Leading Disciples
by Lisa Coleman
When he was about to set sail…
A plot was devised against him…
A decision was made to go back…
Men went on ahead and waited…
But we sailed away…
In five days, we reached them…
He extended his message until midnight…
A man fell asleep and fell out the window…
We went on ahead and sailed while he went by land…
He met us and got on the ship to sail…
‘We sailed past to avoid spending time…
He was on his way to Jerusalem…
Chains and affliction are awaiting me…
None of you will ever see my face again…
Men from your own will rise up to lure with deviant doctrines…
There was a great deal of weeping by everyone…Grieving
Excerpts from Acts 20
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if leading others was simply a matter of textbook instruction? Marriage, children, education, and work would be so predictable and stress free! While the above excerpts are out of Acts chapter 20, they could with a little imagination, be descriptive of, let’s say, our recent week:
We were about to, but something unfortunate came up; we made a decision, something changed and some left. We went ahead, it took some time, we met, some were bored to death (really). We split up taking different paths. We knew it was going to be extremely challenging when we got there. It was the last time our team was going to meet. We were warned there would be trouble. It was distressing. Lots of grief.
Leadership roles are filled with twists and turns. Decisions on the fly. Switchbacks and changes in strategy. Delays. Paul’s mission with his disciples involved all of these yet Paul was the consummate leader, purposeful, decisive, tenacious and always on task. He was on the mission of his life.
In his book A Sweet and Bitter Providence, John Piper has this to say about the journey we call life:
Life is not a straight line leading from one blessing to the next and then finally to heaven. Life is a winding and troubled road. Switchback after switchback. And the point of biblical stories like Joseph and Job and Esther and Ruth is to help us feel in our bones (not just know in our heads) that God is for us in all these strange turns. God is not just showing up after the trouble and cleaning it up. He is plotting the course and managing the troubles with far-reaching purposes for our good and for the glory of Jesus Christ.
Acts 20 allows us a peek into the strategic initiative of spreading the Good News for both leaders and followers. Let’s look at Paul’s continued journey through this ‘Leading Disciples’ lens together this Sunday!
* * * * *
If you cannot be with us in person, feel free to download the Bible study materials for your personal use by following one of these links: PowerPoint Slides, PDF File. You can also find the video of this session on our YouTube channel soon after the meeting concludes. And lastly, you could follow this link to download other studies in this series: INpowered Discipleship if you happened to miss one of our prior studies.
Yours in Christ,
Eric Glover
The Gospels Class
Brentwood Baptist Church
