Help! I'm a Student Leader: Practical Ideas and Guidance on Leadership (Youth Specialties (Paperback)) - Softcover

Fields, Doug

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0310259614 ISBN 13: 9780310259619

Publisher: Zondervan, 2005

Synopsis

You are a student leader for a reason. Maybe you chose to be, maybe someone else chose it for you—no matter how you got here, God has a plan to use you in ministry. You and your youth worker know that you’re new at this thing. You have leadership abilities, but you’re still a student—so how do you do it? Doug Fields has been a youth pastor for a long time, and he has helped a few students here and there figure out how to be leaders in his ministry. Now he’s here to help you. You may be afraid or overwhelmed, or you may feel privileged … or even a little cocky ... whatever the case, the tools in this book will help you get the most of your time as a leader. Here’s a little bit of what’s inside: • Learning how Jesus led others • Lightening the load of your adult leaders • Discovering the secrets of getting others involved• Deepening your own faith by serving others • Balancing your schedule—family, school, faith, leadership • Becoming an encourager You’ve been entrusted with leadership responsibilities, and Help! I’m a Student Leader! is full of hands-on leadership ideas and guidance that’ll help you discover the leadership role that you were created to fill.

About this title

About the Author

Doug Fields has been a leader in youth ministry for over 30 years. In addition to being a youth pastor at two churches for 11 and 20 years, Doug is the founder of Simply Youth Ministry, the co-founder of Downloadyouthministry.com, the author of more than 50 books, and is currently working with Youth Specialties & Azusa Pacific University (HomeWord’s Center for Youth/Family). More information about Doug is available at www.dougfields.com.

