lunch with peter

yesterday i had lunch my my good friend and renowned youth pastor, peter henderson. in general our entire lunch conversation was thoroughly beneficial and very encouraging to me. if i could sum up the main encouragement that i got from lunch, it was to not focus my attention dreading things that are not certain.
peter told me that he would start a ministry like this by examining his immediate resources, in this case, leaders who are already involved at Theos. he also said that he tends to take a 1/10 risk, on placing people in leadership who demonstrate great potential, but who need some discipleship and growth, perhaps. roughly 9/10 of his leaders are those who have demonstrated trustworthiness and steady growth over a longer period of time.
one piece of advice he gave me was to make certain that my expectations for leaders are clear and reasonable. he said that frequent meetings with leaders (even if for 5 minutes) are a good opportunity to check in on areas that need attention in the ministry, ideas for improvement and an opportunity to remind your leaders what is expected of them, or just to encourage them in their ministry.
peter gave me this quote that i absolutely loved, by an anonymous source- "if you get the right people on the bus, it doesn't really matter where they sit." this is an analogy for a leadership team. if the right people are on this leadership team, it won't really matter where or how they serve. their character and their life is what will shine the brightest where ever they are.
lastly, peter talked about vision. he told me that as the main leader of their youth group, he provides 2/3 of the vision for the group. the other leaders provide 1/3 of the vision and they directly influence peter's vision for the group in many ways. i loved the way that peter described this. as i begin this ministry, i should be diligent in seeking what god might do through this ministry and sharing that vision with others. however, because this is cross cultural, i should be very sensitive to what i see other leaders expecting and looking forward to. as i express my vision for the group, these things should most definitely be taken into consideration. after dreading many negative things, lunch with peter was uplifting and helped me to look forward to many positive possibilities instead. praise the lord!