vision and plan

with the information that i currently have, i will be expected to recruit junior high and high school students, as well as leaders to form a youth group. i am also responsible for training the leaders, (especially one leader to take over) and then transitioning out. i have given this a lot of thought and have come up with several concrete ideas to see this happen.

1. i will be intentional about delegating tasks whenever possible. (this might be especially helpful since my spanish is limited.) if i am training these leaders, then there will be some tasks that don't work out well, or some that the leader may not be ready for. in the latter circumstance, i will make an effort to train and equip the leader with the necessary resources and skills to complete it. in the former situation of failure or mistake, i will need to follow-up with the leader in order to talk through what happened and how the situation may be handled in the future.

2. follow up may be one of my most valuable tools. if i have regular meetings with intentional sharing about what is going well and what isn't going well, perhaps the leaders will develop a system of support amongst each other instead of always having to look to me. in addition, follow-up may help us to see areas of weakness or possible opportunities for innovative strategy.

3. i will need to come up with specific boundaries that will give others the opportunity to learn (i often can get carried away with taking on responsibility). these boundaries will take into consideration the principle that teaching (or hands on activity) is one of the best ways to learn. one of my personal boundaries is that i won't lead any bible studies outside of the ministry and within the ministry i would lead only studies for guys (sort of discipleship) or for leaders. *all of this is subject to change. ultimately i will need to talk to the director of the organization (my father-in-law) who will have a better perspective on what i should determine as boundaries. the purpose of this boundary would be to give leaders the opportunity to jump in and get teaching experience or even students.

as far as leaders and students... please pray that god will be preparing both students and leaders who will end up being a part of this group. i don't necessarily know how i will find either, so if i succeed in developing a group it will be because god was doing the work and not me. thanks for your prayers and support.