A Rag Tag Bunch Of Followers

     If you are like me, trying to be an influence and help people around us is important and significant.  For me personally, for Be the Gift be an organization of influence is imperative to accomplish all that we feel called to do and be. So I studied the most influential person of any era, he was on a mission--

                                      To set things right between God and humankind.

                                                 Of course - I am  speaking of Jesus. 

     As a leader and with an organization that did influence people, Jesus spent a majority of His time doing things that would, by most normal thinking disrupt His ability to lead. He was alone a lot; He picked a rag-tag bunch of followers; He never seemed to have an organized system of His ideas, theology or practices; He was not popular with religious insiders; He seemed to defy people's expectations and traditions; He rejected some resemblance of political, social, or cultural leadership; and as soon as He built a large following in one place, He would move on.  These methods seem out of touch with what many of today's leaders assume are the natural steps of community influence.

     Could it be that as unconventional as the workings of Jesus were at that time, He truly understood people?  According to a study by the Barna Research Group-- Nearly all people say that just one or two individuals have had the most spiritual influence in their life.  These one or two people far out weigh the impact of anyone else.  Typically this person is not necessarily a Pastor or church worker as you might imagine. It's a friend, co-worker, neighbor or some family relationship.  Did you catch that? 

                          Most people count YOU as their most influential spiritual leader. 

      You see Jesus changed the world through His death on the cross, and He put this message and edict of love in the hands of His loyal followers, the twelve men who caught the vision, and filled with the Holy Spirit passed this message onto those in their lives.  From there person to person, friend to friend, family member to family member and so it spread.  So today to live a life of influence and significance is the same today as it has been for centuries. It is not to point them to someone else,

              But for each of us to jump into those lives around us because when we do,   

                    We become the most significant and important person in their lives!