Eight senior high youth and three adults went to Point Lookout for a weekend retreat in May. The retreat theme was “Leadership under Construction.” Throughout the weekend we talked about leadership as youth.

We talked a great deal about leadership and attitude. Throughout the weekend we looked at the book of Nehemiah. We discussed Nehemiah’s leadership characteristics and what we liked about his leadership. For many of us gathered, Nehemiah’s care for his people as they were rebuilding the temple was intriguing. Nehemiah didn’t “lord” over his people. He worked alongside them. He took his turn defending the wall. He even gave up food rations to make sure that everyone had something to eat. Nehemiah was humble.

Nehemiah also was in conversation with God through the whole process of rebuilding the temple. We talked as a group about the importance of being in conversation with God. As our youth learned on the retreat, Nehemiah is a good example of a leader. He was humble and he gave the credit to God for all the things that were happening as the Jews rebuilt the temple.

We also discussed that as Christians we are all leaders. We each have the opportunity to lead a person or people to the gospel. We all can share the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. We can also encourage one another in our journey as disciples to take part in a community of faith.

As leaders we have a responsibility to the people we serve. Our attitude and our conversations with God have a large impact on how we are received as leaders. During worship on the retreat, we had a conversation about fire and how we can relate it to leadership. We talked about the destructive things that fire can do, such as burn down a building, but we also discussed the positive things that fire does, such as create warmth in the cold. We related our discussion of fire to leadership, realizing that as leaders we can be both destructive if we aren’t careful, and positive in people’s lives.

As Christians, we are all leaders. We all have the opportunity to share God’s love with other people. Our daily interactions with people give others a glimpse of God by the things that we say and do.

On the retreat I asked the youth to think about what kind of leaders they are today and what kind of leaders they would like to become. I encourage you to think about the leader you are and if there are any changes you might make to your leadership style.

“Leadership under construction” – it is a lifelong journey.

Pastor Wendy