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Let’s go for a stroll with Jesus along the shores of the Sea of Galilee as He gathers His disciples and the future leaders of His early Church. Let’s see how the Rabbi Himself develops leaders. It doesn’t start with a spotlight. Not with a seminar. Not with a leadership manual. Not with a five-year ministry plan. Just two simple, ordinary words spoken on an ordinary day to ordinary folks: “Follow Me.”
Before Jesus ever handed His disciples something to do, He handed them someone to follow: Himself. Before Jesus ever handed His disciples responsibility, He handed them a relationship. Before He ever sent them out, He brought them in to Himself and drew them close. Mark 3:14 says, “Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out.” Before Jesus sent His disciples out to preach, teach, and save the world, He called them simply to be “with Him.” Jesus’ leadership training began with presence, not productivity. With proximity, not performance. With time, not with tasks.
Now let’s look at the people Jesus chose to be His leaders. He didn’t go looking for the polished, the pedigreed, the podium-proficient, or the platform-ready people. He chose fishermen who smelled like yesterday’s catch, tax collectors whom nobody trusted, and everyday folks who had more questions than answers. Ordinary people – all of them. People like us. Jesus chose ordinary people with ordinary lives and said, “Come with Me. Walk with Me. Talk with Me. Learn from Me. Watch Me.” Friends, leadership begins at the feet of Jesus.
Jesus’ invitation is simple; He used just two words: “Follow Me. – Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” He doesn’t say, “Follow me, and I will teach you leadership tips, tricks, and techniques.” He says, “Follow me, and I will make you…” Jesus formed them as followers before He unleashed them as leaders. He shaped them before He shipped them out. He crafts character before He commissions them with a calling.
He walked with them, talked with them, laughed with them, loved them, encouraged them, gently corrected them, and slowly shaped them into leaders who would carry forward His kingdom. Before they ever preached a sermon or planted a church (or taught a classroom full of students), they were simply followers learning to follow the Leader. So leadership begins not with skill and ability, but with the presence of Jesus.
Leadership is not first about competence, but about character, Christ-like character. That is something that grows with faith; that is something that is caught more than it is taught. It is absorbed more than achieved.
In a world that defines greatness by how high you climb, Jesus measures it by how low you’re willing to kneel. Then He demonstrates it in His own life. He kneels to wash feet. He stoops to welcome children. He reaches down and touches the untouchable. He bends under the burden of a cross. This is the culture He forms in us and through us.
Saints, where is Christ nudging us to follow Him more closely so He can form us more deeply? Where might He be asking us to invest in someone else the way He has invested in us? Leadership begins with following…following Jesus, the world’s Savior.
In your ministry to the students at CLHS, understand this: every leader leaves a mark. Some leave dents. Some leave scars. Some leave monuments. But the leaders shaped by Christ? They leave footprints – quiet, steady traces of His presence wherever they walk. When Christ shapes the leader, that leader shapes the world.
In the end, Christ‑shaped leadership doesn’t look flashy. It rarely makes headlines. Most days, it looks a lot like faithfulness in ordinary places – showing up, listening, loving people, and keeping step with Jesus even when the road gets rocky and rough.
Because when Jesus shapes a leader, He steadies their stride. He teaches them how to walk through hard seasons without losing heart, how to carry influence without losing humility, and how to serve people without losing joy. And little by little, almost without noticing, those Christ‑formed steps start leaving a trail behind them.
Not the kind of trail made by big personalities or loud accomplishments, but the kind you’d find on a well‑worn country path – quiet, faithful footprints that tell you someone has been there before, someone who loved well, led gently, and followed Jesus closely.
And maybe that’s the real hope for every leader: Not that we’d leave monuments people can admire, but footprints people can follow. Footprints that say, “Jesus walked me through this, and He’ll walk you through it too.” Footprints that point not to our strength, but to His power and might.
Footprints that lead straight back to the place where all true leadership begins – the feet of Jesus.
This school year, in our classrooms and wherever the Lord may have assigned us, may our leadership leave a trail of Jesus’ goodness behind us, one faithful footstep at a time. Amen.
We pray: Dear Lord, bless the school year that lies before us. Help us see that beyond teaching our students, we are leading our students closer to You. Help us to lead more like You. We know that begins with spending more time with You and learning to be more like You in all that we do. In this new school year, help us return again and again to learn at Your feet, and keep us following in Your footsteps as we lead our students. Amen.
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