Secrets of Leaders who last -Rick Warren

7. Secrets of Leaders who last

Rick Warren

 

Colossians 2:19 (Good News) "Under Christ's control the whole body is nourished and grows as God wants it to grow." Underline "God wants it to grow". God wants His body to grow. All living things grow. In fact, it's unnatural for something to not grow. My kids are cute as kids but if they never grow up to be adults, that would be tragedy. It wouldn't be cute any more. All living things grow.

Because the church is a body, not a business, an organism(유기체), not an organization, it's alive. So it is to grow. And because you have a ministry that is a part of that body, your ministry is intended to grow. I don't know if I've ever be more excited about the future of our church as we get ready to move on to the "promised land" 1993 is going to be one incredible year. It is not going to be boring. We're anticipating, as we move onto the and that in the next year, we're going to grow at least 2000 more people. That means your ministry is going to need to grow to keep in step with the body itself. We're going to need more teachers, more ushers, more people serving in the 61 now different ministries of Saddleback church.

Why is it that some ministries plateau(안정기,정체기) and why is it that some ministries stop growing? In 1969, there was a famous book written called The Ten Largest Sunday Schools in America. But today only three of those churches would be in the top 100. In 1975, there was a book written called The Ten Fastest Growing Churches in America. Today, only one of them would be in the top 100. What happened?

What happened is, they refused to change. And they stopped developing and growing.

A lot of ministries begin with a bang and they explode with new growth. Often when a youth ministry starts or a singles ministry starts or a music ministry starts it doesn't matter but they start with a bang and they grow to 100, 200, maybe 300 people. But after the initial growth, they plateau. I have seen this, not hundreds, but thousands of times as I've talked to over 12,000 pastors in the last eight years that have come through the Saddleback seminar. I've seen this happen with women's ministries, men's ministries, small group ministries, children, singles, on and on that they initially grow have an initial spurt(초기에만 성장하다). They grow to 100, 200, 300 then they plateau.

That's like churches. Ninety-five percent of all the churches in America have less than 300 people attending. So tonight I want to talk to you about one of the reasons why ministries plateau and that is the issues of leadership. There are many other issues that cause ministries to plateau like when you get out of space. You will fill to the space you've got and then you'll stop. But that's something that maybe you can't control. But I want to talk to you about the factors you can control in your ministry and why they tend to plateau. Tonight we're going to look at seven traps of leadership. The purpose of this is to help you understand the dynamic of what causes ministries to stop growing and take the steps to prevent it from happening in your ministry.

Psalm 35:27 "How great is the Lord. He is ..." angry? bored? "with the success of His servants." No. It says, "He is pleased."Circle "pleased" and write under that "God wants me to succeed in ministry." God wants me to succeed in ministry. "He is pleased with the success of His servants." And God wants me and God wants you to succeed as a leader. So He has given us some examples of errors to avoid so we can avoid them in our ministry. Seven common traps of leadership. These are areas that Satan is most likely to use to keep your ministry from becoming all that God wants it to be.

Fortunately God put six books in the Bible abut leadership 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings and 1 & 2 Chronicles. They're there to teach us about leadership. God gives us the warts(사마귀) and all in the stories about all the different kings of Israel. We're to learn from these kings the good things and the bad things the lessons of leadership.

 

1. The leader stops growing.

2. The leader stops caring.

3. The leader becomes insensitive to people.

4. The leader gets distracted.(괴로운, 마음이 산란한)

5. The leader becomes complacent (or self satisfied).

6. The leader becomes arrogant.

7. The leader fails to delegate.

 

I want to start with the first one. It's far the most important one. Take the outline home; teach it to your ministry. Set down with your group and say, "These are the things that will keep us from being all that God wants us to be."

 

1. THE LEADER STOPS GROWING.

By far the single greatest reason that a ministry stops growing is the leader stops growing. Growing ministries require growing leaders. The moment you stop growing, you stop leading. All leaders are learners because there is no growth without change and there is no change without being flexible.

