GETTING ORGANISED!       DFO 297          8/73

         1. Some of you leaders are too easy going, good natured & agreeable & somewhat easily persuaded. Your people have almost too much influence on you. Friendliness--you're always doing anything to make a friend. You have a very hard time saying no to people when you're in that position. When you can't say no for yourself, then you have to engage the help of others.
         2. So I suggest you form a committee of your top leaders--an executive committee. You should not make these decisions on your own. If I were you, as a top leader I would shy away from the actual execution or carrying out or enforcement of these details. Every big businessman has what they call his executive vice president, executive so-&-so, executive personnel manager etc. The word executive has as its root execute & one means of execution is the hatchet!
         3. An executive has to be a tough hatchet man! He's the man who does the hard, tough, hard-boiled job of saying no. Hatchet men will do for you things that you know need to be done, but you haven't the heart to do yourself. You need to make up your executive committee, your executive board.
         4. In a Home, the shepherd is the spiritual leader, the idea man. But to handle all these business affairs with the outside World & personnel, where you not only have to be loving & sympathetic but in some cases crack the whip & lower the boom, you need to form an executive committee, a council of elders to help you to make decisions & to confer with before you make any major decisions.
         5. You need to form such an executive council officially & let them know they are members of such a council, which should be comprised of only your top department heads, those top officers immediately under you.
         6. One of the smartest things any of us can do is assess our own assets & liabilities or let somebody assess them for us or get together & assess them: "What can I do & what can't I do?"
         7. That's why I am where I am today & why the Revolution is where it is! What I had to do was wake up & face myself & my own mistakes & confess them to myself & the whole World, that I was wrong about Israel & on the wrong track & with everybody's help I wanted to get back on the right track.
         8. It's a very hard & embarrassing thing to confess you're wrong & it was only by the grace of God I could do it. You know how rabidly pro-Jewish I was, but that trip to Israel cured me! But if it hadn't been for the fact that I had the Lord, I could have gone off my rocker & quit & ran away & hidden or gone on & tried to pretend & deceived the people & not confessed or admitted it or weaseled out some other way.
         9. So I had to face my fears head-on & attack: "Here's my weakness. I'm going to have to change by the grace of God & attack it & fight it & change, change my whole thinking on this issue, change my doctrine, my whole tactics. This is not where it is at!"
         10. None of us are above this: We must be willing to face ourselves & our weaknesses & our own strengths & to know the difference. I got desperate & said, "My God, my God! Why hast Thou forsaken me?" It was like the end--death to all my dreams & aspirations!
         11. If I was willing to do that in a situation like that, you surely ought to be willing to stand back & size up the situation & say, "I can do this, but I can't do that. I must do this, but not that. I need help on this but not that. This is my calling, but not that. These are my talents, but not that. This is what God wants me to do, this, but not that. God wants somebody else to do that."
         12. It was like death! But because I cried out to God, it was also like a miraculous birth & glorious resurrection! I had been entombed in the flesh & in the energy of the flesh, but suddenly I was born again into a World of the Spirit such as I had never known before!
         13. Because I cried out to God it was not the end, but it was the beginning of a ministry I never dreamed of! When I came to the end of myself, my dreams, my interpretations, my human vision, when I came to the end of myself in that impossible situation, then God was able to do the miracle!
         14. We were boxed in & bound by the old Jewish traditions of the flesh & if we had continued there, that probably would have been the end, with one big Colony in the physical land of Israel! So these deaths--death to self, death to your own strength, death to your reputation, death to your pride--are hard to go through.
         15. But if you cry unto the Lord in this time of trial, in this time of Gethsemane, followed by this crucifixion, God will answer & it will result in glorious resurrection which can surpass all your wildest dreams & is mightier & greater than anything you ever thought of!
         16. For it was there in Israel, in the stinking dead land of Jewish physical bondage that I was in a sense born again spiritually! That was where I learned what God really wanted me to do, & through finding out what He wanted me to do, I was able to find out what He wanted all of you to do!
         17. Compared to what aspirations & hopes & dreams I had had before, what God had in mind was so much greater than anything I'd ever dreamed of--another huge Colony in Israel or whatever--God's vision was just completely out of sight compared to what my narrow finite mind had conceived!
         18. You're going to have to wake up & face yourself & learn the same lesson. I know this: If I had stubbornly clung to my own way we would never be where we are today or ever have gotten where God wants us to go--which is a whole lot farther! We had to accept God's no in order to find His yes!
