Article on leadership - church based, but widely applicable. Focus on your strengths, find out what you're good at and delegate what you're not.

1. P4 T H E T H I N L I NE : VO L P5
What I do say is: “Our church is so big that we can help you, This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose
but it won’t be me.” “Well, Andy, I don’t mind waiting.” No. Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit; also
Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Ni-
I’ve decided that I don’t meet with people randomly, and colas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They pre-
it’s not because I don’t care. It’s because I care so much. sented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid
And here’s what I say, and they never understand: their hands on them. So the word of God spread. The
number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly,
“The reason you love our church is because I can’t and a large number of priests became obedient to the
meet with you. The reason you love our church is faith.” (Acts 6:3-7)
because I play to my strengths. I teach my staff to
play to their strengths, and we delegate and hire to The church grew. The apostles did fewer things and accom-
play to our weaknesses. Now we have a big staff and plished more. They leaned into what they were uniquely
THE
church and you love our church because we have all gifted and called to do, and they created space for other peo-
of these resources and programs. The reason you love ple to do the things they weren’t doing a very good job at.
TENSION OF
this church and want to come back is because I won’t
meet with you. It would not be right for me to meet This leadership principle allows those of us in ministry
NO
with you and neglect all the other things I’m better to establish and maintain a sustainable pace. Corpo-
at anyway. Can we help you? Absolutely, we can help rately, we end up with organizations that reflect our
you. Will it be me? No.” strengths, not our weaknesses.
BY ANDY STANLEY This is not a new concept—my hand is only good at be- CONCENTRATION, ELIMINATION
ing a hand. My eyes are only good at being eyes. First Here are some questions to help you figure out your
We are all familiar with managing a certain amount of “So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, Corinthians 12:14 says, “The body is not made up of sweet spot.
tension. Whether working on an organizational team, ‘It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the one part, but of many.” For some reason, early on in
leading a church, or spearheading a nonprofit, leaders Word of God in order to wait on tables.” (Acts 6:2) ministry, it’s natural and necessary to do everything What do you do that seems e ortless to you, but is a
routinely find themselves in the tension of having more to because we want to set the standard. But the sooner we daunting task to others?
accomplish than hours in the day. Now think of how arrogant this must have sounded. Essen- get into our sweet spots of leadership, the sooner our In what areas do people consider you the go-to person?
tially they’re saying, “Look, we’re the guys. We were with churches or our ministries will flourish, and the more What facets of your job energize you?
When we read in Acts about the early church, we find the Jesus. All those stories you’ve heard, we were there. We’ve opportunity we will create for other people. What do you wish you could stop doing?
disciples doing everything with no organization and no got a lot going on. We’re very busy. But teaching the Word What organizations or environments are you drawn to?
hierarchy of leadership. All of the new converts believed is important, and so is making sure everybody gets fed. But What environments do you absolutely try to avoid?
that Jesus was coming back soon, so they all stayed in we can’t do both. It would be wrong for us to wait on tables AS YOU NARROW YOUR Discovery project: Take some time and develop the
Jerusalem. Thousands of people were coming to faith, and serve the widows and orphans. It would be wrong for us ideal job description for your current job or ministry.
there was a growing energy, and everyone was worship- to do that if we neglect the thing that we are uniquely posi- FOCUS, YOU CREATE
ing together—but after a while, the people got hungry tioned to do: to tell the story of the gospel. So we are going In a letter to seminary alumni, Howard Hendricks
and attitudes flared. The disciples had to figure out how to find somebody else to serve the widows.” MORE OPPORTUNITY wrote: “If anything has kept me on track all these years,
to feed all those people—those who were from Jerusalem it is being skewered to this principle of central focus.
and those who were from out of town. The first challenge This is an emotionally charged issue—widows and food. FOR OTHER PEOPLE. There are many things I can do, but I must narrow it
of the local church led to a simple idea and, consequently, And the apostles, in the moment of all of that drama and down to the one thing I must do. The secret to concen-
some remarkable things happened. chaos in Jerusalem, realized they had to play to their tration is elimination. Only do what only you can do
strengths and delegate the things they shouldn’t be doing. CREATING SPACE because the less you do the more you accomplish.”
“In those days when the number of disciples was increas- So, when the apostles realized that they couldn’t do ev-
ing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against YOU NEED ME TO SAY NO erything that needed to be done, they called all of the God has called you, equipped you, and positioned you
the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being over- Every Sunday, I do two morning services and an evening disciples together and made this proposal: to do a few things alongside a lot of people. The sooner
looked in the daily distribution of food.” (Acts 6:1 NIV) service. And almost every Sunday, someone comes up you get there, the more replenished you’ll be in min-
to me and says: “Andy, can I meet with you?” to which I “Brothers, choose seven men from among you who istry, the longer you’ll stay in ministry, the better ex-
Think about the humor in this. The apostles were actually do- reply, No. Then they say, “Can I get on your calendar?” are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will ample you’ll be to the people in ministry around you,
ing food service! They were teaching and telling about the res- and I say, No. “Hey, could we have lunch?” No. I have turn this responsibility over to them and will give our and the more you will enjoy this incredible thing that
urrection and passing out food. They were doing everything. learned to say no. attention to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. God has given us called the local church. C