LABOUR LEADERS!                   DO 161            5/72

NEED FOR LEADERS!
        
         1. IT MAY SURPRISE YOU TO KNOW THAT THE GREATEST NEED IS NEVER THE HARVEST! The Harvest is always truly plenteous somewhere & it's always more than the labourers can handle!--Jesus said so! It's the LABOURERS who are always few! We will never run out of work to do, witnessing to be done, souls to be witnessed to & lives to be harvested for the Master, the Lord of the Harvest! They will always be plentiful & ripe in some fields.
         2. THE GREATEST NEED, AS JESUS SAID, IS LABOURERS--real hard workers--of which there always seem to be precious few, ESPECIALLY of good, capable LABOUR LEADERS--leaders & supervisors of the labour crews! The need for those who can competently locate the Harvest & supervise its effective & efficient reaping is always the most serious & urgent need. Such labour leaders who not only know how to harvest, but manage the reapers, who can not only labour, but lead the labourers.--This is our greatest need!--Jesus said so!
         3. "THEREFORE," THE LORD COMMANDED, "PRAY YE THE LORD OF THE HARVEST, THAT HE WILL SEND FORTH LABOURERS INTO HIS HARVEST!" This is one of the few prayers Jesus ever COMMANDED us to pray!--To pray for labourers, the greatest need of all in His Harvest fields so white, was His Own urgent command as He knew the need so well!
         4. THE NEED FOR LABOUR LEADERS IS EVEN GREATER! Because we have obeyed His Word & faithfully preached His Message of Forsake All & Follow Me & I will make you Fishers of Men, & we have faithfully prayed for the labourers, the Lord has sent them to us by the thousands! We have more real labourers, more real witnesses, more real full-time disciples who have forsaken all to follow Jesus, more real soul winners who are really harvesting the youth of the World & going into all the World to preach the Gospel, & getting more results, garnering more grain & caring for it in more barns than any other group in the Jesus Revolution that I know of!
         5. BUT WE ARE DESPERATELY IN NEED OF GOOD LABOUR LEADERS who can properly lead & supervise & tend the many little teams of harvesters which are now scattered around the globe thousands strong in hundreds of fields with many barns! This has, & always will be, the greatest need--labour leaders!
         6. THERE ARE ALWAYS PLENTY OF SHEEP, BUT SO FEW SHEPHERDS TO GUIDE THEM & CARE FOR THEM, protect them & lead them & teach them to produce more lambs for His Folds. The greatest need is for more shepherds & shepherdesses & undershepherds & undershepherdesses to lead & care for the flocks--the many many flocks that God has given us & the multitude more that He's GOING to give us! Are you one of them? We are suffering an acute shepherd shortage; in this case, not as much a labour shortage as a Shepherd shortage!
         7. WE HAVE NO UNEMPLOYMENT IN OUR KINGDOM, thank God, & we have more work than we know what to do with, more jobs to be done than we have the people to fill them. But, sad to say, though the Harvest is so plenteous, we have more labourers than we have leaders to lead them. God has supplied the Harvest & is even supplying the labourers abundantly because of our prayers & obedience, but we have failed to train sufficient leaders, so that we are now experiencing not so much a lack of labourers as a lack of labour leaders! Are you going to be one? Are you a bell-wether?
         8. IN CASE YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT A BELLWETHER IS, IT IS A STRONG LEADING SHEEP WHICH THE OTHERS ALWAYS FOLLOW & WHICH ALWAYS FOLLOWS THE SHEPHERD!--So a bell is hung around its neck so the other sheep will hear it & always know where it is, so they can follow it--& it always follows the shepherd, so this helps keep the whole flock together. Are you a bell-wether? Do you follow the shepherd & lead the sheep to follow him? If so, you're a great help to your shepherd!

