We will empower no leaders before their time.

Why is it that we never hear of a Christian church or school that has as its motto, "Training the Followers of Tomorrow!" Where are all the followers going to come from for all the leaders we are training?

Jesus never said, "Follow me and I will make you leaders of men." His command was to "follow me" and the promise was that He would make the followers to be "fishers of men." Furthermore, in the Church the leaders are called "apostles," "shepherds," "elders" and "overseers" instead of "lords," "bosses" and "tyrants." Authority is vastly different than our concept of leadership. To be an authority in the Church is to be a "servant to all." The authorities in the Church are commanded to watch over, love, care for, teach, reprove and instruct. The only instruction that seems to indicate leadership is by example and lifestyle.

Spiritual authority is voluntarily exercised and voluntarily received. We have spiritual authorities for our good and our protection. When our authorities fail, we suffer; when we fail to follow, we suffer.

What is seen as a "silly rule" or "stupid paperwork" is actually a blessing from God. The fact that the IRS has authority over me to make me report the expenses of the ministry makes me a better bookkeeper and hopefully, a better spender of the funds entrusted to me.

As a young Christian I was zealous and put into leadership as a teenager. I entered college with a plan to continue being the leader and continued to be a minister on church staff. It took me a decade to have the pride beaten out of me that was the result of too much authority too fast. There are few realms in the world where a young inexperienced man, whose philosophy has not been proven, can become the leader. Can you imagine graduating college and immediately becoming the president of a bank? I don't care how much "knowledge" you have, you have not proven it. You have not "earned" it. And you have not gained the experience that transforms knowledge into wisdom.

I have been guilty of promoting younger brothers to positions of power (all be it small) before their time. This can lead to pride and actually harm my brother that I am trying to help. Walton says, "help is from Hell." What we need is a radical (paradigm if you will) shift in our thinking. We are not "helped" by God; we are saved by God. What He has done is a radical new creation. He has turned the world upside down and established the things that were not. We were DEAD in an ocean of sin (not swimming just fine, thank you very much).

There is a strong temptation in the missions world to send as many young Christians overseas as we can possibly facilitate. Why do we continue to think that God thinks the way we think? Why do we think that God has such a sense of urgency that He would negate His own Word (not to put a novice in authority, lest he become conceited and fall into the snare of the devil) and lead us to put a novice in authority? If Jesus Christ Himself was not ready for public ministry until He was about 30, then who are we to think that we are ready at 21?

Like a fine wine that is perfected through patience, we should empower no leaders before their time.