S4 Ep. 3: United We Lead - Stewarding Teams with Integrity

 Leadership isn’t about control - it’s about character. In this episode, Allen & Stacy Jo Thorne get real about what it means to steward teams with integrity and lead from a heart of humility. Whether you’re leading a family, a business, a ministry, or a boardroom, these principles will help you reflect Jesus in every decision.

What You’ll Hear:

• How pride erodes unity—and humility restores it
• “Slow down to go faster”: the counterintuitive key to team success
• Why great leaders celebrate people as the mission, not just the result
• The truth about integrity behind closed doors
• Practical ways to handle conflict with humility and grace
• Why Jesus washing Judas’ feet is the ultimate leadership model

Scripture References:
Philippians 2:1–4 • John 13:12–15 • James 4:10 • Hebrews 12:2

This Week’s Challenge:
Ask God to show you one way to serve your team, family, or coworkers—with no strings attached. Maybe it’s an apology, a note of encouragement, or a simple act of kindness.
Remember: small acts of service multiply toward unity.

Takeaways:
1️⃣ Leadership is not about position—it’s about service.
2️⃣ Teams thrive where humility and honor are practiced daily.
3️⃣ When leaders model unity, teams unite around the mission.

If this episode inspired you:
⭐️ Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
📲 Follow Faithfully Invested for more real talk on faith, marriage, and leadership.
📤 Share this episode with someone who leads with heart (or wants to).