When a leader stops growing, he becomes inflexible. A good example of this is the story of Moses. Exodus 17. The first time Moses had a water problem, God said, "I want you to go and strike the rock and water will come out." So he did that. Later on, as they were crossing the wilderness, God said, "This time we're going to do it differently. This time instead of striking the rock, I want you to speak to the rock." Number 20:8-11 "The Lord said, `Speak to the rock and water will gush out of it. In this way, you will bring water out.' But Moses struck the rock twice."

What did he do here? He said, "Lord, we've never done it that way before. We've always struck the rock. Now You're saying speak to it. I don't want to do it in a new way. I want to do it the old way. I want to do it in the way that worked the first time."

Have you ever felt this? To simply repeat the past? What's he's saying is, "I want to lead the way I used to lead, the way I've always led."

The fact is, our world is changing 1993 is not going to be 1992. Not only is the world changing but the pace of change is increasing rapidly. Greater and greater. The attitudes and skills that brought you to this point in your ministry are not going to take you to the future. New problems require new solutions. New situations require new attitudes. New difficulties and new opportunities require new skills and new attitudes. What brought you this far and made you a success that's why success kills churches.

The root behind resistance to change is fear. I don't want to change because I'm afraid of loss. I've done it this way and I feel comfortable with it. Therefore what am I going to lose if I do ministry in a new way? The root is the fear of change.

That means that an unwillingness to change is a lack of faith. That's what God says. Numbers 20:12 "So the Lord reprimanded(질책하다) Moses, 'Because you did not have enough faith...'" Don't have enough faith? But all he did was strike the rock instead of speak to it.

It requires faith to change. When you are resistant to change that is an indication of a lack of faith, saying, "I really don't think God will take care of me in the future. I better hold on to the security of the way I've always done it."

The result here is this: "The Lord reprimanded Moses, `Because you did not have enough faith, you will not lead them into the land I promised to give them.'" Circle the phrase "You will not lead them." This shows how important flexibility is. God says Moses lost the right to lead because he was inflexible. He lost the right to lead because he refused to change. He was left behind. The dream that God gave him "You're going to lead the people into the Promised Land", 40 years waiting for it, 40 years leading them out God says, "You didn't pass the final exam. You're unwilling and unfit to lead." This was the sin that kept him out of the Promised Land.

I don't want to get left out of what God is going to do in the future. So I must stay open to change. Flexible, willing to grow, willing to become all that God wants me to be.

The point I want to make is: Whenever you find yourself resisting a new way of doing something, or defending the status quo, or opposing a change that God's told you to do, or striving simply to repeat the past because it worked last year in your ministry, watch out. You're about to lose your place of leadership. That's a strong word.

What's the key to overcoming this trap of leadership? The antidote is never stop developing. Never stop developing your skills, your character, your perspective, your vision, your heart, your dependence upon God. Never stop developing. Read books, read magazines, read the Bible, get with Christian friends, listen to tapes, take seminars, come to SALT, take the CLASS classes. Never stop developing.

Proverbs 19:8 "He who loves wisdom loves his own best interest and will become a success." God says if you want to be a success, you never stop learning. You always keep growing. You never think you've learned it all.

The moment I think I've got it all together as pastor of Saddleback, I'm dead in the water. The moment you think you've learned all there is to know about your ministry, all there is to know about being a leader you're dead in the water.

Ecclesiastes 10:10 "If the ax is dull and the edge is unsharpened more strength is needed but skill will bring success." This is one of my life verses. The Bible says skill brings success. You may be dedicated but if you're not learning new skills it won't work. You can't use a corn harvester on a wheat field. You can't use a cotton picker in an apple orchard. You've got to use the skills that match the people you're trying to minister to. So you always be learning new skills to take yourself to a new level. When you come to SALT, you're sharpening your ax. That's what we're doing here on a monthly basis, sharpening your ax. And you're never wasting your time when you're sharpening your ax.

