There must be as many ways to develop leadership abilities in others as there are stars in the sky, but most programs will come down to a few basics.

One of the most important and absolutely crucial elements in nurturing young leaders is exposure.

Expose the individual to the various tasks and jobs and careers open to him/her. Let the person try them on, work alongside a master craftsman for a few days, see how it feels.

Not everyone is called to every kind of work. Not everyone is called to be a leader of people, for that matter. But all in the Kingdom of God are called to work in the Lord’s vineyard and are gifted by the Holy Spirit with a talent/ability/enablement for that kind of work. (See I Corinthians 12, especially verse 7.)

Finding it is the fun part. Matching the person up with the right assignment is one of the pleasurable aspects of leadership.

Exposure: show them what they could be doing.

Carly Fiorina did not exactly grow up disadvantaged. Her father was a law professor and her mother an artist, but when she finished school and took a job with AT&T, climbing in the managerial ranks was not something she gave a lot of thought to. Had you told her eventually she would take over the CEO’s office for a Fortune 500 company (Hewlett-Packard), I doubt she would have believed you.

So, how did this happen?

The longer answer includes loving a good challenge, choosing the right department, laboring long hours, constantly learning and growing, completing every assignment on time and in good fashion, as well as over-preparing for presentations in which her superiors would be in the audience.

But the short answer–and the one that lingers with me after reading her story, “Tough Choices”–is that when she had the opportunity to work alongside the movers and shakers of the company, she grabbed it. Not for the expected reasons–to charm them and pad her resume and grease her ascent–but something else altogether.

By working on a project that included officers of the company, she quickly lost her awe of them. She learned they were ordinary people like herself. “I felt I could do what they are doing,” she decided. And in time, she did.

Go into the average church today and you will find somewhere in their organization a monstrosity called “the committee on committees.” I’ll never forget the first time I encountered one of those as a young pastor. I thought it was a cruel joke by someone parodying bureaucrats. But it was no joke.

We have formed a committee assigned with the task of finding people to fill vacancies on committees.

And then, the church will probably have a nominating committee. What’s the difference? (Believe me, I asked that question a few times!)

The nominating committee fills slots involving just one person. If you need someone to head up the Sunday School or to teach 10 year old boys about missions on Wednesday nights, that’s the work of the nominating committee.

Wonder what our Lord thinks of this? Well, actually, we know.

“Pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth workers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:38)

That’s it. Ask the Lord to call out the workers. It makes sense. After all, who knows us better than He? And who knows better than He how a person’s gifts and calling match up with a particular need?

One wonders what would happen to the typical church if its leaders were to start taking that command seriously.

It would mean no slot would be filled until God called someone who accepted.

It would mean some jobs remain vacant.

It would mean some ministries close.

It would drive home to the congregation that without God–and without prayer–nothing of any significance would be accomplished around there.

It would teach the members of a class to pray, the 10 year old boys to pray, the Sunday School organization to pray.

And one more thing: it would drive the church leaders to take innovative steps to get people to be open to the Lord leading them regarding a particular job, task, field, assignment.

One of the best means for that is by exposing people to the available opportunities.

Need a Sunday School teacher for the college students? Invite Charlie or Carolyn to sit in the class and observe while you teach the class. Don’t ask them to do anything. Do not even ask them to consider teaching it.

After all, you don’t know whether the Lord is calling them for that. And if He isn’t, believe me, you don’t want them there. That would be the surest way to kill the class and forever ruin Charlie or Carolyn for future ministry.

When Margaret and I were about to leave the 100-member auditorium Bible class in our church to begin a newlywed/nearlywed class, we invited Joseph and Martha Lee to fill in a time or two in our absence. They quickly saw they had a real aptitude for this and that they were a great husband-and-wife team. The class flourished under them.

Suppose that in your city, there is a ministry to seafarers and port workers, one like Global Maritime Ministries in New Orleans. Since they’re always in need of volunteers and workers, one night you bring a carload from your church to see what’s going on. Some pitch in and serve refreshments to the seafarers who walk in, some wash dishes, and some interact with the guests who hail from countries all over the world.

Mark this down in big letters: the Lord who created this ministry in the first place and wants His children involved in loving their neighbors and sharing Christ’s gospel will lay it on the hearts of some of them to become regulars in this work.

That’s how it happens. All you had to do was expose them to it.

There’s a little psychology going on here, admittedly. Had you said to a friend, “Would you take over the 8th grade girls’ Sunday School class for the next 52 weeks?” she would have been horrified. Getting her name on the dotted line would be tantamount to selling a set of encyclopedias to strangers cold-turkey!

So, you don’t do that. You merely ask her to sit in on the class and observe as you teach it, or someone else does.

Sometimes the Lord will lay it on their heart and call them to it. Sometimes He won’t. If He doesn’t, if she says, “I enjoyed that, but I don’t think that’s for me,” don’t be disappointed in her. She is doing what you want to do yourself:looking to the Lord for direction in these matters.

A great arrangement, of course, is for every teacher, every leader of any kind, to have apprentices working alongside (and under) him/her. They learn by observing close up.

The master–you understand the use of the term–gives the apprentice assignments of increasing complexity and difficulty. He is always nearby to catch them if they fall and to assist if they get into trouble.

Eventually, the master craftsman works himself out of a job. That’s the greatest feeling in the world, when the junior takes over for the senior and the organization never misses a beat.

I’ve gone to conferences where the invited guest, usually a distinguished educator or pastor, began his presentation by introducing a young minister he had brought along from his church. On the trip and throughout the event, the senior minister and his young protege are talking about the Lord’s work.

Duane McDaniel, the new director of missions for the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans, served under Major Ian Thomas for a few pivotal years when he was younger. Jerry Merriman did likewise under Chester Swor.

Barnabas led Paul as they became the first Christian missionaries. By the end of the first journey, Paul had come into his own. By the second missionary journey, Paul took Silas and Barnabas picked up a young man named John Mark. The two teams all went in different directions. (Acts 13-15)

The process continues today in an unbroken chain of replication.

“The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” (II Timothy 2:2)