What Samuel Taught Me About Developing Leaders
Samuel approached me and said: “I speak English very well, could I help with translation for the next session?”
We’d brought an English-only speaker as part of the RAP team to a mobilization tour in Colombia, where we’d be going from church to church presenting the plight of the unreached. I looked over at the young man, 16 years old at the time, from a small town and wondered. How good is his English really?
But there was no time to find out, our next session was starting in 3 minutes and someone needed to mic up. “Sure,” I said, “I’ll be in the front row and can jump in if you need help.” He beamed with excitement and jogged up to the stage. I wondered to myself; how will this turn out?
As soon as the session started, it was obvious to the congregation that we had a new translator, their very own Samuel. Suddenly, Samuel’s mom and his pastor made a beeline to me. “What are you doing? His English isn’t good enough!” However, before I could respond, their expressions changed from dread to shock as flawless translation occurred in both directions as our speaker presented, and the audience asked questions.
A few things happened that weekend, but one that I remember clearly is that Samuel’s parents and church leaders had a new understanding of his gifts and abilities. I remember his pastor being gracious enough to celebrate that from the pulpit and share that he believed great things were in Samuel future. As the pastor spoke, Samuel’s mom beamed with pride.
I remember smiling as this unfolded. It could seem like a risk to give Samuel a chance at translation, but we knew our team was there to catch him if he needed help. But the bigger question remained for me, “how many more people could thrive if given the chance?”
That has shaped a lot of our culture at Reflejo, we’ve invested in nurturing a culture of developing leaders and taking a chance on people. It doesn’t always work, and occasionally it seems like a risk; but for us, the bigger risk is the missed opportunity of empowering God’s children to live up to their full potential. After all, all of us on the Reflejo team have been the gracious recipients of a great cloud of witnesses that have come before us and whose work we build upon.
Samuel’s debut as a translator occurred 6 years ago. He became a volunteer with RAP’s translation team afterward and has helped us translate resources that have helped mobilize many more to the unreached. Most recently, Samuel joined the Reflejo team, now as a 22-year-old preparing to move to Central Asia himself. And from what I hear, his church and his mom couldn’t be prouder.
