Role Model
June 29, 2025
In 1993, Nike faced a crisis when teenage boys stopped buying their shoes. The response was to produce the infamous Charles Barkley commercial where he boldly declared, “I am not a role model…. Parents should be role models.” This sparked a fiery debate, with NBA star Karl Malone saying, “We don’t choose to be role models; we are chosen. Our only choice is whether to be a good role model or a bad one.” The truth is, they were both right. Every person is a role model to someone. The question of whether you’re a positive or negative role model comes into focus with a statistic like this: 68% of Christians make their decision to follow Jesus before age eighteen. As the Apostle Paul mentored young Timothy to lead the church in Ephesus, he emphasized this important truth in 1 Timothy 4:11-16: One of your primary roles in this generation is to be a role model for the next generation.
In this series
Generational Discipleship
Over the course of four weeks, we are going to embark on an effort called “Generational Discipleship.” God is for all generations. There is no generation gap with God. He is faithful to every generation, but He also wants every generation to be faithful to Him, to know Him, love Him, serve Him, and worship Him. He wants every generation to always be sharing with the next generation the truth of the God of all generations. So what does that look like for us? That’s what we’re going to discuss in this series.
