As many of you know, we’ll be starting a spiritual
leadership boot camp for the men in our congregation on Saturday, February
7. (Click here to learn more) Every man in the congregation is encouraged to participate,
but there are some demographics that may not feel like such training is a
necessity for them personally. One
such group could be the empty nesters.
Since all their children are grown and gone, some of these men may feel as
if they “gave at the office,” so to speak. Or they may believe that they already have a pretty good
handle on what it means to be the spiritual leader of their home.
I can think of a few reasons why empty nesters should still
make it a priority to attend this training. First, though you may be in your retirement years, there is
no biblical expiration date on our role as the spiritual leaders of our
homes. The children may be gone,
but your wife is still there and she still needs you to lead her. Until the day we die, the Lord will
hold us responsible for leading.
Second, we should all see this training as an opportunity to
grow in sanctification. Just as
there is no expiration date on our leadership role, there is no such thing as
arriving at perfect Christlikeness in this life. We are to strive for holiness until the day we die. There is most likely no one who cannot
improve in this area of spiritual leadership. We need to press on.
Third, you may have already reached a level of great
maturity in your spiritual leadership, but this is precisely why you should
attend this training. Your
maturity, experience, and wisdom could be a huge blessing to the younger men
who have no idea what it means to lead their families spiritually. The Lord could use you as a mentor to
these men. Isn’t that how God has
designed the church to build itself up in love…by each member using his or her
area of gifting and experience to help others? If you stay home while others attend, you will have shelved an
important resource with which the Lord has blessed our congregation.
Another group of men who may not see the relevance of this
training to their own lives is our single men. After all, they don’t have wives and children to lead. There are at least a couple of reasons
why it would be wise for you to come anyway. First, you may not always be single. If the Lord wills, you could be married
very shortly and be starting a family.
What a blessing to your future wife and children for you to enter that
phase of your life without being completely in the dark regarding how the Lord
expects you to lead them. Having a
handle on spiritual leadership now could make entering marriage and entering
fatherhood far less daunting. In
other words, love your future wife and children now by being trained now in how
to lovingly lead them in the faith.
Second, even if you never get married or have children, the
Lord could use you to come alongside men who do have families to encourage them and help
them. Do you want to have
meaningful brotherly relationships only with other singles? Or do you desire to
be able to enjoy fellowship and accountability with any man in the church? If you want to be an encouragement even
to your married brothers in the faith, you would be well equipped to do that if
you understand the demands placed upon them by the Lord and the difficulties
and temptations associated with it. This boot camp would equip you in that way.
In my view, there is not a man in the congregation who would
not benefit from this training. And
there is not a man in the congregation whom this training would not equip to be
a blessing to others. Please make
it a priority to attend, no matter your current station in life.
Remember – the boot camp will go for eight consecutive
Saturdays beginning on February 7th. We’ll meet from 7-8:30a. I hope to see you there!
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