Perseverance in Leadership

Matthew Johnson, interview with KFIA 710 radio host

What is leadership to you? To me, leadership is taking the role of doing something right when nobody else does. I really wanted to help the homeless in 2010 when I was 8 years old. I didn’t know how to get involved. My mom and I decided to start a sock drive for the homeless and established Socks from the Heart to the Homeless, a nonprofit organization, to collect and distribute the socks. Our first year we gathered about 3000 pairs of socks, the second year 1500, and the third year 1000.

Times were tough in the ministry, but we learned we had to persevere, even in hard times. President Abraham Lincoln went through hard times. People tried to stop him because of his thoughts on slavery. Even though the South wanted slavery, he stuck to his beliefs and put an end to it.

During the 4th year of the sock drive, my mom wanted to shut down the Socktober drives, because it became a full time job. She already had a full time job, but decided to do it one more year. During that year, my goal was 10,000. We collected 6000. But it didn’t stop there. A sock company in New York named Bombas heard about my ministry and donated 4000 pairs of socks! That year, our grand total was 10,000 pairs of socks.

Ever since then, my church and I have continued this ministry. This year I asked my youth group to share it with me, and they unanimously said, “yes.” This has allowed me to focus more on my guitar and playing in a worship band. Since the youth group has taken over the responsibility, the ministry is officially part of our church. I am glad we will continue doing it for a long time.

This is how I am a leader. What about you? Where do you think you should be leading? What have you seen that needs a leader? Whether it is being the president of the United States or leading a local organization, consider where you could be a leader today.