And if I could have your attention, please, we are ready to begin our class of 2021 Senior Awards Assembly. Yeah, let's give ourselves a round of applause. We made it. Before we get started here today, anybody who comes to speak of a mic, please feel free to take your mask off. You do not need to wear your mask while you're talking at the mic. And it's easier for people to hear from what I've heard. So today, we get to honor many of you for the ways in which you made it through your four years of high school. Although not everyone in this room will get an award today, you should know that each of you is deserving of recognition and how you navigated these last 15 months of your high school career. And you made it to today, this week, and eventually Friday, to say goodbye to your high school days and hello to your next chapter. Today is one more opportunity for us to gather, spend time together with one another, recognize a group of students who showed up in different ways throughout their high school career, and then we will move on to Friday's celebration, which includes honoring each of you for an amazing 13-year journey. We will begin today by dedicating this year's yearbook. So Allison Waring, Megan Cruzman, and Evan Rohan, will the three of you come to the stage, please? So as co-editors of the yearbook, we're here to present the 2020-2021 yearbook dedication. Before we announce the recipient, we would like to share a few words that this teacher's students and colleagues had to say about them. One of this teacher's students shared that they boosted their confidence and prepared them for early college. Another said that this teacher is very dedicated to teaching and cares about the student's work. They're also very interested in making connections with us and they put in effort to make class fun. This teacher was very helpful in improving my writing and gave me constructive feedback. Yet another shared this teacher is very dedicated to the school and their classes. This year they did a lot for the seniors with the college essay writing class and their electives. Finally, one student described this teacher as incredibly kind, thoughtful, and an all-around great person. This teacher's class was difficult, but they made it enjoyable, and I feel like they always had my best interest at heart. This teacher's colleagues also had a few words to share about them. Mr. McLean said, so much of this teacher's strength as an educator flows from their natural and persistent commitment in setting high standards for their students and their deft ability in creating thoughtful, crafted roadmaps of engaging activities. Learning experience and feedback loops to help their students reach those high standards. Way cool. Through their many years of working with students, this teacher has demonstrated an incredible ability to facilitate student growth and perspective taking, empathy, and self-awareness. All powerful skills and dispositions for this teacher's student to carry forward in their lives. To put it more simply, this teacher is a beloved master teacher and mentor to many students and adults alike, who MHS is deeply fortunate to have as part of our soul in learning community. And personally speaking, I am so grateful to call this teacher not only a colleague, but also a good friend. Thank you and congratulations on this most well-deserved yearbook dedication. Ms. Squire shared, I've learned so much from this teacher. They know how to listen, how to think quietly, and how to say the right thing calmly and directly, exactly when it's needed. Obviously, I haven't learned enough from this teacher. I'm still the loud one, the one with too many opinions, but I'm still studying their wisdom and taking lots of notes. I know a master teacher and friend when I see one. This teacher remains the sanest, kindest, steadiest, most decent of all my colleagues and I work with heroes. They have a way about them that we all watch and measure ourselves against. They manage to have the highest standards and the most uncompromising compassion. Over the years, thousands of students have learned to write in this teacher's classroom, but far more importantly, they have practiced caring about a perspective not their own. This teacher is the colleague everyone wishes they had and I'm lucky enough to have been in a department with them for more than 20 years. Thank you for your patience, your eternal decency and your kindness and thanks for putting up with those of us who still have much to learn. We are always going to be running to catch up. Finally, Mr. Chaito wrote, this teacher has been a great friend and colleague for over 20 years. What a great person to honor with a yearbook dedication. This teacher is an MHS treasure. In the early days, we coach soccer together, and now we go to see movies that neither of our wives would like to see. We have gone on long bike rides and during non-corona years shared lunch together. When you walk into this teacher's classroom, you will notice their daily agenda. They are prepared, prepared to help teens take on literary criticism or take on the analysis of cinematic classics. This teacher is prepared with their tool belt of writing and editing implements. On the topic of being prepared, this teacher has always been this way. Once early on in their career, a custodian mistook this teacher for a student and denied this teacher entry before school hours. But I am a teacher, they argued. I would go further and say, yes, they are a teacher, a great teacher, a Teach for America trained and national board certified teacher. So with that, we are happy to announce the 2020-2021 yearbook dedication to a student, to a teacher that some students simply describe as a really cool dude. Dan Miller Arsenault. All those words were far too kind, really humbling. I think you all know how much I care for you. We did a lot of laughing, a lot of the time, or at least I did.  I love this place. I love all of you. I love my colleagues and really, really humbled. So thank you all very, very much. Hard to follow that up, but I also just really want to quickly thank both Evan and Megan for their hard, hard work on the yearbook. Without them, we would not have a yearbook here to hand out to all of you. So thank you very much to both of them. Today's ceremony, if you ordered a copy of the yearbook, we have them all over on the side here. So you can pick that up and see that lovely dedication to Dan within that yearbook in there. So I'll see you all at the end of the ceremony. All right, next we are going to recognize the Class of 2021 Valedictory Group. When I call your name, please come up. And if you're just going to stand here until we recognize all of you. Mae Browning, Ruby Bryant, Daniel F. Burns, Sadie Chase Tacko, Thoschia T. Cousins Joyce, Irene Diaz Perez, Gregory Thomas Galanca, Aaron Stetler Kelly, Megan G. Krusman, Lucia D. McCallum, Tobias Quinn Mills, Eliana B. Moorhead, Mary Margaret Page, Maple Sky Parchlik, Luna Pompey, N.W. Rohan, Neil Christopher Rohan, Eve Alexandra Taylor, Althea Hope, Ian Torrens Martin, and Claire A. Veneziano. This group over their four years here at MHS have earned a 3.9 GPA or higher in their entirety. So let's give this Valedictory Group one last round of applause. Congratulations. I'm now gonna introduce Nora Chase Tacko and Ella Darcy who are going to award the Peter A. Clark Award for excellence. The Peter A. Clark Award recognizes one MHS individual each year who exemplifies excellence in education. The