Flying in formation
One of the rites of summer is to witness humankind’s mastery of machines of the air. The Air Force’s Thunderbirds and the Navy’s Blue Angels have raised precision to an art form. When it comes to their awe-inspiring air shows, anything less than perfection is a recipe for disaster.
A friend of mine with an understanding of formation flying explains it thusly: Formation flight consists of leadership and followership. The team leader is fully responsible for every maneuver; his job is to maintain “situational awareness.” The leader is required to know exactly where he is in relationship to the ground, of knowing what is happening all around him. He uses nearly all of his senses to keep tabs on all the factors involved in executing the team’s maneuvers, which often occur at 500 miles per hour with a wingtip clearance of a mere 18 inches.
Followership, on the other hand, is exactly the opposite. Each wingman has a specific responsibility - to maintain his or her position in relation to the leader, nothing else. Each follower flies with eyes fixed on a reference point on the leader’s aircraft. This followership is honed by countless hours of practice, practice and more practice of focusing on the leader alone. This makes the follower fully dependent on the ability of the leader to complete the maneuver successfully.
The consequences of that unwavering trust in the formation leader became tragically apparent in 1982. As the Thunderbirds practiced looping maneuvers in a desert area surrounded by mountainous terrain, the leader experienced a flight control malfunction which altered the feel of the jet’s flight control stick. He was unaware that his situational awareness had been compromised. The leader bottomed out of a loop only to discover that a mountain lay directly ahead with no time to divert his course. The leader and three other pilots perished as the team crashed in perfect formation.
Here are some takeaways. Jesus Christ is our leader. He demonstrates the ultimate in situational awareness. He alone is fully cognizant of everything that affects the situation around us. Our job is to focus exclusively on Him, to follow without reservation or diversion. Those follower skills are developed and honed by immersing ourselves in the wisdom of the Bible and in prayer.
As the leader of an Awana team of ministry volunteers, your job is to keep everyone flying in formation. Do all of your followers understand the ministry goals you’ve set? Are you investing time and energy to encourage your followers toward those goals? Are you working to shape and sharpen those people for the task of positively influencing children? A good commander will grow in his or her situational awareness by being tuned in to both the needs of the children and their leaders.
One final thought – the Thunderbird tragedy clearly showed that no pilot is perfect. We aren’t perfect either, but with the wisdom of the Bible and much prayer, we can minimize the effects of our errors. Then someday, our Leader will say to us, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”