If you stop learning, you soon experience what's known as the Peter principle that people tend to rise to their level of incompetence(무능력) and then they get stuck there. The guy who's a good shoe salesman gets appointed to manager and he's never learned management skills and he's bored and ineffective and incompetent the rest of his life because he never kept on developing.

If you don't watch out, your ministry will get too big for you and you become the bottle neck. The leader must never stop growing. Never stop developing your skills.

 

2. THE LEADER STOPS CARING

The leader stops having a passion for the ministry and the people in the ministry and for the Lord. The example of this is the king called Amaziah in 2 Chronicles 25:2 "He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord but not wholeheartedly." That is one of the most subtle traps in ministry. Go through the motions, serve the Lord but not with your heart. Do it because you know it's the right thing to do but you're not doing it with your whole heart. The Living Bible says "He did what was right but sometimes he resented it." That's not the way to minister. The Good News says "He did what was right but he did it reluctantly." (마지못해)

Why is it that people who are serving in ministry often stop caring about it? What causes that loss of passion? What causes people to lose their motivation, to loss the heart, the love that they once had?

I think there are three things that cause a loss of spiritual passion:

 

1. Familiarity with spiritual matters.

In other words, you're around it so much you become accustomed to the things of God and nothing seems like a miracle anymore. You can hear so many answered prayers or you can see so many lives changed, you forget that most of the people don't live this way. Most of the people have no hope and have no joy and are barely making it in life. You forget that the way you feel is not normal for most people. Most people feel hopeless. They don't understand the hope.

 

2. A lack of balance.

I want to urge you as the core of this church, the people I depend on, the people that you make the ministry happen in this church balance your life. Take time to have fun.

One of the reasons why people burn out is they're always at meetings. That's why we don't have Sunday night service. That's why we don't expect you to be at every single meeting that goes on. Jesus did not say, "I've come that you might have meetings." In most churches, we judge our spirituality by how many meetings we attend. If you come on Sunday morning, you're a good Christian. If you come on Sunday night, you're a great Christian. If you come to Midweek service, you're a spiritual giant! What would happen if all of a sudden we cut out all the meetings, what would be left of Christianity? Jesus said "I've come that you might have life," not meetings. When we open those buildings, there are going to be meetings every night of the week going on in those buildings. But if you're there every night of the week, I'm going to `shoot you'! I don't want you there every night of the week. There's got to be something there for everybody but if you're going to have a good home life you've got to be home at least four nights a week. At least. And if you're not, then something's out of order in your life. You get out of balance and pretty soon you get out of balance and you stop caring.

 

3. Compassion fatigue. I have to fight this constantly.

Those of you who have done counseling know what I'm talking about. There is a limit to the number of people's problems you can handle. When I stand out on the patio and thousands of people pass me every morning, if only five people a service tell me about a personal problem, with four services, that's twenty problems I'm walking out the door with. I can't handle that many problems and neither can you. Nobody can. So you have to learn the antidote for not losing your heart. Look at Hezekiah "Hezekiah was successful because in everything he did, he did it with a spirit of complete loyalty to the Lord." Maintain your spiritual passion. If you don't maintain your spiritual passion, your ministry is going to plateau.

How do you maintain your spiritual passion? Two ways:

 

1. Never forget your motive for serving.

Never forget why you're doing this. Not to make a big name, not because it's always fun, not because I'm not getting paid for it. I'm doing this for Jesus' sake. That's why you're in ministry. You owe your life to Jesus Christ and so do I. And out of gratitude for what He did for me on the cross and my love for Christ and out of the knowledge that one day I'm going to stand before Him and hear Him say, "Well done thou good and faithful servant," that's what motivates me. You never forget your motive. Hezekiah was successful because in everything he did he did it in a spirit of complete loyalty and devotion to God.