LEADERSHIP PROBLEMS
        
         9. WE HAVE LOST SOME OF OUR OWN GOOD POTENTIAL LEADERS BY TRYING TO PUSH THEM TOO FAST into positions of heavy responsibility for which they were ill prepared, & which so freaked them out that they literally cracked up & quit! We had some good younger leaders who were doing well in positions of lesser responsibility, who, because of the lack of more capable leaders, were pushed into too heavy responsibility & it was too heavy a load for them to bear, & they broke & ran rather than being willing to confess their inability & unwilling to protest their placement in a job that was too big for them!
         10. OTHERS HAVE BEEN SO HEAVILY LOADED WITH SO MANY RESPONSIBILITIES for which they have been so poorly prepared that they have allowed their duties to rob them of sufficient fellowship with the Lord & His Word to obtain the strength they need to keep going & thus have run into situations they were unable to cope with, made serious mistakes & even caused some of their followers to backslide!
         11. STILL OTHER YOUNG LEADERS HAVE SLACKED UP SO MUCH IN THEIR OWN SPIRITUAL LIVES by allowing too much pressure to be put upon them that they have tolerated the same in their own followers, & this has brought their whole Home to shame & a pitifully low spiritual ebb & even some serious defeats by the Enemy! Brethren, these things ought not to be! We must not overburden these weaker brethren & we must take it easier on them that are weak & try to help them to overcome their weaknesses through His Word, His Power & by His Love, & we must not expect more of them than they are able to bear! The Lord never gives US more than we are able to bear, & we must not overload others.
         12. SOME YOUNG LEADERS HAVE FELT SO INCAPABLE, INSUFFICIENT & INSECURE THEMSELVES THAT THEY HAVE NOT FELT ABLE TO TRAIN OTHERS TO LEAD. This too shows a lack of maturity in their experience & training! Some have even become so exhausted through so much overwork & lack of rest that they have almost given up, or have been pressed into making excuses for their failures by defending themselves.
         13. OTHERS HAVE BECOME WEARY IN WELL DOING, HAVE FAINTED IN THEIR MINDS & HEARTS, become bored with so many instructions & directions & so busy with a little here & there, that though seeming successful in running their Home by at least keeping it alive & managing to survive, they have not given diligent attention to reading of MO Letters, studying of Leadership Classes & memorising Scripture, so that they have become nothing but another Christian commune of Jesus People who don't even know what the Revolution is all about! You would hardly recognise them as one of us!
         14. STILL OTHERS ARE HAVING SUCH SERIOUS MARRIAGE PROBLEMS THAT THEY ARE UNABLE TO GIVE THE WORK OF GOD THE ATTENTION IT NEEDS & first place in their lives & have proven unable to rule the Church, having been unable to rule their own houses well! This is absolutely unscriptural, to place a man in a position of leadership who is unable to lead his own wife & family, & is just as dangerous as being a novice in a position of authority, which is also unscriptural & forbidden by the Word & disastrous to a Home!
         15. AND YET THERE ARE OTHERS, WHO, LIKE DEMAS OF OLD, HAVE SIMPLY GONE BACK BECAUSE THEY STILL LOVED THIS PRESENT WORLD, & when the real testing showdown came they proved they were not willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for either their flock or the Lord, & did not love the Lord that much & therefore deserted their post even in the midst of battle, like the hireling that fleeth when the wolf cometh, having no real love for either the sheep or the Shepherd, but was only there for the hire or the glory & when the going got rough, he ran! It's these tests which tell the tale between a good shepherd & an hireling!--Which are you?
         16. AND THEN, SADDEST OF ALL, THERE ARE THOSE YOUNG LEADERS WHO DO HAVE TREMENDOUS LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL & ability & have already proven their qualifications in positions of real responsibility. But then some careless or thoughtless overseer has mistakenly permitted them to be placed under inferior & incompetent leadership which either did not appreciate their talents or feared their abilities as a threat to their own position, & put the able leader down so badly that he became discouraged, disillusioned in the wisdom of his superiors & even rebellious against such mismanagement to the point of frustration & sometimes even backsliding! For God's sake, let's not destroy the good potential leaders that we do have by such stupid misguidance & misplacement on the part of their superiors!
         17. NO ONE WHO HAS HIMSELF HEADED A HOME SUCCESSFULLY OR OCCUPIED A POSITION OF LEADERSHIP RESPONSIBLY should ever be put down under a lesser leader for the sake of some momentary expediency, lest he be wearied & faint in his own mind at your lack of wisdom! God forbid!

FREEDOM OF CHOICE!
        
