About Leadership

In addition to Leadership Charlottesville, I'm engaged in other activities where I'm learning about leadership. One unexpected source of this is with my church. Recently, I was asked to be a confirmation sponsor for a friend of my son's. Our first meeting with the youth leaders introduced the sponsors to the idea of being "lamplighters" for these young people. The concept of leading by example, providing "light" to show the way, all while encouraging the youth to make their own decisions is all at once encouraging and daunting.

We're being encouraged to share our personal stories, as they relate to our faith, of course, but also to share our lives with our confirmands, as a way of providing them an example other than that of their parents, of adults living lives where the church plays a role. It's new and different challenge for me, as a leader. The parallels are interesting, though, and this new responsibility is making me think more about leadership roles and the way we grow, fall or step into them, sometimes unexpectedly.