 

2. Never stop praying.

2 Chronicles 26:5 is about Uzziah, another king, "As long as he sought the Lord, God gave Uzziah success." Underline the "as long as he sought the Lord." As long as I seek the Lord, God will bless my ministry. As long as you seek the Lord, God will bless your ministry. Never stop praying. "Ask the Lord to bless your plans and you will be successful in carrying them out." Do you pray about your ministry or do you just do it? You ought to pray about your ministry. Ask God to bless it.

In the book of Revelation, there's the story about the church at Ephesus. God says "I've got one thing against you. You've lost your first love." They had stopped caring. And when they lost their first love, God said to do three things. This, by the way, is the way to restore a lost love in a marriage. If someone says, "I don't love my husband/wife anymore," tell them to do these exact three things:

Remember, repent and return and do the things you did first.

Remember. Remember the way it used to be when you were in love with Jesus. What you need to do when you've lost your passion for ministry, you stop caring, you need to stop and say, "What was it like when I first came to Christ?" Can I remember that joy, that excitement, that thrill, that freshness, that newness? Can I remember that? Think on it.

Repent. Turn your mind around. Metanoia. Reverse(=return) your mind. Look at your ministry in a different way.

Do the things you did first. In a marriage, when you want to restore love, you start acting the way you used to act when you were in love. Buy flowers, buy candy, be nice, be polite. Act your way into a feeling. Even if you don't feel it. It's easier to act your way into a feeling than it is to feel your way into an action. If you act loving, those feelings will come back. So return and do the things you did at first. What did I do when I had a passion for the Lord? I had a quiet time. I got together with other Christians. I was fellowshipping with the Lord. I did the things that brought me joy.

A leader stops caring the antidote is maintain your spiritual passion.

 

3. THE LEADER BECOMES INSENSITIVE TO OTHER PEOPLE.

The guy who is a model for this is a guy named Rehoboam. Rehoboam had such a poor understanding of people. He was a realklutz(얼간이). He was Solomon's son. He was so unsympathetic. He only thought of himself. When he became king, he brought some advisers in and said, "What do you think I ought to do?" and the old men said, "Love the people, serve the people, honor the people. Put the people's interests ahead of your own and they will honor you." Then some other punks(젊은 불량배) came along and said, "No. Be hard on them. Say you thought my father was hard? I'm going to be twice as hard. You watch what I'm going to do. We're going to raise the taxes, make it tougher. You're going to serve me." (How to win friends and influence people ?!?) In 1 Kings 12:4-11 is the whole story. Rehoboam said, "They said to Rehoboam, `If you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.' But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him. v. 17 They all deserted him except for the tribe of Judah." That's where the kingdom, which had been united under David and under Solomon, split. It split because the leader was insensitive to the people. And the tribes split. Deserted him.

Proverbs 28:13 "A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful but if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance." If you've hurt people in your ministry, if you've bruised(상하게하다) people by being insensitive to them, you need to go to them and confess it.

What's the antidote to becoming insensitive to people in your ministry? The antidote is never stop listening to others. Learn to listen to people. Encourage the people in your ministry and the people you're serving to talk to you. Let them tell you about your problems and their troubles and their fears and their aspirations(열망) and their dreams and their hurts and the things that are personal to them. Stay open and look for other perspectives in your ministry. Don't just try to see it your way. Be sensitive to people.

"Get all the advice you can and you will succeed. Without it you will fail." If you want to succeed, you're going to need advice. "Pay attention to what you're taught and you'll be successful." "Get good advice and you will succeed. Don't go charging into battle without a plan."

When you contrast Rehoboam with David (2 Samuel 9:1) after all of David's victories he didn't just say, "I'm just going to set back(저지하다) and let everybody serve me." He said, "Is there anybody still left in the house of Saul that I could show kindness to for Jonathan's sake?" and he found a young man by the name of Mephibosheth, a relative, and said, let me show kindness to this guy the exact opposite of his grandson showing sensitivity to people.

 

4. LEADERS GET DISTRACTED

They start off on the right track but they lose their vision, they lose their mission, they get involved and instead of saying as Paul said, "This one thing I do..." they say "These forty things I dabble in(장난치다)." When you get distracted(괴로운) from your purpose in life, you're going to be tempted. It's going to happen.