recipient of this award is determined by student council and former recipients of this award include Karen McAdden, Michael McGrath, and Whitney McMacknack. Each year, student council looks through the list of teachers at MHS and through a long and thoughtful process selects one individual. This year it was especially difficult as there are many teachers that did an extraordinary job teaching under the less than ideal circumstances. After much deliberation, student council has chosen one teacher in particular who not only brought an astounding amount of joy and excitement to the students in her classes and programs but to the school as a whole. We want to recognize this teacher's persistent and uplifting kindness, support, and patience while navigating this difficult year. Every day she pushed her students to take risks, be more comfortable in themselves, and explore new ideas. She has brought so much happiness and so many opportunities to the MHS community. So please join us in congratulating Keanna Bromley as the 2020-2021 recipient of the Peter A. Clark Award. I just wanted to say thank you. Just thank you. Yeah, I was like listening. I was like, oh, that sounds so lovely. And then she said my name and I was like, oh my God. So thank you very, very much. That's very humbling. Thank you. Okay, now onto the student awards. We have Keanna back up to the mic with Flanny and Liz Swindell from A Distance to present the Art and Theater Department Awards. Okay, so I'm here to present the theater awards and I'm very excited to do so. We had a really interesting and fabulous year. And today I have the joy of presenting these two awards in excellence in theater. The seniors receiving these awards have dedicated themselves time and again to the Mask Theater Program here at MHS. They have poured their hearts into our productions, made excellent friends, and have become incredibly important members of our family. For technical theater, I am honored to highlight the work of a particularly important part of a theater family. Our beloved stage manager, Oscar Newburger, of a production is honestly the hardest. Not only did Oscar have to deal with me constantly, but he also had to constantly be a leader to his peers and manage complex logistics for months on end. His commitment, work ethic, and sense of humor will be missed tremendously. Congratulations, Oscar. I want to highlight the beautiful work of the talented Jaden Jageman. What an incredible voice Jaden has and how captivating she is while on stage. But what I've most enjoyed is her commitment to character development. From day one, she has devoted herself to doing the true creative work of an actor. She takes pride in what she performs and works hard to polish her work. She is constantly working to better her craft and I cannot wait to see what comes next in her journey. Congratulations, Jaden. I didn't have the opportunity to teach any of you, unfortunately. So we brought Liz in from afar and here she is to present the Hot Dog Artist Award. We're here at the M.H.S. Art Department as awarded the Barb Austin Actions Hot Dog Award to a senior artist who has shown great passion, creativity, enthusiasm, and growth in their art team during their time at Hawkeye Art School. This year it is privileged to award the Hot Dog Artist Award to an authentic figure who has taken creative risks, explored a range of ideas, and has an obvious love for our meeting. Please join me in congratulating this year's recipient, Alfie M. Howard. Present the Social Studies Award, Perry Bellow Handleman. So, I didn't get the pleasure to work with you at M.H.S. this year, so I'm reading this on behalf of your teachers, Mr. Chater and Mr. Tilliston. So, from Mr. Chater. The Social Studies Department would like to recognize the work and contributions of Savvy Winston. Savvy's ability to express the bigger picture of questions and to truly engage in a sense of social justice stood out to members of our department. It might just be Savvy's reactions to jokes shared by Mr. Chater and Mr. Tilliston, but much more likely her work ethic and determination to change the world in some small way that drew our attention to recognize her today. Congratulations, Savvy, and for Mr. Tilliston. There are many things I'll remember about this student. Among them, the image of her sitting without fail in the last seat of the first row, right beneath the southeast corner of the U.S. map, always huddled over her desk, vigorously taking notes. At least I think she was taking notes. I never looked over her shoulder. This student was consistently responsible, hardworking student in AP U.S. history. She took great interest in the many social movements that improved the lives for Americans throughout our history, learned the value of lunchtime collaborations to review material before quizzes, and developed an awareness of the parallels that exist across disciplines. Congratulations, Althea, and always keep up the good work. Next to present the Music Department Awards, Kirk Kreitz. The Excellence in Music Award is presented to a student who demonstrates an outstanding level of performance and musical leadership. The Excellence in the Discipline of Music Award for jazz goes to Evan Rohan. Excellence in Choir is awarded to Daniel Jarvis. Also, Excellence in Choir is also awarded to Mary Margaret Page. And lastly, we have the Directors Award. The Directors Award is presented to a student whose enthusiasm and work ethic have led to personal growth and musical accomplishments. And that award goes to Jaden Jegeman. To present the Math Department Awards, Whitney Magnick and Mariah Hostetter. We are so happy to be here with you all today and honored to present the Math Awards to you all. This award is given to seniors who exhibit both excellence and enthusiasm in their approach to mathematics. Each student has taken a variety of classes within our department and has not only excelled, but has made that class much better with their thoughtful discussion, their questioning, and their enthusiasm. And the three awards are Erin Kelly, Evan Rohan, and Claire Veneziano. And here to present the English Department Awards, Sarah Squire. So I'm sitting in my classroom the other day and somebody blasts into the room, blasts in and says, hey, I hear you're giving out awards. I should get one. Leo. And I said, did you love English class? Well, was it like your favorite thing? Did you ever forget about like where you were and just kind of go crazy? I said, okay, all right, back up. So the two people who are getting this award did that all the time. They kind of climbed out of their skin with excitement about an idea. They were brave. They asked questions they didn't know the answers to, which I think is the mark of super brave. There are lots and lots and lots of people who could get this award, but when the English Department put our heads together, we all agreed that we just love these two without measure and they exemplify what it means to be an excited student of literature and language. Sharon Boteng and Sadie Smith. And next to present the sustainability, award is Tom Sabo. Eliana, can you, can you come up here? Come on. She's not getting the award, but she's gonna help me present it. Because she is like my favorite announcer in the history of this school. I don't know if you guys remember a couple of years ago, Breck and you may remember this. In TA, Breck, when announcements would come and I'd be like, here comes Eliana and she would deliver, she'd