The church needs men who are willing to MENTOR like this, and boys who are brave enough to allow themselves to be molded in such a way...
The Church needs a prayer like the prayer of the Citadel......
"Give me a boy, Oh God,who is willing to learn the true value of honor,the necessity of perseverance and loyalty,and the meaningfulness of devotion to God and country. And I shall take this boy as does a blacksmith take a crude piece of metal, and place him over a forge whose liberating flame of education is fired by the bellows of strict military discipline.

Into this ingot of a man I shall temper self-respect and self-discipline, fear of God and respect for mankind, appreciation of freedom and  awareness of what sacrifices must be made to preserve freedom, and above all an insatiable desire for truth and honesty.

And when all these things I have done, I shall brand my finished work with a ring of gold to let all of humanity know that I have given back to the world a Citadel Man".

I rarely write on leadership (it's too hip now a days). I'm more of a write on LIFE guy. But I want to write a 3 part post on Paul and his leadership abilities. I want to focus on THREE things every leader should possess.

1. Appreciation (to verbalize is key)
2. Observation (to watch those you lead)
3. Intergrity in leadership.
    Theres a beautiful depth in scripture (Philipians 2) where Paul is writing the last of his imprisonment epistles. I particularly love when he speaks about Timothy (referring to him as a son) and Epaphroditus whom he calls his "Brother, co-worker, and fellow soldier".I love this particular text of scripture because it shows a side of Paul towards men he worked with, loved, and deeply cared for. It also showed Pauls level of leadership was definately at 11. He was caring for the ones working side by side with him, and he was preparing for the future of the church. When he writes "O that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety", Paul is showing how much Epaphroditus (or as a mentee and I call him "epi") meant to him, (When was the last time ANYONE made YOU less anxious by just seeing them?).

Paul got it. He knew that valuing people who served with you was the way to always have people wanting to serve around you. He knew that pouring into the next generation was the surest way to continue beyond himself.

These are the first essentials every PERSON should have, YET ALONE every leader.

Everyone has a ability to pour in and appreciate. No matter your occupation, your status in life. We can all learn from this point.