The WOFOYO Podcast
The WOFOYO Podcast
WOFOYO SHORT: The Leadership Talent
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Packed rooms don’t automatically mean transformed lives, and we’re done pretending they do. We take a hard look at what Jesus actually commands in Matthew 28: make disciples, teach obedience, and live like the authority of Christ changes what we do Monday through Saturday, not just on Sunday morning. If church has started to feel like a show, a brand, or a place to hide in the crowd, this conversation is your wake up call.
We connect the parable language of “talents” to a gift many believers avoid naming: leadership. Discipleship isn’t only a church program, it’s a personal responsibility, and leadership requires discipline. We talk about bringing emotions, habits, and priorities under control, because you can’t lead well when your impulses run the room. We also get practical about what leadership looks like on the ground: listening, being consistent, admitting when you’re wrong, and standing firm in love when challenged.
We also address a common habit that quietly drains the church: passing the buck. When every real question gets routed to “just ask the pastor,” people stay dependent and pastors get crushed. We’re called to lead, and not just lead “sheep” but develop leaders who can carry responsibility and help others grow. The surprising win is this: if you do it right, someone you mentor may outgrow you, and that should bring joy, not insecurity.
https://wofoyo.org/ #wofoyo
Why Outreach And Value Matter
SPEAKER_01Hey everybody, welcome to another Woe Fo Yo Short. This is Seat Up. In one of our more recent full episodes, Bones was talking about how going to church and there's no outreach, there's no value given, there's no building up of people. Then a lot he compared it to bearing your talent in the ground, bearing your minus in the ground, in reference to those two parables. Just coming back from uh talking to our good friends, Ernie and Verlinda Newton over in Carbondale, over at Eagle's Nest Watch, uh prophetic ministry, and we we were having a good discussion, and the topic leadership came up. And it looks different when you're working with leaders. Um, there's another guy that we mentioned on the program several times, Dan Blackshire is out of Golden Mississippi, which is a suburb of Jackson. And he was talking about a, I remember hearing him talk about the word that was given to the the church that where where he ministers, um, assistant pastor on staff. And he was saying, you know, the word came to them is that you'll never be the biggest church, you never have the biggest numbers, but that you're going to develop leaders. You're going to be influential, you're going to help raise up others to do ministry. So, in regards to the talents, and then of course, you know, here in the English language, that word does have a double meaning. It's very obvious. I'm not going to even get into all that. But there's still this idea of you being entrusted with something, and then what are you doing with it? There are so many things that this principle applies to. And yeah, you're going to have to give account. Thank God for the grace of Jesus Christ, but it doesn't mean that you're not going to have to give an account at some point in time. So let's get in the word for ourselves, really, really quick, because I want to talk about one talent in particular, one gift, one thing that has been entrusted to us. And we have a totally wrong idea about it in the Western Church a lot of times. Uh, and I'm going to touch on that shortly. But we're going to talk about what are you doing with this talent? What are you doing with this gift? What are
The Great Commission As Leadership
SPEAKER_01you doing with this thing that God has given you, that he's entrusted you with, that he's commanded you actually, commanded us. What are you doing with that? So let's get in the word for ourselves. Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 through 20. This is the end of the Gospel of Matthew. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.
SPEAKER_00King James says, even to the end of the world. So make disciples. Make converts. Welcome people to Bible study. Hand 'em out a coffee mug on Father's Day. Is this what he's commanded us to do?
SPEAKER_01Did he say go and entertain all the world? Did he say go in the world and put on a show? Did he say go into the world and try and tickle the ears and see how many people you can get to follow you? Is that what he said? Uh did he say go out into all the world and see how much money you can raise in your in your collection plates? Did he say go out into all the world and see how big a building you can build? No, what he's doing, he's charging us to build. Go and make disciples of nations. Well, in doing so, you got to make disciples out of people. What does it mean to disciple?
Leadership Requires Discipline And Ownership
SPEAKER_01One of the meanings of to disciple is to lead. So one of the things God has entrusted us with, one of the things that our King has entrusted us with, is leadership. And that's making some of you all uncomfortable right now. Because to be a leader, you have to be disciplined. To be a leader means that you understand what you're dealing with. To be a leader means that you're taking upon yourself some kind of responsibility. And in this world where we want to be entertained, that can get really uncomfortable really quick. So what do you do about it? Are you going to bury that? You know how that ends up. That don't end up good. Also, if you, as a believer, if you consider yourself a follower of Jesus Christ, you're supposed to be his disciple. Now, can that come through another person? Can you have somebody that's modeling that behavior and discipling you on how to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? That can absolutely happen. All too often, in the way things are set up, it's easy to fall through the cracks. And as much as I talk about how much I love the church I went to in Colorado Springs, uh that I can still consider the place where I grew the most spiritually.
