2.    LEAD by DOING.  The disciples were followers.  But if Jesus' movement was to succeed these followers would have to lead, and they couldn't do that without stepping into Jesus' life and living it.  His message was urgent, hopeful, and practical.  He, and now they are promising a new world; a new way of being, of facing each day.  They would teach it by doing it.  With God's power they would tackle the toughest issues: leprosy, death, demons.  Tim Keller's book Generous Justice tells us to redefine Jesus' miracles for our ministry.  We may not literally raise the dead or heal the blind.  We may not run across lepers or demon-possessed people.  But people are dead in many ways; blind or shackled in many ways; treated as unworthy, untouchable; possessed by forces beyond their control.  With Jesus as our model, literally empowered by God, we dare to confront the forces of today that overwhelm people.

3.    LEAD by PLANNING.  When Jesus fed 5,000+ he provided an excellent model for dealing with many a crisis.  Jesus took what he had, didn't whine, gave thanks, organized, shared, and conserved.  Read that list again.  Then Jesus organized the huge crowd into manageable groups of 50.  And they shared the loaves and fish.  What's going on?  The Bible doesn't say that the food miraculously multiplied.  It just says they started with not enough, ended up with too much, and in between they got organized and shared.  My guess is that by breaking down an overwhelming problem Jesus gave the crowd the view that they really could handle the situation.  In smaller groups they all began to share whatever little they had until the Bible says they were satisfied.  Jesus had an organization plan, a system, a M.O.  Going again to my early Habitat days, our founder, a true visionary, didn't like to plan.  But Habitat's first President told us, "Planning doesn't show lack of faith.  We plan because we have faith."