You may be seated.
Good Afternoon, my name is Shannon Whitt. My husband, Josh, our son, Caden, and our daughter, Laura Grace, worship at Argo Christian Fellowship. I attended Birmingham Tres Dias number 13 where I sat at the table of Rebekkah. This weekend, I have the privilege of sitting with my new sisters at the table of “Rebekkah.”
You have heard today how to put your faith into action. Studying allows you to know and obey Christ through His written and spoken word. This leads to Action in your Christian life. Being a friend and bringing that friend to Christ are ways to put your faith into action. Tonight, I will be speaking to you about being a leader.
PLEASE WRITE THIS DOWN: Leaders are those who with their person and conduct influence the thinking and actions of others.
Each of us in this room is a leader. You may be thinking to yourself, I don’t feel like a leader. I’m not sure that I can be a leader. You are not alone. Samuel once found himself looking for a king. The Lord had told him that the next king would be a son of Jesse. In First Samuel chapter 16, Samuel went to Jesse’s house to crown the next king. After standing in the presence of Eliab, Samuel said “surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” Eliab was the oldest of eight sons. Surely, Samuel thought, he was the Lord’s choice. God then told Samuel in verse 7, “Do not consider his appearance or his height… the Lord does not look at things that man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” One by one, Jesse presents his sons to Samuel. After seeing and rejecting seven of them, Samuel asks, quoting the Message Bible, “are there no more sons?” to which Jesse replied: “well yes, there’s the runt, but he is out tending the sheep.” The RUNT! God had chosen the runt and turned him into the King. God has placed us each in different environments in which he expects us to be leaders:to “influence the thinking and actions of others.”
In my life right now, being a mother is the place where I am confronted with the most opportunity to do this. You may not be raising children right now, but I am sure you are being looked up to in some area of your life. Are you a teacher, a big sister, a supervisor at work, a leader of small groups at your church? Then you are a leader. If you have accepted Christ as your Savior, you are also called to be a Christian Leader.
PLEASE WRITE THIS DOWN: A Christian Leader is one who accepts God’s call to influence others for Christ.
One thing I have found to be true, is that most great leaders have, at some time, also been called to follow. Sounds ironic, doesn’t it? Think about it, how does someone know how to be a leader? At some point, they have followed a great leader. Following is not always easy, but at some point on the road to becoming a leader, you must first follow. My entire life, I have been surrounded by Godly leaders. From the time that I was 3 or 4, my family has attended church. We were not members of the Pew Warmers club. If there was something to be done, I watched my mom do it. Not only would she participate, she would volunteer to be in charge! At different times, I have seen her head up Children’s Church, VacationBibleSchools, Ladies’ Clubs, Missions Trips, Community Bible Studies, you name it. Planning and coordination have been important keys in her leadership roles. My dad, on the other hand, has been an elder for over 10 years. His leadership roles are not always front and center. They are usually more behind-the-scene roles, characterized by his servant’s heart. For those of you who do not know my dad, he is the strongest man I have ever met. He has worked hard his entire life doing hard, physical labor. And I have never heard him complain. He’s known around our family and church for his “Tom prayers.” He is the gentlest person I know, and his example in my life has demonstrated how leaders are often called to serve. Another example of a leader in my life is my husband. He daily accepts God’s call to influence others for Christ in his job. He is a seventh grade math teacher and also coaches basketball and football. He has been called to be a missionary in a public school system to a group of 12 and 13 year olds. In the system in which he teaches, there is a very large population of what are called ‘apartment kids’. His class is full of students that come from single parent homes. With his involvement in after school activities, he is able to be a Godly example and the only father figure that many of these kids have. He has had boys on his basketball team that, had he not fed them before he took them home, they would not eat dinner. Had he not picked them up on the way to a ball game, they would not have made it there. He has had players on his team that have never had a parent show up to a single game. These kids are looking to him everyday because they are hurting. Many of them are lonely and looking for love. He has been obedient to God and accepted God’s call to influence the thinking and actions of others in the field in which he has been placed. He has shown me being a leader requires sacrificing of yourself and your own desires.