deliver those announcements in that way she only can. So then we made her MC of the Fall Harbor Celebration. Remember that? That was good. So I'm just trying to rekindle some of the great memories that I've had with all of you before you leave. But I am here to describe the sustainability award which Eliana will then go and give. This is totally unprepared. Do you know how to pronounce that? Yeah. So the sustainability award actually is kind of special and that we don't always give it. I haven't given it in many years actually. We've given it to teachers, we've given it to community members. That's kind of a rare thing. We've given it to students. And in essence, I know you've all learned all about sustainability. If you really want to boil it down, someone from the street asks what's it about and it's like, you know, who's made this community a better place? And part of the reason we don't give it all the time is it's very difficult in part because so many, so many of you do all the time and that's what makes this a special place. So to, you know, bring back the award and the circulation, you kind of gotta go above and beyond. You know, you have to work kind of continuously, you know, not just for this community, for this place here and now, but for the generations to come. And the student who's receiving it this year has done just that. She has worked on social and racial justice issues. She's worked on environmental issues, the climate crisis, tons of work on food security. I mean, it's really been impressive and this is well-earned. And now I'm gonna let Eliana read this year's recipient of the MHS Earth Group Sustainability Award. The award goes to the amazing Aaron Kelly. That was such a perfect award. Hey, you knew who's done. This is your award? You're the Eliana girl. Oh, okay. You present it too, here, you present it. On behalf of Marika Russo, Matt McLean is going to present the Debate Award. Each year, the National Speed and Debate Association Iroquois District has the opportunity to name a district student of the year, presented to a graduating senior who best exemplifies and represents the tenets of the Association's Code of Honor, humility, equity, integrity, respect, leadership, and service. Nominees must also demonstrate strong academic credentials and a commitment to speak to the speech and debate community. This year, for the first time, a Montpillar High School student is receiving this award, and that student is Neil Rohan. I'll also be presenting, additionally, Neil has qualified for the fourth year in a row for the National Debate Tournament, for the National Debate Tournament, public forum debate tournament, which happens next week, and also be receiving that award as well. Congratulations, Neil. Next to present the flexible pathways, recognitions, Steph Delana and Bill Laila. Hi, everybody. So I was going to say, because I have my notes right here, I was going to say, oh gosh, what a group, you're looking great. However, I don't have my glasses and the lights are bad in here, so I don't know how you're looking, but it's so nice to see you all in blurry form. No, no, Bill offered me his glasses, but they're for reading and your distance, so that wouldn't be helpful. Truly though, it is really nice to be back in the building. I've missed you all this year. I hope you've had a great year under these really challenging circumstances. I do wanna congratulate you on your accomplishments. So Bill and I are here representing the flexible pathways team, and as I prepared today, I thought a lot about you, the class of 2021, and I also thought a lot about flexible pathways. It's been evolutionary for both. When I came to the high school, you were in sixth grade, and so if you think about that, the number of years, the flexible pathways program has exploded exponentially since that time. I missed you in sixth grade. It's been a gift to get to know many of you here at the high school over the last four years. Gotta flip my notes. So the first year I was here, I had six students in the flexible pathways program that's separate from the robust CBL program that existed. The second year, I had 12.  Montpelier's commitment to act 77, proficiencies, personalization, civic engagement, post-secondary readiness has been the envy of school statewide. I say that with both pride, but also I say that with appreciation for the administration's commitment to flexible pathways. It could not have happened without their commitment to your learning in a personalized way. I'd like you to take a moment to give a round of applause to these colleagues and to our administration who are currently and who also have historically supported CBL's personalized learning, online learning, the Career Center in Barrie, dual enrollment and early college. Please give my colleagues in the administration a round of applause. The Flexible Pathways Award recognizes students who have taken clear steps to personalize their education by seeking out and engaging in a variety of high school learning experiences that align with their interests, curiosities, growing skills and future aspirations. The award recognizes students who have taken the time to reflect on themselves as learners and young adults and have engaged in meaningful activities that honor these reflections and promote their aspirations. The Flexible Pathways team feels strongly that this award is too difficult to present to any one student or even several students. Given its very nature, how could we determine a hierarchy of student achievement? One Flexible Pathways student may have successfully completed early college under extremely difficult circumstances. Another perhaps chose early college with trepidation and made the Dean's List or President's List two semesters in a row. Other Flexible Pathways students took dual enrollment courses, American Sign Language, Art, Anatomy and Physiology, Statistics, Business. The list goes on and on and the learning has been significant. Can we rank one community-based learning experience over another? Working with the police department or Vermont Democrats, learning about athletic training, involvement with the geriatric or pre-K populations. It is not for the Flexible Pathways team to determine who is awarded for learning that is personal, relevant and meaningful. We also have students engaged in the Central Vermont Career Center programs, career and technical education that leads to wonderful post-secondary opportunities, education, training and high demand employment. This is all to say that the Flexible Pathways team celebrates and recognizes every student in this graduating class who journeyed down their unique path, earning PE credits for mountain biking, learning about how Vermont can provide free lunches to all students in the future or working to become a licensed nurse practitioner. Online learning, personalized learning studies, career center programs, college courses, we celebrate you all. To get a better perspective about the number of Flexible Pathways seniors, participants, we ask that you stand if you've participated in, it's you Bill. Please stand to be recognized if you participated in the following Flexible Pathways experiences at MHS, community-based learning, completed coursework at Central Vermont Career Center, a personalized learning study, Personalized learning studies, stand up if you did, online learning course, Online learning, an extended learning opportunity or an ELL, taken the introduction to college careers class at CCV, enrolled in a dual enrollment college course, or enrolled in early college. To all of you, please continue to pursue your passions, dive into your curiosities, and seek out ways towards your successes. You all rock, good job. Keep up the great work in the future everybody, best wishes to you all. He's gonna present the Athletic Achievement Award. Here to present some of the athletic awards for the season. First up, an accomplishment that was already done and he knows about it, but at our boys basketball championship game, Leo Ravi Williams was just shy of 1,000 points for his career, and he was able to accomplish that feat during the game, and we have the ball to present to him now.  