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ONE

Pastor Doug Armand

Have you ever heard the adage, “How do you eat an elephant?”  The answer is: ONE bite at a time.

What if we asked you, as a leader, to develop 1,000 new leaders over the next ten years?  Okay.  Now, that’s an “elephant”!  Do you know that all it takes to accomplish that task is for you to train ONE leader each year for ten years and train each leader to do the same?

During our last Vision Night, Pastor Dave DeGarmo encouraged each of us to raise up ONE leader this year.  So where do we begin?  The first thing we must do is to Discover Potential Leaders. In order to discover potential leaders, we must…

1. Pray –Ask God to help you identify at least ONE person who has a heart to invest into others.  God tells us to “pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38).  If God tells us to pray for leaders, then He will send them, if we obey Him by asking.

1. Observe – Who in the group demonstrates FAITH?

F – Faithfulness – A key ingredient in identifying someone who can lead is faithfulness.  Who in your group is faithful in devotion to Jesus, in attendance to the group, in handling responsibilities, etc.?

A – Availability – Mentoring someone requires spending time with them, so it is important that potential leaders be available to spend time with you and remain involved in small group activities.

I – Initiative – Look for someone who is not afraid to take the initiative relationally and in serving others.

T – Teachable – A posture of openness to constructive feedback and coaching is very important for those being prepared to lead because the learning never ends.

H – Honest, Open, and Transparent – Transparency and honesty are very endearing character qualities.  People will always be drawn to those who are willing to be authentic in relationships.  This will help tremendously as the potential leader seeks to build lives.

Take the goal of multiplying your group, and break it down to the manageable goal of investing yourself into ONE person.  When I look back at my life and the many relationships that God has given me over the years, I can say with complete confidence that it was worth it and it is still worth it every day.

Our greatest privilege as leaders is to see those whom we are leading to step into their God-given purpose.  All it takes is for ONE person to get it, to hear God’s call to lead and respond with, “Yes Jesus, I will go.”  That is exactly what you did.  You are ONE who can reach and build ONE.