Getting People to Follow 101

I look at David and his mighty men and have you ever taken the time to notice the qualities of these guys?

One of them killed a couple of hundred Philistines alone on a snowy day. We are talking hand to hand combat here. Can you even imagine it?

Some of these mighty men were quite incredible. They killed more than David did. They did greater things than David too. They were probably even taller or more good looking.

You do not see them trying to rise up and push David out of the way though. On the other hand, you do not see David pushing them down either. He took his mighty men everywhere with him. He entrusted his life into their hands.

They lived together and did everything together. He had such a respect for them that they are listed in scripture. Here is a leader that was not afraid to have people who were stronger than him under his command.

And those big, strong men, did they say, “Come on David, get out of the way. We can fight this battle better than you”?

No, because it was not his skill that counted, but his ability to lead.

1. You Do Not Need to Know Everything.

I would hope that God would bring you people that have skills and abilities that you do not have. It is not about having to know everything or even being the best at everything. It is about being able to lead and giving people hope and direction.

Recognizing the Position of Others

I look at the scripture where Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. They debate a bit of doctrine and it says in:

John 3:10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?

Now I know that Jesus was challenging him here, but do you notice that Jesus recognized this man’s position? He clearly recognized that he was a master in Israel.

He did not question this and say, “I suppose you think you are a master in Israel, but let me teach you a few things...”

Here Jesus wanted to convince Nicodemus to see things his way. He wanted to change this man’s entire doctrinal viewpoint. He did not do it by crunching the poor guy and saying, “You bunch of Pharisees! You think you have all the answers, but you do not. You are stupid!”

Instead Jesus recognized his position and then went on to share things that Nicodemus did not know. Jesus did not push the man down, but rather gave him the respect and admiration that Nicodemus likely needed.

As a result, he did become a follower. Are you doing that with others around you? You see someone who has a lot of potential and is rising up. Perhaps they are a bit over zealous, but are you feeling threatened? What are you going to do?

A Leader Rallies Other People

Will you push them down or will you say, “Yes I see that you are a master at what you do”? Will you recognize that in them? People think that to be a great leader that you must have all the skills and abilities needed to fulfill your vision.

And yes, it is good to have some skill, but that is not what makes a good leader.

There are millions of people in the world who are professionals, highly educated and capable. Does this make them good leaders? Not at all. A leader is someone who can rally people around them who do have those skills and then give them direction and hope.

This is what God is calling you to do. What do you end up doing instead though? You go around touting your own abilities saying, “Look at me mom! I have a degree in this and that! This is my revelation! This is my

vision.”

And so you think that everybody will drop everything and follow you, just because you are so capable. You have never been more wrong in your life!

People will not follow you because you are capable. People will follow you, because you see the capabilities in them.

If you want to deal with the need for recognition in your own life, start giving recognition to others.

If you want people to admire you, then start admiring others.

That characteristic alone will be admirable. It will be more than what you find in 90% of the leaders in the Church. Who is really paying the price? Who is saying, “I see the potential in you” instead of, “Hey guys look at my great new business plan. We are going to expand this church. We are going to get a new building. I have a great big vision.”?

And you sit at the back of the meeting thinking to yourself, “What exactly does that man’s vision have to do with me?”

Nobody Wants to Be the Underdog

Nobody likes to be the underdog or to feel that they are stupid - even if they are! So if you make people feel stupid and insecure, will this make you feel like a great

leader?

Raise people up that are under you and it immediately elevates you higher. You can be a leader no matter how insecure you are or whether you were born on the wrong side of town. It does not matter how many mistakes you have made or if people are always leaving you. You can become a leader right now.

Leaders are not born. God can make you into something. However, it is going to require some change. You will not wake up one morning to discover that you became a leader overnight.

There will be some challenges. The first thing you will learn is what a leader you are not. You will face some death and struggle along the way, but you can rise up and get people to admire you.

This week, why not give it a try and begin to recognize the ability in others? Whether you are at work or at church, give it a try.

Now I am not talking about just giving compliments. I am talking about recognizing people’s abilities and strengths.

Learn to say words such as, “I admire in you...” How many times have you said that this week? “I truly admire how you...”

“You really have ability to...”
“You are so much better than me at...”

Do you think that you will be putting yourself down if you say those things? Quite the contrary.