The next awards accomplishments that we have will be the, I'm gonna present two awards to two student athletes who played all 12 seasons that they could. Obviously we've lost one season last spring, but since they played this year as well and before, we know what they would have played. So this award is for the 12 season athlete award. It's very important with it being a somewhat smaller school that we have kids who are dedicated to each and every single season. And playing one sport is hard enough so to play 12 straight seasons while in high school is a pretty big accomplishment that deserves to be recognized for sure. So those two student athletes that we have were Marshall Donahue and Bobby Cody. And now I will present the award for the two most outstanding senior athletes. This award goes to the senior athletes that have gone above and beyond while playing athletics here at the school. They are the athletes that we hope every one of the underclassmen become. In order to win this award, athletes need to show an immense amount of commitment, dedication, respect, and leadership during their time here. And not only have these two done that, they had done so across numerous sports that span multiple seasons. And to pull back the curtain a little bit, the way you get considered for this award is that the nominees have to be nominated by their coach in one of the seasons. So one of our nominees was nominated for each of the three sports that she was on this season by her coach, which tells you a lot about who she is as an athlete and a leader. And the other is as great a person as he is an athlete and someone who came up clutch in the biggest moments of the season for each team that he was on. The winners this year, the most outstanding senior athlete are Mary Margaret Page and Leo Rybie Williams. And to round out our award ceremony, I'm going to invite Luke Brassard up to give the senior class gift. So this year's senior class gift is a $500 donation for the purchase of furniture to be used in the main community spaces at MHS. The furniture will help to provide community spaces for people to gather and enjoy each other's company. I guess we'll have to come back to school at some point to enjoy it. Congratulations to every recipient of an award today. As I shared before, when we meet together again on Friday, it will be an opportunity to honor each of you as you walk across the stage and finish this chapter and head to your next chapter. I want to welcome anybody who purchased a yearbook to be able to come up to the front. We will see each other on Friday at 10.45 for your graduation rehearsal. Thank you, everyone.


Alright, good morning everyone. Welcome to the session. Everyone can hear me okay? Give me a thumbs up if you can hear me okay? Alright, thank you. Alright, let's begin this time with a word of prayer and then we'll get into our session. Let's pray. Father we thank you so much for giving us this beautiful day Lord even as we come together to study your word pray Holy Spirit that you will speak that you will minister to our hearts Lord that our hearts will be good and strong to receive what you have to speak to us today God we thank you. We submit this day into your hands in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Alright, so last class we looked at chapter 16 we looked at the heart of a leader and we looked at a few aspects of a leader number one was a life of servanthood and we look at the life of Jesus so he did not have an inferiority complex nor did he have a superiority complex so there was this place where he walked in humility but he also walked in authority and that's a balance that eventually we will find when we step into leadership there will be times when we walk in humility but we also walk in authority and as we develop this ability we will learn how to not saying that we all already know it but we will learn from our mistakes we will learn the Holy Spirit will guide us, teach us on how to live this life of servanthood. We looked at three temptations to avoid to be self-sufficient to be spectacular, to be powerful thinking that I can do all things I know there are verses there but not just saying it's my ability my skills and my gifts but to always trust in God to be humble, avoid being celebrity, mentality basically also to be powerful in the sense that of people or taking control of the people that you are ministering to especially so we must be as leaders we must be motivated and love, keep a constant check on our hard attitudes, why am I doing what I'm doing, we looked about being totally committed being positive even during the ups and downs and how David, for example in the second first Samuel 30 when he came back from his war he saw that enemies had come and taken his wives and children but it says that in first Samuel 30 and verse 6 he says David encouraged himself on the Lord he stayed positive so it's very important for us as believers and as leaders especially you know we get into this place of okay there is going to be ups and downs there are going to be challenges but you continue to fix your eyes on Jesus continue to stay positive and know that every season that we're going through is ordained by God and God knows how to handle us right okay let's get into chapter 17 developing the leader in you now all of us you know we have been given a leadership mentality when we talk about leadership we all have some kind of leadership skills in us I just want to share this right leadership how does it come one leadership comes through hard work two leadership can be given just given to somebody and three leadership is inherited and think of this leadership can come through hard work and have people who work hard and they become leaders then you have leaders who people have just given leadership they may not have worked hard for it they may not even thought of it just been given leadership and three leaders you know gain leadership to inheritance maybe their parents you know it's just inherited to them but how can you and I develop ourselves four important areas when it comes to leadership and you know when you talk about leadership it's a vast topic right there's so much apart from influence it's a vast topic when you talk about leadership but how can you and I let's look at a few areas here four areas to grow in leadership number one competence when you think about competence what is the first thing that comes to our mind knowledge if I want to be a leader in any aspect I need to be knowledgeable I cannot tell myself okay God will make me a leader so I just sit around and wait it's not going to work we must be competent we must have knowledge we must be able to understand and be able to learn and develop ourselves very very important in leadership now when you talk about it in ministry so for example