Responsibility in Leadership

Tom Shrader explores the story of Moses and his father-in-law Jethro in Exodus 18 to teach essential leadership principles. Through Jethro's wise counsel to Moses about delegation and responsibility, Shrader shows that effective leaders must pray for their people, teach them the rules, model the lifestyle, assign responsibilities, and share the load. He emphasizes that good leaders develop others rather than trying to do everything themselves.

“You as a leader have a responsibility - you're not made to go at this work of life alone, and especially in a position of authority.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: Studies in Leadership

Recorded: March 06, 2003

Duration: 38 min

Themes: leadership, delegation, responsibility, mentorship, teaching, modeling, humility, service, new to leadership, overwhelmed leader, pastor, elder, mentor, parent, manager, team leader

Scripture: Exodus 18, Exodus 18:5, Exodus 18:9-12, Exodus 18:13-23

Theological Themes: servant leadership, biblical leadership, pastoral care, discipleship, stewardship, spiritual authority, ministry development, biblical mentoring

Full Transcript

We are in session six of what will be eight weeks talking about leadership, but we're looking at it from a little bit of a different perspective. We knew that the first week when we started by talking about humility as one of the key characteristics of leadership. Then we talked about all sorts of things and characteristics that you would associate with leadership—vision and all those type of things. Today we talk about what's the responsibility of the leader, or put it another way, maybe what's the duty of the leader.

As we look at that, let me emphasize one more time to you that you are all leaders. Anybody who has somebody following them or watching them is a leader, and I really do mean that. If you say to somebody you're coming to a study like this—I was just standing out there and kind of greeting a few of you came in and somebody came off the escalator. You can always tell they kind of look around, they're a little lost, and I said are you looking for the Bible study? No. I said are you looking for the restaurant? Yes, well the restaurants down here, and you can see that response.

The minute you say a Bible study or a church or something like this—the Good Friday breakfast, whatever those things are—the minute you say to somebody I'm going to this or would you like to go or whatever that is, the minute you say that, they begin to watch you. At that point, though you may not have a card that says leader, you may not have the title that says leader, you become a leader. You're a leader if somebody's watching. You're a leader if somebody's following.

Understanding CEO Perspectives

Now as we get into this today, at least initially I want to give you some things that are interesting on your outline. You're going to have a very frustrating day on your outline because the entire left column you're going to fill in none of that, and on the right column there's one thing that's missing, and I remember last time six years ago after I taught this I said I need to correct that. So now I need to make a note—I need to correct this for six years from now.

What we did to begin with was look at CEOs. I know you're saying I'm not a CEO here, or maybe you are. There might be a few of you that are running businesses—that'd be really helpful—but we're talking about the boss here. You may sit around and have a cup of coffee and talk about what you like or don't like about your job, but you ever wonder about the boss?

Let me give you a couple of things here, and they're just statistics. You don't need to write them down, but there's a subtle point in here that I want to make. They asked the CEOs—a hundred of them—what do you like best about your job? Sixteen percent said building a team. Fifteen percent said working with good people. Twelve percent said they like the autonomy. Twelve percent the challenge. Eleven percent the variety. Only eight percent said they like having a long-term impact, and then it just kind of whittled down from there.

Here's the thing: what do you dislike about your job? Twenty-six percent of the CEOs said what they dislike most about their job is paperwork. Twenty-five percent said managing problem people. So you could take their job dislikes and half of them have to deal with paperwork and personnel problems, and that's probably true anywhere. Ten percent said the headquarters relationships there. Eight percent said they don't have any dislikes at all. Eight percent said long hours and travel.

Expectations vs. Reality in Leadership

Here's what I thought was interesting, and I want to talk about it even though it doesn't directly relate to what we're going to look at today—it's important. They did this: they then said what did you think the job would be and what is it really? So what we're talking about now are expectations and reality. We have talked about this ad nauseam in here. When expectations are undefined and all of a sudden you're just living life, you can almost unconsciously do this process where the expectations and the reality don't match up and you're frustrated and you can't explain it. When you do explain it, now you understand frustration.

