This post is part 3 in my series on leadership development. This post goes hand in glove with my last post on filtering to find leaders using precision harvesting, so check out that one if you haven’t already.
“Peter denied Jesus three times, James and John fought over who was the greatest, and Thomas doubted the risen Lord, but God still used them! He can USE YOU TOO!!!”
How many times have you scrolled through your newsfeed and seen another post saying something like this? How many times have you heard this illustration in a sermon?
It seems like the twelve apostles are used as examples of God using a bunch of bumbling believers to accomplish great things, but I think this misses the mark. Yes, the twelve weren’t perfect, but all of them (except one) showed a consistent pattern of being faithful, available and teachable (FAT) toward Jesus.
If You Want To Be A Movement Catalyst, Stop Investing In Non-Multipliers
Filtering. It’s the hardest part in identifying movement leaders.
What Does It Mean to Be FAT?
Leaders vote with their feet. You can’t identify leaders based on potential, but on action. Faithful, available, and teachable is a helpful, biblical framework that is exemplified by the Twelve that shows what qualities you should be looking for.
Jesus prays about the Twelve’s faithfulness in John 17 by saying they…
Obey God: “you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.” (John 17:6)
Glorify Jesus: “glory has come to me through them.” (John 17:10)
Are sent into the World, even when the world hates them: “I have given them your word and the world has hated them… As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.” (John 17:14, 18)
The Twelve were available because…
They left everything to follow Jesus: At once [Peter and Andrew] left their nets and followed Jesus…[James and John] left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed Jesus (Mark 1: 18, 20)
They spent time doing ministry with Jesus for three years: “After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him” (Luke 8:1)
The Twelve were Teachable because…
They accepted Jesus’s words: “For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them.” (John 17:8)
They believed who Jesus was: “They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me” (John 17:8)
What Does It Mean to NOT Be FAT?
The Twelve showed what it looks like to be FAT, but there are plenty of examples in the Gospels of what a FAT person does not look like.
Jesus talks about the one who is not faithful by saying that they hear and do not obey: “But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7:26-27)
Jesus calls others to follow him, but they are not available because they make excuses of what they need to do instead: “Jesus said to another man, ‘Follow me.’ But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Still another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.’ Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’” (Luke 9:59-62)
Jesus finds those who are not teachable because they doubt and push back against his wisdom: “The Jews who heard these words [from Jesus] were again divided. Many of them said, ‘He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?’” (John 10:19-20)
What A Movement Leader Should Do
Leaders vote with their feet. You measure whether or not a disciple is FAT by what they do, not by what they say they will do. Faithful means they obey Jesus and teach others to obey Jesus. Available means they are in touch with you multiple times a week. Teachable means they accept what you have to say.
But what does that look like in practice?
Here’s some qualities I’ve noticed from FAT leaders I’ve been around:
They set simple and measurable goals for following Jesus and go out of their way to update you on how it went
They feel fear or anxiety, but don’t let it get in the way of obeying Jesus
They reach out to you, and don’t wait for you to reach out to them
They are curious, not critical, when asking questions
They apologize for taking up too much of your time
They are like a cat on a screen door
They change their habits immediately when they learn something new from the Word
Here are some qualities of disciples who I hoped would become FAT leaders, but never quite made it:
They see clear patterns for ministry from Jesus and the early church and make excuses for why they don’t need to follow what they learn
They are excited about God’s mission when they are with you, but don’t do anything about it when they are on their own
They consistently don’t reach the goals they have set for themselves
They are flaky
Their schedule is so busy that they can’t meet with you often, if ever
I can so easily get excited with someone’s potential that I overlook clear flaws they have. Every few weeks I need to do a FAT assessment to make sure that I am focused on the right people.
Remember, multiplication rises and falls on leadership development. The first step in leadership development is identifying the right people. Do this by looking for godly character, then use precision harvesting to filter for FAT people.
Once you identify the right people, you’ll need to move on to developing them…stay tuned.
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Doing an assessment every few weeks is a great call and a great reminder. It's so easy to get 'stuck' in relationships that aren't going anywhere because we don't take time to evaluate.
Excellent.