you want to be a leader even if it's just in a volunteering team you must have the knowledge you and I must have the knowledge we must be able to get into God's word read God's word understand how God works understand about the principles of leadership gain that understanding apply it in our life make mistakes learn from those mistakes and grow that's what competence is competence is the aspect of you know growing your skills trying that skills in your life in whatever area that God has called you for that will help us to develop as leaders next point under that is skill if I want to be a good leader I need to develop skill these skills can be people skills your job skills your talking skills your listening skills what you can do as a leader especially when it comes to competency skill is something that you have to keep pressing on and on no matter what phase of leadership you may be a leader for 10 years 15 years it's alright we have to keep growing and I'm sure you've heard of this saying there's no point a leader who does not look at growth remains stagnant and his leadership skills just stop there look at the example of the great apostle Paul he's come towards the end of his life and he's writing and he's saying listen I don't look back I don't look at what I've done what churches we have planted what ministry we've done I'll press on forward for the goal for the things that God has for me so you and I we look back and we look at our places where we have been successful look back we look at places where we have failed but we don't have to live in what happened before we live what's going to happen further on so you build your skills you build your competence and you keep growing experience and when you talk about experience it is something that comes out naturally for example if you are preaching the first time you're going to be preaching or the first 6 months of preaching it is natural to be nervous to make a lot of mistakes it's natural because you're just doing it new it's new to you but if you look at 5 years down the line you will see yourself so much better why? because when you started off you were nervous you didn't know how to speak or we didn't know what example to give when to speak what to speak but over time you have gained experience experience is something that cannot be bought experience is something that is naturally acquired and not only in ministry in any area of our lives experience is something that comes naturally look at this example if you aren't married you may not be very good with kids you have no experience with kids and when somebody is married they have had kids their kids have grown up now you know what experience is you have gone through it you have set up the whole life with fever all these things that happen you have seen kids growing up you have seen the tantrums you have seen the good things that they can learn and so if somebody asks you hey what is the first thing you will say you are not going to open a book and say let me tell you what to do it's all inside it's experience don't worry initial years is going to be a little difficult but as the baby grows as the child grows he is 2 years old 3 years old it's a beautiful time you will enjoy it let's come out of experience and experience is something that we can always hold on to it helps us build our competence 2 Timothy 2 what you have heard from me through many witnesses and trust to faithful people will be able to teach others as well look at this Paul is writing his last letter Timothy who was a young boy he met many years ago about 17 years ago Timothy has grown up he is in his early 30s so Timothy has the experience he has watched the apostle Paul he has watched his ministry he is leading the church now Paul is saying to him Timothy what you have learned from me what you have seen the abilities what you have experienced what you have seen faithfully and trust to people that they will be able to teach others so number one is confidence grow in your competence whichever area you are in you can even be a life growth leader you can be a worship leader you can be a volunteer leader whatever area of leadership keep looking to grow number two confidence confidence is again an aspect of our personal something that we are wired with now for example there are people who are low on confidence by nature normally if you look at intro words they don't talk much it's not like they are low on confidence they just prefer not to talk much and there are some of them who are very low on confidence the reason could be maybe because when they were small their teachers were rude to them or harsh on them maybe their parents were harsh on them saying you are not good enough you are not doing this you are not doing that they don't believe in the skills that they have but remember when it comes to leadership it is very important to develop confidence listen, Moses was not confident he had zero confidence in himself he said no god I can't go you are telling me to Egypt you are telling me to bring 2 million people out of Egypt now I can't I can't even talk he gave a lot of excuses but thank god that God enabled him when he went confidence is something that can develop over time just because we are not confident doesn't mean God is not going to make us leaders let me share this example in my personal life I've never from the time I was small I've never really went on stage a complete introvert I would never talk to people, never go on stage, never participated in school programs, school skits never even as I said for my 10 standard marks card I didn't want to go on stage to collect it I was just so nervous I wanted the certificate but I didn't want to go on stage my parents dragged me and said you have to go confidence is something that can develop but I remember after I became a believer and I knew that if I want to become a leader I cannot behave this way I cannot tell myself ok do what I am doing ministry is about people so I must be able to talk to people I must be able to build confidence in myself and only then I can minister and bring confidence to others through the word of God if I myself am not confident how can I make others confident and help them to trust and go on so without with no confidence we can do very little but here is the interesting part, here is the encouraging part that God through his spirit gives us a spirit of boldness he gives us boldness he gives us courage to step out confidence comes from positive experiences and sometimes confidence comes through people it's easier to take small steps rather than big steps so look at small steps meaning look at ways that you can build confidence in a small way one of the things that I did since I was an introvert became a believer, I knew that I had to build confidence, how do I do it my comfort zone is me and my bible or me and an instrument I don't need people around me I just don't need people around me I can survive, I can thrive alone in a room with my bible and I can thrive I can really do well that's what ministry is about you leave me in a room for 48 hours, it's fine, I can be there alone, it's fine because that's how I was wired but I had to step out of it so I began to take small steps, what did I do some examples that I'll share and you can probably apply it and try it in your life I would write down sermons it was I think 2009 2009, early 2009 so I would write down sermons and I would stand in front of the mirror and I would preach the entire sermon, 45 minutes preach it