This is really interesting. They said to them, what do you think you would do? They said they thought a third of their time would be spent on planning. In fact, it was about twenty-three percent. They thought forty-two percent of their time would be spent with people. It was actually about a third. They thought they'd spend about ten percent of their time on planning and administration. In fact, they're spending eighteen percent of their time there. They thought they'd spend ten percent of their time with the customers, and they're spending four percent. They didn't think they'd spend any time on paperwork, and they're spending five percent of their time.

That's where I want to go. Remember, their number one dislike: what do I dislike most about my job? Paperwork. Well, you must be thinking they must be bogged down in it. They're spending five percent of their time on it. Now part of it is expectation and reality—I didn't expect to do it and now I am. The other thing is these guys are wired to do paperwork.

The Wrong Person in the Wrong Position

It blows me away. I don't understand it, and I watch business after business after business do it—company, company, company do it, or school do it with kids, or parents do it with their children. Listen, you can't take the guy that's the best salesman and make him the sales manager. What makes him a good salesman is what keeps him from being a good sales manager. A manager needs to organize, operate, move, paperwork, drive. A salesman's going, "I don't know. You bet we shipped it. Did we ship it? Yeah, absolutely. I think so. It'll be out in a week. We're close."

I saw a guy—we had a guy in one of our studies and the guy disappears. Just don't see him, and he was very faithful. I don't track people—that's not me, I'm not a babysitter here. So I run into him in the mall one day and I'm talking to him, and he said, "I haven't been at your thing in months." I said, "I know that." I said, "You doing all right?" He said, "No, I'm not doing all right." I said, "What's the problem?" He said, "I'm the best worker our company's ever had. In the plant, I was the guy."

We could make this widget. I knew how to make it. I was the best guy. He said, "They made me a manager," and he said, "I can't do it. I go in the back. I see them all doing things wrong. I get in, I start working, and I'm a lousy manager. All I want to do is go back into the plant."

I said, "Have you told him that?" He said, "No, I don't want to quit. I'm afraid they'll fire me, and I'm not a failure. I'm just in the wrong spot." That's a big deal.

I've learned there's one thing about property living - it is the greatest organization in the world. It is a single cell operation. It is very simple. There is nothing complex about what we do, but there's one part of property living I hate. I can't stand these tapes and CDs. I hate them.

About six years ago, it was driving me nuts. All I have to do is take the tape and give it to somebody, then go pick up the boxes. It's not that hard. Then bring them in. But it's driving me crazy. I hate it. I just absolutely hate it.

One day the Colonel said to me, "I'd like to help you out. Is there anything that you're doing that you don't like?" I said, "Al, I hate these tapes. I hate them. I never want to see another tape as long as I live." He said, "Don't ever worry about it again." Literally when I'm done, he takes the tape and then the next thing I know they're in my trunk. It's that kind of thought process.

That is not a lot to do with our lesson, but it's very helpful for you in identifying your life and seeing what God's made you unique and different. You see it with your kids. One of your kids, they're just wired this way. They're ready to go. They're gregarious. They're made to be this. Another one isn't. You've got to let that kid be that kid and nurture them. Don't try to take them and make them miserable.

Meeting Moses and His Overwhelming Responsibility

Here's the person we're looking at today. We're going to talk about responsibility. If you have your Bibles, open them to Exodus chapter 18. We're going to look at a guy who's got a huge job. His name is Moses.

We're going to look at Moses and then we're going to meet his father-in-law. Some of you didn't even know you knew him. You thought he was a Beverly Hillbilly, but he isn't. We're going to meet his father-in-law and his name is Jethro.

Let me remind you of Moses' job. He's got two million Jews that he's moving to the Promised Land. Think about this. I was listening the other day on television. They're talking about the logistics of supporting 200,000 troops in the Gulf. They're saying, just the food and the moving. That's a tenth of the number of people that Moses has here. Moses has got two million people that he's moving.

