country we know we have young men and young women who are living their Godgiven roles in their home congregations. Many have started Lads to Leaders/
Leaderette Programs in what they now call their home. If we had included all of
the adults at Lakeside who have helped teach in our program over the years the size
of the picture would have more than doubled. Talk about legacy, this is the kind of
legacy brother Zorn envisioned forty years ago.
Many in that last picture have won many, many trophies through the years,
but you know, as successful as they will be in life, as successful as they have been
in participating in every competitive and non-competitive event offered by the program, that first group of young men who except for one participated only in Bible
Reading that first year, along with those who have gone on to dedicate their lives to
preaching the gospel, despite not necessarily even ever winning a trophy for speech
or songleading hold a really special place in our hearts (One of these three never
did win a speech or song leading trophy—not even a “finalist” trophy, though he
earned several centurions. He hit the only homerun of his career in his Senior year
in the bottom of the last inning to win his school the district championship. Immediately after the game his parents drove him all night to the convention so he could
participate in speech and song leading the following morning. Today he is a very
successful nationally known speaker and presenter). The Lads to Leaders/
Leaderettes Program and Philosophy has never been about winning trophies. It has
always been founded upon the principle that our young people need instruction and
opportunities in leadership development which will help develop five-talent Christians servants who are able to serve in leadership roles.
The legacy is not about the hundreds of thousands of trophies and ribbons that
have been given through the years. Brother Zorn lives a legacy that has involved
helping young people develop leadership skill which not only serve them well in
the secular world which needs ethical moral leadership, but most importantly in a
spiritual world that so much needs not only ethical and moral leadership but spiritual leadership as well. The legacy involves helping young people learn God’s
word and who are then able to serve their congregations with varied talents which
help the Lord’s body function in a way that pleases God in their God-given roles.
We will be forever grateful for brother Zorn, his wife Frances and their willingness to share their lives in such a way as to promote such tremendous leadership
in the Lord’s church
Written by David McDonald-David is an elder at the Lakeside church of Christ and helped start
the program at Lakeside, as well as at several other congregations throughout the Southeastern
United States. He has served on the National Level of Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes as an Event
Coordinator and Convention Director. He has served six years on the Board of Directors. He and
his wife Loucretia have four sons who benefited from this tremendous program.
Legacy is a word often used today for things which in the big picture do not
really matter. Brother Jack Zorn has worshipped with the Lakeside church of
Christ on two occasions, once on a Sunday night as he was traveling through several years ago and then earlier this year in January when he and Frances joined us
for our service on Sunday morning and then he worshipped with us again on Sunday evening. While neither of these visits were directly related to Lads to Leaders/
Leaderettes he and his family have provided us with a legacy which has helped us
better serve God and has now extends across Florida, the United States and even
the world as a result of former Lakeside members. After the service in January
2009 we asked to take advantage of a photo opportunity.
In 1986 the Lakeside congregation became the first congregation from Florida
to attend the National Lads to Leaders Convention. It was held in Memphis, Tennessee. We drove in a station wagon owned by Eric Milford, who at the time was a
relatively new Christian and a co-leader in our class, all night to Memphis, Tennessee with six young men. It was an eighteen hour trip for us—the speed limit was
fifty-five. It was the last convention held in Memphis until this year. Those who
were there will never forget our Saturday Banquet. At least for our fellows, it was
really looooong! Yes we stayed for the entire four plus hour ceremony. We did
not get our peas and chicken for at least two and a half hours and we did not receive
a single award. We did not really know what to expect, but we all still remember
that first trip in fondness.
In the first picture four of the seven young men who were part of our initial
Lads to Leaders class are
pictured with brother
Zorn along with Eric
Milford and David
McDonald who taught
the class.
In brother
Zorn’s hands are one of
the original Lads to
Leaders Handbooks one
of the young men earned
by memorizing the ten
leadership pledges and
the books of the Bible.