Example of David: "Everyone in Israel and Judah loved David because he was a successful leader. In every battle David was more successful than any of Saul's other officers. As a result David became very famous." Warning! Red light! Notice what happened in 2 Samuel 11:1 "In the spring, when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the army, but David remained in Jerusalem." He's not being where the kings should be, out on the front lines. He's getting distracted. "David remained in Jerusalem" and he lost touch with people on the front lines. And that was his downfall. Because in 2 Samuel 11:2 it mentions a lady named Bathsheba. Instead of being out there on the front line, serving, ministering, working, he's at home saying, I'm just going to relax. He got distracted. And he encountered Bathsheba.

David's son had the same problem. "As Solomon grew old his wives turned his heart after other gods and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord." He got bored and he allowed other things to distract him from what God called him to do.

There are a lot of things that can distract you in ministry. They're good but they're not the best. Personal problems can distract you. Health can distract you. Other interests can distract you. Finances can distract you. Recreation can distract you. Things that you think are fun and good and wonderful can distract you. Satan doesn't care if you go off and sin, as long as you don't do what God wants you to do. He'll distract you.

One day Jesus was walking down the street and looked at three would be followers and said, "You guys come follow Me." one guy says, "I can't follow You, Lord. I've just bought a piece of land." What's the logic of that? The land is going to stay there. There's nothing going to happen to it. Next guy says, "I just got married." He had a better reason. Third guy says, "I have to go bury my father." The issue, when you read the Greek there, wasn't that his father had died because his father had been dead for a while. He just said I've got to go home and spend some time.

The point is business, marriage, family are all distractions and part of life. But you need to be aware when they're keeping you from what God wants you to do. I am a firm believer in family. You ought to know by now, I've done a series every year in the history of this church on family. I believe in the family and I believe in marriage. But the Bible did not say, "Upon this rock I will build my family." He did not say, "Go into all the world and build a family." I believe in the family so I have a right to talk this way about it. That's why I said you need at least four nights at home with your family. But you need to keep it all in perspective.

Don't leave saying, "Rick said put the church before the family." I'm not saying that. But I am saying it's not the sum total of your life. Jesus said "Seek first the kingdom of God." The kingdom of God is what we're to seek first in our lives. I didn't say that. Jesus said it.

So the leader gets distracted. The antidote is to stay focused. Never forget your mission. Proverbs 22 "Do you know a hard working man? He shall be successful and stand before kings." Ecclesiastes 11 talks about being focused "Sow your seed in the morning and in the evening let not your hands be idol for you don't know which will succeed. Whether this or that or whether both will do equally well." The Bible says "No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is good for the kingdom of God." Stay focused. Don't get distracted.

 

5. THE LEADER BECOMES COMPLACENT.(자기만족의, 안심한)

This is related but it's a little bit different. Self satisfied. He becomes complacent and self satisfied. 2 Kings 18:7 gives the example of Hezekiah "So the Lord was with him and Hezekiah was successful in everything he did." How would you like to have that said about you? That's quite an epitaph(비명). That's in the Bible. That's not hype(과대광고), PR release.(여론을 형성하다) This is God saying this in the Bible Hezekiah was successful in everything he did.

There's a warning there. 2 Chronicles 32 says "Hezekiah was too proud to show gratitude for what the Lord had done for him and Judah and Jerusalem suffered for it. God let Hezekiah go his own way in order to test his character.[Isn't that an incredible verse?] God let Hezekiah go his own way in order to test his character."

I have a file at home I call Warnings. It's well known guys who flamed out(분노가 폭발하다) in ministry. I go back and read it every month or so just to scare myself to death. (놀라죽다) Just to put the fear of God in me. Leaders all over America are dropping like flies. Why? Because of these kind of traps. So we have to be diligent and walk humbly before the Lord and walk with integrity and not become self satisfied. "Hezekiah was too proud to show gratitude for what the Lord had done for him and Judah and Jerusalem suffered for it." When you get complacent, the people in your ministry suffer for it. When you get complacent in your home, your children suffer for it. When you get complacent at your business, your business suffers for it.