PLEASE WRITE THIS DOWN: A Christian Leader is one who leads by serving.
The summer after second grade, I was sent to Ponderosa Bible Camp in Mentone, Alabama. I don’t remember now, if I wanted to go, or if I was “influenced” to go, but I do remember loving it once I got there. The camp was only a week long, but year after year, I found myself eager to return. By the time I was in seventh grade, I was old enough to be a Junior Counselor. And found myself serving as many weeks each summer as I could. Do you know what the main job of a Junior Counselor was? Cleaning up the kitchen after preparing meals for 150 people!Cleaning up after meals was not my idea of ‘leading’, but it definitely fit the definition of ‘serving.’ This is my first memory of putting my call of Christian Leadership into action.
Since that time, I have found myself in various leadership positions. After high school, I became a mentor for some of the high school girls in our church. I befriended the outcasts, and spent time with them listening to their problems, and trying to be a Godly influence in their lives. I was barely older than they were, and was trying hard to point them to Christ. At the same time, I was doing some of the very things I was telling them to stay away from. In First Corinthians 11:1, Paul instructs the Corinthians: “Follow my example, as I follow God.” I can not expect to be a good influence or leader, if I am not trying to follow the ultimate leader that is God. God is faithful, and was able to use me, despite my imperfections, to make an impact for His kingdom.We should all be willing to be used by God, and to answer his call to influence others for Christ.
While preparing for this rollo, A situation my family experienced this past summer kept coming up in my mind. I did not know how it could fit into a talk on Leaders. After reading the list of qualities of a Christian Leader, I realized that God ministered to my family through strangers that possessed qualities of a Christian Leader. These qualities, when founded on faith, allow us to draw on the power of God to change the world.
PLEASE WRITE THIS DOWN: What are the qualities of a Christian Leader?
- To know the ideal- the Ideal is Jesus
- Servanthood
- Initiative
- Generosity
- Excellence
- Faith
- Hope
- Love
I work for a company that designs websites for schools and school districts. This past July, we had a client in Dallas, Texas that bought 4 days of training. This training happened to fall on my 5 year wedding anniversary. My husband is a teacher, and was home for the summer. The situation presented itself, to where he and my then fifteen month old son, Caden, were able to travel with me to Dallas so that we could spend some family time together. After a week of training, Friday night, and our anniversary, finally came. I remember we were spent the evening at Chuck ‘E Cheese, how romantic, huh?!? The next morning, while we were preparing to check out of the hotel to catch an 11:00 flight home,Caden grabbed my straightening iron off the bathroom counter. My husband was in the shower, and I had just gotten out. I was standing right there. It happened SO quickly. My straightener has several heat settings, and it was set to hottest one, at 392 degrees. His entire right palm up to his fingertips blistered immediately. I screamed for Josh to get out of the shower and we both ran to the hotel lobby for help. I was panicking. Caden was screaming, and Josh was, well, he was flipping out. We were met in the lobby by a doctor, who happened to be eating breakfast, a grandmotherly prayer warrior, and several others who displayed characteristics of Christian Leaders. The doctor began to care for Caden at once. He took INITIATIVE to calm us down, and to get Caden’s little hand into some cold milk to sooth his burn. While he was caring for our screaming baby, a stranger, whom I’ll probably never meet again this side of heaven, began to pray out loud over Caden, the doctors who would come to care for him, and for our family. Her FAITH was such a comfort to me in such a trying time. While I knew that God was in control and going to take care of Caden, I needed to hear those prayers. We took Caden to the closest emergency room and the doctor on call happened to be on loan from the local Children’s hospital. He knew exactly how much pain medicine Caden’s body could handle, and did not hesitate to give him morphine. We were later told that most doctors are very slow to medicate children with such strong pain medicine. God had placed this man in the right place at the right time. We were sent by ambulance to ParklandHospital in Dallas, Texas. I rode in the ambulance with Caden, while Josh followed in the rental car. The paramedic driving the ambulance displayed the characteristic of HOPE. He informed me that Parkland Hospital was home to the best burn unit in the world and told me that most of the common formulas for treating burns, used all over the world, were developed at the very hospital we were going to. Caden was burned 638 miles