We’re finalizing our 3-part series titled SEE. KNOW. TRUST. This time, we’ll examine the TRUST aspect of entrusting leadership.
TRUST
I remember the first time Tommy Nelson, the senior pastor of Denton Bible Church, asked me to share at a men’s Bible study he had been leading for years. There were over a hundred men from various backgrounds that showed up each week to hear teaching from the Word of God. My experience sharing publicly, up to that point, had been very little. I was nervous to say the least.
However, a year or so before I was asked to share at this study, I had attended a discipleship class that Tommy offered at Denton Bible. Discipleship was an enigma to me. Something we all liked to talk about, but not something that any I knew could define. That all changed during those three weeks.
After the last session, I eagerly waited to walk out with him, because there was something that had been stirred within me during that time that I still haven’t been able to quell. Something that I had to learn more about. So, as we walked out of the fellowship hall that night, I asked him to meet with me for breakfast so I could learn more about discipleship. He agreed, and we went to Le Peep in Denton that following week.
To this day I still remember that conversation. There was talk about missions, about life, about the Word of God, and about making our lives count. As we left breakfast that morning, I asked to meet again. He agreed, but I had to read a book (Church History in Plain Language) before we could meet. Up to this point in my life I had only read to get by classes and exams (college was years behind me). Like some, I simply did not read for pleasure or for continuing education. Well, suffice it to say, I read that book (505 pages) in 10 days. I couldn’t put it down, and also I was challenged. We met after I read the book, and then I asked to meet again. He had the audacity to tell me to read the same book (Church History in Plain Language) again before could meet. I read it a second time (took me 30 days this time), and we subsequently met again. Over the course of that year or so, he had me read books that covered philosophy, history, a biography, and much more. I read and I read…just about every evening. We would then meet, discuss life, ministry, the Word of God, and then I would read another book to meet again. This type of arrangement went on for over a year until he asked me to share at his men’s Bible study that morning.
Looking back–after now being on staff at Denton Bible for over 8 years, and being over a decade removed from sharing at that Bible study–I realize that I was earning the right to have the trust of Tommy Nelson. He wanted to see me, to get to know me, and then he would trust me with responsibility. I had to earn the right, and he had to have the courage to challenge me to be faithful.
How Does This Apply To Us Today?
- Don’t give trust away too quickly.
- In an amazon-prime-convenience-based-throw-away culture, it’s easy give responsibility away too quickly. Don’t do it. I’ve done it, and regretted it.
- Take the long road, and let the gift of time prove someone’s salt.
- Have the courage to make someone wait, sacrifice, and earn the right to be heard.
- Often, in acquaintance-type relationships, we don’t want relationships to be awkward in the least bit. Therefore, we can find ourselves avoiding any form or semblance of confrontation.
- Let the awkwardness of making someone wait and be uncomfortable prove the character and fortitude of someone you are discipling and getting ready for responsibility.
- Once faithfulness has been proven, let the person have the right to fail (or succeed).
- As the person you are raising up has proven himself, get out of the way and let them run. Don’t micromanage.
- Don’t rescue them from failure either. Give your advice–if warranted–and let them own the success and failure. Otherwise, you run the risk of patronization.
- Waive the flag of reproductive discipleship.
- Model reproductive discipleship by not engaging in bottleneck discipleship. Simply put, keep making disciples of new people…constantly.
- Raise the standard for those you are trusting with responsibility and leadership to do the same. The easiest way to do that is to have them come up with their own plan of discipleship, and then hold them accountable.
“The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”
2 Timothy 2:2
— June 19, 2020