SPEAKER_00When I went there, I was hiding out. It's easier to hide out in some of these bigger places.
SPEAKER_01Lord didn't let me hide out as much. But there was a certain element of being able to duck out in a congregation that large. That being
Learning While Leading Others
SPEAKER_01said, that didn't last. So the Lord will call certain people into your life to lead you, and then he will call you into certain other people's lives so that you can lead them. Now you're being a vessel, it's the Lord doing the leading. I get that. But what he's not telling you to do, well, if you look at all the commandments of Jesus, if you look at all the teaching, all the parables that are going on, what he's not telling you to do is when somebody comes up to you and asks you a legitimate question, he's not telling you to go and say, Well, I guess you'll just have to ask the pastor. Well, well, praise God, brother. I don't I don't really know. To be a leader is not to pass the buck.
SPEAKER_00Oh, Harry S.
SPEAKER_01Truman, famous saying, the buck stops here. What you're not to do is to neglect and abdicate the throne when it comes to leadership. You have a responsibility to lead. It's not just some mystical calling, it's a responsibility. One of the things that we were talking about, uh, without divulging too much of the conversation, one of the things that goes hand in hand with leadership is discipline. So what does this mean, C-Dub? This means that your emotions ain't running the show, your habits aren't running the show, you're bringing your body under discipline, you're bringing your mind under discipline, you're bringing all these things to make them subject to the word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Paul said, all things are lawful, but not everything's expedient. So one of the other things you're going to have to do with leadership is prioritize. And there are certain things that might be good later on, but you can't do them now. And then you step into the other things of what happens when you're called to develop, because this is really what discipleship is. When you're called to develop not just disciples, but in developing those disciples and mentoring people for Jesus, what happens when you come across a real leader? Because what happens is a lot of people don't understand this. In stepping out and leading, you're learning as well. There's so many times that the student teaches just as much as the teacher does. You learn a lot of things. You can learn things about you, you can learn your flaws, you can learn your shortcomings, you learn your strengths, uh, you can learn certain catchphrases that you fall back on. Believe me, editing this podcast, I know Bones and I have about three each of catchphrases that we fall back on. When you're leading, you're going to learn just as much about yourself. But do not, do not, do not pass the buck. Do not neglect what God has entrusted you with as far as the commission to go and make disciples, because that is a commission to lead. And you're going to be leading and not
Leading Leaders And Letting Them Outgrow You
SPEAKER_01just leading sheep. You better understand, and you will, if you're listening to the Holy Spirit and getting in the Word, you're going to understand pretty soon. You're leading leaders and you're training up other leaders. There's a responsibility. That isn't easy. What does it mean? It means that you have to be consistent. You have to be fair. You have to listen. You have to admit when you're wrong. It also means that when you're challenged, you have to be comfortable enough in yourself and knowing that you're being obedient to what God called you to do, which means you need to make sure that you're being obedient to what God called you to do. But when you know this, you stand firm as well. And you're acting this out in love and you're doing things that are going to be in the best interest of the leader that you're leading. And guess what? Although I said, you know, passing the buck, oh, just go ask the pastor. Just go ask the pastor. We're wearing our pastors out. We'll just go ask the pastor. Everybody wants to come talk to the pastor. Take it upon yourself to be a leader.
SPEAKER_00Don't try and usurp authority, but accept your own responsibility.
SPEAKER_01And the one other thing I would I would just admonish, because I've had to do this, even in my job. There might be a time where somebody's outgrown you. Let me tell you, as a leader, the best thing could ever happen is if you help raise up another leader that outperforms you and is outleading you. If you've done that and if you got your ego set aside, you are going to get the greatest sense of joy and fulfillment when you help train those. Don't be neglectful of your gifts. Don't be neglectful of that which the Lord has entrusted you with. Take up that mantle, take up that responsibility to be disciplined and to lead because that's where God is calling his people. He's calling us to lead, and he's calling us to start to lead leaders. And it's not easy, but I'm telling you, it's going to be one of the most rewarding things you've ever done. Wofoyo.
Final Charge And Where To Find Us
SPEAKER_01Hey everybody, thanks for listening. We hope this challenges you and causes you to grow and causes you to lead. You can always check us out at woefoyo.org or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Audible, even check us out on YouTube. For both of myself, this is C Dub, reminding you that if you're going to grow, you got a Woefo Yo. Get in the word for yourself.