“Lead the way!” Those are, essentially, Moses’s final command to Joshua. At 120 years, Moses was an old man. He had led and shepherded the people of Israel for forty years. Now, on the edge of Canaan, the time to pass on the torch had come. Summoning Joshua, he commissioned him in the sight of all the people.
“Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give to them, and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31:7–8)
Joshua, who had been his right-hand man for the past forty years, the man under Moses tutelage, was now to take charge and lead the people into the long-awaited promised land.
Though Moses couldn’t enter himself, his dream was larger than his own life. It stretched to the next generation And he was prepared to step aside and let others lead the way.
What would it be like to imagine life, your job and your ministry in a way that included getting the gospel into the hands of the next generation?
It’s that question that led me to an unlikely place back in 2008.
Pass the Baton
On that Sunday morning, I stood on a stage in front of the church I’d been privileged to lead for nineteen years, performing my last act as their senior pastor. I was handing off my role to a twenty-eight-year-old guy named Jared.
But this ceremony was not simply about transferring the church from my generation to the next one. Captured in the final ordination vow was the promise that Jared would do the same thing:
Do you promise to begin praying for your ultimate replacement in ministry, with the hope of one day identifying, training, and transferring your responsibilities to him, so that this church may continue to grow and mature in future generations, for the glory and honor of God?
“I do,” came the response.
The transfer was complete. Our local church, a twenty-five-year-old congregation in the Philadelphia area, had a new senior pastor. Although Jared was barely navigating a tricycle when the church was planted, he’d just officially accepted his role to lead the congregation. And he did so vowing to one day transfer his role to a qualified younger man.
This guy had not even preached his first sermon as a lead pastor but he was already anticipating his replacement.
Why did this happen? Because the elders of this church believed that to be gospel-centered meant gospel-transferring. It meant giving the next generation real responsibility and positioning them to serve.
What About You?
You may be saying, “Oh great, Dave, but how does this apply to me in my role, my ministry, my eldership, my world?” Please don’t get caught up in the particulars of this story. By looking past the surface, you’ll observe the juicy center that captures the heart of the matter. When the gospel flourishes in an eldership and local church, powerful things begin to happen. Success gets redefined for the church. We cultivate a hunger to embody 2 Tim. 2: 2, “and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also”.
This is true in the story of one church. It was true in the story of Israel’s history. It’s true in your life as well. When you look beyond your own short ministry or life to the big purposes of God in the church and in the world, you’ll discover that your vision of success must include training up new leaders and preparing for fruit that might only appear decades down the road. We serve a God who uses our small efforts to bring about his big plans.
Like Moses, let’s commit ourselves to raising up new generations of leaders to whom we can confidently say, “Lead the way!”
Tenacious Tuesday Questions
What are you doing now to raise up the next generation of leaders in your family, job, ministry or church? If there are names that immediately come to mind, pause now and pray for them.
Prayer
Lord, grant that I would not be myopic, with my vision for the gospel only stopping at what can be accomplished in my lifetime. Grant that I would work now for the good of many future generations, for your glory. Amen.
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
