October 2024,
Servants of the Lord Jesus in the NOW District,
The Psalmist rounds out his prayerful song in Psalm 48 with the hope that the promise of God’s steadfast love would be told, “to the next generation” (Psalm 48:13). I hear that and am reminded of Paul picking up young Timothy and taking him along on his second mission journey with him and Silas (Acts 16:1-3). The passing on of the Lord’s steadfast love and of his promises has always taken place through the raising up of a new generation of servant-leaders.
How does that happen? How are young people encouraged in their service to the Lord? How are they equipped to be more than servants – but to be servant-leaders for the sake of Christ? Are there vital behaviors that faithful adults in their lives can do intentionally to aid them along the way?
Certainly, it was not Paul who turned Timothy into a servant-leader; it was the Lord. The same was undoubtedly true for Phoebe (Romans 16:1), for Lydia (Acts 16:14), and for countless other servant-leaders in the New Testament whose stories are not as well-known as Timothy’s. Yet, the scriptures also leave no doubt that the Lord used Paul in the lives of each of these people to stir them into faithful service. How does the Lord continue to do so through us today?
Several of our Youth and Family Ministers from around the NOW District worked with our Director of Ministry Leadership, Dust Kunkel, over the past two years to conduct a study of church leaders across our District that would help us answer that question. The YLI Report Survey Findings is the result. It amounts to groundbreaking research which will set a foundation for our leadership initiative in the NOW District for years to come. Methodologically sound and qualitatively rigorous, this study offers a trustworthy glimpse into those key behavioral themes (KBTs) that aid a person on their journey to becoming a servant-leader. It has to do with presence and posture (how adults show up in their lives). It is about being fully encouraging and fully challenging at the same time (when and how leaders say “Yes”).
Rather than take my word for it, I encourage you to read the study (or if you are limited in time, skip to the recommendations pages just before the appendices). Our NOW District DCE Encouragers, together with our new Youth Leadership Initiative Team, will use this study to guide their work; if you consider yourself a servant of the Lord, whatever your role, this can guide yours too. It will illuminate those vital behaviors through which the Lord can use you to raise up the next generation of servant-leaders in his church.
Many thanks to Dust Kunkel, Jonathan Kopecky, Jackie Druckhammer, Maria Devenport, Brett Lindemood, Dereem Hoff, Matthew Murphy, and the many others whose investment of thoughtfulness, initiative, and time pulled this together. Most of all, Praise the Lord for “he will guide us forever” (Psalm 48:14).
In Jesus,
Rev. Michael T. Von Behren
President, Northwest District, LCMS