Because you are the one giving the recognition, it puts you in a position of superiority and of leadership. By being loving and not doing it in an arrogant way, it will give them an opportunity to look up to you.

People will not take advantage of you, but will admire you more.

Learn to see the hopes, dreams and goals in others and then become the solution to those things. Then you will find that people naturally admire you and will want to go anywhere you want to go.

2. You Do Not Need to Do Everything

When we started our original online Prophetic School in 1999 things got busy really fast. While my father did most of the teaching, I found myself with the job of taking care of the students and their projects.

After some time, I was handed all of the schools to run by myself. With a couple of lecturers in place to help me, I went on doing what I always did.

This time though I had more work than before, but it did not deter me. I just kept on working and working all day and night long.

It did not take long for me to hit a wall of exhaustion. I was running around like a headless chicken, trying to make it all work. I had forgotten something profound. I was not alone.

It took a while for the Lord to get through to me with the most incredible revelation.

That revelation was: I did not need to do everything by myself! It was a rhema word sent right from the throne room of God.

The One Man Show Must Go

Because I was responsible for the training side of the ministry, I figured that I had to do all of the work as well. I had written most of the training and of course I was the only one who knew how to handle the students.

Well, that is what I thought anyway. What that thinking did was nearly kill me. I was overwhelmed, not because the work was too much, but because I figured that if I wanted the job done right, that I had to do it all by myself.

The Lord had given me a fantastic group of lecturers to work with. Clearly it was time to do some delegating.

Do you know what the worst consequence of making this mistake is though? It is not that you work yourself to the point of falling into bed every night completely exhausted.

The worst is that it tells everyone around you that they are not good enough for the job. Could you imagine if Jesus had this kind of attitude? The New Testament Church would never have been birthed.

While He still walked the earth, He sent His disciples out two by two so that they could reach further than He could as one person. Apostles Peter and Paul continued in this pattern, by sending others ahead of them when they traveled.

It was not uncommon for Paul to send Timothy, Titus or Silas ahead of him before he reached a region. Then he would also leave them behind to finish the work.

As a result, the early church grew rapidly. But what is the real problem here? I would have to say that the real problem lies in fear and pride.

Thoughts start coming to your mind, “What if the people like this other person more than me? What if more people follow them than me?”

Well if you have that kind of fear, then you are not a real leader are you? People will not follow you just because you can do the job by yourself, but because you are leading the way to a destination.

Just because you are not the one doing all of the ministering, work and organization does not mean that you are no longer leading. Quite the opposite is true!

Was Jesus afraid to send His disciples out? Can you imagine Him wringing His hands saying, “What happens if I give them this power and then people admire them more than me?”

Thank goodness that He did not have this attitude. Not only did He give them all He had, but He backed them as well. What was the result? The result was that each time one of His disciples ministered, it was His name that they mentioned. They did not take the glory for themselves.

Why is that? It is because they knew where the power came from. It is the same with the people that you work with as well.

Do not be afraid to give them a vote of confidence and to let them do the work that you cannot do. Also do not be afraid to give them a chance to do the work that you can do.

The Common Goal

When you start thinking in this way, you start giving everyone a common goal to work towards. There is just something about us humans that loves to be part of a cause.

The early church was part of a magnificent cause to win the world for Jesus. Paul and his team had a cause to reach the gentiles. Gideon had a cause and so did Moses.

As a result, the people gathered around. Why do you

think the mighty men hung around David?

Firstly, because he knew what he was doing and how he was going to get there, but above all, he gave them a part in his cause.

It was their cause and not only his own. Do you want people to follow you to the ends of the earth? Then it is time that you start saying things such as:

“Our ministry”
“Our vision”
“The work that we are doing”

Dump the solo act and make the people around you a part of what God is doing in your life. Let them feel that they have an important part to play.

As the ministry grew we started reaching out more into social networks and as feedbacks started coming in, I noticed a trend. People were not writing in and saying, “Apostle Colette Toach is the best!”

Instead they said, “A.M.I. has done so much for me” or, “Everyone in this ministry is such an important part of my life.”

It made me realize that we were not a one-man show. We were a ministry. We were a Body. We were a team. It was now God’s work and it was all about we and not about I.

Hand Out Some “Heart Shares”

Something incredible happens when people following you have a place. The ministry vision becomes their baby as much as yours.