and I would act like there were people sitting in front of me then I would probably take out the guitar and sing a few songs behave like there are people around me over time confidence came in it's built through positive faith in God see difficulties as an opportunity to grow again as a leader we need to be positive and trust God, have faith in God knowing that God will give us these opportunities to grow confidence is built by believing the gifts that God has placed in you sometimes God places gifts in us and we can say I don't know it, I don't want it I don't want to use it you believe in the gifts that God has placed in you now, right now you may feel that hey this is not it's not something that I'm gifted in I was never gifted to preach or talk on stage no, it was a big zero it was not in me to be able to preach again this is going on stage, no it was not but over time the Holy Spirit gives us these gifts inside of us and he expects us to believe in that gift and believe that he is with us when we step out and begin to use those gifts right, so very important use the gifts that God has given be confident about it you may be just taking one small step maybe God has given you a gift for praying and intercession but now you feel you can pray only 10 minutes that's okay, there's nothing to be ashamed of hey God has given me a gift of praying intercession for praying 10 minutes, that's okay it's just starting off, build confidence in that gift okay, God I know that you will help me you will put a burden in me read the book of Jeremiah, it's so powerful the burden that God put in him and the way God just used him to speak to Jerusalem he was there before during and after the fall of Jerusalem the Babylonians came and overpowered them and the way that God used him was so powerful see what you have rather than what you do not have don't focus on what we do not have see what you have you have five loaves of bread and two fish, use it I don't see what I don't have it's easy to focus on what we don't have but you can say God thank you for what you have given me five loaves of bread, two fish you take it Lord, even as I pray you multiply it and let it be a blessing to thousands of people right, confidence is built by encouragement, stay around people who can encourage you stay around people who can encourage, exhort, correct you encourage, exhort, correct you at times correct in love that correction is only because they want to see you get better stay with people who are encouraging encouraging, hey go ahead don't worry, I thank God that at a young age I became a believer thank God for leaders and people who are around always encouraging me to tell you the number of mistakes I've made so many but the encouragement, the push, now go ahead continue, you can do it and really got me through, imagine you know you're just trying to step out, trying to do something and you have some leaders and what did you do, why did you mess up this way what's gonna happen, it's just gonna bring us down but be around people who encourage you, who look at you as leaders and can build you up so the first one was competence, second one was confidence third one is compassion hello Jesus, when he ministered he ministered with compassion there was no place where Jesus was ministering without compassion, that was the basis of his ministry, compassion whenever he went, when he saw the multitudes he had compassion on them when a leper came running to him, oh if you're willing you will heal me, Jesus had compassion, he said I am willing when he saw the sick, when he saw the the blind, those who are you know, fury and weak and Jesus says, you know these are like sheep they're gone astray, it's compassion a very important attribute of a leader is to have compassion without compassion ministry to people becomes a burden without compassion, ministry to people becomes a burden, so if people come up to you and say you know, I've got headache I've got back pain, I've got leg pain if you don't have compassion for them what's gonna happen, become a burden again they're coming, again the same prayer point they're compassionate, because we don't know what they're going through you know, we can say hey why don't you just eat well, exercise and sleep we don't know what they're going through they will be in pain, maybe their soul is in pain that's reflecting on their body so let our ministry be driven by compassion have a burden for people when you have a burden for people people will not become a burden to you Jesus whatever he did was motivated by compassion he loved us, he loved the people that he saw he may ask what about the high priest and what about the Pharisees and the Pharisees everyone, he loved everyone they didn't love him, they didn't care about him he loved them, how do we know on the cross itself Jesus said father forgive them they don't know what they're doing he's talking to the Romans, he's talking to the high priest everyone there, father forgive all these people they don't know what they're doing ministry must be based out of compassion out of the love of Jesus Christ and that is when people will notice people will realize love is something that is always seen outwardly it's seen, you can see it in our face you can see it in our actions Jesus just didn't say John 3.16 doesn't say God so loved the world and there's no full stop there we all know God loves the world but what did he do about it that he gave his only begotten Son when you and I walk in love, walk in compassion we will give we'll come to this place of giving we'll come to this place of doing ministry out of love not to be a burden at all fourth point, collaboration as leaders we must develop the ability to collaborate that needs to work together with others right so some of the things that we do here at ABC let me just share, I've shared it before for one conference media team, first administration administration team accounts team media team graphics team ministry leader team pastors involved in that conference all these teams work together as leaders we must develop the ability of collaborating and working together nothing that we can do in any of our conferences can be done by one team it cannot be done even if it's an event it cannot be done and so as leaders develop that ability to work with others you need to be able to sit and you know make sure that whatever you're doing is done together as a team that will make it successful because sometimes when leadership comes we don't want to listen to others some of this place of 10 years 15, 20 years in ministry so you don't tell me what to do you listen to me that's wrong because if we want to be effective leaders we must be also willing to collaborate and work together, that's a skill that's something that God expects of us look at Jesus he could have done everything on his own but no he chose 12 people he collaborated with them and I'm sure if you think of it the Bible says that he made a money keeper so he was in charge of all the money so Jesus wanted to go somewhere I'm sure he would have checked the Judas, Judas how much money do we have can we go to Submaria how long can we stay there okay so Peter how do we get to Submaria should we go this way do you think Jesus didn't know how to do it he knew how to do everything on his own I'm sure he collaborated with this he got them involved and when we do that it just builds us as leaders God places people in your life strategically you must establish a connection so that you can give into them