Jethro's Visit and Observation

In chapter 18 of Exodus, they're now in the process of this move. Let me read a little bit to you, just so you get a flavor of it. I'll move around through the chapter, but we're introduced to Jethro. He is Moses' father-in-law, and he comes to visit.

Verse 5: "Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came down with the sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was camped, at the mount of God. And he sent word to Moses, I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and your two sons with her."

Now Moses receives him. They come. They're there for a while. Jethro gets a great report on what's happening. Verse 9: "Jethro rejoices over all the goodness which the Lord has done Israel and delivering them out of the hand of the Egyptians."

So Jethro said, "Blessed be the Lord who delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh and who delivered the people from under the hand of Egypt. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods. Indeed, it is proven that He has dealt proudly against the people." Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt offering and made a sacrifice.

The Problem Jethro Discovers

It came the next day that Moses sat in judgment of the people. Here's what's happening now. Jethro has come. They've had that discussion. They've talked about what's going on and now here's Jethro. He's looking for a little something to do. He's putzing around and trying to find something. So Moses said, "Why don't you go to work with me? Why don't you come with me for the day?" That's exactly what he does.

Verse 13, Exodus chapter 18: "And it came the next day that Moses sat to judge the people and the people stood about Moses from morning until evening. Now when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, What is this thing you're doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge and all the people stand about you from morning until evening?"

Moses said to his father-in-law, "Because the people come to me and inquire of me. When they have a dispute it comes to me and I judge between a man and his neighbor and make known the statutes of God and His law."

Jethro's Wise Counsel

Verse 17: "And Moses' father-in-law said to him, The thing you are doing is not good." Why is it not good? See, this is the right guy. Moses is the right guy. He's doing the right thing. That's what God's called him to do. But he's going about it the wrong way.

You can have the right guy doing the right thing, but if it's not being done the right way, something's wrong. He said, "Here's the plain, simple truth." Verse 18: "You will wear yourself out. Not only yourself, but the people as well. The task is too heavy. You can't do it alone."

You as a leader - and you're going to have to work with me here, because you're going to have to do some of the work of application. I can't possibly apply this to all the different areas of your life. I'm going to talk a lot about parenting, but it may be in the area of parenting. It may be in the office. You as a leader have a responsibility. You're not made to go at this work of life alone, and especially in a position of authority.

He said, "Listen, you can't go it alone."

Things you need to do, and that's what we're going to look at. We're on the right-hand side of your outline, and there's a bullet point, and then a blank that needs to be filled in.

Supplication: Praying for the People

Let's start at the top. The bullet point on the first thing: supplication. Leaders are responsible for praying for the people. In this case, in Exodus 18, verse 19, Jethro says this: "Listen now to me, and I will give you advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people's representative before God, and bring their disputes to Him."

Now this is not the economy that we operate under today. By that I mean, we no longer need an emissary to go to God. As Christians—born-again, evangelical, fundamental, orthodox Christians—we have direct access to the Father. Remember when Jesus dies on the cross, the curtain in the temple is torn. And it was torn from top to bottom. It was a symbol that God had torn that curtain, not that man had. There's no more barrier between you and me and God. We can go directly to Him. We don't have to pray to some saint to intervene for us, or we don't have to have some human intervene for us. We have direct access to God.

What Moses is saying is, you need to be God's representative to the people. What would we pray for? I say to you, you're responsible to pray. Obviously if you have kids, you have all sorts of things you're going to pray for. If you're dealing in a business situation, what is it that you need? Let me tell you what I think you need: wisdom.

The Information Age and the Need for Wisdom

We live in the information age. We've got more information everywhere. They told me the other day, they're working on my laptop and they're loading it up. They're telling me, we're sitting in my office, and I've got three bookcases there loaded with books. They said, "We're in the process of taking essentially everything that's in this one bookcase, and it will be on your laptop when we're done here. You'll have the ability to open three or four of these, and this is where it comes in handy, is in studying." So you've got the scripture in front of you, you've got a commentary here, you've got Bible dictionaries, you've got three or four other translations around you. You'll have them on the screen, you'll be able to cut and paste. You'll literally be able to do in about 60 seconds what's taking you 15 minutes to do.

