|
 NOTE:
John McElroy is a one of Pastor Frangipane's
dearest friends. John is the senior pastor
of Churchlands Christian Fellowship and
Director of Southern Cross Association of
Churches. Pastor Francis has felt that John's
book, Passing on the Baton, provides "groundbreaking
truth for our times." He highly recommends
it.
Leaving
a Legacy
by John McElroy
A good man leaves an inheritance for his
children’s children. - Proverbs 13:22.
A
hundred times every day I remind myself
that my inner and outer life depend on
the labors of other men, living and dead,
and that I must exert myself in order
to give in the same measure as I have
received and am still receiving. - Albert
Einstein
What
we leave behind as a legacy reveals our
priorities. It shouts how we want to be
remembered. It unveils whether we pointed
to Jesus or us. It is the testimony of God’s
work in our lives; the spiritual inheritance
or baton that we leave to others. God’s
plan for the church has always been that
one generation would pass the baton of the
testimony of Jesus to the next generation
until His return. You and I are just one
in a series of runners…
When I was growing up, my father would take
me to watch our local high school athletes
compete in track and field events. At these
track meets, teams competed in events like
the high jump, pole vault, shot put, discus
throw, and various types of marathon runs,
sprints and relays.
When
I was old enough to compete, our school
track coach selected me to take part in
the 100 yard dash and 440 yard relay. Both
races required speed and coordination. While
the dash was a single person race, the relay
was a test of speed and teamwork. After
sprinting 110 yards, each runner would pass
a lightweight, hollow baton to the next
runner.
I still remember the adrenaline surge as
the starter shouted, “On your marks, ready,
set.” He fired his gun and then off we shot
in front of a cheering crowd!
In
the 440 yard relay, races were won or lost
at the handing of the baton. To drop the
baton meant losing the race. All the hard
work, all the after-school training, everything
could be dashed with a single fumble. Rule
Number One of relay events was NEVER DROP
THE BATON!
The
same is true of life. We have not successfully
finished the race of life until we have
passed on our baton to the next generation.
A
baton is much more than a lightweight hollow
tube. It represents the spiritual inheritance
we have in Christ that we have accumulated
in our lifetime. Your baton is the sum of
all the lessons, insights, wisdom, counsel,
character and spiritual anointing that you
have gained. The person you’ve become and
the sacrifices you have made combine to
form a rich deposit of God’s living word
in you. Your baton is your spiritual legacy.
The
Meaning of Legacy
To understand legacy let’s look at Proverbs
13:22.
"A
good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s
children."
A
legacy is an inheritance for your children
and your children’s children. It’s easier
to think of this in terms of the wealth
we leave behind when we die. We are
all aware of parents who have spent a lifetime
carving a position of influence and wealth
only to leave it to children who squander
it in a very short time. This comes about
because the children have not taken on board
the values of their parents and so they’ve
wasted the opportunity.
Far
too many inheritances are short-lived. Parents
have been better at making money than teaching
their children how to steward wealth wisely.
As Socrates so aptly put it, “Could I climb
to the highest place in Athens, I would
lift my voice and proclaim: ‘Fellow citizens,
why do you turn and scrape every stone to
gather wealth, and take so little care of
your children to whom one day you must relinquish
it all?’”
Leaving
a spiritual legacy is similar. The focus
is on the benefits for the generations coming
after you rather than for yourself. It requires
long-term thinking, not short-term thinking.
Far too often we hear of a great man or
woman of God and the incredible ministry
they’ve built, only to see the whole thing
fracture at the seams when they die.
The
Lord warns us in 1 Corinthians 3:10–13 to
be careful how we build as the quality of
our ‘work’ will be tested at the end of
the age. Only what is built with eternity
in mind will last and receive a reward.
In
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John
Maxwell speaks of four types of accomplishment
in a leader’s life:
- ACHIEVEMENT
comes to someone when he is able to do
great things for himself;
-
SUCCESS comes when he empowers followers
to do great things with him;
-
SIGNIFICANCE comes when he develops leaders
to do great things for him; but
-
a LEGACY is created when a person puts
his organization into the position to
do great things without him.
The
aim of legacy is succession. However, many
of today’s leaders focus on achievement
and success. A minority go on to the higher
level of significance, and building dream
teams to accomplish their vision. Few seem
concerned with enabling others to do great
things without them. I will never forget
the lessons I learned about this in my first
church.
My
First Church
I became a pastor at the age of twenty.
Like most other pastors in my denomination,
I trained at a theological seminary for
three years. Seminary was where I received
formal academic training. Most of what I
now remember came from an informal school;
the school of experience in actual ministry
situations.
For
four years, I drove 140 miles each weekend
to serve a small congregation of about 150
people. I learned to be a pastor through
hands-on experience.
My
duties were diverse: weddings and funerals,
leading Bible studies, coordinating a youth
group of twenty kids, and preaching sermons
each Sunday morning. While I did have other
pastors I could turn to, much of what I
learned was through trial and error.
When I trained for the ministry, little
was said about the need for spiritual fathers
and mothers. The focus was on ministerial
formation, academic subjects, exams, and
how to prepare sermons using proper Biblical
exegesis.Because our denomination had high
standards for ordination, many had a fear
of not making the grade. Every pastor just
assumed he had to learn to stand on his
own.
Looking
back, I can now see that my major focus
was on achievement and success. It really
didn’t enter my mind to think about what
would happen to the congregation when I
left. I gave little thought to succession
and being a spiritual father. The relationships
I had in the church were based on friendship
and getting things done.
Everything
went pretty smoothly until, after seven
years, I received an invitation to pastor
a church in Perth, Australia, my wife’s
home city. Within six months God made it
clear that I should accept the position.
Announcing
my resignation was difficult. The people
had become like family and were very dependent
upon our leadership. In hindsight, I failed
in a number of ways.
•
I had not spent time mentoring and empowering
leaders who could take over when I left
the church.
• I had not assisted the church in finding
a successor to myself.
• I had not addressed destructive patterns
of behavior and conflict in the church membership.
• While I had reasonably fulfilled my pastoral
responsibilities, I had simply perpetuated
a pastor-dependent culture.
Unfortunately, failures like mine are often
repeated throughout churches everywhere.
I had no thought of leaving a legacy and
nobody ever challenged me on the subject.
Many of us don’t like the idea of legacy.
It reminds us we are mortal; that our life
is fleeting. It causes us to reflect on
how we have lived and on how we are living.
Some of us would like to convince ourselves
that legacy is something to act on near
the end of our life. We don’t like the idea
of passing on the baton if it means another
will rise higher. We don’t want to miss
out!
In
view of the widespread decline in church
attendance, we must think outside the box
and start on the path of leaving a legacy.
For this to happen, our priorities have
to change. Colin Noyes of CoachNet Pacific
makes an astute observation: “Life’s greatest
deception is to think that by doing the
same thing, in the same way, over and over,
we will ultimately get a different result.”
We
can no longer assume that spiritual succession
will just happen. To shift the rudder of
the church will take focus, time and courage.
We must return to the model of legacy that
Jesus set for us. He raised disciples who
could multiply themselves and take His message
to the ends of the earth. He passed on His
baton effectively and so must we.
If you were blessed by today's message,
we know you will love reading Passing the
Baton by John McElroy.
This
book is available through the Arrow
Bookstore
|
Francis
serves as senior minister of River of Life
Ministries in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 
