Last September my wife and I began a new season of life and ministry.
When everything was still in a state of flux we were introduced to Dave Jewitt from Your One Degree. He helped us define the most important thing we should be doing for the rest of our lives and has been helping us walk in that thing at least 80% or our time. It has been a very profitable and rewarding experience.
Dave sends a daily encouragement that I highly recommend you get. Near the bottom of this main page there is a subscription form.
Recently he made an excellent point about promoting leaders. I have always said promote faithfulness and calling above gifting. He says it this way:
Daniel 2:47,48 The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.” Then the king placed Daniel in a high position.
Daniel had just interpreted a dream the king had recently had. The stakes were high. The king was going to kill Daniel and all the other wise men in the kingdom if no one stepped forward to interpret the dream. But there was a catch: the king could not describe the dream to anyone. God showed Daniel both the dream and the interpretation after much prayer by Daniel and his friends.
This passage provides the following guidance for a leader in promoting others:
- Promote those who are honest, not just articulate.
- Promote those who do not take the credit deserved by others.
- Promote those truly committed to the cause/organization, not their own.
- Promote those who have high-caliber friends and associates.
- Promote those of demonstrated character and competence, not just those who make you feel important and comfortable.
Lord, please keep me from the trap of promoting the wrong people.
In the book “Sticky Teams“, which I also highly recommend, Larry Osborne says “The best time to remove someone from the team is before they get on.
Make sure your adding and promoting for the right reasons.
