The Reluctant Leader

T-Bone (my dad) always said: “There are three types of people in this world: leaders, followers and doers. You need to be a leader.” I have always tried my best to do what T-bone says, for the most part, but to be honest this was one that I haven’t always been thrilled with. I have thought, “Why can’t I just be a follower? Or just do stuff?” There are times that I would rather just let someone else do most of the work and follow their lead.

This was true for a project I just lead called Cinderella Day. After visiting the Dream Center, I realized that what they were doing with Cinderella Day would be easily replicated at Cross Point and since I worked 2 days at a clinic in Pearl Cohn High School I would be able to promote it there. Cinderella Day was an opportunity for girls, who may not otherwise be able to afford it, to pick out a prom dress, shoes, jewelry and also get there hair and make-up done.

So I have a confession: the last thing I wanted to do was be in charge of this project. When I first started, all I wanted to do was handout flyers and donate a couple dresses. Ryan Bult, the missions director, said that I was going to have to take the lead on this project and see it through. Not what I wanted to hear. I already had a challenging job, working through a relationship, involved in youth ministry and my computer died. Wasn’t that enough?

Sometimes God decides He wants to move and He has you in the most opportune place to help Him move. He doesn’t care that you have a million things going on because He knows that you can make it though. In addition, if He wants something done, He’s going to provide strength and support for you to do it. All He is waiting to hear is “Yes, use me.”

So I became a reluctant leader. It was difficult. It was frustrating keeping up with e-mails when I had to type each one out on my iPhone. However at some point I stopped looking at how much I didn’t want to do this and seeing how much it needed to be done. It wasn’t just about giving out dresses but for every person involved. I got an e-mail from a volunteer saying how she was new to Cross Point and this seemed like a good opportunity to get plugged in. It pierced my heart that this could be the chance she has to fall in love with this church. This could be the opportunity for her to find community and see God move.

That day we had about 20 volunteers and 50 girls come through. If it weren’t for the wonderful volunteers, this would not have happened. We had 6 racks of dresses, 4 tables of shoes and jewelry, make-up artists, hair stylists and a table of snacks. We had over $1000 of make-up donated to give away to the girls. It was amazing and I saw God move because He wanted to love these girls. I may have not intially wanted to do this, but I was so happy when I saw the result. We were able to create moments like this and have a father see his daughter in a beautiful dress.

So my question to you is: What is God calling you to do that you’d rather someone else take the lead on?

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