It all began during the third week in Nicaragua when I received a phone call. It was a voice that asked me if I would lead a girls team during Manistry month. Manistry month is where the guys get together and do man stuff together and do dfferent types of ministry where it usually requires men, like construction or prison ministry. So they asked me to commit to just one month of team leading. I am pretty sure my jaw dropped when they first asked. I was speechless because I was not ready to hear that question, I wasn’t expecting it all during the race. Once I got my jaw back in place, I told them I would pray about it. Long story short, I said yes and met up with them to do as much training as you can do in just two days before we were thrown into our teams, on the plane to the Philippines and off to our home for the next month. So here are some things I have learned about being a leader:
1. Be open. Being an open book helps your team to be open with each other. Setting that trust is key to having a team that will trust each other enough to share what’s really going on in life.
2. Setting boundaries when to talk to teammates and to have time to myself. This was a tough one because I wanted to be available for my team for whatever was needed but I NEED some time to myself. I need to just chill, get in the Word and have time to recharge.
3. Don’t be a people pleaser. I didn’t realize how much I like to please people. I am not sure if it’s that I am a people pleaser or if I just don’t care what we do, either way I had to learn to be decisive and make decisions. I mean, I am so indecisive about stuff and it has been stretching for me to get ideas together, but in the end making decisions not only for myself but also for 7 other people. Yikes! Ask my dad, he asks me where I want to go eat and I say I don’t care….we sit there for 5-10 min before making a decision because I don’t care. I just care about spending time with the person I am going to eat with.
4. Have quiet time for yourself. At first when I was getting away for quiet time on the beach to pray about my team, not for myself. It’s good to be praying for my team and each teammate, but it’s very important to pray and talk to God about stuff going on in my life. I needed to pray for patience, love and unity for me and my team.
5. Being intentional with the ministry and teammates is highly important. For me, it was hard to balance my team and the ministry. My team consumed my time and thoughts because I was thinking about my team and how to better serve them and what we should do in our next team time or how to encourage the team or whatever else that crossed my mind. My thoughts were all about my team and not much with the ministry and the people we were serving.
6. Don’t be the team. I tried at first to do whatever was needed to be done. Wow, that was dumb. Handing over responsibilities to other teammates is ok, in fact, highly encouraged. I couldn’t do everything, I needed people to do things so I wouldn’t get so burned out and frustrated.
7. Love….lots of love. Sometimes it was hard to love everyone all the time. When things got hard and patience was close to nothing, I had to remember to love them and not judge them on how they are acting now but who they are and can be.
8. Become a family. I loved my team by the end of the month, I was in tears when the squad leaders said we were changing. Even though there were some tough times, there were lots of laughter and good memories made. I gained 6 new sisters during month 4, it was so fun to hang out with them and live life with them.
9. Don’t believe the Squad Leaders. Okay maybe on some things, but they told me just one month…and this is my second month. It was easy for me to think, “ok this is just for a month, I can do this. It won’t too bad, what can happen in a month?” Well, let me tell you. A lot can happen in just one month. You can grow to love your team so much that you are in tears when they hand you the names of the next team you have and have to start over with. It’s hard when you put all your energy in one team and you are so tired at the end of the month, ready to take a break and be a racer again. Then you get pulled aside at debrief and get asked again….holy moly. Did not see that one coming. I thought I was done with leading. I mean I kept my team safe, no one died or had severe injuries so I knew I did good there. I was just not expecting to get asked again. I did not see myself as a leader for the race.
10.Pray hard for your teams, before you announce them. This was a hard one for me. The first team I led, I prayed hard for them because I wanted that month to be a growing month for all and for us as a team to have unity. The next team was a bit tricky. I saw the list of my teammates and not all of them were girls. You’ve got to be kidding me….I will be leading guys? Not only that, but one of the guys was my old leader, and the other was a leader for another team. Wow….I was at a loss of words. I had to pray a lot for peace and understanding because I realized I was the only girl leader with guys on a team. Why did they choose me?
God’s timing is so perfect. I know that He has me leading in this season for a reason, maybe to teach me a little bit for what He has for me in the future. Even though times are tough and I want to throw in the towel some days, watching your teammates grow is worth every tear shed.
This season, I am leading an interesting group of people. I love them so much and I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us as a team and individually. I had a vision for my team. I saw a submarine and it was about to submerge deeper into the water. I feel like this time on the race, we are getting ready to go deeper with our relationship with Christ. I am not sure what that means but I am excited about what He’s got planned.
