WHAT MAKES A TEEN A LEADER?
--By Maria       Maria #211 DO 2897 9/93

         1. Now that we're going to be having more YAs on Home teamworks and within our leadership structure and in key ministries, we may need to reevaluate how we determine who are the potential leaders within the ranks of our teens and YAs. What qualities best indicate leadership potential?
         2. I would venture to say that there is a fairly widespread practice in the Family of assuming that the strong personalities or the charismatic type of people are the best leaders. The people who are the most outspoken, even the ones who cause the most trouble, seem to be regarded as the leaders or those who have the most leadership potential. But judgment based on that criterion may result in your neglecting or not recognizing the leadership potential in people who are not so outspoken or charismatic, but who may have other less obvious qualities that are very valuable and even more important when it comes to being a leader or a bellwether in the Lord's work.
         3. Sometimes I think people have misunderstood what Dad said in "Good Shepherds" about how when he was a teacher, the most outstanding boys in his class were the worst, and the leaders were the ones who got in the most trouble and did the most things wrong. Dad says, "They were the guys that caused the most disturbance and led the class astray most of the time, because they had the most drive, the most leadership ability" (DB7, ML #1002:16). Within the context of this Letter, Dad is using this particular illustration to make the point that in order to be a leader in the Family, and specifically a public leader such as a Visiting Servant, you need to have drive, initiative, push, fight and fire, rather than being, as Dad put it, the blah, do-nothing, no-personality, mousy type of person.
         4. But I think our Family adults and teens need to be careful to not take this illustration of Dad's out of context when they're trying to determine the leadership potential of our young people. They shouldn't automatically think that the worst teens, the troublemakers, will make the best leaders. I've heard of Family adults saying, "That kid is a real leader," when in actuality he turned out to be not a good leader and role model, but a rotten apple, who was leading people astray! Many times when that has happened, the teens in question had strong personalities and sometimes even lots of natural talent and gifts, but they lacked the other more important qualities, such as loyalty, honesty, a hunger for the Word, a love for the Lord, respect for leadership, a content spirit and an unfailing desire to serve the Lord in the Family, all of which are essential for leadership.
         5. Maybe some of these "bad kids" do have definite leadership potential in that they're not afraid to make mistakes, they have drive, they have guts, they want to stand up and be counted, they don't fear man, and they aren't afraid to voice their opinions and their questions. Granted, maybe their charismatic personalities do give them an "edge" in that they can rally the troops of their peers, and people look to them and want to be like them. (And it is true that some problem-case teens have been reformed and have become good leaders.)
         6. But if they lack the most important qualities, which are often not very obvious or easy to see, such as prayerfulness, a hunger and love for the Word, honesty and openness with their shepherds, a willingness to receive correction, loyalty, a love for the Family, and a dedication to and determination to live our Biblical standard and ideals, then their other more showy characteristics will not be enough to make them good leaders, nor are they the type of young people that we should be promoting and training as those who have the most leadership potential.
         7. This may be a case where the adults are intimidated by the young people. The adults could be a little duped by those teens who are the most outspoken, good-looking, popular, big-personality types, to the point that they don't want to "squelch" them. In fact, they even think those teens are the best leaders, and consequently they let them have a lot of influence and control over their peers, sometimes to the detriment of the standard and to the point of allowing them to corrupt the other teens. The teens and YAs might also be somewhat intimidated or overly influenced by their outwardly "strong" peers, and therefore they compromise their convictions and get off the track by following the wrong samples and setting up the wrong people as their role models or bellwethers. That's a shame.
         8. Many of our top leaders are known "sinner" types--due to the fact that they've been willing to publicly admit their mistakes and share the lessons they've learned as a result. Often such testimonies or confessions of our leaders are published for the whole Family, so that as many people as possible can benefit from their lessons. Some people might look at our top leaders and the mistakes they've made or the problems they've had and the lessons they've learned as a result and take that as a confirmation that indeed the "worst" people or the "bad" people or the "problem" people are the best leaders.
         9. But I think it's important for people who think that way to realize that the problems or lessons of these dear leaders are of a very different nature than the ongoing weaknesses some of these problem-case teens are manifesting. The lessons our top leaders have needed to learn are more along the lines of progressing in or overcoming their NWOs, human weaknesses, lack of training, wrong modus operandi, etc. They have not lacked loyalty to us or to the Family or the Lord, nor have they lied, covered up their mistakes, or sown discord. They have not constantly or for long periods of time questioned or doubted the Word, or desired the System, or been unhappy in the Family. People should keep that differentiation in mind when they think the naughty teens can be the best leaders. They should ask themselves in what way are those teens being naughty?
         10. We need to clarify the standard by which we judge our young people and their leadership abilities. Charisma, boldness, outspokenness, personality, talents and gifts do enter in, and surely those kinds of kids can be leaders in that the other kids will look up to them and follow them. But in order to make sure they'll lead their peers in the right direction, they'll also need the other more important spiritual qualities mentioned previously.
         11. Our adults need some guidelines on what to look for when they choose where to invest the most training, or who to honor with positions of leadership on Home teamworks, so they don't judge too much by outward appearance, because sometimes a quiet, less flamboyant teen will actually have more bona fide leadership potential than the aggressive, outspoken, confrontational, high-strung teen. This advice is also beneficial for you teens and YAs. You too need to judge wisely concerning who you look to as your role models or bellwethers, making sure they're good shepherds, who will lead you aright and point you toward the Lord, the Word and the Family standard. Praise the Lord! "Man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart" (1Sam.16:7).


Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family