ADDITION TO MULTIPLICATION

So often, leaders get stuck in the mire of doing and working in their organization instead of on it. What does it mean to work “on” the organization? It means to zoom out and think through how you and the team are accomplishing your mission and goals. It means thinking through who is on your team and who is missing from your team. It means not just considering what you’re doing but who you’re empowering. Many leaders unintentionally fall into one of two traps that inhibit multiplication. First, the trap of guilt, which is seen in trying to do it all. They feel they’re being “responsible” by taking it on. After all, they don’t want to “bother anyone,” and in that mindset, they work, work, work and become “Do It All Danny.” The problem is that Danny gets burned out and eventually quits or is forced to quit because every decision has to cross his desk, creating a bottleneck for growth.

When we read the Parable of the Stewards in Luke 19, we learn a simple yet powerful truth. Those Jesus commended as “good stewards” were those who multiplied what He gave them.

As leaders, we can’t multiply when we don’t risk, don’t empower, and don’t build.

In any given week as a Senior Pastor, there are a myriad of things I can do and things that need to be done. Virtually every Senior Pastor is effectively leading himself. Sure, he (or she) is accountable to the board but as far as what they prioritize and spend their time doing is up to them. They decide how many hours they’ll spend on personal study, how many hours on sermon prep, how much time on training their team or creating protocols for their team to implement, or how much time is spent on discipling someone who is potentially a great leader. That last part is something I’ve tried very hard to do over the years, and virtually every time I’ve done that, I am so glad I did.

If you’re a business leader you’ll have to consider how you can do this in your context but let me explain how I do this in mine as a Pastor. I allocate time to think through who is doing well as a lay leader (volunteer) and who might have that spark in their eye for leadership. Then I find time in my schedule and their’s to meet up and do some one-on-one discipleship. I find time in my schedule to mentor them - to draw out of them the gift of God within them. I ask questions. I dig deep. I try to help them discern what my their calling or spiritual gifts be. Then I try to coach them into finding ways to use that gift for King Jesus, whether that is within the ministry of Rock of Grace or not.

I’m also a small business owner, so in that role as President of Kings Home Properties, I do my best to empower a small team to handle all the turnover cleaning. During the renovaiton of a home, I schedule the subcontractors to handle repairs and the workload. 95% of communication is automated via built-in systems and that time saved enables me to continue doing what I love most and am most gifted at doing: teaching, building, and pastoring.

The first trap we feel is guilt. We think “I’m the leader. I need to be responsible enough to do the work.” But that’s a trap. Leadership is about leading others to use their gifts to do the work. Finding and training, and equipping is the work we as leaders are called to do! If the first trap is guilt, the second trap is ego. We don’t like to use that word because, after all, we don’t have an “ego!” Of course you do! We all do. Read any psychology book and you’ll soon discover that we all have an ego. The question is not whether we have an ego, but rather we are aware of how often we try to protect it or amplify it due to fears or ambitions. Our ego insists, “I can’t really trust anyone else to do as good of a job as me so I’ll just do it.” This is Do-It-All-Danny’s twin brother, Dummy. Forgive my coarse language, as I would never call anyone “Dumb” other than myself! I just know that early on in my own leadership, I was Do-It-All-Dummy. I remember scrambling at Youth Group, getting my sermon slides into the booth computer, finding my clipboard for attendance and welcoming people, getting my guitar and worship set ready to lead worship, preaching, running the game, and about 90 other things, getting home, and being exhausted. Sure, we had some teams, but one day, I decided to give away almost everything except preaching and leading teams, and suddenly, the youth group grew exponentially. Sure, it was hard to get teens to sign-up, show-up, rememeber what to do, etc. But it was a joy to see them take ownership of the Youth Group and once we got into a good rhythm, it was rock and roll every week. It took time to type out each role and job description, but it enabled me to empower and multiply.

If you don’t define jobs and job expectations, inspire and equip people to do those jobs, and consistently celebrate their efforts and performance, you will never move from addition to multiplication.

Fifteen years later, when I felt God telling us to multiply churches, the same principles held true. We had to start defining what each role did, inspire new leaders to take on those roles through mentoring and even online training. This (and a myriad of other things) allowed us to multiply - to plant churches.

This is an excerpt from The Process of a Leader, available on Amazon and Books.by/Jordan-Biel

If you want to grow in your leadership, I’m starting a coaching program called Leverage Leadership in 2026 for a select few leaders. We will meet up on Fridays for one hour via video call. I’ve built a team of 5 coaches who are excited to help you contextualize the Leverage Leadership material and multiply their impact and get their time back. These coaches are pro and have a lifetime of impact to glean from. Learn more here.