Serving Bread

I don’t think I’ve enjoyed college sports like I have in the past two weeks. Watching the CSUN basketball team win the Big West title and almost upset Memphis in the first round of the NCAA tournament are highlights that I will remember for many years to come. I’ve been excited for a bunch of guys I’ve never met and a team that should have been counted out a long time ago. When the overtime clock hit zero, we rushed the floor, screaming, yelling and high fiving strangers and players. I felt like a groupie, a fan and a cheerleader.

As I recall those moments and my relentless pride in all things related to Cal State Northridge, I see a glimpse into my role as a leader in the ministry. My new vision is to have that kind of joy for young students and our community. I want to be the biggest cheerleader. One of the online dictionaries defined a cheerleader as “an enthusiastic and vocal supporter.” I like that definition. Part of my leadership should be to be an enthusiastic and vocal supporter of young people and emerging leaders.

The Apostle Paul was one of the earlier Christian leaders who was a sort of cheerleader to young leaders and young church communities. In his letter to the church in Philippi, he is overcome with joy at the work that God is doing through the church and the faithfulness of the people who are part of that church. And in the sixteenth chapter of his Romans epistle, he takes time to encourage people by name and highlighting a few of their accomplishments

I see Paul’s ministry philosophy captured in Ephesians 4, where he oulines the various gifts associated with leadership (apostleship, prophecy, evangelism, pastoring and teaching) and says that those gifts are to “equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God” (Ephesians 4.11). By equipping the saints, the body of Christ would grow. Unlike the sideline cheerleaders at basketball games Paul saw his role as one who equips for others to do the work of ministry.

Too often, it seems that the leader gets most of the credit of the successes of the ministry. I think commending leaders is appropriate, but like cheerleaders at sporting events, the focus is on the players, not the cheerleaders. I want to be the kind of leader who is cheering on people to live up to their full, God-given potential. I want to equip people to build up the body fo Christ and have the reputation of being the biggest cheerleader of the ministry.

Some of the critique of seeing leader as cheerleader could be the implication that we would cheer people on for whatever their hearts desire, regardless of whether it is in line with Biblical convictions and ministry values. Sure there is a danger (and I confess that I have fallen to it) that we can be silent or turn a blind eye to sin.

When I was at the basketball game, I was angry when some of the players committed unnecessary fouls and idiotic plays. In other words, I believed in the team and believed that (as one of the fans put it) they “know better than that.” My role as the chief cheerleader is to cheer people on toward the convictions and values and vision that is God-given. Anything short of that is a compromise of people’s convictions and abilities.

So join me in getting the pom-poms on and being enthusiastic and vocal supporters of our communities.