Posted June 5, 2012
Recently I was reading the story of Jesus confrontation with Zaccheaus and I noticed at least 10 principles that apply to all of us when choosing leaders to help us in our work.
First the story:
Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.
When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.”
Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.
Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!”
Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” (Luke 19:1-10 NLT)
Now the principles:
Success in ministry has a lot to do with choosing the right leaders. Good ones will minimize your weaknesses or maximize your strengths. Jesus spent hours in conversation with his father before choosing the men who he would pour his life into. I’m not sure this encounter was as random as it looks. I think possibly Zaccheaus became a part of Jesus extended leadership circle. I also think he was carefully chosen.
The next great leader may not be the obvious choice. Most people wrote Zaccheaus off as a short little crook. Jesus saw thru the obvious to his hidden potential. Many people believe that Zaccheaus was actually the Apostle Mathias who was chosen to be one of the Twelve when Judas betrayed Jesus. Some believe he went on to become the Bishop of Ceaserea. At any rate, he became more than he was before his encounter with Jesus. If you are going to build a great team you’re going to have to get good at looking thru people to their God given destiny.
Choose people who go out of their way to get involved in what you’re doing. Zaccheaus didn’t let the fact that he too short and the crowd too big keep him from seeing Jesus. There are probably some people who are making a major effort to be close to you. Don’t overlook them. If you don’t have to talk them into following, you probably won’t have to talk them into staying.
Don’t be so focused on what you are doing that you don’t look up every once in a while. Jesus could have missed Zaccheaus because of the crowd. He paused and looked up. Do you do that? “Who is new? Why are they here? Could this be the person we’ve been praying for to fill a gap in our team?” You’ll never see them unless you look up.
Do your homework. Jesus had him at “Zaccheaus”. We love it when somebody who shouldn’t knows our name. Be that person. If possible, study the list. Read the roster. Surprise them. The simple act of knowing their name may be the opening that sets them on a path to their destiny.
Don’t be afraid to issue an invitation and challenge right away. Jesus didn’t wait till he’d been to the Newcomers/Membership Class and proven his faithfulness. He invited Zaccheaus to spend the afternoon with him. “And by the way, let’s throw a party at your house.”
Don’t be surprised when the old guard gets their undies in a bunch. They are upset that Zaccheaus doesn’t pass the background check. When you take a risk with a promising but raw new leader, there may be some on your team that won’t understand. Be respectful, but sometimes you’ve got to follow your gut.
Don’t under estimate the transforming power of food 
Jesus invited him to a meal, not a Bible study. Food is disarming, socially inviting, and encourages meaningful conversation. Build food into your team building budget. (Better yet, recruit short rich crooks. They can pay their own way.)
People are more likely to respond to grace than rules. Zaccheaus knew the rules. He was more than willing to follow them when extended grace. When you build a culture of grace you’ll have less to fight about.
When salvation comes to the whole household, the potential for multiplication is staggering. I look at my own family as an example. Because someone didn’t overlook the leadership potential in my “short little crook” grandfather, there is a “household” of Surratt’s reproducing kingdom life all over the planet.
Can you see other leadership principles in the story of Zaccheaus?
Category: ARC, Leadership, Pastors
Tags: choosing a team, Dream Team, leadership, Luke 19:1-10, Volunteers, Zaccheaus |
NEVER JUDGE A BOOK BY IT’S COVER, WE ARE CREATIONS OF GOD. WE HAVE GREAT POTENTIAL; SOMETIMES WE FIND IT WITHIN OURSELF, SOMETIMES SOMEONE HELPS US FIND IT.
Comment by JANIE GIORGI — June 5, 2012 @ 12:04 pm
Great post! One line did jump out to me about “having a gut feeling”. I think one of the best explanations for how this really works in our brain was a video from some of the TED talks online series. If you haven’t already seen it, I thought you might enjoy it!
http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html
Comment by Robbin Knight — June 5, 2012 @ 4:53 pm
Brillant post Gregg. I love how you’ve filled it with ‘takeaway knowledge’
Also love the bit in food. Jesus knew how to throw a party & how important food was.
