Leadership in 26.2

As you know this past month I completed a marathon. Upon reflection of the accomplishment and then getting back into the normal routine of life, I was able to draw some parallels to leadership. In the process of preparing for this marathon came a lot of motivation, effort, instruction, research, healthy choices, and carving out time to prepare myself for a run of this magnitude. Before I ran 26.2, the longest I had ever run was 17 miles, and that was only 4 weeks prior to the marathon. Leadership and training for a marathon have a lot of similarities. You see, we are training and running after goals in leadership too. Time will show you the leaders who have come and gone, and those who are future leaders are already training themselves. For one to accomplish goals, we must implement disciplines and training as leaders. Discipline is short for discipleship. We have people sitting in our tribes, groups, teams that we need to develop a workout plan for, and that may include you. This workout plan will help them in their spiritual health and growth. As I sat back and thought about what a workout plan may look like for a Christ follower who sits in a position of leadership, I came up with some key exercises and ideas to train in. There are FIVE areas to focus on. Believe me, it is not as difficult as the science of a running shoe; but there are tools that will be used to help us train in each of these areas. The 5 areas are: The Word of God, Prayer, Fellowship, Telling people about Jesus through Evangelism, and Coaches who will help keep us accountable. Much like training for a marathon, it is time for leaders to develop in their leadership in these areas. Time must be carved out of a schedule, the health of a leader must be checked on, proper technique must be learned, and on-going training must accompany any leader. So, in 26.2 you can learn a lot about leadership. Not everyone can run a marathon, and so it is true-not every one is cut out to be a leader. But there are some who will run, and there are those who will lead...and then a few who may do both in their lifetime.