and they can give it to you God places people in your life strategically now when God places people in your life there are times when they are just for seasons and there are times they could be there for just a very short season or it could be for a couple of years or it could be for a long time so when God places people establish that connection work together what is the perfect example we can use I think the perfect example in scriptures is that of Paul and Barnabas all his 14 years away he's heard of Saul he's making tents in Tarsus the same guy who has seen Jesus who was on the road to Damascus he's seen Jesus, he's heard the voice of Jesus 14 years he's gone missing nobody knows about it but God in his wisdom very strategically spoke to Barnabas when you go to Antioch first go look for Saul of Tarsus bring him and come to Antioch strategic minister together is the network okay? everyone can hear me okay? you had disappeared for a minute but now you're back I'm back okay thank you so look at Saul of Tarsus what did God do? he brought the right person just for that first missionary journey he probably was with Paul for maybe about 6 to 7 months so they go they go on their first missionary journey there's a disagreement after that we don't hear anything about Barnabas but we know all the fault only towards the end Paul writes and he says bring Barnabas to me sorry bring John Mark he says but until the end we don't see anything about Barnabas he probably brings people into our life to help us become effective leaders they speak into your life you speak into their life think about people God has placed in your life as a potential source of encouragement support and strength it's not like one person can fulfill all everything in your life you must be connected with many people yes there will be leaders in your life as a leader as a believer you may have one leader but you've got to be able to also receive from others now again when I say this we must also understand that there's a divine order in that so we must not go beyond the order that God has given us we connect with people different leaders within the church within the ministry you connect with them you can learn from volunteers as a leader I remember this long time back I think it was 2010 I used to come to church and there used to be this young couple the mother would carry the child and arrange the chairs I remember that very clearly and I used to watch that and say wow look at that commitment person she's only a baby probably one year old baby and putting the chairs doing ushering in the church that calls for commitment do you think we can learn something from that as leaders to say to expect others to learn from us but there are things that God can make us learn from even the smallest things that others are doing God may have something for you to give them and you need to connect with them and sometimes God may have things that he wants you to learn and he can speak to somebody else remember God spoke through a donkey he can speak through any one so these are the four ways that we develop ourselves as leaders number one competence, number two confidence compassion and collaboration there's much more but let's look at five levels of leadership any questions, any thoughts five levels of leadership taken from the book it's a mandate written by John Maxwell the five levels of leadership five P's number one position people follow you because they have to as a leader people follow you because they see something in you and they do it they obey the rules why did people follow Moses they wanted to stone him at one point why did they follow why did they come out of Egypt because there was a leadership position that was already bestowed upon him God had already told Moses, I am going to choose you to bring the people out of Egypt position, people follow because they have to people follow you because they want to now you see the difference there people follow you because they want to what is the best example here we can use remember David, David is running from soul he is afraid of his life anointed as king yesterday I was reading a passage giving now first Samuel 21, very interesting passage David is running away from soul and he goes into gap the king Ashkish is there and when he enters there they recognize David aren't you the one who killed Goliath and they sign David killed thousands and sorry Saul killed thousands David killed 10,000 aren't you the one who was anointed as the king of Israel and now David at that time he realized that if he says yes and if they recognize and they are going to stop him there and they are going to capture him put him into prison or maybe even kill him and the Bible says that I may be digressing but there is a point that I want to bring up Bible says that he acted mad he acted insane he started scratching the walls he started dripping from his mouth he acted insane and then the king said why did you bring him here Goliath why did you bring a mad man in my presence let him go tell him never to come back again and he runs away from there that's when he writes Psalms 34 he goes back into the caves Psalms 34 one of the most brilliant Psalms Psalms 34 and how the Lord just delivered him listen after that what happens is 400 odd soldiers come to Saul sorry come to David and say we will follow you whatever you say we will do those 400 odd soldiers came because they believed in David they saw the leadership skill in him so there are times when God can take you through seasons bring you into a place of position of leadership and then you will see people following you they follow you because they want to you may be wondering why are these people I don't know much I'm still learning you may be wondering that but they are following you because God has sent them to you and the permission is given meaning you give them the permission you say ok if you want to follow David did that 3 is production people follow you because of what you've done for the organization do you think this happened in Moses Joshua's life Moses you see the transition Joshua gets into the leadership Joshua says 24-15 Joshua 24-15 you choose this day whom you are going to serve but I saw me in my house we will serve the Lord what did they say they said no we will do what you say whatever you say whatever Joshua you say we will follow you because we have seen why because we have seen the hand of God we have seen how God deliver us from the enemies we have seen the mighty hand of God in every area of Moses's life we will see the hand of God in your life people have seen what you have done in your ministry or in your organization and they will follow you people develop them people follow you because of what you have done for them what you have done for them what you have spoken into their lives the sacrifices that you have made look at the apostle Paul look at the apostle Paul the people that he has ministered to Paul, Timothy, Silas they didn't run away from oh it's better to Paul is a problem maker wherever he goes he starts preaching and then at the end everyone are getting upset and they want to beat him up and then now because we are with them we get beaten up and we all get thrown into prison so let me just try and give an excuse and move away from him no that didn't happen they knew imagine Timothy in his early 20s why would he put his life in danger being with the apostle Paul why should I go through all this trouble he is doing it because he got a vision from God why should