Comment by Nics Cahill — June 5, 2012 @ 5:54 pm
“Don’t underestimate the power of God to transform”
That’s a great truth. We can never assume the place of the Holy Spirit in choosing how He decides to transform a life. God help us!
Thanks for sharing this.
Comment by Joseph Iregbu — June 21, 2012 @ 6:44 am
[...] Jesus and Zaccheaus – Finding Leaders (10 Things) [...]
Pingback by Jesus and Zaccheaus – Finding Leaders (10 Things) | Shepherds and Sheep — August 24, 2012 @ 12:09 pm
Thank you for the insight.
My family is new to Seacoast and it was for me quite a culture shock from old school New England churches. We stuck with Seacoast (for me it was largely the sermons) and now I can’t imagine going anywhere else.
Thanks
Dan
Comment by Dan — September 13, 2012 @ 9:50 pm
Something terrible has happened to the home church group that your missionary/pastor Leigh Jackson founded under her direct supervision and blessing here in Chania Crete Greece. You need to know about it and rectify the situation.
Leigh Jackson came and being the sweet, loving woman that she is she encouraged unity among church groups, love, forgiveness etc. Unfortunately she taught these things to a community that already had a problem admitting their mistakes, taking responsibility for their actions, confessing their sins. It was great meeting her and being her friend. Until it was time to apply her teachings. That was when things went terribly wrong.
At Christmas time a Syrian man, faithful churchgoer to the home church group the Leigh Jackson founded and attended, beat up his wife really bad, beat up his 14 yr old mentally challenged daughter really bad, shook his 6 month old baby and threw his 2 yr old daughter across the room. The wife came to ask for shelter at my house, fearing for her life-I was her friend and the only one who lived in close proximity. She spent the first night crying and confiding things that she never told anyone in the church group before. It turns out that she and her fourteen year stepdaughter had been beat up on a regular basis. Also her fourteen year mentally challenged stepdaughter had been molested by her cousin and her father had chosen to punish her and cover up the crime.
You can imagine my shock and horror at finding out these things. That night we tried to contact Peter Needham the pastor who worked alongside Leigh Jackson. Since he is the Syrian man’s pastor we felt that he needed to know. We were unable to get a hold of him. The next morning we contacted Leigh Jackson. We asked for her help in practical matters. She was very helpful, picked up the fourteen year old, took her clothes shopping etc. After four days at my house the abused wife decided to pick up her pieces, pull her self together ,accept her husband’s apology and go back home. I understand that abused women do this a lot. I also understand that because of her Syrian upbringing no matter what I said to her, the woman could not possibly fathom a life where she was able to live independently. I accept that to her, covering up the fact that a child was molested is completely normal. She was raised in a cruel society where a woman is at fault when she gets raped for shaming her family.
What I do not understand is the church’s lack of reaction to this. I’m not sure what was said to the couple behind closed doors but right after this the church helped them financially and has continued to do so as if nothing had happened.
Of course I could not stand by and let my friend and her children go back to their life of abuse. I contacted the child protection services, and then filled charges with the local DA. I got a call yesterday from the DA. They want me to testify on Friday. Unfortunately the DA informed me that the neighbors that are actual eye witnesses to the abuse have backed down. The Syrian man has successfully intimidated them. So I will go on Friday and stand alone. Where is the church? Where is Leigh Jackson? Where is Peter and Mary Needham? Why did they not all show up and file charges as well? Why am I doing this alone?
And then it hit me: as a Californian pastor-minister Leigh Jackson is a mandatory child abuse reporter. Her behavior in this case is not just negligent it is downright criminal.
Do you know what happened after I filed charges with the DA? The Syrian man told his wife that child protective services were coming to the house to take her young children away. Her neighbor tried to tell her that this was a lie. The wife said “I will kill anyone who tries to take my children away”. With one simple lie the Syrian man managed to alienate his wife from the authorities that would help her. Since I ‘m the one who called CPS she feels I will cause her to loose her children so she no longer speaks to me. She will not tell the truth in court. It will come down to his word against mine. Do you know how much more powerful my testimony would be had Leigh Jackson done what was required of her by law?
