure Out.

Fight Against (more on these below)

  • Drift Toward Ease
  • Practical Atheism

Figure out (we’ll tackle this one tomorrow)

  • Raising up Leaders who can also administrate
  • Systems that make it easier for students to “lead up”


Drift toward ease

I’ve noticed that unless vision for Focusing on the Right People is constantly preached, many of our staff and students tend to disciple students who are much less gifted leaders than themselves.

Here’s a few theories on why:

It’s safe and easy

  • They’re super-available and we have no doubt that they will eat up everything we say

Fear that we don’t have what it takes/Fear of rejection

  • It’s intimidating (even for staff!) to approach that really sharp freshman leader who just oozes confidence
  • I can vividly recall my second year as a director – I discipled a guy who was the president of his fraternity and I ended up not meeting with him much because I didn’t feel like I had anything to offer him.

We like to be needed

  • “The fact is that many people in leadership roles gravitate toward hurting, draining, time-consuming people because they have a need to be needed.” – Dave Kraft (this entire post from What’s Best Next will be the best Leadership thing you read all week)

One resource to fight this drift is Tim Henderson’s article The Right People for Discipleship that is written to students and is phenomenal on communicating the why’s and how’s of pursuing Better Leaders.


Practical Atheism

  • Craig Groeschel describes this as someone who believes in God but lives as if He doesn’t exist
  • In this case it would be: really strategizing and thinking through how to raise up better leaders, and forgetting that God has to show up for his kingdom to grow on our campus
  • Ps 20:7 – “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”
  • We have to fight against putting our trust in better leaders
  • It seems that the “easy” solution to this one is prayer and expressing utter dependence on God to move and raise up incredible leaders who will spread His fame
  • We still plan and strategize like crazy
  • All the time remembering- We’re like the guys setting up the Inauguration Parade route– setting up bleachers, preparing the route – so the path is clear for the Reigning King to pass through and receive adoration


What are some ways you’ve found to fight against the Drift Toward Ease and Practical Atheism?



photo courtesy of Peer.Gynt

Focus on the Right People – Followability

September 20, 2010 in Ministry, Movement Building with 7 Comments

(part 5 of a series on “Focus on the Right People” and multiplication)


“Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”

Paul to the Corinthians – I Cor 11:1

Does that verse ever strike you as a bit off? I mean, how cocky was Paul?  Why not just tell Christians to follow Christ?

The fact is that people follow people to Christ.  God will not usually reach people directly (via lightning or spelling out ‘God’ in your Cheerios).  He has given us the role of being His ambassadors.

So how will college students come to Christ?  They will Follow other students to Him.


Last summer I grabbed Brian McCollister, Cru director at Ohio University, for a few minutes to pick his brain on building movements. One thing he said about reaching students really stuck out to me.

They did a survey of students who were very successful leaders of freshmen groups.
The two character traits they found of successful leaders were:

  1. Followability – others will follow them (if a guy shows up at my door, would I want to hang out with him?)
  2. Tenacity – a guy that stays after people (calls them EVERY week before study)


How do You focus on and develop Followability in students?



photo courtesy of *Kicki* via Flickr

FoTRP – Is Selection Unloving?

September 15, 2010 in Evangelism, Ministry, Movement Building with 12 Comments

(part 3 of a week long series on “Focusing on the Right People” and multiplication)

“One must decide where he wants his ministry to count – in the momentary applause of popular recognition or in the reproduction of his life in a few chosen men who will carry on his work after he has gone.”

Robert Coleman

This week we’re discussing “Focusing on the Right People”.  It’s what many refer to as Selection.  Anytime you talk about this (especially with students – as a student I argued with the staff for hours with staff against the idea!), you get the same pushback: Selection is unloving; didn’t Jesus love everyone equally regardless of who they were?

By no means do I hope to comprehensively cover this.  But just wanted to share a few thoughts (today and tomorrow) that have been helpful for our team as we think thru this.

My friend Chris Newport directs the Cru movement at the finest university in the world – Texas Tech.

Here are Newp’s thoughts on thinking thru who we invest in (and even more importantly, helping our staff, students spend time with the right people) :

1) II Timothy 2:2 – We are exhorted Biblically to invest in those who are “able to teach others”. As an organization, this is central to our calling and mission.

