Final Lessons from Les
This is the third and final instalment in a series on what I learned from Les, a movement pioneer in North Africa.
15. Success is failure if you don’t grow leaders
The pace picked up as our national partners saw one in five they shared with turn and believe. But we made the mistake of not preparing ahead of time for the leaders we were going to need. We didn’t pass off leadership quickly enough.
One young man had 23 groups of disciples he was meeting with on a two-week rotation. He came to me one day and he just said, “I’m done. I quit. I'm done. It's too much. I can't do it anymore.”
We took him away and just let him sleep. We spent time in the word and singing and praising God and praying. On the third day we asked, “What does God want us to do?” And he really opened up a plan for us to hand off leadership of the groups. Then we focused on leadership development and encouragement.
Within four to six months, we were running through about 750 to a thousand leaders through mid-level trainings run by nationals. Each of the leaders had four generations for more of new disciples and new churches.
16. Great Commission Partners
The nations had a growing burden for the Great Commission. They were praying for the Middle East and the deserts of North Africa. At a mid-level training they had prayed for five hours for the lost among people groups of other nations.
One year later, they introduced the twenty-six young men and women who they were going to send to those people groups. They all had passports and working visas paid for. Now they wanted Les to train them before they go.
One young woman went and served as as nannie. She led al the women in that wealthy household to faith after the matriarch of the family was healed of breast cancer.
A group of six young men got jobs in a construction camp and led Pakistanis and Bangladeshis to Christ.
17. Know when it’s time to leave
Now that the nationals are participating as full partners in the Great Commission, it was time to exit. They completely lead all aspects of the work. Les continues to coach and encourage at a distance.
They have completely embraced the mission themselves so it was time for Les to ask, “Where else should we go?”