Do you train the people you send over to plant churches how to deal with difficult situations? Do you teach them anything other than love and forgiveness and letting things go? People need to be equipped with more things than jolly loving charismatic personalities. There is a life of an abused woman at stake here. There is also the life of a fourteen year old mentally handicapped girl who is also a victim of a sexual molestation cover-up. There are two babies here who will grow up to be beat up on a regular basis. What are you going to do about this? How are you going to rectify the criminal negligence of your pastor/missionary?
There is an old Dutch story about the little boy who noticed the leak on the damn. He stuck his finger in the leak and waited for the adults to come help him. He couldn’t walk away because by the time he got help the leak would get bigger and the whole city would flood. Since it was dinner time none of the adults walked by, nobody noticed. The boy spent the whole night at the damn with his finger stuck in the hole. By that time the adults found him the little boy had frozen to death, but his finger was faithfully stuck in the whole, managing to save the city from flooding. This is exactly how I feel, my finger stuck in the hole, trying to prevent disaster. The pastors, the ones who were legally obligated to deal with this, have gone home for dinner, and have left me standing here alone. My life is not in any danger. But that woman’s life is. The children’s life is at risk as well. If I go testify all that she confided in me in court and the judge decides that my testimony isn’t enough, who is going to stop the Syrian man from going home and beating his wife to death for telling me the truth? Who is going to stop the flood then?
The least you could do is send Leigh Jackson back as soon as possible with instructions to go straight to the court house, the DA’s office and file charges against the man. The absolute least you could do. And for God’s sake advise your church plant to quit financing the Syrian man, to quit using him as their “go to” guy whenever they need help with something. The man is a dangerous predator ,he is not to be trusted. Please advise them not to fund him. That is plain common sense. If the church is concerned about the children’s well being and nutrition have them donate food, milk, eggs, bread. But we all know that the children’s well being is the furthest thing from their mind- OR ELSE THEY WOULD HAVE FILED CHARGES AGAINST THE SYRIAN MAN and I would not have to deal with this alone.
Understand that this is no laughing matter. Understand that this is not just a complaint. This is me screaming for help. I am facing a sluggish court system, judges striking due to pay cuts ,underpaid policemen prone to accepting bribes, social workers who are willing to help but their hands are tied. The “worldly” social workers and the “worldly” emergency help line volunteers are thanking me for my involvement, telling me that most people look the other way and choose not to help in such instances. The world sees the value of what I am doing. Your church plant on the other hand thinks I am a nuisance , that I should accept the man’s repentance and let it go. They think that I am overreacting and my goal is to get the Syrian couple to divorce. What could I possibly gain from them divorcing? Am I the only sane person here? Are we not to put the safety of the children above all else? Are we not to defend those who cannot speak for themselves? Should the church not concern itself with justice being served?
Your church plant is looking for people to show up in court and defend the Syrian man as character witnesses. Each member leaves at least a 40 minute ride away from the Syrian family. The communication between the church members and the Syrian family is limited because of language barriers. They only see each other for two hours in church every week. They offer the Syrian family financial assistance, so whenever they need help the Syrian man shows up willing to mow lawns, move furniture and give people rides. As you can imagine whenever they see him he is on his best behavior. Can they in good conscience testify under oath that they know him well and he is in fact a good guy?
As I am writing this I fear that my pleas will fall on deaf ears and yet I still have to try. I am doing this so you cannot say that you weren’t told. I am doing this so you cannot say that you weren’t given a chance to act. On judgment day God will not ask you “how many people got up when you gave an altar call”, or “how many people said the sinner’s prayer in your building”, or “how many people sat in your pews”? He will say “did you defend my precious little ones? Did you report that my fourteen year old precious daughter Anna F. was molested to the authorities? Did you let her father sweep it under the rug? When you were told that my fourteen year old precious Anna F. was pulling her hair out, completely traumatized by her father’s physical abuse and her cousins sexual abuse what did you do?
If you choose to do nothing then you have innocent blood on your hands. May God have mercy on your soul.
Maria Willess
Comment by Maria Willess — October 16, 2012 @ 1:50 pm