The Dual Invitation of Leadership Development

I will forever marvel at Jesus mastery of leadership development.  His every word and every movement was filled with great intentionality.  As I was reflecting recently on Mark 1:16-18 I was fascinated by his purposeful wording as he recruited Peter and Andrew into a discipling relationship, "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."When he said, "Come follow me." he was inviting them into a relationship, into community, a place where they would be challenged, encouraged and grow like never before.  It was a teacher-student relationship that would provide friendship and camaraderie. They viewed him as a great teacher and they understood he was inviting them to be students.But that wasn't all he was inviting them to. When he said, "Come follow me", in the very same breath he said, "and I will make you fishers of men." They knew enough about Jesus at that point that they would understand he was inviting them not only into relationship but into mission as well.  He was calling them to give up their lives, to serve God's purpose, to care, to love and to sacrifice for others. It wasn't just a call to be a student; it was a call to be a servant as well. Too often leadership development is simply an invitation into a program rather than an invitation into relationship.  Too often the objective is to dispense information rather than life transformation.  Too often the focus is on sit and soak rather than serve and be stretched.How would it potentially change your leadership development approach if you invited trainees into relationship AND mission?