Lead Last

As another school year approaches, and for most, a new one begins, I want to take today to give you a challenge: be the leader that comes last.

In the back of the line, you gain a lot of things: patience, perspective, self control - and not one bit of it is easy because it requires humbling yourself to let every one else walk in front of you. It means seeing every mistake that might get made ahead of you, every distraction that there can be, and pressing forward anyways with a joyful heart. It makes leading a choice - not simply a position in line.

In elementary school, one of my favourite things used to be the day that I got to be line leader in the hallway. And I remember, all the anticipation that would go with the days leading up to it, knowing that at some point your name is going to be called, that finally, the day will come when you're front and center, with your hand on your hip, leading the way ever so quietly like a good student. And that is a good student, don't get me wrong. But what about being a leader?

I'd like to argue that there is more than one way to lead, because there is more than one kind of leader. For every person willing to remain quiet, there has to be one willing to speak out.

You can't have one without the other, and rightfully so, you shouldn't want that, because that means that we would no longer be uniquely gifted and God-designed individuals.

Now fast forward to the start of my summer when I took this picture you now see.

This picture was taken at Captain's Camp: it was the first FCA camp I went to this summer, and it blew my mind in a number of ways, but largely for the fact that it focused on so many kinds of leader.

Captain's Camp is a camp we do, in which coaches recommend specific athletes on their team, their "locker room leaders" to come get equipped to better lead their teammates.

But one locker room leader doesn't look the same at every single school. For some, it is the outspoken guy, hyping his team up, for others it is the girl who may never say anything, but always has a smile on her face. Then again, it may also be the girl who doesn't always wear a smile, but instead constantly carries a sense of confidence and peace. Leadership can look a million different ways, but I'd like to make a case for the seriously underrated aspect of leadership that Jesus taught: coming last.

See, that's the beautiful thing about God: He is Beginning and End, He is Alpha and Omega, He is the First and the Last, He is where we start and where we end, He is all powerful, all consuming, all ending, all earth shattering, all we can ever need, and yet He still chose to come as the Servant King. The prince born in a manger because that is what taking the first step forward looks like: allowing ourselves to also be the least.

This picture captures a particularly beautiful moment at camp that I want to give you some context for: the night before, we kept the campers up until 1, 2, 3 in the morning, all before waking them up again at 5 to run a obstacle course. From the moment they set foot on our campus, we did nothing but praise the Lord and break them down physically. We had people throwing up, we had people falling out, there were complaints, sweat, tears, and probably blood. But then, right when they reached their breaking point, when they were threatening to call home and call it quits, we told them to pick up their boards.

Upon arriving to camp, every one is given a wooden board that is "their cross to bear". Throughout the week they can write whatever they'd like on it, but the important thing is: don't lose it.

Because you need it for this.

Together, under a stormy sky, around three in the afternoon, with our crosses on our shoulders, we walked in silence for 300 meters: Golgotha.

The same walk that Christ took to calvary for us.

Tears filled my eyes as students and leaders broke down in prayer as everyone dipped their boards in red paint (it still covers my tennis shoes today). Tree limbs, leaves, gravel, sidewalks: coated in drops of red paint leaving behind the trail that Christ walked for us - because He moved first.

The first move just happened to look a lot like dying on a cross for our sins and putting his own well being last.

There is a beauty and benefit to every kind of leadership: Christ wouldn't have been the Lion and the Lamb if there wasn't, but coming from someone who often prided themselves on being "the lion", I think there is a misrepresented beauty and much needed appreciation for the servant at the back of the line.

From the front of the line, you can be the one leading the way, blazing the trail, the first to spot danger and tackle challenges as they come. But you need to be able to wait on your team to make sure they don't fall behind. You wait in the storm till the last team member has come in, and even if you're soaked to the bone, you go back down the trail to bring your teammate out because no one gets left behind in God's eyes.

From the back of the line, you can see everything that lies ahead. You can see the kids goofing off, you can see the leaders in prayer, you can see the blood stained trail, you can see the storm begin to fall, you can encourage someone that is falling behind - from the back of the line you can walk in the steps of the Great I Am.

The commonality between the two? Their hearts are always to be the last one in, because they will always be stepping to the back of the line to bring someone else forward, in the exact same way that Christ does for us.

Where is your position in line this year?

-Emma

"Be fearless in pursuit of what sets your soul on fire."