  • What qualifications do you think someone needs to have to be “able to teach” others?
    What are disqualifiers?
  • At the very least this tells me that some are not “able”, which means I have to make difficult decisions

2) It’s loving to think about the whole

  • Loving everyone means selection
  • What does it mean to love every student?
  • Loving lost people means spending time with multipliers
  • A helpful analogy from Newp’s Summer Project in Yugoslavia:
    • Their goal was to change a country, to reach millions of people.
    • So they only spent significant time with students who met two qualifications – 1) Spoke English 2) from Belgrade (this is where we had a team who could follow-up)
    • They had no one to hand them to for development and discipleship (no established church) except in Belgrade
    • What the country needed was multiplying disciples not isolated Believers
    • It’s loving toward Igor to spend time with him despite his lack of English, but what about the other millions? The loving thing to do is to focus on those who can help reach the multitudes.
  • From Masterplan of Evangelism:
    “…though [Jesus] did what He did to help the multitudes, He had to devote Himself primarily to a few men, rather than the masses, in order that the masses could at last be saved. . . “Everything that is done with the few is for the salvation of the multitudes.”

3) Key Question: How do I discern if I should continue to spend time with a student who probably will not become a multiplier?

  • Here is my guideline: Does my spending time with this individual cause me to compromise my calling to make multiplying disciples?
  • If my time with Johnny keeps me from reaching the campus, I am not being faithful with my time
  • Recognize I have limited time – I can’t just spend time with Johnny just b/c he shows up

One adjustment: Ultimately the goal is not to reach the campus, it’s to reach the world. Some people may not multiply their lives in the context of our campus ministry, but have the potential to be very influential once they graduate. I’m mostly thinking about the guy/girl who figures it out late in their college career.

This is a difficult and challenging  issue. We can’t just write people off b/c they’re not leaders, but filling our schedules with people who are not “able to teach others” is also not an option. I have to trust that by reaching multipliers, I will eventually reach more people, which means all types of people.


photo courtesy of SigmaEye via Flickr

Focus on the right people – Do ministry thru others

September 14, 2010 in Leadership, Ministry, Movement Building with 13 Comments

(part 2 of a week long series on focusing on the right people and multiplication)

“The people you spend the majority of your time with can and will determine whether you are an effective or ineffective leader.”

Dave Kraft – “Leaders who Last”


I think one of the biggest misconceptions of those going into full time ministry is that they are going to spend most of their time on the front lines.

This is what I did my first 5 years on staff. Sure I discipled guys, but my main focus was reaching my target area/dorm.   On my own.  5 years of starting over and gaining no ground.

Ephesians 4:12 is a great summary of our job as full time ministers:
“To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.”

In college ministry, I think Staff’s #1 job is to empower students to have a ministry.

  • We believe that students sharing with other students will be the key to reaching our campus.
  • So staff are successful not if they have a thriving personal ministry but if they are pouring into students who are in turn pouring into others (Discipleship/Multiplication)
  • So we focus pretty much every week with staff on “who are you meeting with?”:



Reminds me of #6 on this this mind-blowingly-good list on leadership from the blog whatsbestnext.com:

THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY INEFFECTIVE LEADERS
 1. They spend too much time managing and not enough time leading.
2. They spend too much time counseling the hurting people and not enough time developing the people with potential.
3. They spend too much time putting out fires and not enough time lighting fires.
4. They spend too much time doing and not enough time planning.
5. They spend too much time teaching the crowd and not enough time training the core.
6. They spend too much time doing it themselves and not enough time doing it through others.
7. They make too many decisions based on organizational politics and too few decisions based on biblical principles.

From Dave Kraft’s Leaders Who Last

Kraft adds:
Notice in particular numbers 2, 5, and 6, which have to do with the kinds of people you spend time with. I say it again: the people you spend the majority of your time with can and will determine whether you are an effective or ineffective leader.
The fact is that many people in leadership roles gravitate toward hurting, draining, time-=consuming people because they have a need to be needed. They want to help people, to be there for people. If a leader has strong mercy gifts, leading becomes more difficult. Simply put, if you need people, you can’t lead people. There is an inability or lack of desire to make the tough calls, speak the truth, or do the hard things. Motivated by a fear of disappointing people, this inability will seriously hamper and work against your ability to lead.


Tomorrow: Thoughts on how focusing on the few is not unloving to the many.


photo courtesy of andorpro via flickr