Personal Commitment
Disciple leaders are responsible for creating the change they seek. They progress by identifying what they lack, making necessary changes, and seeking to more fully follow the commandments. Disciple leadership is a theme that runs through the entire course.
Disciple Leadership
A disciple of Jesus Christ is someone who tries to live according to Christ’s teachings. In D&C 41:5., it reads that “He that receiveth my law and doeth it, the same is my disciple.” You may not be a perfect disciple yet, but your desire to improve is growing. Every day as you exercise faith in Jesus Christ, you are growing firmer and firmer in the faith, and your conversion is deepening. As you have felt Christ change your heart and witnessed the blessings of being His disciple, you’ve probably desired to help others have the same experience. The call to be a disciple leader will help you do that by ministering and serving others. At BYU-Idaho in December 2007, Elder Kim B. Clark described disciple leadership as “leadership with a small 'L'—the kind of leadership that builds and lifts and inspires through kindness and love and unselfish devotion to the Lord and His work. It is the kind of leadership that we need at every level of every kind of organization in the world and in every ward and stake in the Church. It is the kind of leadership you will need to build an eternal family.”
This course is designed to help you develop two important elements of disciple leadership—a deepening of your conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ and the professional skills you will need to lead. Elder Richard L. Evans, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from 1953 to 1971, explained, “You know, it is a wonderful thing to be faithful, but a much greater thing to be both faithful and competent. There is no particular virtue in being uninformed, certainly no virtue in ignorance. When young people can acquire the skills, the techniques, and the knowledge of these times, and along with it have a spiritual commitment and a solid faith and cleanliness of life, there is nothing that you can’t achieve; nothing in righteousness or in reason” (from an address given to the young people at the Northwest Inland Division Gathered for Zion’s Camp, Oct. 15, 1971). Your continued enrollment in PathwayConnect shows not only your faithfulness and willingness to sacrifice, but also your desire to be a more competent disciple of Christ.
Small "L" Leadership
Some people mistakenly believe that before they can lead, they must have an important calling or position. The power to lead does not come from a position; it comes through influence. Influence is “the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone” (Oxford English Dictionary). Influence is best earned as we love and serve others as the Savior did.
Consider the response Jesus made to James and John’s mother when she asked him to give her sons special positions of authority in Matthew chapter 20..
“Ye know not what ye ask… Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:22, 25–28).
Christ taught his disciples that they were not supposed to be like traditional leaders who “exercise authority," but they should lead by ministering and serving others. Disciple leaders earn their influence through serving and leading in the Savior’s way. The Savior’s ministry focuses on individuals and their needs. He looks past their current situation and helps them to see their divine potential. Think of the man who couldn’t walk. His friends lowered him through a roof to be healed. Rather than just healing the man, Christ looked past his immediate needs and forgave his sins (Luke 5:18–26.). Remember also the woman taken in adultery. Christ didn’t just spare her life, He knelt with her and told her to “sin no more” (John 8:2–11.). Similarly, disciple leaders add invitations to follow Christ in their service to others.
At a BYU devotional on April 10, 2018, Elder Neil L. Anderson taught: "A person with a good heart can help someone fix a tire, take a roommate to the doctor, have lunch with someone who is sad, or smile and say hello to brighten a day. But a follower of the first commandment will naturally add to these important acts of service, encouraging the person who is doing well in keeping the commandments and sharing wise counsel to strengthen the faith of someone who is slipping or who needs help in moving back onto the path he once traveled."
Small "L" leaders don’t wait for a position or calling to lead; they follow Christ’s call to “love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13: 34–35.).
Initiative and Deference
Another characteristic of disciple leaders is their desire to become competent servants. In the Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families: New Testament 2019 manual, it states that “we progress in our discipleship as we identify what we lack, change, and seek to more fully follow [the commandments].” This connects to the two areas you’ll be learning in this course—deepening conversion and professional skills. Disciples naturally work to build their spirituality, but they also develop skills and talents that they can offer the Lord.
God needs disciples who are not “compelled in all things” (D&C 58:26), who “learn [their] duty" and "act in the office in which [they are] appointed” (D&C 107:99). In other words, God needs disciples who take the initiative “and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness” (D&C 58:27). But He also needs disciples who are meek and humble and allow Him to “lead [them] by the hand” (D&C 112:10), disciples who “cry unto him for mercy” (Alma 34:18) and “submit [themselves] … to God” (James 4:7).
In the Church, we sometimes struggle to balance when to take the initiative (be proactive and take charge) and when to defer to our leaders. People who are strong in deference but weak in initiative faithfully study the scriptures, attend Church, and fulfill assignments. However, they don’t offer their best thinking or take the initiative in their callings. On the other hand, if members constantly introduce new ideas and changes without regard to priesthood keys or priesthood authority (take too much initiative), they are not effective disciples either. Study the following chart and consider which quadrant the Lord would want you to be in.
Disciple leaders try to be in the upper right quadrant where they have both high initiative and high deference. In this quadrant, they offer the Lord their best thinking but are also willing to take direction. Let’s consider two examples of people who took initiative but were also willing to defer to their leaders.
The first example is the prophet Nephi from the Book of Mormon. Nephi is a great example of a disciple leader. When his father Lehi shared his vision of the tree of life, Nephi wanted to receive his own witness that it was true. Nephi didn’t doubt his father, but he knew “that the Lord was able to make them known unto [him]” (1 Nephi 11:1.). Believing this, Nephi acted in faith by asking God to help him understand. His faithfulness in taking the initiative to get his own witness and humbling himself before the Lord led Nephi to seeing the vision himself, along with angelic help to understand it. Nephi followed this pattern of balancing initiative with deference throughout his life. From getting the brass plates to building a ship, he is a great example of disciple leadership.
