How did you learn to speak your language? Through what technique did you master basic personal care? What was the mechanism through which you first acquired personal values? In each case, the answer is most likely through following the model of your parents. As we progress in life the number of models increases, but the technique of acquisition remains the same: observation and emulation.
Today, I was privileged to present the Power of Exemplary Role Models at the M3 Conference. Assembled each spring in Houston, the Mobilizing Medical Missions Conference is an assembly of Christ-centered healthcare ministries providing holistic care in both North America and around the globe. In my address, I challenge each of us to harness the power of exemplary role models by following one, becoming one, and then inspiring another one.
First, follow one. Seek out a person whose life glows with the qualities that you desire to develop. Create time to enjoy their presence, to observe them in action, and to receive council for your own life’s direction. As you proceed, make it your objective to acquire these virtues within your life and then to engage in work, career, ministry, and relationships that express these virtues. And finally, begin to intentionally make yourself available so that others may benefit from your own example, bringing full circle the power of exemplary roles.