All Leaders Need Apprentices

Michelle S. Lazurek

The Voice premiered on NBC in 2011 and took the world by storm. This singing competition features four celebrity coaches as they choose singers to mentor based solely on the quality of their pitch and tone. Each coach then worked with his or her chosen contestants on stage presence and performance.

The coaches of The Voice consist of music icons who have worked tirelessly to make a name for themselves in the music industry.

What makes this show unique from other competitions is this: every coach mentors the contestants.

These judges have already achieved that level of success and have a desire to pass on what they know to their team. They have a desire to give back to the same industry that aided their rise to stardom. They do not lead only those who are younger than them but oftentimes lead those older than themselves. This shows humility on the contestants’ part as well, as they understand that age does not precede wisdom.

In churches today, the myth is that only older women can lead younger women.

One of the most commonly used verses of Scripture to support this idea is Titus 2:3–5, which says, “Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”

People often mistake the word older to mean chronologically older. However, this is not always the case.

At the young age of twenty-two, the Lord called my husband and I to begin our pastoral ministry. He and I knew nothing about how to shepherd anyone; I had engaged in an intimate relationship with Jesus for only four years at that point. Yet, the Lord believed in the potential that lay deep within our hearts to disciple His people.

Although I wish we had had a bit more experience in pastoral leadership, I believe that we possessed humility in our knowledge and skills and did not pretend to know more than anyone else about faith. We also humanized our leadership role in that we were two ordinary people who possessed the same love for Jesus like everyone else and desired to become more mature in our Christian walk.

We merely shepherded our congregation, listening to their stories and allowing God’s transformative nature to work his way through those stories.

We then invested in a few key people who we believed had the potential to disciple others. Those people allowed our stories to shape them and they then in turn passed it onto other potential disciples.

Wherever you are in your leadership journey, know this: God looks at the heart, not age.

God may call you to lead those younger or older than you. The most important thing Jesus wants to see is your heart and a spirit of humility. When your heart is in the right place, God will place people in your path with whom He wants you to invest your time, wisdom and resources, which in turn will reap rewards far more than you can ever ask or imagine.

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