THE LINE LEADER

In this particluar post I've decided to highlight a post by one of my members Kandice Davidson. Kandice is a up and coming Millenial Leader and an integral part the leadership team at The Elevation Church. Kandice also has a blog at www.kandicornier.wordpress.com.

Teacher: "Josh, you're the line leader today. Take her upstairs to the next level of the school house."

Me:" But teacher, I've been doing ok getting around the school on my own. I've walked into the wrong class a few times but I think I'm ok. Technically, I'm my own line leader."

Teacher: "Kandice do as I say, follow Josh, I've given directions on where I want you all to go."...

I Remember having those conversations in grade school? I mean after all, being line leader for the day is like getting a golden star, and who doesn't like a golden star?! Well eventually you graduate from the age of walking in lines and you begin leading yourself. Or, at least that's how school worked! It took almost six years now of living on my own and "leading myself" to realize that the line was always necessary. As a matter of fact, it took me to graduate college and move all the way to Omaha, NE to realize that!

While interning in 2013, I visited a church in Omaha led by a twenty-six year old pastor on fire for Jesus. His name was Josh, Joshua Jerome Eggerson to be exact. That's when it happened, that's when the teacher stepped in and had a spiritual conversation with us both.

Teacher: "Josh, you're the line leader today. Take her upstairs to the next level of the school house."

Me:" But teacher, I've been doing ok getting around the school on my own. I've walked into the wrong class a few times but I think I'm ok. Technically, I'm my own line leader."

Teacher: "Kandice do as I say and follow Josh, I've given him specific directions on where I want you all to go."

I visited the church a few more times and I felt convicted, or better yet guilty. Now don't get me wrong, when I got back to Atlanta I definitely felt a change. However some of the changes I made in Omaha slowly drifted away. Funny thing is, this particular teacher never misses his mark so of course eventually I found myself in Omaha once again. This time he added;

"Now, there will be some distractions in the hallway, but that's why I've assigned a line leader to keep you on track."

Since that day, my pastor Joshua Jerome Eggerson has done just that! It's amazing to see the growth that I see in myself because of the growth in him. He's been transparent, he's been a mentor, a teacher of the gospel, a brother, a dad, an accountability partner, and word of encouragement whenever I needed him. In fact he's walked into some of those very classrooms that the teacher wanted me to avoid. He's shown what being a Christian truly is, what being a line leader really means. It doesn't necessarily mean his classmates weren't qualified, but instead not yet prepared to understand the true assignment at hand. At an age like twenty-nine I couldn't imagine the pressure of leading such a "class", but I admire him for dedicating to do just that. Without a doubt he will go to the ends of the world to complete this assignment and it's for nothing more than to be obedient to the teacher. And here's the kicker it's not for some golden star! His obedience is simply because of who and how great the teacher is!

It's time now to realize we're all in this class, some of us just haven't trusted the teacher enough to get in line. So this post is here to serve a few purposes. This post is a thank you to my line leader who continues to lead me through the hallways. This post is to thank the teacher for assigning my leader. And last this post is to encourage you (especially millenials) reading this that even when you can't see around the leader it's ok to walk these hallways in line. That teacher (as you know by now) won't let you fail!

Class in session! -Kandi-