When finances come in, they feel as if they played a part in bringing them in. When there is a loss or an obstacle they no longer think, “This is the Pastor’s problem, not mine.” No, instead they say, “We have this problem. What can I do?”

If you want people to care about your vision and ministry as much as you do, then you need to give them some “heart shares” in it. You need them to own that vision in their heart.

When a company in the natural wants to go public and expand, they sell shares on the market. Well we do not approve of that kind of “market share” in the Kingdom of God. Rather we trade in “heart shares” where each person belongs to the work God is doing and that work belongs to them.

They must feel as if they are a vital part of this vision of yours and if they do, they will care for it as their own.

No one will love another person’s child as much as they love their own, so why not let down your guard and start saying, we instead of I all of the time?

Then step back and let each one have a chance to participate. Assess the abilities of those that are following you and give them a chance to step to the fore.

How often do you see this in the Church today? Not too often I am afraid. How ready is the “Senior Pastor” to hand his pulpit over? There is that fear isn’t there? The fear of, “What if people like the other guy’s preaching more than mine?”

It is only an insecure leader that thinks like that and we will be dealing with more of this a little bit later.

My Own Experience

For the longest time I was the one that did a lot of the announcements for all of our new materials or teachings. (Yes, I really did learn to do everything first before handing it over.)

Because I was the person who seemed to be the best at it, I was stuck with it for quite some time. Then the Lord started adding to our team and I discovered that there was someone else who wrote even better than I did.

You cannot imagine my relief! Once I recognized her ability I started putting her to work and helped her to refine her writing. Before you know it, people were responding to her letters and encouragements just like they had done to mine.

Do you know what a powerful impact it had on the ministry? Not only were people starting to receive some fresh encouragement, but I now had time to put into other projects. Projects like writing this book for example.

Now I will not lie and say that there was not a little twinge of regret to hand over the little baby that I had carried for a while. I will never look back though, because by stepping back, my time and ability to do God’s work just doubled.

The same thing happened to me in the ministry arena. Craig and I were always the ones to step forward and provide counsel and ministry to everyone that knocked on our door. Eventually though with us starting our first ministry center in San Diego, things got so busy we could not cope.

It was almost like the Lord was twisting our arm. You see, I had been faithful to hand over certain tasks to my team. Tasks such as letter writing and the training online, but the Lord wanted me to hand over more.

It happened really out of necessity. Someone visited the center for a season of ministry and Craig and I could just not get there. So the resident couple at that time, Ronald and Denise Jordan had to step in and do the job.

What do you know... they could minister! Sure, I had given them a chance to minister with us as a team, but this was their first solo flight.

Not only could they minister, but they exceled in it. By the time we did make it up there, they had laid such a foundation, that all Craig and I had to do, was finish up.

I thought to myself, “Why didn’t we do this before?”

Ron and Denise had spent days teaching and encouraging and preparing that person. Is this not what Silas and Timothy did for Paul? They went ahead and got the people ready for the message that was coming. As a result, they became a team that was unshakable.

I tell you what though, after that time, Ron and Denise were stronger than ever. They stuck to us more and when tough times came, they were the first to commit and follow through.

They were not just employees or staff. This was now their ministry and because they were a part of it, they continued to give everything to it.

Where do you stand right now? What responsibilities are you handing out to those around you that are capable? Are you trying to do everything by yourself?

Give it a rest! If you want people to follow you, give them something to invest their hearts into.

Give them some “heart shares” in your vision and watch as they stick to you like glue.

3. You Need to Keep Your Finger on the Pulse

So you do not need to know everything and you do not need to do everything. So pack your bags, book your flight to Hawaii and let the vacation begin.

I do not think so. Just because you do not need to do all the work yourself, does not mean your job got any easier.

Again this was a lesson I learned when I took over the training of the prophets. I decided, “Ok! I am going to delegate some of my jobs to the lecturers!” So I gave them tasks and responsibilities and stepped back, quite chuffed that I was making progress as a leader.

A few weeks into it though and I felt like everything came crashing down. I did what God had said. I had trained them and handed the jobs over, so why then was no one doing their jobs?

Now I did not want to walk around acting like a sergeant major, but I was starting to get more than a little stressed at how disorganized things suddenly were.

I was complaining when my dad came once again with that perfect word of advice at the right time. He asked me some simple questions:

“Did you make it clear what you wanted to be done?” “Did you give them a deadline to do it in?”

“Did you tell them what you wanted them to do once

they were finished?”