All I need to do is teach this thing how to teach, and I'm done. This is perfect. It's the information age. Everybody's got information. We don't need more information. We need wisdom.

Now God says this: if you lack wisdom, all you have to do is ask. So what might you be praying for? Well, these people that you're leading, you might pray for wisdom. Have you thought about that? Maybe you're the boss. Have you been praying for the people in your office? Maybe you own the business. Have you been praying for the people that work for you? The family, whatever it is. First responsibility: prayer.

Education: Teaching the Rules

Here's the second point. Bullet point: education. Leaders are responsible for teaching the rules. Here's what Jethro says: "Teach them the decrees and the law."

Now I want to make a point. The last thing I want to do in any way, shape, or form is insult you. I'm not out to insult you. But I want to make this point, and it's so basic that you might miss it. It's so basic that it easily could fly under the radar screen and never even get spoken. So let me just say it so you get your arms around it. If I'm going to teach them the decrees and the laws, then there must be rules and regulations. I don't want to let that go for right now. It's not just teach them. He's saying, teach them God's decrees and God's law. Teach them the truth.

The Reality of Truth in a Relativistic World

Tuesday night on Larry King, MacArthur was on there. Max Lucado was on there. I don't know if any of you saw it. A Methodist bishop was on there. A Catholic priest. Bob Jones III. They're having this discussion about God and war, what's God's view on war, and all these different things. Those are fine. But always in that discussion, when King's doing it, they get down to the idea of salvation and heaven.

Once they got there, now they're saying, "Listen, do you believe you must believe that yours is the true faith?" And of course MacArthur's saying, "Well yeah, sure I do. I believe this is true and this is the way. Jesus said 'I'm the way, the truth, and the life.'" The Methodist bishop could not have been worse. He said, "My God is so big that He can save anybody in any religion, through any religion." Well this is just goofy. Essentially the Catholic priest said exactly the same thing. "I'm not going to limit God."

You don't have to limit God. God limits Himself. God can't act contrary to His nature. Can God do anything and everything? No. God can't sin. God can't do anything. God cannot act contrary to His nature. And He can't take a sinner who's unrepentant and forgive him and let him into heaven.

Teaching Absolute Truth

There are rules and regulations. There is a way, and it's a narrow way. It's a hard way. Here you go: it's not Tom's way, it's God's way. Here's what He says, and it's either true or it isn't. If it's true, it's true and if it isn't, it isn't. Now you shouldn't have to write that down, but we've lost track of that anymore.

When this guy says, "Jesus is my Lord and my Savior," then either He is the Lord and Savior or He isn't. You see that? Now, my responsibility is to teach this stuff. That's what He says. It's education. It's to come along. It's not to take anything for granted.

I'm talking to a friend, and he relates this story to me. If you're in management here, and I don't mean necessarily you have people working for you, this is a great illustration. This guy runs into his buddy, and he said, "How you doing?" He said, "Terrible. I've got to fire my receptionist today." He said, "Oh, that's hard. I know it's hard." He said, "What's the problem?" He goes, "Supposed

Communication of Rules and Standards

Here's a perfect example of why communication matters. A boss was complaining to a consultant about his receptionist. She's supposed to be there at 8, shows up at 8:10. She dresses in jeans and t-shirts and she's our out front person. I give her special projects to do, she just files them. The consultant said, "That's tough. Here's the question: What did she say when you talked to her about it?" The boss replied, "Well, I never talked to her about it. I just assumed that if it's 8 o'clock..." The consultant said, "Oh, you might talk to her."

The consultant forgot about the conversation, but ran into the boss about three months later. He asked, "How's work?" The boss said, "Great." "How's the receptionist?" "I got the greatest receptionist in the world." "Oh wow, where'd you find her?" "No, no, no, it's the same gal."

