Jon Ferguson leading a baptism service in Chicago
By Dave Ferguson
Apostolic leaders lead from the front! The apostle Paul led from the front. That’s why he could say,
“I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church” (1 Cor. 4:16 – 17).
He felt confident enough in the mission that if others would just follow his lead, the mission would be accomplished. In fact, Paul felt confident enough that he was sending Timothy to lead them, because he knew that he had apprenticed Timothy and that if they just imitated Timothy’s life, they could accomplish the mission.
Jon Ferguson
One of the best apostolic leaders I know is my brother, Jon Ferguson. Jon and I launched COMMUNITY together and have seen it grow from a few friends to thousands at twelve going on fourteen locations all over Chicago. Jon is also the strategic mind behind NewThing, a reproducing church movement which now has more than one hundred and forty churches and sites around the world. It would be easy for him to feel a sense of accomplishment and decide to take some time off and kick back a little. He could rationalize that he has done his part and it’s somebody else’s turn to step up, so he can back off. Heck, he could call it a sabbatical!
But Jon is the kind of apostolic leader who is leading the missional charge from the front. Rather than settle into a nice suburban home and spend his time telling old stories at workshops and conferences, he and his wife, Lisa — along with their two kids — recently moved into the city of Chicago to start a network of new sites for COMMUNITY. He is leading the charge with dozens of others who are moving into the adventure of urban life. He is leading the way and asking others to support this important initiative by either moving with him or helping out with their finances. He’s recruiting a team of leaders to bring what he imagined to life. Jon is the kind of innovative leader people want to follow and imitate.
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This kind of apostolic leadership isn’t restricted to vocational ministry, nor is it isolated to the church building. These missional leaders pull others with them to the front lines rather than pushing from the back office. These leaders will emerge in every domain of society: economics, health, science, journalism, communications, the arts, agriculture, government, and finance. They’ll do the good work that God has prepared in advance for them to do in all walks of life, giving leadership to a missional movement. We’re seeing the first fruits already.
Perry Bigelow
Perry Bigelow, president of Bigelow Homes, isn’t the kind of CEO to just sit behind his desk and bark out orders to his people. Perry is a missional leader who leads from the front, not the back. When Bigelow Homes built HomeTown, his vision was to build neighborhoods of genuine community, where kids are safe to play, the environment is honored, and a church would be present to serve the people.
He described his intentions like this: “I want to build a community the way the Master Carpenter would build it.” Perry not only shared that vision with his company and challenged them to complete it; he moved into one of the HomeTown neighborhoods himself and works every day to see that vision fulfilled. In addition, from the profits of HomeTown, Bigelow Homes makes very generous donations to HomeAid and Hope International. As a result of Perry’s leadership, Bigleow Homes was named Builder of the Year by Professional Builder magazine. The cover story read, “Doing Good by Doing Right.” This wasn’t surprising to anyone who knows Perry. He’s always been someone who leads by example, not vague dictates. When he saw a need for quality housing for single moms in the city of Chicago, he started a nonprofit company that built condos specifically for single working moms with school-age children. He not only built these condos but moved out of his suburban home and into one of the condos for seven years.
Do you lead from the front? When you lead from the front, every decision you make and action you take is for the sake of the mission. For too many of us, ministry has become a job and not our life’s mission! When your ministry becomes a means to get what you want instead of a means to accomplish what God wants, there’s no way the mission will be accomplished. Too many leaders are looking for a fatter paycheck, a bigger church, and early retirement in a better climate. Instead, we need to lead from the front!
I think every leader should answer this question:
if the people who follow you just imitated you, would they accomplish God’s mission?
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