Greetings!
Welcome to my first post from Follow2Lead, my new Substack site. If this is your first visit to Substack, then welcome! It’s a platform for writers to publish ideas and build community around their content. I’m excited to be able to share my writing in ways that I can connect with my audience in a targeted way, that fosters interaction and connection.
Follow2Lead is written specifically to followers of Jesus who are leaders in the marketplace, their community, church or family. Both the Bible and my personal experience have proven that if we don’t follow well, we’ll struggle to lead well.
I want to help you both follow and lead—in that order. Because following Jesus well is the greatest leadership competency we could ever develop.
Why Follow2Lead?
In short, here’s why I believe in launching F2L:
We’re in a Leadership Crisis. You don’t have to look far to see it. I’m not just talking about leadership in government or corporations, but everywhere any one human influences another. Parents, teachers, friends, families, neighbors, communities … we need leaders at every level. And the only thing worse than being in a leadership crisis is not knowing what “leadership” means. So we need …
A Healthy Vision for Leadership. The world believes in maximizing leadership’s power and control. But don’t we have enough history to know that those who can’t follow are ill-equipped to lead? Let’s go with a different approach. A leader is not someone with a title who occupies a upper spot in an org chart. A leader is someone who catalyzes change in others through loving service.
Love is the Answer. Not politics. Not economics. Or empowerment. Or DEI. Or [INSERT A CAUSE HERE]. The answer is the people of God living like Jesus.
Jesus Is Our Leadership Model. Jesus is the greatest leader in human history, so let’s do all we can to be like him—and lead like him.
The Church Is the People. When I say “Church,” I mean the family of believers that is the body of Christ—not the 501(c)(3) organization that conducts Sunday morning services and programs. I’m not saying this to be critical or divisive, but simply to be clear. This is about equipping the people of God.
Discipleship = Leadership. Consider this: The Great Commission involves making disciples. Making disciples is influencing people through serving them to change their allegiances, identity, worldview, thinking patterns, habits and associations, in order to fulfill their God-given purpose and equip them to do the same with other people. Sounds a lot like leadership, doesn’t it?
We Need to Multiply Leaders. We don’t have the luxury of time to simply add more leaders. We need to multiply them. Every believer is a leader/disciple-maker according to their own gifts and abilities, with the people in their circle of influence. We need to change and/or abandon the things that are preventing leadership multiplication. And we need to do that in our own lives, first. Now.
What to Expect?
I have a list of topics that I find myself orbiting around in both my coaching and church leadership, as well as my personal life. I expect that F2L’s content will reflect these topics:
The Bible
Leading (especially from the identity of a servant)
Being a disciple and making disciples
Unity of the Church
Faith, and the practice of belief in God
Identity, and the implications of knowing who we are and who we want to be
How to develop leaders and build team collaboration
The brain, how it works and the proper stewardship of the organ between our ears
How to clarify your organization’s identity (values, purpose), then execute on it
Behavior, especially as an outflow of thought
The Harrison Behavioral Assessment, the leading behavioral assessment on the market today.
Disciple-Making Movement (DMM) approach to ministry strategy
Summary take-aways and applications
What Is F2L? And What Is It NOT?
The content on Follow2Lead will be focused on helping followers of Jesus become more like him in their identities, thoughts and behaviors. So lots of focus on spiritual formation in practical ways. Additionally, the content will provide sound leadership practices and approaches that are founded on biblical principles.
Substack as a platform will provide opportunities for us to interact, connect and dialog together. God intends for the body of Christ to “grow and build itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Eph. 4.16). That’s the intention I have for those who join in.
With that in mind, here’s some clarification of what F2L is … and what it’s not.
F2L Is … Learning and probing. I’ll write about things that might push your envelope, get you to think differently; I may likely push on your faith assumptions in a way that invites you to see things perhaps you didn’t see before.
F2L Is NOT … Controversial for controversy’s sake. I’m not going for shock-and-awe. And I ask that any interaction take that same course. There’s lots of diversity in the body of Christ, so leave room for respect of traditions and theologies.
F2L Is … Community. This will be a space to think, grow, explore, be stretched, dialog and contribute.
F2L Is NOT … Divisive. F2L is not the typical social media space to throw opinions and gripes at each other. Let’s be different from the world.
F2L Is … Biblically based. The Word of God saved me—literally. I value it more than you probably can know, and will never present anything that I believe runs counter to the Scriptures. That said, F2L may at times torque a few theological paradigms. There are a number of issues that inhibit the Church in the West from being healthy, vibrant and unified. Unless we’re willing to explore these issues, we won’t see growth unto Christ-likeness.
F2L Is NOT … Religious or theological debate.
F2L Is … About you. I believe in you. You are the only “you” that God will ever create. You are gifted and equipped more than you know, and I believe God can and will powerfully use a heart that is fully abandoned to him. My hope is that each participant will become a more effective instrument in God’s hand.
F2L Is NOT … About me. I’m not the expert, or some kind of guru. I’m just a guy following hard after Jesus.
What Can You Do?
First, I’m hoping you’ll read the content thoughtfully and seek the Lord for how you might put it into practice. I hope you find the content valuable in your journey.
Second, You may have a friend or colleague that can benefit from the content. It’s easy to pass this (or any future email/article) on to them … simply click the share button:
Third, you can help make the content richer and more substantive by replying. Interaction with you will help make it more relevant and timely. You’ll also have the opportunity to make connections with other members.
Finally, I want to give you the opportunity to support me in my role of serving and equipping the Church. There are 3 subscription levels, from free to paid, with paid subscriptions allowing for more direct contact with me. Even a free subscription will help greatly, as it increases F2L’s exposure. I’d be honored for you to consider subscribing.
Who Am I?
See my bio and DamianGerke.com for more details, but here’s a few highlights:
I’m an adopted child of God, husband/father and a brother to fellow followers of Jesus.
My role is what I describe as an “Equipping Servant” (there’ll be an article on this at some point). I’m an elder at 1Body Church in Tampa, FL, a network of disciple-making simple churches.
I’m an executive coach, with a history that includes 15 years as a vocational pastor, almost 20 years in the marketplace in both engineering and HR roles.
For what it’s worth, my 5-fold leadership gift mix (from Ephesians 4.11) is: Teacher, Prophet, Apostle, Shepherd and Evangelist (in that order).
I love to write and learn. I’m an author of 4 books, with (Lord willing) more in the hopper.
Thank you for your consideration. Peace be with you…
