Formulaic

Been a few days, and I haven't written anything.  I've been busy with other things in my life so I haven't had a chance to update my blog. 

So I've always wanted to be a programmer, but I could never get anybody to hire me to program.  While I haven't been programming, I've been wishing I could get a programming job.  All the while, I've been learning things about systems administration, networking, and Verifone point of sale equipment.

Then I was in church, listening to the pastor talk about discipleship.  They showed this video, describing William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, talking about a vision he had.  And that got me to thinking about Matthew 4:18-25

Four Fishermen Called as Disciples

¹⁸ And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” ²⁰ They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

²¹ Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, ²² and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

Jesus Heals a Great Multitude

²³ And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. ²⁴ Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. ²⁵ Great multitudes followed Him—from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

Now what does this have to do with anything? 

After Jesus recruits Peter, Andrew, James, and John he takes them all about Galilee preaching and teaching.  If these four guys are following Jesus, I'm pretty sure they started doing something then and there.  And that is completely contrary to what I was always taught. 

Traditional management theory tells that we should come up with a long drawn out plan, and learn everything about something before a person ever starts doing anything.  The idea is to come up with every contingent and possibility before ever moving forward or doing anything.   

In English classes, I was frequently taught to create some giant outline about what I was going to talk about.  Then, I was to move from one bullet point to the next as I filled out text to match the outline I had created before.  Once again, there was no spontaneity to it all.  It was a formulaic approach created for people who were taught to be good followers but not good leaders.

But that's not what Jesus was teaching in Matthew 4:18-25.  Jesus taught that you should come up with a general idea, and then start working on that idea and putting ideas into effect.  The idea was to make Peter, Andrew, James, and John into "fishers of men".  Did Jesus come up with a long drawn out power point presentation?  No.  He charged out and started saving and healing.  His disciples learned through mentoring and practice, not through formulaic plans.