Now take a moment to list the five most influential people in your life. Who are the folks who have made the biggest difference in your life?
Which list was easier to come up with? I’m going to guess that it was the list of influential people. I’d be hard-pressed to list the five most influential sermons of my life, but I can easily list the people who have invested in my life in significant ways.
I’m grateful for those who’ve invested in my life over the years. God has blessed me greatly by sending wise and generous friends who have poured into my life, encouraged me, challenged me, and helped me to keep on keeping on.
I’m going to guess that you also can name some folks who have invested in your own faith journey. What would your life look like without their influence? What would be missing in your life if they hadn’t been a part of your life?
Most of us have benefited from someone else coming alongside of us, investing in us, encouraging us and challenging us to grow and develop as followers of Jesus. Your life is richer because of these relationships. My life is richer because of these relationships.
How many of us are investing in other young leaders so that they can grow and develop?
Who can you invest in? Look around. Identify a young leader within your sphere of influence. Invite him or her to lunch. Offer to get together on a regular basis and give them access to your life, your wisdom and your experience.
You probably have a young leader in your sphere of influence who would jump at the chance to spend some time with you. Are you investing in a young leader right now? Have you invited a young leader into your life in order to encourage them and support the work that God wants to do in and through them?
What’s holding you back?
We can all play a role in investing into the lives of the young leaders around us. Who do you need to talk to this weekend at a worship service? Who do you need to invite to coffee, lunch or a cookout at your place?
We have an amazing opportunity to invest in the next generation. It doesn’t take a complex program or strategy, it might be as easy as inviting someone else into your life. They can learn from you and you can learn from them.
I’m praying that God placed some faces or names in your mind over the last couple minutes. Who are the young adults in your world that you have the opportunity to bless? What are you going to do this week to attempt to invest in them?
I need to touch base this week with a couple of the folks in my sphere of influence. I hope you do the same.
Christ’s Peace,
Lance