From the Back Cover

You are a student leader for a reason. Maybe you chose to be, maybe someone else chose it for you--no matter how you got here, God has a plan to use you in ministry. You and your youth worker know that you're new at this thing. You have leadership abilities, but you're still a student--so how do you do it? Doug Fields has been a youth pastor for a long time, and he has helped a few students here and there figure out how to be leaders in his ministry. Now he's here to help you. You may be afraid or overwhelmed, or you may feel privileged … or even a little cocky … whatever the case, the tools in this book will help you get the most of your time as a leader. Here's a little bit of what's inside: • Learning how Jesus led others • Lightening the load of your adult leaders • Discovering the secrets of getting others involved• Deepening your own faith by serving others • Balancing your schedule--family, school, faith, leadership • Becoming an encourager You've been entrusted with leadership responsibilities, and Help! I'm a Student Leader! is full of hands-on leadership ideas and guidance that'll help you discover the leadership role that you were created to fill.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Help! I'm a student leader!: practical ideas and guidance on leadershipRadical leadershipIf you asked the president of a large company for a oneworddefinition of leadership, she might describe it asenthusiasm, drive, power, presence, or competence. Thesewords are often associated with the world's view ofleadership.But if you investigate Jesus' leadership requirementsfor his closest followers, you'll see that only one wordmakes it to the top of his list. It's not an attractive wordthat will make you want race to the end of this book.Ready? Drum roll, please...Jesus asked his leaders to...serve. Serve! (Go ahead and reread it---I'll wait.)Is it safe to assume that right now you're not toosure you want to be a leader if that's what leaders do? Iunderstand---it's quite shocking at first. But if you want tofollow the lead of Jesus, you'll fi nd the primary objectiveof a biblical leader is to serve. Carefully read this verse tounderstand how Jesus wants his closest followers to act:You know that in this world kings are tyrants, andofficials lord it over the people beneath them. ButChapter OneStudent Leaders Serveamong you it should be quite different. Whoeverwants to be a leader among you must be yourservant... (Matthew 20:25-26, NLT)Jesus' selection of leaders could be considered either insaneor ingenious. But since he was God in the flesh, let'sassume his leadership judgment fits in the latter category.The first 12 men he chose to lead with him included fivefishermen, a tax collector, and six others whose occupationsare a complete mystery. Sometimes we wonder why Jesuschose these men instead of those who were already seen asleaders. Whatever the reason, the greatest leader ever tolive chose ordinary guys to lead with him.Clearly, Jesus connected serving to leading. Hedeepened the definition of leadership when he describedhimself as a servant rather than a king:'For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to beserved but to serve others, and to give my life as aransom for many' (Matthew 20:28, NLT).Jesus didn't just speak about serving; he modeled it. Heput the needs of others first and placed himself in positionswhere serving was necessary. Ultimately, this posture ofservanthood led him to the cross---to serve the needs ofhumanity. He served without reservation, and the greatestact of servanthood was also the greatest act of leadershipour world has ever seen.Think about that for a moment. Jesus. God inthe flesh. All-powerful, all-knowing, all God, and yet, allservant---to everyone! He served the down and out, thesinner, the outcast, the lonely, and the poor. Leader? Yes.Servant? Absolutely!As Jesus served, he created and led a movementwith the potential to influence others! Given Jesus' actions,my definition of leadership would include two key words:serve and influence. Jesus did both. That's leadership!If you want to be a leader---not just a studentleader, but a Christian leader---you must learn to lead likeJesus. How? By serving others. When you serve others,you'll have the opportunity not only to lead, but also tochange the image of leadership in your church, in youryouth group, in your family, and in your school.So instead of viewing your leadership role as achance to exert power and voice your opinions, view it asan opportunity to serve. When you do, you'll succeed atleadership, and you'll grow to be more like Jesus.Serve...like JesusThe apostle Paul emphasized Jesus' servanthood andhumility when he challenged Christians with the followingwords:Your attitude should be the same as that of ChristJesus: Who, being in very nature God, did notconsider equality with God something to begrasped, but made himself nothing, taking thevery nature of a servant, being made in humanlikeness. (Philippians 2:5-7)Paul told early Christians to be like Jesus (except for theperfection part---which is too bad since walking on waterand casting out demons could be scary and fun). Whatdoes it mean to be like Jesus? It's more than wearing aWWJD (What Would Jesus Do) logo...it means takingon his character---being a servant.As you read this book carefully, you'll see thatleadership and service go hand in hand. (I desperatelywant you to understand this concept before you move onto the next chapter.) As a student leader, if you want to beeffective, you'll need to serve others.Many church-based student leadership programsare populated by the cute, fun, and outgoing kids whowin popularity contests within the youth group. That'sthe wrong way to choose student leaders. Leadership is notabout popularity; it's about...guess what? Serving. If youdon't serve others, you're not a Christian leader. I don'tcare how popular, charismatic, and wonderful you are...ifyou want to be a leader, you must be a servant. Get it?(Got it!) Good!Several students were immediately interested whenI began to float the idea of creating a student leadershipgroup at our church. But at our first informationalmeeting, I emphasized that biblical leadership (andleading like Jesus) requires servanthood and humility.Being a biblical leader wouldn't necessarily mean onewould have popularity and power. My words disappointedmany students. After that meeting there was a lot lessexcitement about leadership. Several students wantedto be leaders because they thought they'd be in front ofthe crowd, make important choices that would affectthe ministry calendar, and be consulted on youth groupdecisions. Servanthood never occurred to them.Our student leadership team was small at the startbecause very few students were willing to serve. Few werewilling to pick up trash, stack chairs, and go out of theirway to befriend disinterested and lonely students. In otherwords, I had a lot of students who wanted to be known asleaders...but not many who wanted to serve as leaders. Wewere learning about the big difference between biblicaland worldly leadership.The backbone of Christian leadership is simpleto understand yet very difficult to pull off: Serve. Masterthis task, and you'll become a powerful student leader. (Ifservant doesn't describe you right now, don't give up. Justkeep reading and pray for God to mold you into the typeof leader he wants you to become. Stay with me throughthe end of the book. I will challenge you, but I'll be nice,too. I promise.)

Edition details

• Publisher: Zondervan
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0310259614
• ISBN 13: 9780310259619
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 144