My emerging leader list

I recently jotted down a list of emerging leaders. Just a list of people that I thought could help out with leading, faciliatating, catalyzing. In other words, people that could replace me. It was cool to get a list like that onto paper.
Of course, in reality, its a list of hopes and dreams isn't it? A list of people that we have some contact with, that we get to develop and mentor, but really, its a list of people that we hope continue on well past us, to do and BE so much more than we are. We hope that they just stagger us with the influence they have, the people they end up mentoring, the impact that they make. Our real passion is that they outdo us in every sphere.
The first on my list was the student who will be doing her mentorship with SPACE. She is ready to really dig deep and make some vital and significant contributions to SPACE. Funny thing, I'm actually more excited about how I think she will grow, versus the amount of tangible help that she will provide. Don't get me wrong, the help will be ...helpful. But, probably like most of you, I'm more stoked about her learning, growing, becoming.
Second on the list was two students that came out of the grade that I served as a small group leader. It's been awesome to see them from high school freshmen to college young adults now. And I still don't feel old...
They have approached me and expressed a big interest in helping lead kids in missional experiences during the summers. They have even said that they have thought about something like that as a significant part of their futures. And the media wants to tell us that all young people are apathetic and careless.
"20 somethings aren't anti-authority. They are anti-irrelevant. They don't rebel against authority, they rebel against irrelevance." Yeah, guess who that quote was by.
Jotting a list down like this is great, because:
- It focuses you on possibly who you should be spending time with.
- At least gets you thinking about the future.
- Provides a good start to put together a plan for how you are investing in the next generation of leaders.
Let me challenge you all to start putting a list like this together, or at least thinking about one.
I'll be having lunch tomorrow with those two that I mentioned above. I'm looking forward to it.