         19. It was a very hard & trying experience that nearly killed me, dashed to pieces my preconceived ideas & hopes & dreams & my fairy castles in the air which I found were all false!
         20. But then God revealed to me the spiritual realities which He was trying to show me all the time: That my ministry was not to be that of a great & flaming evangelist or great personal leader speaking before great multitudes in person.
        21. If I had not come to that horrible recognition of error, God could never have done it! If I had not come to the place where I was willing to admit I was wrong & mistaken & on the wrong track & confess that I needed help, that I needed an answer & solution to my problem, God would never have had the opportunity to do the miracle.
         22. But I had to reach the end of myself: Man's extremity is God's opportunity! I had to come to the corner before I could turn the corner & see what was on the other side. I had to come to the end of my rope & let go & trust God to bear me up on His wings to heights to which the rope of the traditional never could have borne me!
         23. Now, until you are willing to do that & confess there are certain things you can't do or you're unable to do that are not your calling or your job & leave those things to others whom God has sent to help you, you are going to become so involved in those things you shouldn't be doing that you are not going to be able to do the things you should be doing!
         24. That takes humility of the kind that only God can give, because the flesh is not willing to do those things! It's always vindicating itself, protecting itself, justifying itself & trying to prove it can do it.--The flesh likes to think of itself as all-powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing & that there are no Alps! Because it's just the inborn sinful nature of Man to want the glory & so be unable to confess.
         25. It is something we all need to learn: If you're going to do what God wants you to do & accomplish what only you can do, you are going to have to recognise your limitations.
         26. You are going to have to die to self & some of the things you want to do & just say, "Lord, I'm going to have to leave that up to someone else in order to do the things You want me to do!"
         27. Because Jesus was willing to go & leave His disciples & go to be with the Father & work from the spiritual plane & the spiritual realm & send them the messages by the Spirit, He was able to do a lot better job than when He was here in person in a physical body in only one little country of Israel!--It doesn't even bear comparison! You're never going to accomplish as much if you keep trying to do it in the energy of the flesh & all yourself instead of sitting down & saying, "Now God, what do You want me to do?
         28. "What do I have to do that I alone can do & what can I let others do for me? What shouldn't I be doing that's taking my time, my strength & my energy & that's a drain on me spiritually & on my talent, a strain on the leadership that You're trying to give me."
         29. Well, you're never going to find that out until you come face-to-face with the facts that you can't do it yourself or it's not what God wants you to be doing! I've tried to get this across to you so many times in Letters, that you leaders should not get so involved in all the petty little details & technicalities of administration, but to merely sort of oversee.
         30.      If God wants to save you from yourself & all these nagging little details & the thorns & the thistles & everything that tries to choke out the Word, then He must have already raised up some people who could handle these details if you would let them, merely with your supervision to check on them to see if they're getting the job done.
         31. That's what I do: I check on you to see if you're carrying out the job. But I'm not the hatchet man or executor who carries it out. If you yourself try to carry it out, you will not possibly have the time for your own ministry. You must have a specific individual who actually has to do the "dirty work" for you.
         32. There must be people around you      who have the spirit & vision & burden & talent to do these various things & they in turn should get people to do the technical execution of every little detail.
         33. The picture I see is that you are going to have to go & make it official & say, "Now we are going to form an Executive Council here at this particular Home who are going to have the responsibility of administration of not only each member of his particular Department, but as a body the total administration of this Home & its work.
         34. "I'm not going to be telling you what to do. I refuse to handle all these details because I have a higher calling God wants me to do. But each of you will have a voice & we'll pray together about it & then take a vote on it or decide unanimously by the Spirit what ought to be done. I'm going to turn over this administrative work to you then, to carry it out. You are now officially the Executive Council."
         35. I would include your top men & women in that council. You don't want it too big, because then you can't get anything done. But you don't want it too small either so that it won't be representative of every phase of the work.
         36. You cannot choose the people on the councils just because you like them or they're easy to work with. You must choose them from your oldest wisest heads, those who are most important to the functioning of the work. Give them authenticity & authority.
         37. Any lasting decisions which affect the whole Home should be subject to the approval of the weekly meeting of the Home council. If the decision affects any particular department, be sure that department head is always there to participate in the discussion & decision. If it is a decision affecting any particular Home, be sure that Home is represented.
         38. Always include the people who are responsible, involved or affected by your decisions. Include them in your conferring & your council. The more you let them make the decisions, the more they will be inclined to obey them & carry them out without your having to push them & pull them & drag them along! Let them do it.