Hezekiah is wealthy. He's fat, lazy. He's arrived. He's successful and secure. He thought, "I'm just going to coast on my past successes. I got it made. I'm going to coast. Who cares if I make a homerun? I'm just going to finish the game."

When you're coasting, you're always going downhill. Remember. Life's tough. And when you're coasting, you're going downhill.

What's the antidote? The antidote to becoming complacent and self satisfied in ministry as a leader is never stop depending on the Lord. Stop coasting. Take some risks in faith. Push the edge of the envelop (as they'd say in "Top Gun".) Attempt something that cannot be explained in the power of the flesh. What am I going to try in my ministry this next year that I know I'm bound to(~책임이 있다) fail in unless God bails me out?(보석을 받게하다) If you're not attempting any program, any idea, any event, that unless God bails you out, you're bound to fail, you're not living by faith. God says, Go for it! Don't be complacent. Depend on the Lord. Stick your neck out. How do you know if you're depending on the Lord? You're trying something you know you can't do without His help.

Notice this. Hezekiah did return to the Lord. "Hezekiah trusted in the Lord. He was faithful to the Lord and he never disobeyed Him. But he carefully kept all the commands the Lord had given Moses so the Lord was with him and he was successful in everything he did." Amazing.

Proverbs 3:6 "In everything you do, put God first and He will direct you and crown your efforts with success." Put God first and He will direct you and crown your efforts with success. Joshua 1:7-8 talks about meditating on the Word and obeying it, obeying God's principles and then you'll be successful in your ministry.

 

6. THE LEADER BECOMES ARROGANT.(거만한)

King Uzziah. It says "His fame spread everywhere and he became very powerful because he received help from God but when King Uzziah became strong, he grew arrogant and that led to his downfall." I've seen this again and again. When Uzziah became arrogant and that led to his downfall. When you think you've got it all together and it all depends on you, you don't need the Lord in your ministry, watch out.

The antidote is remember the grace of God.

What is grace? Grace is the fact that God knows every stupid mistake you're going to make in your ministry and He's still chosen you. Grace is the fact that God knows every stupid mistake I'm going to make in the ministry and He's still let me be pastor of this church. That's grace. I'm a trophy of God's grace and so are you. one of my wife's life messages is that God uses ordinary people. If God only used perfect people what would get done? Zip!(총알 날아가는 소리) He uses imperfect people in spite of our flaws and weaknesses and our fears and our apprehensions(염려) and even our mixed motives sometimes (sometimes we can't even figure out ourselves). That's why the Bible says never judge anybody else's motives. You can't figure out your own, much less somebody else's. I don't know why I do a lot of what I do much less figure out why you do what you do. Why should I try to figure out your motives? The Bible says, Don't judge motives. It's arrogance.

Remember the grace of God. Jesus said, "You have not chosen Me but I have chosen you to go forth and bear fruit." The army of God is not a voluntary army. God enlisted you. He chose you. He wanted you and He called you. And He's equipped you. And what He's equipped you to do you need to ask Him to empower you and anoint you to do on a regular basis. Never forget the grace of God.

David didn't. He said, "My success, at which so many stand amazed, is because You are my mighty protector. All day long I'll praise and honor You, O God, for all that You've done for me." David knew what side the bread was buttered on. He knew that just about the time you think you've got it altogether, God kind of pulls the rug a little bit shakes it, just so you remember where you stand.

2 Corinthians 3:5 (Living Bible) "Not because we think we can do anything of lasting value by ourselves, our only power and success comes from God." It comes from God. Let's admit it. "God brings down the proud and saves the humble." Job 22

 

7. THE LEADER FAILS TO DELEGATE

And as a result he/she gets discouraged. It happens over and over again. This is probably the second greatest thing that happens next to the first one where we stop growing. We fail to delegate. When a ministry plateaus it means it's reached the limit of what you can do by yourself so you need to involve other people. You need to move from being a doer to a delegator. We cannot run a church that has 18,000 names on its role with 1000 people. We can if those 1000 people are delegators.

