I have had a few conversations the past few months with those who are walking with others on a journey of discipleship who have called themselves “rookies”. This is their first time taking the lead role in owning the spiritual growth of others in a very intentional way and they are feeling the pressures of it all.

The context of calling themselves a rookie was to admit that something they did wasn’t the best, they had failed to some degree in engaging those they were leading in what they deemed was not the most effective way. It was not that they were trying to do anything wrong intentionally, but that they simply didn’t know any better – they made what they called a “rookie mistake.”

I could sense in them a pain in their heart. They wanted to do better, they felt that they let the other person down, that perhaps they weren’t the right person to be doing this work.

We all go through these moments. At times I reflect on many things I have begun and how poor a job it must have been – the first time I preached, the first small group I led, the first out front leadership task I took on, the first new staff person I was overseeing. I wince at many of the things that I should have done differently, how perhaps someone else should have stepped in at that moment.

And yet, we can only become proficient at something by first being a rookie – everyone starts as a rookie. We can read all we want on a subject, get guidance and mentoring. At that end of it all, there comes a time when we need to choose to take the risk and be a rookie, or choose to not risk anything and stay out of the game.

I have a lot of respect for those who choose to take the risk of guiding someone else on the journey of faith. It is a spiritual journey that entails going to deep parts of a person that at times are dark. It is a spiritual battle that requires much prayer and sacrifice since someone is choosing to grow close to Jesus and the spiritual forces do not want this to happen. It is a spiritual mystery involving moments of amazing life change that you have a hard time explaining and can’t control.

We will all make rookie mistakes, and years into this great work, we will all make sophomore, junior and senior mistakes. We will never stop learning because God will continually call us deeper. If we ever believe that we have the process fully learned, that is the time we should step aside because we are only fooling ourselves.

Being on the journey of guiding others in their relationship with Jesus is an amazing work. There is so much beauty in choosing this path. So whether you are a rookie or a senior, stay in the game, learn as you go. God will go before you and show you his wonderful power at work in the lives of many.

For the kingdom.