We Baptists
are great about having a rotation process among our church leaders. Serve in a
position for two or three years, then you are automatically replaced by someone
else. They serve a prescribed term, then they too must step aside for another
person. Some feel this would be a good system for our state and national
legislatures!
There are
positives and negatives to such a leadership exchange system. The positives
include gaining the experience of others who might not otherwise have a chance
to serve in leadership roles if the positions continued to be filled by the
same person. An individual might come into the position with limited experience
but an abundance of wisdom and insight gained in other circles. A new individual
to a position will bring a fresh perspective that is critically needed at the
time. New relationships can be developed in an organization that would
otherwise be restricted to a handful of insiders.
Negative
dynamics can also be seen. Years of experience are lost as leaders vacate their
positions. Rotation may force an individual into a position who is neither
prepared nor gifted to assume the leadership role. The strength of a group to
accomplish its task might be found not so much in the individual gifts of the
members but upon what they bring to the group as a whole. Breaking the
relationships already formed will lessen the ability of the group to succeed in
its task.
Almost every
leadership role is locked into a rotation system of some kind. If nothing else
intervenes, death itself will require the need for a new person to come into
the position. A Kentucky author, Jesse Stuart, made the observation about the
transient nature of ownership where he was raised in the eastern mountains of his
home state. He commented his family had lived on the farm for fifty years. The
previous owners had lived there for the same period of time. Others had taken
ownership after his family. The land remained, but the ownership came and went.
Each family had a passing role.
One of the
great insights we can gain as individuals is to recognize our transient place
in this world. Shakespeare wrote this wisdom into one of his plays. “All the world's a stage, and all the men
and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances” (As You
Like It, Act 2, Scene 7) We come and we go, but we must never lose sight that
even in our transiency, we have an important role to play. The lives of others
will be the poorer if we do not give our best.
The Apostle
Paul gave a simple but vital command to his young disciple, Timothy, “What you
have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able
to teach others also.” (II Timothy 2:2) Timothy, you are a link in a very
important chain. What you have will be lost if you do not pass it on to others
who will share in that same responsibility.
God’s great
plan was in progress before we came along, and it will continue after we are
gone. That doesn’t lessen the importance of the role we have to play. Our part
is important. How important will only be known when time comes to an end. Our
influence will linger into the lives of those we touch. The uncle for whom I am
named has this thought inscribed on his tombstone, “If you would find him, seek
him in the lives of those who knew him.” Here was an awareness that death does
not end our investment in those who follow us.
We all have
a passing role as it is limited to our lives. Looking at who we are in terms of
those who have been influenced by our lives, we come to see that what may be
transient in years can be magnified an uncountable number of times. That is how
God sees us, for better or worse, as we use our passing role.
