“A true and safe leader is likely to be one who has no desire to lead, but is forced into a position by the inward leading of the Holy Spirit and the press of circumstances…There was hardly a great leader from Paul to the present day but was drafted by the Holy Spirit for the task, and commissioned by the Lord to fill a position he had little heart for…The man who is ambitious to lead is disqualified…the true will have no desire to lord it over God’s heritage, but will be humble, gentle, self-sacrificing, and altogether ready to follow when the Spirit chooses another to lead.”
A.W. Tozer
Sometimes I think this quote was written for me…
Back in July at training camp, I was asked to be a team leader over 6 other people on our 61 person squad. The last three months my team, Team Lionheart, has made some amazing memories while impacting the lives of many people throughout Central America.
One month ago, I felt the Lord was preparing me to take on a new leadership position. Our squad leaders, Abby, Lauren, and Tim will be going home at the end of this month. They have already done the 11 month race and have come back to lead and teach our squad for the first four months. Then they raise up 2 new squad leaders to take their place. I heard the Lord saying, “Shannon, here is what I have next for you…are you willing to take a step of faith and trust me that this is what you need to step into?” I felt that surely the Lord wasn’t asking ME, so I politely ignored it and continued on throughout the month of ministry. Well, about the third or fourth time I heard it I knew it was the Lord speaking. This would be what I like to call an “Oh crap” moment. 🙂 It’s when God asked you to do something you cannot do on your own and your only option is to fully rely on Him to work through you to complete the task at hand. So at first they are always scary moments for me until I let the excitment of realizing I get to let God be God in my life takeover. 🙂
So, a week and a half ago, Tim came to visit me in Panama and asked if I would squad lead. I’m grateful that God had been preparing my heart for this moment because as soon as he asked the question, I had complete peace, not because I thought I could do it on my own, but because I thought back to a verse I read recently in Proverbs 3:26, “…for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared.” You see, it’s not about us, not about our abilities, not about how much we know, and it’s not even really about what think we want. God is teaching me that His calling is always bigger than our character.
Something the World Race always talks about is putting on a bigger coat. I love this thought. When parents buy coats for growing children, they buy those coats a little bit bigger than necessary so that as the child grows, he can still wear the coat. At first that coat looks a little funny and big, but the child grows into it and eventually fits perfectly…only to grow out of it and need a new coat. This is exactly what God does with us. He calls us to things that are too big for us. We feel like we’re swimming in this calling and that we are too small to fill it up. But God grows our character to meet our calling. He calls us into big things…things that we’re not necessarily prepared for or feel adequate enough for. But He gives us that coat to wear and knows that we will grow into it and we’ll fill it well. And then someday, we will grow out of that coat and need a bigger one to grow into. Thus, we are completely challenged, stretched, and transformed into bigger things.
There are many emotions and thoughts that I’ve had as I’ve stepped into this position of leadership. I’ve been excited, overwhelmed, struggled with feelings of inadequacy, laughed, and a lot of other things. Most of all I’m humbled. Humbled that the God of the universe whispered into me… I heard the voice of my Creator. Humbled to lead 59 amazing people into a Spirit-filled life. Humbled that over the past few months He has been changing my passion for the ministries we work with to a passion for our squad to walk in freedom. Humbled that God is doing an amazing work in me and giving me a bigger calling.
So I won’t be on a team anymore. Scotty and I will travel to different teams and pour into our new team leaders and our squad. Please pray for us as we both step into this. Please pray for wisdom, discernment, and the ability to hear God’s voice and obey. Pray that we would have fun, that we would bring a freshness, and that we would empower others to go deeper in following the Spirit. We don’t know exactly what we’re doing, but we are going to just go for it.
Go big or go home is still the motto and we can’t wait to see how God delivers! 🙂
Go big or go home is still the motto and we can’t wait to see how God delivers! 🙂