I go through put my life in danger I am only in my early 20s why should I get beaten up put in the prison very easy to think and put that good but what did Timothy do he said no he held on to Paul he said no Paul you chose me and I was 17 you chose me you showed me you spoke into my life and you have changed me you have showed me I knew the law I was behind the law but you showed me what is grace what it means to live in the power of the Holy Spirit you showed me miracles you showed me the grace of God you showed me how to live how to trust God you showed me how to destroy the works of the devil you showed me everything so I cannot let go I want to hold on I will stay with you I will trust you what an amazing picture that would have been people follow you because of what you have done for them third and fifth one person what people follow you because of who you are and what you represent what a powerful that would be one of the most powerful level of leadership people follow you because of who you are and what you represent Paul says follow me just that imitate me this as I imitate Christ who you are and what you represent when you are totally committed to the things of God and you're passionate you're walking in power you're walking in anointing you're serving God with a servant heart you're doing what God has called you to do people will follow you because of who you are because of your sacrifices and who you represent and say hey this person as a leader he represents Jesus so let's follow him and moving up the steps of leadership the higher you go the longer it takes the higher you go the higher the level of commitment you know sometimes you go backwards we think okay the higher you go the more relaxed life is going to be and you look even in the corporate world the higher you go there are perks there are benefits but the commitment needs to be much much more the higher you go the easier it is to lead that's true that's true look at the apostle Peter he was trying to lead he was reading this small group probably believers and just new to all of this he's a fisherman he doesn't know anything about leadership he had to go he had to learn and then there were about 10,000 people who pledged allegiance to Jesus in the first sermon now he's got a big church ahead you know just looking to him the higher you go over the years I'm sure he just raised him up raised him up and came to this position and he said no nothing matters what matters is God what matters is his work it's just easier to lead the higher you go the greater the growth in ministry the higher you grow the things of God the higher you grow on your leadership the better you become as a leader the greater is the growth God gives us you never leave the base level or the levels below where you are meaning here you grow don't forget about the base level right remember that you were once there you know God will give these areas of you know enable us to come to this positions of leadership but as we grow in that positions of leadership don't forget to take people along with you don't forget your base level leaders give them opportunities take them along with you a leader is not somebody who just grows up and starts dictating things to others but a leader is somebody who takes people from the base level and encourages them to join along with them as a leader you won't be on the level with all your people remember that there are people who don't want to become leaders there are some people who are happy being where they are they don't want to take too much of effort they just want to realize still things in life remember there are when God has called you to a place of leadership there will be people who will be down meaning they it's not a it's not God's fault it's their fault they don't want to become a leader they don't want to grow on the things of God so as a leader understand that there will be people who don't want to grow they don't want to come up and you must also understand that your level of leadership just needs to increase right so sometimes it won't be at the level of the others in the crow look at an eagle eagle eagle can fly a crow can fly eagle can fly above the stones but a crow cannot both can fly both have the wings both can fly but when you get into this leadership role and you go higher and higher and higher as an eagle you don't want to always come down to that level right so of course we are not putting the others down we are saying God is raising you up as a leader and there are greater positions that God is bringing you to not everyone want that so maybe we must stay assured in our heart there are people who want to learn there are people who don't want to learn as a leader I want to grow finally you must work to carry other leaders with you up the steps you carry leaders along with you you give them opportunities give them resources you may have to be able to spend time with them anyone as we do this we will be able to grow as leaders and here is the most interesting part as leaders God gives us the time for our weaknesses He knows our challenges He knows our strengths as well and when we are yielded to the work of the Holy Spirit when we trust in His Holy Spirit He begins to minister to us so He guides us He leads us Proverbs says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord so God is ordering our steps He may take us through these seasons He may orchestrate some impossible situations in our life but we can continue to trust God and say God I know that out of this will come something that you want us to be better leaders people who are completely committed to God right so we will stop here next class we will pick up from chapter 18 developing the ability to minister the Word and in the Spirit thank you so much for joining this class have a great day ahead see you on Friday God bless


Well, I was invited to be part of the program and to have a coach and so I joined the program I think in the fall and so every month my coach calls and we chat for an hour and I set the agenda and Unfortunately, he takes notes and so he refers back to and last time we talked about and and so it's just been a wonderful experience for me the experience. I mean it was He we became like friends, you know, so as she got to know me and But it wasn't like something that she would ask, you know that Our easy questions As time progressed it got she was asking the difficult questions tough questions, you know for me was There was a point where I was kind of choosing between being a father and Being a youth minister and so she asked me one of the tough questions was would you be able to do this you know balance both being a father and being in the ministry and And It was a difficult question, you know because I was able to find ways to balance them both. I Think one of the biggest benefits to my ministry through this initiative has been really focusing in and honing the asking the right questions And those questions helped me dive deeper into what's really going on in the church and in my particular context They helped me not just kind of skimmed through the surface and when I get to something that maybe needs More attention or some sort of change it helps me not seek quick fixes but really to ask those deep probing questions and Edlin's guidance and coaching has helped me to hone those questions But also has given me the courage and the confidence to find the resources I need to address them And to really continue to dig deep into them to make some lasting change