Good questions! I just assumed that because I knew how to do the job that they would too. Because I knew how to mark projects and follow up students, that they would just copy me and do it all.

Assume Nothing

It was right then that my Dad gave me two words to live by regarding leadership. He said to me, “Colette, assume nothing!”

You see, there is a reason we have 66 books in the bible that cover every kind of topic you can think of. There is a reason that the Lord went into so much detail in the books from Leviticus to Deuteronomy.

Did you ever wonder why they are so long-winded? The Lord left nothing to chance. He covered all His bases and assumed nothing. Instead He gave the Israelites a very clear track to run on.

Are you doing that for the people that are following you? If you have asked someone to do a job for you, do not think, “Whew! I am glad that is over with. Now I can go and take a break and forget about it.”

You wish! No, just because you are not doing the job, does not mean you don’t have to remember everything about it.

After that I took some of my father’s advice - and what do you know - there was an instant turn around. I started to make things more clear.

Not only did I tell them exactly what job I wanted them to do, I also let them know how much time they had to do it in.

It gave everyone security. Take note of this lesson, because it is one that you will live again and again. In fact, if anyone lets you down, I bet it is because you did not follow those three little points.

1. Lay out the responsibility in detail along with what is expected.

2. Give a deadline.

3. Tell them what to do when they are done.

Was Jesus any different? He told His disciples exactly what to do. He put them into teams of two and told them not to take a coat with them. He told them how to handle the people and to be as gentle as doves, but as wise as serpents.

Once they were done they all returned to Jesus and we see how he instructs them on their lack of faith and how to deal with problems that they could not face (Such as the child where they could not cast out the demon).

Structuring is Key

Now I know that there are a lot of us that do not like structure and planning a lot, but it really is essential. This was another mistake I faced when we had our first ministry center in San Diego.

While our resident team lived there, we lived elsewhere. So it was really important that they communicated with us about all the needs at the center. Silly things like bills, appointments and things that needed fixing.

It was around this time, that I thought for sure that my usually amiable husband was going to blow his lid. We would arrive to stay for a weekend and the problems would begin.

He would discover that things were broken and in need of repairs. Bills were unpaid and services were about to be suspended. Instead of spending the time in ministry like we should have, it became a time of “catch up” where we ran around putting out fires.

The bottom line here? We needed a bit of order and structure. We made the mistake of thinking that everyone there would just take notice and that they would all jump in and help.

The problem is, because we did not structure it properly, everyone thought that everyone else had taken care of it. Does this sound familiar to you?

Think about the last supper and how Jesus organized that. He grabbed a few of His disciples and not only did he tell them where they were to have it, but how to secure the room as well.

Jesus did not run off and do all of the work, but he had organized it. He remembered that there needed to be a feast and he organized the plans. He had His finger on the pulse of everything.

He did not need to do the work, but He got hold of the people that He needed and gave clear instructions. As a result, the dinner went off without a hitch.

Well, that is if you discount the little betrayal act by Judas during the second course...

Be in the Know

So when we arrived at our center and everything was in chaos, whose fault was it? The flesh in me wanted to blame everyone, but in the end, we found that finger pointing at ourselves.

We made the mistake of thinking again that just because we had handed the actual work over, that we had handed the full responsibility over as well.

No, as a leader you will always need to have your finger on the pulse of what is happening. This is the load of responsibility that Apostle Paul spoke of when he spoke about the weight of the churches.

It was not the work that weighed him down. It was not the teaching or the preaching. What weighed him down was the spiritual load of care.

This is what sets one leader apart from another and it is the true price of leadership. Only when you have been there will you understand it.

I can imagine that Apostle Paul lay in bed at night and wondered how the churches were doing. I am sure that he would have wondered if their needs were met and if they were following after the Lord.

I bet that he wondered if they received his teaching and if they were rising up in the Lord or if they were being swayed by the persecution that they were facing.

I know this, because these are some of the things that cross my mind when I lie in bed at night. I am thinking about all the emotional, spiritual and natural needs of everyone that are with us.

I realize that it is not just my life that is influenced by our decisions, but many others as well.

This is the true load that you will always carry, so be sure that you carry it well. This is why you cannot push yourself to try and know everything nor do everything at all times.

Rather dedicate your time to carrying the care of responsibility and being there for your team, than feeling you need to be the one-man show.