One emerging leader visited the city where his mentor was living. Three days he was there and went through hardships as he did not know the local language. Before leaving the city, he called his mentor and he immediately came to meet him. The mentor scolded him for not calling and planning his visit. He presented a laptop to the emerging leader. The emerging leader without planning and preparing wasted three days and faced unwarranted hardships.
One of the Leadership principles is connecting the dots. Leaders help emerging leaders to connect with other inspiring & challenging leaders; supporting friends; resources; opportunities; knowledge base (books, libraries, e-books, websites) and even training. Connecting is also healthy stewardship.
1) Connecting to resources: The Lord Jesus connected the failed and exhausted Peter to resources so that he could catch a large number of fish. (Luke 5:4; John 21:6) There are many resources unused, abused or buried as they do not want to give. One church building is closed in a village, the denomination is not willing to give to a functional church that is searching for a building.
2) Connecting to opportunity: Mordecai connected Esther to an opportunity that made her queen. (Esther 2:1-18) There are many who do ‘opportunity hoarding’ to deprive others from moving forward.
3) Connecting for restoration: Onesimus was reconnected to Philemon by Paul. (Philemon 1) That resulted in forgiveness and reconciliation between slave Onesimus and Philemon. There are many couples who could be reconciled, provided there are Godly counsellors instead of seeking divorce.
4) Connecting to team: God connected Moses and Aaron to fulfil the task of delivering Israel. (Exodus 4:27) When Moses felt that he was inadequate, God gave him a team member to complement so that the task could be done. Many leaders could excel if they accept competent team members.
5) Connecting skills to strategy: David connected his skills with sling, experience as shepherd and pebbles to create a deadly strategy to defeat Goliath. (I Samuel 17)
Are we connected or disconnected and disoriented?