The Process of Competence
By: Bryan Sampson
I won’t ever forget my second day in Teen Challenge. It was 90 degrees in Sanford, FL, the sun was beating down on me from every direction as it reflected off of the line of cars I was staring at. I was surrounded by a thousand dirty cars that needed to be washed before an auction took place. The first thing that crossed my mind was “what did I do? I have made the biggest mistake of my life!” Fast forward fifteen months later; I’m an intern, on the same car lot, with the same heat, but different responsibilities as I supervise the work crew. As I began to grow complacent wondering what I was doing on the same lot, doing the same thing, God reminded me of my purpose and showed me how far I had come through the process He ordained. It’s funny that while in each moment I would have changed so much, as I look back through this journey and I wouldn’t change one thing. God was using every situation to show me who I truly was while preparing me for my destiny. I discovered more about myself and my competencies by working in a variety of domains than I could have ever discovered by a personality or interest inventory. How do we know who we truly are and what we truly love to do if we don’t experience the good and bad positions of work that life can provide? The process of discovering our competencies and who we truly are in Christ should fill us with joy even if the particular job doesn’t.
Stanley makes it clear that though we may not always be in a position where we are working within our competencies we need to adapt the mindset to uncover the areas where we would have the highest probability of success (Stanley, 2003). This is something we must work toward and focus on. No position will ever be completely filled with responsibilities that we love to do or where we operate within our competencies all day long. That isn’t realistic. We all must answer to someone and be willing to complete the tasks assigned to us whether they are in our competencies our not. We owe it to ourselves, our ministry, and to God to embrace the process of discovering our competencies, learning about ourselves, and being patient and willing to do whatever is asked, so when God does open the door for our dream position we are prepared to walk through it.
Jesus says, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Matt 20:26-28 ESV). There was a process that Jesus had to go through before He entered His role as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It was Jesus’ joy to endure the process of sacrificially serving Himself to the point of death so that we could live but more importantly that He would be glorified! (Heb 12:2) Let us begin to walk with the same humility and anticipation that Jesus did as we grow and develop as leaders.
Are you willing to go through the process so you become competent and ready to walk you’re your destiny so that God would be glorified?