I've been reading through the New Testament and I'm noting how Jesus developed the 12. What has struck is how he had them observe and do. I'll talk about doing tomorrow, but today I wanted to talk about up and coming leaders observing what we do. 

Think about this story of Jesus healing Jairus' daughter:

"And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. When He came in, He said to them, “Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying. Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age." (Mark 5:37-42)

Peter, James, and John saw it and later they modeled it:

"In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!” Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them. Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up." (Acts 9:36-40)

Peter did exactly what Jesus had done. He kicked everyone out of the room. He even said the same words, minus 1 letter. Jesus said, "Talitha cumi". Peter said, "Tabitha cumi". 

It's the power of observation. We need to give leaders opportunity and the invitation to observe how we do ministry. They need to watch us prepare messages, minister in hospitals, official weddings and funerals, and counsel. 

Leaders get developed when we allow them into our world enough for them observe how we do it. That's how Jesus developed the 12 and that's how we should develop our leaders. 

For a complete resource on how we develop leaders at Calvary, check out our brand new resource, "The Leadership Pipeline: Developing great leaders at every level". Click here for the CD version or here for the mp3 download version.