         18. NEITHER DO I THINK IT IS BEST FOR UNDERLEADERS TO BE REQUIRED TO WORK UNDER SUPERIORS WITH WHOM THEY DO NOT GET ALONG WELL, & who, if given a choice, would prefer to work under someone else or elsewhere--& they are supposed to have a choice & the right & freedom to choose, if possible, the leaders they would like to work under, the teammates they would like to work with, as well as perhaps the Home, place or field in which they would prefer to work!
         19. THIS FREEDOM OF CHOICE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE may sound like news to some of you would-be dictators, but it may surprise you to know that it has always been my own personal policy to practice this from the very beginning, from letting a man choose his own project or field of service, if qualified, to letting him pick his own team for any special task he has chosen to accept as his assignment.
         20. THIS POLICY OF FREEDOM OF CHOICE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE has worked very well with most of you leaders throughout our years of leadership, & just as you have appreciated it & responded well to it, I should think you would use it as much as possible with your own leaders. And furthermore, I think there needs to be more freedom of choice even amongst your followers, disciples & members of your Homes as to which leaders they prefer to serve under & in what Homes they prefer to work. We all need a change sometimes!
         21. IF A LEADER OR MEMBER SEEMS TO BE DISSATISFIED, DISCONTENTED, OR IN NEED OF A CHANGE, you should encourage them to express such a desire & give it your prayerful consideration, & I see no reason why he should not be permitted to transfer if he can be spared or replaced, & the Home of his choice is willing to accept him.
         22. ANOTHER SAD MISTAKE ON THE PART OF SOME IMMATURE LEADERS HAS BEEN A POLICY OF DISCOURAGING PERSONAL INGENUITY & INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE of some of their co-workers or subordinates in the matter of certain projects they feel inspired to tackle, promote or pursue, such as witnessing in a certain area, printing certain literature, reorganising certain work or witnessing teams, office or kitchen procedures, meeting programmes, work projects etc., if within the realm of reason & possibility & not apt to be harmful & could even be beneficial!

STAY IN THE WORD TO FOLLOW CLOSELY!
        
         23. AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, ANY WHO THINK THEY CAN GET BY WITHOUT READING MO LETTERS MAY MISS THE WHOLE POINT OF THE REVOLUTION & WANDER AWAY from God's appointed Shepherd & teaching & get lost! Beware! If you want to know what the Lord has revealed to us on how to run His Revolution, you've got to follow God's Voice! You've got to listen to what He's told us to do & how to do it, new things we've never done before as well as old things we've learned by experience.
         24. ALL THE SUCCESSFUL MOVES OF GOD THROUGHOUT TIME & THE BIBLE WERE LED BY GOD'S CHOSEN MAN FOR THAT TIME & PURPOSE. Read your Bible & Church History & you'll see this always has been true. God's Move is always led by God's MAN who is God's VOICE for God's VISION-the Voice of His choice--the Vision of His Chosen--whether they liked it or not--it was God's Will!
         25. SO YOUR LEADER IS NOTHING BUT AN INSTRUMENT IN THE HAND OF GOD!--The mere Trumpet that carries the Message of His Mouth to His People!--The Communicator of His Words--His Voice--& God's sheep hear His Voice, the Prophet of God, & they follow Him! They are following GOD, not the Man. The Man is merely His MANifestation, the Voice of His Vision! God's Man is nothing but a Wirephoto & Teletype machine, like the news media use, on which they get the latest news in words & pictures! That's all I am, God's means of communication: He sends the pictures & the words by turning on my Key on my wavelength, & I, His little machine, simply rattle it off & pass it on to you!
         26. BUT IF YOU DON'T READ THE MESSAGE & GET THE PICTURE, YOU'LL NEVER KNOW GOD'S LATEST NEWS FOR YOU! But if you faithfully read and study these MO Letters--God's latest news--you'll be well informed & know exactly how to proceed, with His Plans made plain by His pleasure! And it'll be a pleasure because it'll always work, if you do His Will according to the Voice of His Vision through His jolly little old Noise-maker--ME! That's just the way it is!--The way God made it!
         27. NO GREAT KING, LIKE GOD, WOULD EVER THINK OF SENDING HIS MEN INTO BATTLE WITHOUT A PLAN! And no officer in his right mind would think of defying the orders of his Commander-in-Chief, who knows the master plan! And what country would recruit soldiers & merely stick a gun in their hands & shoo them off to the battle without any training or preparation or plan, & say, "Now go fight our war, Boys!"--Without leadership, without organisation, without strategy, without training & even without proper equipment & supplies? They'd certainly lose the war & the King would lose His Kingdom! It would be disastrous!
         28. GOD HAS GIVEN US A BIG COMPANY & A GREAT JOB TO DO, "AND GREAT WAS THE COMPANY OF THOSE THAT PUBLISHED IT!"--And He has His Master Plan on how to do it! Each Home is a little machine, but a very precious & expensive one, designed to produce His Products-good new disciples for His Kingdom!--A Soul Factory! But we can't expect to send in untrained labourers with little or no leadership, teachers or training to operate these little Home machines for producing souls! We've got to give them more training & more instruction & more apprenticeship experience in how to actually run these Homes God's way & the way of His Revolution, His New Nation, in order to produce the best results, the very finest products, the very best disciples, who in turn will be able to produce more!
         29. BUT YOU CAN'T DO THIS BY JUST THROWING A BUNCH OF KIDS TOGETHER WITHOUT GOOD LEADERSHIP, a good teacher, a good inspirationalist, a good example & good helpers & samples, & still expect them to turn out as good products! In fact, it will be a miracle if they turn out at all or even survive the ordeal! We've got to give them more & better leadership who really love & care for them & really want to help & see them make it! That's the only way God's Work is going to be able to carry on, & that's the only way we're going to be able to accomplish what God wants us to do!

