Five . . . four . . . Ferguson picks up his dribble . . . three . . . two . . . one . . . Ferguson shoots and scores! They win! They did it! Ferguson’s last-second shot has won the championship!”

With my hands raised in victory, I shouted those words in the driveway of my house as a kid. In fact, I created a heroic drama like this hundreds of times every summer.

I bet you did too.

If it wasn’t a game-winning shot, how did you imagine yourself as the hero somewhere?

I believe God put that dream to be a hero within each of us as our way to make a difference and leave our mark on planet Earth.

Jesus’ death was heroic. Jesus told His Father, “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42), and then He stretched out His arms and gave His life for us.

But Jesus didn’t stop with being a hero. He made heroes out of His closest followers. We know that Jesus was a hero maker by how He allocated His time and energy as a leader.

One researcher says the Gospels put three-fourths of their emphasis on the training of the Twelve. He calculates that from the time Jesus told the Twelve that He’d teach them to multiply (Mathew 4:19) until His death, Jesus spent 73 percent of His time with the Twelve.

The point: Jesus’ ministry emphasis, where He put the biggest amount of time, was with His twelve leadership residents. He was mentoring them so they would do greater things. This included multiplying themselves through others.

Who Are Today’s Hero Makers?

The single biggest obstacle to movement-making impact like this is a leader who is stuck always needing to be the hero. For most, it’s tough to give up that status.

Too often our best difference-making efforts are oriented around positioning ourselves as the hero. You could easily hear the following from any well-meaning Christian leader or maybe yourself:

“When I heard about it, I went to the hospital, and I led Juanita in a prayer to receive Christ.”

“So I texted the benevolent ministries team, and I got a check and hand-delivered it myself.”

“It seemed ministry was going nowhere, until God gave me an idea that has taken it to a whole new level.”

None of these responses are evil or even wrong. In fact, many of them remind me of myself. Way too many times in ministry, I’ve jumped in with “I’ve got it!” and it never occurred to me — until too late — that I was blocking other people from the privilege and joy of serving in their sweet spot. I was the hero, not the hero maker.

Hero makers shift from being the hero in their church’s unfolding story to expecting others to be the hero.

What if the opposite happened?

“When I heard about it, I called Maria, because Juanita lives in her neighborhood. Maria went to the hospital and wound up leading her in a prayer to follow Jesus.”

“So I texted the benevolence team and asked if they’d write and deliver a check. You wouldn’t believe the joy that Charlie and Joe reported after they hand-delivered that gift.”

“It seemed like that ministry was going nowhere, but I challenged the leadership team to seek God together. They came up with an idea that has taken the ministry to a whole new level.”

Hero makers shift from being the hero in their church’s unfolding story to expecting others to be the hero. Hero making is something anyone can do, and when accompanied by a leadership gift, it becomes explosive as it is replicated in the lives of many.

Five Hero-Making Practices

Great idea, but how do you do it?

1. Multiplication thinking. This is a shift in thinking. You move from thinking the best way to maximize ministry is through your own efforts to understanding it is through developing the leadership of others. We see this in the life of Jesus in Acts 1:8. When Jesus casts a vision for taking the gospel to the ends of the earth, He tells His followers, “You will be my witnesses” to explain that He is going to do it through them.

2. Permission giving. This is a shift in seeing. You take the focus off your leadership and see the leadership potential in the people around you. You give them permission to fully engage in the mission. We see this in the life of Jesus when He says to a group of ragtag working-class fellows, “Come, follow me” (Matthew 4:19). Jesus saw in them a group who could change the world.

3. Disciple multiplying. This is a shift in sharing. You share what you know to help others follow Jesus, but you also share your life and invest in the development of leaders who do the same for other leaders. We see this in the life of Jesus as He spent three years primarily with 12 people (John 3:22).

4. Gift activating. This is a shift in blessing. You ask God to bless the gifts He has given you and to bless the leaders you have developed as you send them out. The most obvious example of this is in Matthew 28:16-20; Jesus is turning over the leadership of the Movement to His closest followers, and He tells them, in effect, “I have all authority and will use it through you as you go!”

5. Kingdom building. This is a shift in counting. You are no longer only concerned with who is showing up at your thing; you count who is doing God’s thing. Jesus told His followers, “Seek first his kingdom” (Matthew 6:33). They heeded this admonition, and all that mattered was what God was keeping track of as the Jesus mission was being advanced around the world.

With these five practices, God will use you to change the world. Each practice depends on your willingness to continually ask, “Am I trying to be the hero, or am I trying to make heroes of others?”

Adapted from Hero Maker by Dave Ferguson and Warren Bird. Copyright © 2018 by Dave Ferguson and Warren Bird. Used by permission of Zondervan.

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2018 edition of Influence magazine.