VELCRO: Concepts That Make Leaders Stick

I periodically run a segment in Youth Staff e-Mails I call "Velcro".  The whole purpose is to share some leadership concepts that I'm working on, learning, have learned or have even just been introduced to, with the leaders around me.  I've shared on the blog once before in this vein, and I thought that I'd share again something that I'm learning and honing in my leadership.  I call it "Leading From the On-deck Circle".


As I was reading in one of the blogs that I follow, I was reminded of something that's so important for all of us to understand: in order to be a great leader, we first have to be great followers!

Zig Ziglar, a popular Christian motivational speaker and author, once said, "You cannot hold a torch to someone else's path without bringing light to your own."  

King David bore this out in his own life as he, despite Saul's envy and rage, did everything that he could to support Saul - the King of Israel.  Remember: even when David, on the run from Saul, had a chance to kill Saul, he refused.  Why?  Because he was the best follower he could be.  He wouldn't kill Saul because Saul was still his king!


I'm reminded of the fact that, though I'm the Youh Pastor and leader for THRIVE and those on my Youth Staff, I'm also a torch bearer for my Senior Pastor.  In order for me to best help them fully develop as the high-potential leaders that they are, I must also develop myself as the high-potential follower, torch bearer, armor bearer that I am.

Some have referred to this as "Leading From Number 2", but I don't like that so much.  I prefer to address this in a more sports/team oriented concept.  I'm a baseball FIEND, so I like to think of this as "Leading From the On-Deck Circle".

In baseball, the person who's considered the 'on-deck hitter' stands in a circle waiting and warming up for his turn, which is coming next.  He is being purposeful about his time in that circle - twirling his bat, stretching himself out, often even swinigng the bat with a donut on it to add weight and further ready himself.  He will also often study the pitches being thrown to the person batting to increase his readiness when the time comes to bat.

In the same way, I believe that we're all in that on-deck circle - whether me as the Youth Pastor to the Staff and students, and torch bearer to my Senior Pastor, or the Youth Staff leading the students and bearing a torch for me.  We're all preparing now for what is about to come - or at least we should be!

So my encouragement to each of us is to develop our inner follower - the inner torch bearer - because, in order for us to be the best leaders we can be, we first must become the best followers we can be - leading from the on-deck circle!