TAKE TIME TO TRAIN!
        
         30. LET'S SAY YOU HAVE 100 ACRES TO REAP, BUT ONLY TEN LABOURERS TO REAP IT BY HAND. Let's say that each labourer, at his best, can only reap about an acre per month, or ten acres in ten months by picking the grain by hand, grain by grain. So it would take you ten months with the ten labourers to reap your 100 acres, wouldn't it?
         31. BUT WHAT IF, INSTEAD OF BEING SO IMPATIENT & WANTING TO SHOVE THEM OUT IN THE FIELD IMMEDIATELY without tools or training because you're in such a hurry to reap the harvest, you decide to have a little patience & faith instead & use a little wisdom, & you, an experienced reaper with a good scythe, decide to take a little time out to show them how to make scythes & how to use them, so they can each reap an acre a day, after a month of preparation? Which would be faster?
         32. INSTEAD OF RUSHING OFF HALF-COCKED IN YOUR HURRY TO GET INTO THE FIELDS & GET THE HARVEST REAPED, in a scatter-brained, haphazard, disorganised, untrained & ill-equipped fashion, thereby taking ten months to reap the harvest, by a little thought, planning, patience, training, preparation & better supplies & equipment, though you couldn't start reaping the harvest today, you do get into it a month from now with a better, more experienced team & better tools, & get the harvest reaped actually much faster & more efficiently in the long run!
         33. "TIME SPENT SHARPENING THE SCYTHE IS NOT TIME LOST!" is a good slogan for every reaper! The picture is of the labourer sitting down in the shade of a tree during the heat of the day to sharpen his sickle so he can actually cut the grain easier & faster afterward. As the old saying goes, "Haste makes waste!"--And that is certainly true! By being in too big a hurry & botching the job, it can actually take you longer than by slowing it down & doing it right!
         34. SO TAKING TIME OUT NOW TO GIVE BETTER TRAINING, preparation & tools to our labourers & their leaders is not time lost, but actually time gained to keep us from stumbling & bungling the job in the future! "A stitch in time saves nine!" A fence at the edge of the cliff built NOW will save us from having to dig a graveyard at the bottom LATER!
         35. I WOULD RATHER SLOW DOWN OUR FORWARD MARCH NOW so that we walk more slowly & more prayerfully, without any missteps, than to rush ahead & trip up & fall flat on our faces, so I again suggest these steps:
         1) Spend more time on the disciples you now have, less emphasis on getting so many new ones you haven't time to train!
         2) Each one teach one to do your job!
         3) Take care of & use our leaders better!
         4) Translate & print more literature!
         5) Study MO Letters!--And mo' Bible!
         6) Don't leave post till filled or job till done!
         7) Love, trust, pray & obey!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family