A modern-day example of taking the initiative is Gordon B. Hinckley. In 1935, Gordon B. Hinckley returned home from his mission to England. Soon after, Church leaders asked him to take a job as producer and secretary of the Church’s new Radio, Publicity, and Mission Literature Committee. When Gordon arrived on the job the first day, his office was empty., but he didn't wait around for someone to get him a desk, paper, or typewriter. He solved those problems on his own, but he still showed deference to his leaders by producing the work that they asked him to. These same principles apply to your home, your work, and your community. If you demonstrate that you are a self-starter (someone who is motivated to do things without being told), your employer will notice. If you balance your initiative with deference (doing what they have asked), you’ll be given more responsibility and opportunities because you are a more valuable employee.
Consider the following scripture from D&C 107:99: “Wherefore, now let every man learn his duty, and to act in the office in which he is appointed, in all diligence.” The phrase “all diligence” indicates not only effort but also competence. Heavenly Father uses a pattern in His Church to help us grow. First, He gives us a calling or responsibility that we do not know how to do. Then through our diligence and faith, He helps us grow and become more competent. Once we start to know what we are doing, He gives us a new calling. This pattern of diligently learning new skills and becoming more competent applies to our professional careers as well. Taking the initiative can turn even routine jobs and tasks into opportunities to learn and grow. As you repeat the pattern of trying new things, you will develop a good reputation, and you will be given more opportunities in your career.
Answer these questions to see what you remember from reading the text above.
- What did Elder Kim B. Clark describe as "disciple leadership"?
ANSWER - What is the key to earning influence as a leader?
ANSWER - What quadrant do disciple leaders strive to be in, when considering initiative and deference?
ANSWER
This Course: Professional Skills
This course will provide plenty of opportunities for you to learn your duty and to act in all diligence as you study many professional, math, and writing skills that will help you be a better leader. You may be tempted to view these topics from a temporal perspective. If you do, it will limit your growth as a disciple leader. Just as Nephi “did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning” (1 Nephi 19:23), you have a responsibility to apply the lessons from this course to your own life—both temporally and spiritually.
Many of the lessons and assignments in this course will ask you to apply what you are learning in a professional context such as a job. If you are not working now, consider getting a job sooner rather than later (or starting a business sooner rather than later). PathwayConnect students report that when they apply the skills that they are learning at work, their employers take note and are often rewarded with new opportunities. If you don't plan to work for the time being, these topics and principles can equally be applied in your family, the Church, and your community.
Below is a list of the lessons that you will study this semester. Take a moment and familiarize yourself with the topics. Pay attention to the ones that you are most interested to learn about and how you could use these lessons in your everyday life.
- Disciple Leadership: Lead with small “L” leadership
- Career Management: Use tools to find a job
- Networking and Interviewing: Present yourself as a person who adds value
- Relationships and Teamwork: Collaborate to do more
- Interpreting Data to Make Decisions: Visualize data and use it well
- Professional Communication: Present yourself and ideas powerfully
My Academic Path
This and many other courses you will take will help you develop into a disciple leader. Your ultimate goal is to get a bachelor's degree. Students know that employers often use a bachelor's degree as a job requirement. This puts a lot of pressure on students to graduate. However, what if you could signal to an employer that you are ready to be hired or promoted even before you graduate? BYU-Pathway Worldwide provides a way to do that!
Certificates and Degrees
The degrees from BYU-Idaho and Ensign College that are offered through BYU-Pathway Worldwide are divided into certificates. Each certificate is a stand-alone credential. When you complete each one, you can add it to your resume or take it to an employer or client as evidence that you are able to add more value in a specific way. Each certificate builds (or stacks) into the bachelor's degree.
- Next semester you will take the first course of your first certificate while you are still in PathwayConnect. There will be more information in this course that will help you choose the certificate that is right for you. Two or three semesters after PathwayConnect, you could have your first professional certificate!
- Next, you complete a second certificate. Along the way, we add in some general education courses to fulfill the associate degree requirements.
- A third certificate and some additional general courses complete your bachelor's degree! This means that by the time you earn a bachelor’s degree, you will also have 3 to 4 certificates plus an associate degree—in the same amount of time and the same cost. That is at least five signals to employers that you are someone who knows how to learn and that you complete what you start.
Most universities make you start with general education. The approach of BYU-Pathway Worldwide is the opposite. Consider the following chart that shows how starting with a certificate accelerates the value of a degree years ahead of a traditional approach.
The pairing of PathwayConnect with a certificate provides a powerful combination of soft skills (the ability to be a good worker) and hard skills (specific job skills like programming and accounting) that employers value. In fact, of the students who complete certificates and are seeking new and better employment, more than 70% receive immediate job improvement. Additionally, our data show that students who earn a certificate are more likely to earn a bachelor's degree compared to those who do not earn a certificate.
After reading this lesson, ponder the following questions. If desired, record your thoughts in a learning journal.
- Why is it important that disciple leaders increase their conversion and professional skills?
- Why is it important to balance initiative and deference?
- Career Connection--> Did you know that consistently just showing up (to work, to the meeting, etc.) can be a powerful indicator of your initiative? Showing up doesn't just mean arriving (at work, at the meeting, etc.), it also means bringing your best ideas and energy. People who show up are seen a very valuable workers who can add value. Where can you increase your ability to show up more?