"Well, what happened?" The boss explained: "I went in to her and said, 'Hey, I'm going to have to let you go here.' She said, 'Why?' I said, 'Well, because you're supposed to be here at 8 and you get here at 8:10.' She said, 'Well, there isn't anybody here at 8 and I showed up one day at 8:10 and nobody said anything, so I figured that was all right. If you want me here at 8 o'clock, I'll show up at 8 o'clock.'"

He continued: "I got a couple other things. You can't dress like that." She said, "Well, everybody in the back dresses like that, so I just figured that's the course. I used to work in a high-rise downtown. I got business suits. You want me to wear business suits? Then I'll wear a business suit."

"Listen, you get these special projects of mine and you just file them, don't do anything with them." She said, "Well, you give me these things and say, 'Hey, these are special projects.' I don't know what to do with a special project." All of a sudden, he realized he never taught her the fundamental basics of the job.

This goes for kids. This goes in every area of your life. As a leader, you're responsible for the communication of the rules and regulations.

Keep It Simple

Here's something important - what I just said is about as basic as it can be. You don't need to make this stuff difficult. We have complicated life to such a degree that we've made everything complex.

I've told this story a billion times, but I'm watching the Golf Channel one night, and Arnold Palmer's talking about teaching his grandson golf. I mean, that's pretty cool - taking golf lessons from my grandpa, Arnold. His grandson's asking him about swing planes and wrist angles, and Arnold said, "Look, set up right, grip it right, and swing it, just swing it through. We've got all this complex stuff, and we've made everything way too difficult."

Demonstration

Here's the third bullet point: demonstration. Leaders are responsible for modeling the lifestyle. Show them the way to live. You teach them these things, now that you've taught it to them, now you show it. The messenger is as important as the message.

Here's a great statistic. I have no idea where I got it, and I have no clue if it's accurate, but it sure fits the illustration. Eighty-five percent of education in elementary school is the teacher, not the curriculum. Once a student is in there, in about the third grade, the number one influence in their life is the teacher. It's the model. It's the demonstration.

I had a guy that came to see me the other day with some concerns about me. His concern was, "I think you talk too much about television and about different things, and I think you're setting up people that there's a lifestyle here that's contrary to biblical lifestyle." I said, "Okay, well, I need to take a look at that." I do watch a lot of television, but I don't think you need to equate television with survival. I've never seen Survivor. I don't know what it's about. I watched a brain surgery the other night. I mean, it's not a nail-biter. I guess if you're the guy, it is, but it's not something that's going to just rock you all over.

Everyone Is Watching

Here's what he's saying to me, and it was very important: everybody's watching everything. You understand that? They're watching you. You've got to demonstrate this to them.

Is anybody going to sign up for a marriage seminar, "How to Keep Your Marriage Together," by Elizabeth Taylor? Is anybody going to go to J-Lo, or Bill Clinton on ethics in the office? Who's going to go to this thing? Nobody cares, and they may give you great information, but the messenger - you've got to get control.

You have to understand, as a leader, they're watching, and let me tell you a dirty little secret: a majority of them are hoping you screw up. They want you to fall. They want you to screw up, because now you're no longer an obstacle to them. Now they can say, "You're just like everybody else."

That's why when that lie comes out that the Christian divorce rate is the same as that in the world, the world loves that. That is not true. There is no way that's true. It may be equal among people who go to church, but you don't think that everybody who goes to church is a Christian, do you? It's like everybody who tees it up on Monday at Tempe Municipal is a golfer. They're not golfers. They're out playing golf, but they're not golfers, are they? You see that? You demonstrate this.

Application

Here's the fourth thing, bullet point: application. Leaders are responsible for assigning the responsibilities. He's building this case. He said, "Teach him these decrees and laws. Show him the way to live. Show him what to do. Show him the duties they are to perform." Now you begin to...

Multiplication Through Proper Assignment

Here's a great statistic: eighty percent of American workers say they're underworked. I believe that's true. In all the offices I was ever in, I never saw anybody working at 100%. I saw people putting in long hours. They might be there 10 or 12 hours, but they're only doing six hours of work.