A good example of this is Moses. Numbers 11 "The Lord said to Moses, `Assemble seventy respected men who are recognized as leaders of the people and I will take some of the Spirit I've given you and give it to them then they can help you bear the responsibility for these people and you won't have to bear it alone.'" Why did this happen? "Moses had heard all the people complaining. He was distressed and he said to the Lord, `Why have You given me the responsibility for all these people. I didn't create them or bring them to birth. Why should You ask me to act like a nurse and carry them in my arms like babies all the way to the land that You promised. They keep whining [Moses, it sounds like you're whining!] I can't be responsible for all these people by myself. It's too much for me. Have pity on me and kill me so I won't have to endure your cruelty any longer.'"

I can laugh at this because I've felt this way about 80% of the Mondays. After doing four services and a four hour class on Sunday night I'm usually going, "God, just kill me and get it over with. It's too much. I can't handle it."

God says "You're right". God never meant for you to handle it. The reason why ministries grow to 60 and plateau or 100 and plateau or 300 and plateau is because the leader fails to delegate.

The antidote is involve other people. You have to move, in your ministry as it grows, from being a doer to a delegator, from being a minister to being a manager of ministers. That's a ministry in itself, when you involve other people. D. L. Moody said it like this, "I'd rather put ten men to work than do the work of ten men." And that would be easier for him. And God's pleased by it.

God wants all the body involved. Can you imagine the hand saying, "I'm the hand of the body but I'm going to do the whole thing. I'll do digestion, breathing, eating...." It can't do that. It can just do what the hand does the gripping part.

We're all needed. God doesn't intend for you to do it all. You will be the bottleneck of your ministry if you don't spend a significant part of your time recruiting other people to be involved and helping them learn how you do it.

"The Lord said to Moses, `Assemble seventy respected men who are recognized as leaders of the people and I will take some of the Spirit I've given you and give it to them then they can help you bear the responsibility for these people and you won't have to bear it alone.'" That was one experience. Another time (Moses had to learn this lesson twice.) "Then Jethro [his father in law -- the original management consultant] said, `You are not doing this right. You will wear yourself out and those people as well. There is too much for you to do. Choose some capable men and appoint them as leaders of the people. Leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens." This is the way we've set up our lay pastor thing. A lay pastor is a leader of ten. A district pastor is a leader of 50 five groups of ten. A senior lay pastor is a leader of 100. A leader of 1000 is a staff member on our staff. We're trying to do it the way God says to do it. You need to break down the ministry.

Four steps, stages how God wants you to develop other ministers.

1. I minister.

2. I minister and you help me. You get somebody else to come alongside of you to watch you do it.

3. You do it and I'll watch. You do itand I'll be here being your moral support, my hands on your back holding you up, praying for you. If you get in a jam, I'll help you. You can apply this to greeters, ushers, teachers, anything.

4. You do it on your own.

That's where you multiply your ministry. For your ministry to grow, you've got to get to the multiplication stage, the famous 2 Timothy 2:2 "The things you've heard of me among many ministers commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to train others also." Pass it on.

(1) These are seven traps I want us to close in pray for tonight that God will keep us with a spirit of discernment, that as Saddleback grows, we as leaders will not be bottlenecks and will not fall into these traps of trying to do it all ourselves, but involving others and we will keep growing together.

Prayer:

Father, thank You for Your word. It's so rich. These stories in the Old Testament are not there by accident but You've put them there to teach us lessons. Especially as we've looked at these different kings, we've seen these lessons of leadership and the common traps. Help us not to be dumb and have to learn from experience what doesn't work. Help us to be wise and learn from the experience of others that you've put in Your word. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.