from home, but only 12 miles from the best burn unit in the world. After we got to the hospital, we were taken through the ambulance bay, and inside of the emergency room. While waiting there, I felt like I was trapped in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. We saw some major trauma victims come in right in front of our makeshift room that we had been put in to wait. In our haste to take care of Caden, we had left our wallets, money, insurance cards, and even my shoes at the hotel. We finally had the chance to sit and take in what had happened. I also, being six months pregnant, began to reflect on my hunger pains! Caden had been given pain medication, and was resting comfortably. Mama, on the other hand, was hungry! We were in a strange place, in very undesirable circumstances. We had no money, no family close by, and our baby had been burned very badly. One of the doctors came by to apologize for our wait and I asked her if there was any help for patients that were out of town, or needed help (or food!). She informed me that Social Services was closed on the weekend, and no one would be in until Monday. Seeing my pregnant belly, and understanding our circumstances, she went down to the cafeteria on her break and came back with two hamburgers and a Diet Coke. How GENEROUS! I am sure she was very busy, and probably had seen a hundred patients that day, yet she fed us. I remember calling home often with updates. I just wanted to have my family with me. At the time, my mom was recovering from major back surgery and couldn’t get out of bed, much less jump on the next flight out. My mother-in-law had her bags packed and was waiting on the word to come be with us. Our pastors were calling every hour, prayer chains were being started all over, including throughout the Tres Dias community. Although I wanted to be home, the calls and prayers, our family, church family, and the body of Christ, displayed the characteristic of LOVE when we most needed it. We were unable to make our flight that morning, and were actually kept in the Pediatric Burn Unit for three more days. Caden had second and third degree burns covering his palm and fingers. After 3 weeks of burn treatments back home at Children’s hospital, he was allowed to take his bandages off. It didn’t take long for him to regain the full use of his right hand and fingers. He still has some scarring, but has been given a clean bill of health, that contains no long-term problems from this ordeal.
The strangers mentioned in my story didn’t know they were going to be called into action that day. In Matthew 25:35-40 says, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, and I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? The king will reply, I tell you the truth, what every you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” I didn’t know I would need someone to take INITIATIVE, to be GENEROUS, to give me HOPE, to show us LOVE. But God did.
The qualities of a Christian Leader are given by God. We use these in our lives to accomplish the work he has asked us to do. A Christian Leader is called to EXCELLENCE. Colossians 2:23 instructs us to do everything we do as we are doing it for the Lord and not for man. I want God to look at my life and have reason to say, Well done, my good and faithful servant.
After EXCELLENCE, we have the qualities of FAITH, HOPE, and LOVE. FAITH is confidence in the grace of God. We know that we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, and that we can trust Him with everything that we have, and everything that we are. HOPE is defined by famous women’s speaker, Beth Moore, as an anxious expectation of something good. We have HOPE because God is Good! Psalms 27:13 is a great encouragement if you find yourself in need of HOPE: “I would have despaired, had I not believed that I would see the goodness of God in the land of the living.” Psalms 46:1 says: “God is our refuge and strength, en ever-present help in trouble. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” As Christian Leaders, we have to share God’s HOPE with those who need it in our lives. The final quality is LOVE. Love is the essential quality of a Christian Leader. Every situation in life is an opportunity to express Christ’s love. This is best summed up in First John 4:7-10 “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” And pay attention to this next part, “This how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” Our actions as Christian Leaders should be expressions of God’s love.
You are all called to be a leader for Jesus Christ. You are a leader when you reach out to others, so that in turn, they may respond to the Holy Spirit. Use the qualities that God has given you, together with the model he gave us in Christ, and influence the thinking and actions of others. In closing, I want to remind you that this is not something that we can do on our own. First Thessalonians 5:24 tells us that “The One who called you is faithful and He will do what He promised.”
Thank you.