I saw a study where this business owner proved this point. He had 10 people working for him and fired two of them. The other eight did more work, were more satisfied, and the business was more profitable. I don't think people are just lazy looking for a way to not work, but the system is almost created that way. Apply them. Show them what to do. Tell them what to do.

The Principle of Multiplication

Fifth point: it's multiplication. Here's what Jethro says: "Select capable men from among all the people, men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain." Let me stop there for a second. They hate dishonest gain, even if it's legal dishonest gain.

I'm going to sound here like some sort of sniveling, wimp liberal, and I don't want to do that, but there's something that I find morally repugnant. When you have a CEO that's run the stock and the company into the ground, and now you're going to pay this guy millions of dollars to go away. Or some guy that's not turned this thing profitable, and he's taken home millions and millions and millions. I think there's something wrong there. That's just me. I think there is legal dishonest gain.

But he said, you find somebody who's a God-fearing man who hates dishonest gain. Here's the important point: "And appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens." So you see how it's building? Teach them the rules, show them how to do it, begin to assign them tasks, and you're going to take this guy and give him ten guys, and this guy and give him fifty, and this guy and give him a hundred, and this guy and give him a thousand.

Acknowledging Unequal Abilities

Two points. Number one: that acknowledges we aren't all equal. We aren't all equal. Now we're equal in God's eyes, right? And we're equal under the law, absolutely. But we're not all equal in ability, are we? When I turn on the television, I don't look at Michael Jordan and me and say, "Oh, we're two equal people when it comes to basketball." It's not the case. We're not equal.

Trying to make everybody equal runs contrary to the fact of creation. We're not all equal in abilities, in talents, in gifts. That's just the way it is.

Here's the second thing: not everybody, since we're not equal, can handle similar tasks. If you take somebody that can handle ten people and you assign them a hundred, they can't do the job, can they? They don't have the ability. They don't have the capacity. They don't have the skill. They don't have the technique. They don't have the knowledge.

Let me give you the flip side, and we don't often think of this. If you take a guy that can handle a thousand and you give him ten, he's frustrated by midday Sunday. His mind is racing, his talent is there, it's way beyond the job.

The Call to Delegate

Here's what He's saying. Listen, Moses, remember the background? We have an issue here. You have a job, you're going to kill yourself. The work is way too hard. You don't need to be doing all this stuff. Here's what you need to do: you need to delegate. This is what we hear all the time. Delegate, delegate, delegate. In fact, that's our last point.

Another point: delegation. Leaders are responsible to share the load. "Have them serve as judges for the people at all times. But have them bring every difficult case to you. The simple cases they decide. That will make your load lighter." There's nothing wrong with having a lighter load. There's nothing wrong with saying, "You know what? I'm not exhausted at the end of the day." There's nothing wrong with working smart.

Working Smart, Not Just Hard

You're in a position—we're focused now, I'm going to stay on work for now—where we understand as we look around that there are people who have different abilities. Some of them are wired to operate a hundred or a thousand people. Some ten. Some can barely watch out for themselves. There is nothing noble about killing yourself in the process of work.

I want to go back to this. Moses is God's guy. God called Moses to this job. Moses is going and doing the right thing. He's judging the people, but he's not doing it in the most effective way. If you're a leader, you have a responsibility, and one of the responsibilities is to develop the people under you and energize the people under you.

I run into this all the time. I'm talking to a guy, and my question is, "What are you going to do this summer?" I mean, once it gets this warm, I'm thinking about summer vacation. "What are you going to do this summer? Where are you going to go? Are you going to go up to the mountains?" The guy says, "You know what? I haven't had a vacation in five years."

Okay, hang on now. That's stupid. That's dumb. Why would you not have a vacation in five years? Even if you love what you're doing, you need to get away from it to get recharged. Now, my view on vacation has changed. I used to think all year about those two weeks, so that I could get away and do whatever it is. Now, I want to go away, literally, to recreate myself, so I can come back and work harder, smarter, better.

