Training a Leader

I should probably begin today with an apology for yesterday's photo. I hope you weren't offended, but I still think it is funny. The serene look on these little ladies' faces is hilarious.

For my topic today, I would just like to mention the responsibility I have been given--along with the rest of our Stake Young Women's Presidency and the Stake Young Men's Presidency--to teach our Youth Committee leadership. We have a dozen kids, sophomores and juniors in high school, who represent their wards (a YW and a YM from each of the 6 in our stake) in planning and preparing this Pioneer Trek we are taking to Martin's Cove in Wyoming in July.

I have seen this before. We did the same kind of youth committee for our Youth Conference a year ago. The kids are learning, and that is the point of the committee. But the time element involved is nearing the excruciating point. If only the adults were to plan this, it would be done in maybe 2 or 3 meetings. We could get 200-250 people to Wyoming and back, plan for food and equipment, organize their "family" groups and give them a theme, song, scripture, etc. But that is not the point.

Tomorrow we have our Trek Kick Off activity. The kids planned it while we gave them suggestions and pointers, but this is their project. I am sure it will be fine, and the kids who show up to this will have a good time, but I stress about it nonetheless. I want the committee kids to have a positive experience, but I am not sure if they covered all their bases.

As adult leaders our stewardship is to be "shadow leadership" for them. The kids were developing this skill that will assist them the rest of their lives. I remembering doing similar things at their age--though not with such a large budget, or such a huge project. They will be the leaders of the church in the future, so we had better train them to do it correctly. But it is hard when their pace, understandably, is so much slower.

Perhaps someday, they will be thinking the same thing when they have this responsibility to train the next generation of leaders. Maybe then I will find out if I did my job well enough.