Jesus is inviting you to a deeply formed life.
God has called us to a life of passion, not passivity. A life of spiritual depth in a shallow world. Watch Pastor Jared introduce the principle of Go First leadership ▸
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By: Pastor Jared Herd
I have a confession to make.
I’ve been going second.
A couple of days ago, I came home and Rosanna was throwing the football in the front yard with our middle son, Hayden. I realized, as I was pulling in, that she was throwing the football with him because I hadn’t. She went first. I had a friend call me a few weeks ago and apologize for an awkward conversation a few weeks earlier. At the time of the initial conversation, I thought to myself, “Eventually we need to talk about that again.” You know those moments. When he called me, I realized… he went first.
I want to be the first to forgive. I want to be the first to initiate a moment with one of my sons instead of hearing them ask for my attention. I want to be the first to call my mom, not wait on her to call me. I want to be the first neighbor to walk across the street and introduce myself. I want to be the first one there for a friend when they have good or bad news. I don’t want to show up to life as a passive presence and wait to see what happens. I want to create the future by stepping into the present moments we have with an expectancy that God is doing something all around me - and He’s just waiting on someone to initiate the moment and surrender the outcome.
When I read the scriptures, I believe God has called you and me to go first. That may sound bizarre on the surface, or maybe even the opposite of what Jesus said; after all, didn’t he say the first are last and the last are first? Going first is not about putting yourself first, it’s about breaking through the thin layer of passivity that covers your life and creating a moment where the outcome is undefined, but you are expectant of the possibilities. God created you to live your life with passion, not observe your life with passivity. If that is going to happen, you have to go first.
SO… how do you do it? This website is like a ‘hitchhiker’s guide’ to Go First leadership. In short, the following pages will help you live your life by design instead of by default. Tomorrow is going to happen. So is five years from now. Right now, you decide what the future holds. When we go second, we live a life by default, allowing moments to be defined by the choices of others. When we live a Go First life, we design a world that forces others to respond.
The world needs people like you putting more joy, beauty, and hope into it. By default, the world will spin in the opposite direction. Relationships will break. Prayers will cease. Hope will be lost. The world is desperate for you and me to create space for Heaven to come to Earth and spin it in the opposite direction.
I want to invite you to Go First in five areas.
Emotional Health
Spiritual Depth
Relational Connection
Sexual Wholeness
Purposeful Vocation
I believe these are five skills God wants us to be intentional about designing our lives around. If we don’t, culture will dictate to us a life of distraction, shallowness, isolation, fragmentation, and amusement.
There is a great quote by St. Francis of Assisi that says “the glory of God is man fully alive.” In my experience, the most fully alive people are the most curious people. Living a life of predictability and certainty is a life of rigid apathy. The life of going first means you are willing to step into the unknown again and again, because you are curious about what waits on the other side. I have always loved the relatively unknown story of King David’s friend Jonathan in 1 Samuel 14. The Israelites and The Philistines were at war. We are a few pages before David enters the story and kills Goliath. Jonathan was the son of King Saul. Saul was frozen in fear and waiting on someone else to solve his Philistine problem. Jonathan, in an ambitious moment, realized he can sneak attack the Philistines and do some damage. He has an idea.
6 Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, “Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.”
I love this moment. “Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf.” If I’m the armor bearer – I need more than perhaps. Jonathan was willing to step into the space we so often avoid. Our initiation precedes God’s demonstration of power. Eight verses later it says :
“14 In that first attack Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed some twenty men in an area of about half an acre.”
Jonathan went first. He didn’t wait on his father or for David to show up. He knew there was a possibility of God’s activity being unleashed through his activity. That is Go First leadership. You are the passionate conduit through which God wants to unleash His power in this world. What we must do is step into the moment and initiate.
Let's begin!
The GLOry of God is man fully alive.
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf.
1 Samuel 14
