Doulos
What Is Doulos?
doulos is our seven-week, hands-on leadership training seminar that takes place every summer for high school students. Each doulos session, which takes place once each week, is two hours or less.
What does doulos mean? It's a greek word used in the New Testament for "servant" or "slave." Jesus surprises his disciplies when communicates the essence of kingdom-leadership to them in Mark 10: 43-45: "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave [doulos] of all."
Okay, what's the deal with trying to have seven weeks of training? Because we want to give everyone the opportunity to be trained in kingdom-leadership but still have the opportunity to decide for themselves whether or not they want to be student leaders (douloi). Each session includes biblical AND experiential training. Each session also concludes with either an individual or group leadership challenge. Each leadership challenge is designed to give you a taste of what student leadership is like and whether it's right for you. The 'bar' is set higher each week to give you a better feel of what will be expected of you as part of our douloi student leadership team during the school year.
Why not just pick the leaders yourself? Many student ministries choose to 'do' leadership this way--heck, I've done it this way in the past. However, by doing so, the human tendency (and we're all human) is to pick only those people who are outgoing and bold to be leaders. As a result, not only might such people not be ready for leadership, but we miss out on some awesome servants of Christ who might not be as loud and out there. Plus, testing is part of being a leader. Paul says of the leaders who he calls 'deacons' (deaconis, by the way, is the other greek New Test. Word for "servant"): "They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons (1 Tim. 3:10). We don't keep strict tract of how each person does with the leadership challenges nor do we pass out grades at the end; rather, the challenges are a natural test that help the student mostly in figuring out if leadership is right for him/her at this point in his/her life.
What if I have to miss a week or two of training? No biggie. Just let Ryan O. or Christina White know and we'll go from there.
Will I get piping hot, free doughnuts each week? Yes.
When does DOULOS start? Every June. We'll let you know on this website the exact dates & times when we get closer to the summer.
doulos starts with some fellowship at 10 am and wraps up at noon.
Schedule and Topics
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This Week's Leadership Challenge
This week's Leadership Challenge (to be done by 7/14):
Using what you know about your spiritual gifts, how God has wired you, along with the leadership opportunities provided through Bob's Summer Wednesday's, put these gifts into practice by serving this week or next in the capacity that Ryan O. contacts you about.
