"After this the Lord appointed 70 others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go."
(Luke 10:1)
One of the marks of a good leader is his/her ability to empower and delegate. In the 10th chapter of Luke's gospel, we see Jesus doing just that. He appoints 70 followers to go out and carry on his ministry in the surrounding towns he was going to visit. He gives them instructions for their mission, and empowers them to "cure the sick."
What's interesting to me is that Jesus sent them out in pairs. That means 35 towns could be reached at a time. If he was more concerned with numbers, he could've easily sent everyone on their own... thus reaching 70 towns! Why didn't he? (I don't think it's because there were only 35 towns that he cared about. Surely there were many, many more!) Maybe the followers weren't ready to "fly solo." Maybe he knew they'd only succeed in pairs? Then again, maybe he knew that we do BETTER ministry in teams!?! Could it be that we're not only wired to LIVE in community, but also to LEAD in community?
We pastor would do well to follow that example. Whoever gave us the notion that we were meant to be "Lone Rangers," anyway? (Heck, even the Lone Ranger rode around with Tonto!) May we find ways to empower others to be in ministry with us!
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