Under qualified or Under Estimated?

In the church that I pastor there is no one really qualified to be in leadership, or for that matter, to be an effective soul winner. What should I do?

             Several years ago at Harvard University, Dr. Robert Rosenthal conducted an intriguing experiment on human expectation. This particular experiment involved teachers and their students and started at the beginning of the school year.

Dr. Rosenthal called in three elementary teachers and told them that they had been selected above all the other teachers in the city because of their superior teaching ability; that observation and testing had shown that no teacher was better. They were asked to participate in a study using high I.Q. children. The ninety brightest students were to be given to them for one year, thirty pupils in each class. The study wished to measure academic growth when superior high quality teachers were coupled with the same type of children. But there were two strict conditions: Neither the children nor the parents were to know that the experiment was being conducted. The three teachers eagerly agreed – it was the chance of a lifetime.

Well, needless to say, the student’s progress was phenomenal. The three classes completed the school year with the highest scores in the city over 90%. average in every subject.

Only then was the real purpose of the experience revealed. Not one of the three teachers, nor the ninety students, were superior in ability in any way. All had been selected by computer completely at random. The only difference was what the teachers thought, what they expected of themselves and what they expected of their students!

How you see your people will reflect your attitude toward them, as well as their capability to perform. What have you got, pastor? Do you have soul winners waiting to be developed? Is there a David or Saul just waiting for the “Man of God ” to call them?

(from IBC Perspectives – Volume 3 – Issue 1 – page 6)