Four of the seven young
men who were in that
From left: David McDonald-Leader, Brad Bayes, original class are, twenty
Brian Lanoux, Jack Zorn-Founder, Chris Milford, four years later, faithful
Jeff Jacobs, Eric Milford-Leader.
husbands, fathers and
members of the Lord’s church at Lakeside. Two others are faithful Christians at
sister congregations in the area. Among the group are Bible Class Teachers, Deacons, Bible Camp counselors, and on and on the list goes of how these men are now
serving their Lord. In this initial group not a single one of them ever won a speech
trophy or a song leading trophy or any other competitive trophy for that matter.
But, each of them through their later elementary years, junior high years and senior
high years gave speeches and led singing at our congregation as well as several
others in the area and at each convention for throughout their high school years.
And while none of them lead singing today on a regular basis each one of often
gives devotionals and preach. They are outstanding speakers, though they would
not admit it.
As we recollect the only trophies this group ever earned, and each one of them
did it at least twice, was the Centurion of Scriptures. In fact in our third year of
convention participation, by that time we had grown to eleven boys, every single
one of them earned the Centurion of Scripture, some gold, but yes mostly bronze.
But those fellows still remember many of those verses even today.
Also pictured is each one of these four men with their children and brother
Zorn, yes all have daughters, every single one of them. (Probably if we had Leaderettes at that time we
would have had a
Scrapbook with pictures, but it was just us
guys, and pictures did
not really seem important then—wish we
had one). Each one of
the original seven married a Christian wife.
Their daughters, who
are old enough, are
already involved in our
Leaderette Program.
It has been a tremendous pleasure to
Original Lads with Daughters and brother Zorn from see these young men
left: Brad, Katie, & Autumn Bayes, Brian, Payton, & and many others
Cameron Lanoux, Jack Zorn holding Rylie Milford, through the years at
Chris & Haylie Milford, Jeff & Katie Jacobs.
our congregation grow
into the leaders they
are today. Leaders in their church, in their home, in their jobs, and in their communities. The only time this first group ever shook brother Zorn’s hand was in a Parade of kids being called out for the Centurion, but they still remember brother
Zorn’s smile, his red coat, and his thumbs up. They were given the opportunity to
develop as leaders because of the philosophy and program developed by brother
Zorn. That is his living legacy—giving all who want to develop leadership the possibilities for that development in the Lord’s church. Please understand these fellows sometimes, well OK often, did not think they could, or even wanted to do
some things, but they always did. Their parents were all supportive. In fact every
one of their parents are still faithful Christians enjoying not only their sons, but
probably more so their son’s daughters.
The legacy of brother Zorn is one of not only carrying the torch, but if not
more importantly, passing the torch to subsequent generations. These young men
in sterling fashion represent the hundreds of thousands collectively across this
country, and yes even now internationally, who as young people develop their leadership talent and then become the teachers, the leaders, the gospel preachers, the
deacons, and the elders who then turn and teach the next generation. At the same
time it is not just about young people. The opportunities for leadership and leadership development are also very much available for adults as well.
We are seeing this generational development at Lakeside. Interestingly
enough while none of who have participated in our program have met the qualification for holding the office of elders because we just haven’t been doing it long
enough, we do have young men in our program who are teachers, leaders, gospel
preachers and deacons. At least three of our former Lads are now currently working full-time with faithful congregations of the Lord’s people in Montgomery, Alabama, Searcy, Arkansas, and St. Louis Missouri. Each one married a Christian
wife, two of whom were Leaderettes in other congregations from across the country.
The last picture we took that night was everyone in our congregation in attendance that night who had been a student in the Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes Program at anytime or anywhere as they were growing up. There are a lot of young
faces who have just begun to hone their talents as leaders. There are several teenagers and young adults who are now in college, but who are actively involved in
our work. There are many in their twenties and early thirties, some who became
Christians while in high school as the result of Lads sharing their faith and who
participated
for
maybe just a year a
two, but who are
now
outstanding
Bible teachers in
their own right.
There are also some
in their late thirties
and early forties who
grew up in other
places and who participated in other
faithful congregations Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes Programs who are servGroup Picture with brother Zorn-All who participate or ing a broad range of
have participated in Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes as
leadership positions
students
at
Lakeside.
T h rou gho u t
th e