         39. To sum it all up: I don't want you as top leader to personally make a single decision by yourself alone or issue a single order of any kind which affects any one of these Councils or its members or Homes or Departments without conferring with the appropriate Council & getting them to make the decision & appointing them to carry it out.
         40. I don't want you making any decisions for them. You are merely to be an advisor, a Shepherd, a counsellor to them--not driving them. You are to simply supervise them. You call the meeting, act as its Chairman, open the meeting, present the problems & ask for discussion. Then frame it into a motion or resolution & take a vote on it & be sure you have appointed somebody to carry it out.
         41. What is everybody's business is nobody's business! So unless you appoint a person or committee of two or three to carry it out, it will never get done. If it affects a certain Department, then the head of that Department should be appointed to carry it out. The hatchet man to execute it should be the head of the Department involved.
         42. You shouldn't come bulldozing down into the department personally & telling them how to do it. You shouldn't concern yourselves with those things in person.--Concern yourself, yes--but not in person. The Dept. Head should do this & be responsible to see it's carried out. Things will have had to have gotten to a very serious state for you to come storming down & butting in & telling people off in front of their Dept. Head or personnel! It destroys confidence in the Department Head & also in your office, belittling both of you!
         43. Confine yourself to operating strictly within the chain of command. God has so confined me that I have to! But if the guy or Dept. Head in between fails, you may have to go over his head. If you give him the order & he won't or can't carry it out, it is better to appoint somebody else to do it.
         44. Decisions which affect other Homes in an area should not be made without consultation with them, either getting their vote by phone or in an emergency meeting or waiting until the monthly Area Meeting.
         45. I'm convinced that an Area Shepherd should not be a man with any other job whatsoever, nor any office whatsoever except some place where he keeps a secretary or his family while he spends most of his time on the road. It's got to be someone who likes to travel or is willing even if they don't like it & they have got to travel & they have got to keep on the road & constantly be checking on the Homes.
         46. An Area Shepherd like that is not even always welcome, because the local Home Shepherds may even count him as a spy! But they need him nevertheless! Leadership is not a popular job, not that of a good leader. You need to teach them to love you, but also to fear & obey you.
         47. We need definite authority & discipline with definite spheres of influence from definite bodies & definite councils.--Otherwise you end up running all these things by yourself & take too much on yourself. You need to share the responsibility of leadership instead of acting like a dictatorship, because no one person is that wise or that strong.
         48. Let them run themselves & tell themselves what to do with your oversight & guidance & spiritual leadership. You need to create a machine that can run itself with you at the wheel & sometimes at the controls, an organisation that will operate on its own without you, so that things will carry on whether you're there or not. Then the leaders, instead of tending tables, can minister the Word & inspiration, feed the sheep & guide them spiritually.
         49. Each department must have daily consultation also. They themselves under their Department Heads should have their own little meeting of their Departmental Staff. Every little cell right down to the bottom should counsel together. You've got to take time to do it & you've got to put it into effect.
         50. The more you can spread the responsibilities around, the better off you'll be.--You should make the General Council broader based with more representation by the people with greater ability to carry it out, because there are more people to do the jobs.
         51. Everybody's got his own job & everybody should have some say-so. Everybody should have some authority. That's the way God meant for things to be. That's why the Deacons were first chosen & why Jesus chose the Apostles.--And the Apostles let the people choose the Deacons!
         52. You should never make a decision that you can possibly avoid making or getting someone else to make. You should let the people concerned make the decision, & once they have, you let them carry it out!
         53. You can present a motion or resolution in your various meetings, but it should be only a temporary measure under consideration under which you may temporarily operate until you get the appropriate Council together that can finally approve it. It shouldn't become law until the people or their representatives make it a law.
         54. You must delegate specific duties & give specific titles. Let a leader know his exact authority & jurisdiction & say, "Now don't bother me about it!--Get out there & let your people in your Department make the decision."
         55. If it's going to involve other departments, you must never make any decision affecting someone else's department without conferring & agreeing together & passing the laws together. Try your best to let the people make their own decisions about themselves.
         56. In this way an idea or problem may originate at either top or bottom & thus work its way either down or up the chain of command until all affected are agreed. Amen?--"Let everything be done in decency & in order," & "be diligent in business" that "your light may so shine before men that they may glorify your Father in Heaven"! Amen? Hallelujah! God bless you as you agree together in love on your work & witness!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family