Applying the Lesson

Really important point. God drops in these doctrinal truths to us, generally in the New Testament, and gives us these great illustrations in the Old Testament. Jethro and Moses may be great illustrations for you. You may be just like Moses. You may be that you're slugging along, the right person doing the right thing, but you're killing yourself doing it. Here's what He's saying.

You need to start to pray for those people. You need to start to look around and demonstrate to people how to live. You need to start to assign these things, delegate these things, and begin to allow people to be the people God designed them to be.

Parenting and Leadership Principles

Let me close it with parenting. The same principles are true in parenting. Sarah came to me one day. I think Sarah was about 15 at the time. I said, "How are you doing?" She said, "I'm fine." I said, "Well, you don't sound fine." She said, "Dad, I just want to grow up. I just want to grow up. I just want to be an adult."

I said, "Oh, Sarah, okay. I understand that. I'm for you. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to start treating you like an adult a lot of the time. I'm going to let you screw up a bunch of things, but I'm not going to let you screw up any big things." It was interesting. At that moment, she began to change.

I would say, this is back when she was dating—remember, Nick? This is back when we were dating Nick. They'd come in, and they'd say, "What time do you want us home, Mr. Schrader?" I would say, "What time do you think you should be home, Nick?" He'd say, "Well, 11:15." I'd say, "Okay." See, I would have said 12 or 12:30, but old Nick knew 11:15 was the right time. All of a sudden now, you're beginning to raise those kids to release them.

Releasing Our Children

I'm getting now, because my girls are at the point where, now Haley's married. Sarah's moving out of the house here in another few months. I'm getting a lot of people with kids saying, "I don't know. I don't know. I'm worried about my kids. I want to hold on to my kids." They're scared.

You don't need to be scared. You train them. You set boundaries. You pray for them. You let them see a real converted life, and then God takes care of the rest of the stuff. That's the way it is. You can't follow them around. You can't make them something they aren't.

Be smart, though. If you've got a kid and this kid says, "Listen, I just want to run a yogurt store and a shirt shack over on the beach," don't spend a quarter of a million dollars sending them to Brown to school. You're better off taking that and buying shirt inventory for them than anything else. Get your ego out of the way.

Getting Our Ego Out of the Way

It's not so cool to sit at the club and they say, "Where's Biff now? Biff, is it Brown?" That sounds really good. It's not so cool to say, "Well, Biff is an assistant manager of the yogurt store." It doesn't matter, men and women, if Biff is happy doing what God's called him to be and gifted, then I don't care what he's doing.

The only thing stopping him there, and I will say this in close, is your ego. At that point, it's all about you. It's not even about what's best for the kid. Leadership, it translates into all of those areas.

The Fundamental Principles

The fundamental principles are always the same. People are watching. People hate hypocrites. Teach them. Educate them. Release them. Let them go. Develop them. That's your responsibility.

Next week, we look at this issue of boldness in this whole process. We'll pick up right there next week.

Prayer

Father, thank You for the truth. Thank You for Your word. Thank You for Jethro and Moses. We look at these two guys, and when we boil away all of the problems that we have, just as looking back over thousands of years, and we look at just the human dilemma, it's as fresh as today's problems in the office. God, thank You for giving us models, for teaching us, for giving us truth.

Father, as we leave this place, help us understand that we're leaders. We need to pray for those that are following us, those that are watching us, that we need to demonstrate and teach principles, and rules, and regulations, and especially Your truth. God, thanks for the men and women that are here today. I pray that You use this time to touch their life. That they take a single truth out of this, something that You use to touch their minds, to remind them of something that they've known, but have kind of neglected, or to teach them something brand new.

God, let us be wise like Jethro, hardworking like Moses. God, let us be Your kids, doing Your work, the right way, for the right reason. Father, we love You. We love You because You first loved us. We love You because of Jesus, and we pray to You in His name. Amen.

Have a great week. We'll see you next week.