*This post is based on John Maxwell’s leadership devotional book entitled A Leader’s Heart.
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Read: Grow a Leader – Grow the Organization (Page 3)
By the time we get to this part of Peter’s life, he had already been greatly developed by Jesus, the best leader-builder ever. We now start to see the fruit of Peter’s development. Personal development, in its beginning stages, is more focused on the development of the individual. It is more focused on the concept of self-leadership and development, as it should be.
However, as that development continues, there does come a point at which the one being developed begins to bring forth fruit through their development of others.
This fruition has a way of sneaking up on you. One day you’re the student just trying to figure things out. Then, one day you’re the one teaching others and suddenly there are people around you who were not reached by your teacher, but they were reached and developed by you.
THIS is the ultimate goal of true leadership development…no longer depending upon the watering, feeding, and pruning of another, but to bring forth fruit of your own teaching and development. Then, of course, you want to see those you’ve taught start to bring forth fruit from their teaching and development of others as well, and on and on it should go.
At this point in Peter’s life, he had positively influenced about five thousand people. He did not start off that way. This came only after years of intense development teaching from Jesus Himself. We see in this setting the compounding effects of continued development.
While we may or may never have the privilege of leading five thousand people, we can certainly continue to build upon the foundation of development we have received. Eventually we will see the compounding effects of this continued development and before we know it, we will be the ones developing others who go on to do likewise in their own lives.
Assignment: Identify moments where a significant point of development in your life took place and you knew it was a turning point in your leadership ability. Be prepared to discuss (comment below) of how you would pass that information on to someone you are developing. What would you tell them?
Next Level Living 