Transcript

0:01

Are you ready to build a life, business and legacy that truly lasts? Welcome to Faithfully Invested with Allen and Stacy Jo Thorne, where Faith meets real talk. Biblical wisdom meets everyday life and leadership meets laughter. Together we will uncover God's blueprint for leadership, marriage, and mission, helping faith-driven leaders invest in what matters most. Each episode, we explore biblical wisdom, have real conversations, and of course, have some fun along the way because let's be real. Walking in faith is an adventure. It sure is. So pull up a seat, grab your coffee or your sweet tea, and join us as we steward our callings with intention, because when we invest in his kingdom, he brings the increase. Hey, welcome back to Faithfully Invested. I am Allen. And I'm Stacy Jo. And we are your hosts Navigating Faithful Leadership and stewarding our God-given missions at home, at work, or even in traffic. When everyone cut you off and you're trying really hard not to lose your salvation, ah, traffic, lose your salvation. Wait a minute here, let's pause just for a minute here. On the whole Lose your Salvation time. All right. All right. Uh, even at the South Florida Golden Glades interchange at 6:30 on a Friday, it's not possible to lose your salvation. And I, I'm just gonna, I've been listening to Pastor Joby Martin for, uh, mm-hmm. At Church of 1122 Jacksonville, Florida. Uh, I've been listening to him for probably a little over a year now, and I, I love what Joby says about Lose your salvation. That's, and he writes about this in, uh, his, um. His, uh, grace Train, uh, run over by the Grace Train book. Mm-hmm. And he talk, I, I believe he talks about it again in his new book, uh, stand Firm and Act Like Men. But it's, uh, he, he says, C, can you lose your salvation? He is saying, you're asking the wrong question. The question is that whether has, can you be lost by Jesus and. The answer's no. Jesus, Jesus doesn't lose any of us. Most of us are, are, we know the, the, the, I hate to re say it as a story, but he, he leaves the 99 to go right and get the one. But what it, what it says here in John 18:9 is, uh, to fulfill the word which he spoke, uh, of those whom you gave me. I lost not one. Yeah, he lost not one. So, so, uh. So you can't lose your salvation. Definitely not losing our salvation, uh, regardless of what the religious authorities might say. Right. Uh, there may concerning traffic, bringing it back to traffic. There might be some need for repentance. But our Jesus, he sticks with us. Yeah. He's always with us. Never leaves us, never forsakes us. He's always right there. Once we decide for him, uh, we're in it with him to the end and. Beyond. Uh, so, so we got that going for us. Well, I was being a little sarcastic about that. Obviously you're not going to lose your salvation, but Right. But, you know, letting him, letting the Lord be the pilots the best way to find freeway unity. Would you not agree? Freeway unit? I like it. Freeway unity. I think South Florida needs a little more freeway Unity. I'm just gonna, I'm gonna get a big bumper sticker that says, y'all need Jesus. There you go. Anyway, right. But today we're talking about what it looks like to lead teams with humility and integrity in a way that unites people under Christ's example. Right? So, I'm ready to light it up. Are you ready to light it up? Let's light it up. And there's no better way to light it up than, than scripture. And I think very true. Our, our, uh. Our reference scripture today is, is from none other than Paul's letter to the Philippians 2:1-4. Um, Paul says, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others over yourselves. Not look into your own interest, but each of you to the interest of others. Now that sounds great. In practice, but man cannot be challenging when we're walking through it. And, uh, but based on my experience, uh, somewhat extensive experience, you know, overcoming, overcoming pride. Mm-hmm. Uh, and, and we'll, we'll get to that. And that's really what we're talking about today. Uh,'cause so consistent humility is a sign of maturity. Yeah, I'd agree. Yeah. Consistent humor, because I, I know who I was when I first came to Christ, and, and as the spirit sanctifies us over time for the rest of our lives. Humility, uh, it comes and then pride and it, I mean, if I, I, I real, I'm really trying to stop saying the phrase, if I'm honest. Right. You know, because, because I am honest, but Right, but if so, if you, if you're constantly saying, if, if I'm honest and there it leaves, the, then people are like the thought, aren't you always? When, when, aren't you honest? But, uh, but I wasn't entirely hum. I wasn't, I wasn't walking in humility early on at all. And, and hey, if I'm honest, I pride is a, is a challenge, uh, these days as well, but it's, how about, how about we say if I'm being transparent? If I'm being transparent, maybe that's a better way. That's, that's good. That's a better way to put that. Yeah. That and. And coming from a recovery perspective, that's good. Transparency is good, and uh, vulnerability is good. But, and so what else is good is humility, right? Humility's definitely good. Uh, a sign of maturity. Um, but early on when we're, when we're, when walking, uh, into our. Into the, our faith Walk with Christ. It, it's a, one of the, one, the verses I clung to some of the scripture I clung to was, was James' Word saying that the, the humble, uh, that we must humble ourselves before the Lord so that he lifts us up. Uh, humility's a big deal. Yeah. And we're talking about leadership today and in leadership, humility's a big deal. Are you leaders out there? And, and if you're, if you're mom, your dad, uh. You're a leader, man, you're, you're, that's, that's your most important, uh, team right there, or your kids and your family. So humility is a big deal, and I don't wanna, I, I think I may have gotten in the weeds a little, but I I think it's good still a little bit, just a little, I don't want to get too much deeper into the weeds, but the antithesis for the opposite of pro of, uh, humility is pride and, and pride. If you look into it biblically, it doesn't get a great accommodation in God's word, right? Uh, something like, uh, pride comes before the fall. Yeah. Yeah. I think, uh, I think Solomon says pride comes before the fall. James has really accentuated that, uh, and it's all through, uh, the scripture. Uh, pride doesn't get, uh, a good word right. In, in the good word. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna, we're we always, as leaders, would do our best to, to pass on pride and, and keep, uh, uh, humble ourselves before the Lord so that he will lift us up. Yeah, that's so right. But. You know, one of the challenges is today, so often in leadership, um, today's culture is primarily focused on pride, power, position, and, and perks. You know, perks, right? But. If leadership is about the control, then teams break down and people stop trusting leadership because they feel used instead of valued. Yeah. And people need to feel valued. They need to feel seen. They need to feel heard. Yeah. And when that happens, division will creep in and it squashes any unity that may have been. Yeah. If they're not seen, may, if they're not heard. If they're not Right. If they're not given a voice. Yeah. That's one. Uh. Uh, one of our, our As excellent leaders, our our amazing leaders. What, this is what Mark Turner says, man, he's one of the, the greatest construction leaders I've ever, uh, witnessed in my life, if not the best. And he's like, you gotta give'em a voice, man. Yeah. You gotta, everyone's got a voice and you gotta listen. It's up to us as leaders to listen to our team. Right. So, and that's hard sometimes. It is challenging sometimes, especially when they don't know how to, when, when they're challenged with, with, uh mm-hmm. Giving us their voice with extending their voice, uh, in a professional manner. So, but, uh, good point. Anyway, I wanna climb out of the, I wanna get back on the, uh, what's that? Uh, anyway, gonna get back on the highway, back on out the ditch Humility train. Yeah. Back on the humility train and get back in. Yeah. So we've most likely seen it, uh, yeah. Concern, uh, concerning poor leadership. Uh, the boss who takes all the credit. Uh, for the team's work. The church leader who doesn't listen, come on a church leader who doesn't listen. Right. Huh. That seems, it seems, uh, counterproductive. Yeah, it does. But, uh, and we relate to this'cause. Yeah. You know, believe it or not, while, while leading or, or working on projects together, nuisance pride and frustration creeps in on occasion. Mm-hmm. Um. And you gotta, we gotta recognize that you gotta take and when we gotta recognize when it's creeping and, and again, it comes with, uh, relationally, uh, and, and our first relation is with, with God. Right. You know, we got our, our, our relationally when, when we, and as we're in right relations with God, we're gonna be in right relations with each other, but relationally as we mature, we gotta be able to see that. Yeah. We gotta be able to see when that, when that pride, and when that frustration's creeping in. And uh, and they, they go hand in hand. And we gotta know best to just take a few steps back and see what the bigger picture is together, you know, you know, I can see a big picture over here and you can see a big picture over there, but we gotta see what the big picture is together. That's right. And understand that. We're not in control. And hey, that's right. You heard it. What do you, and you, you, they just swerved in traffic. They're like, what do you mean we're not in control? Uh, as from a Christian perspective, from a biblical perspective, we're not in control. That's right. Uh, we gotta release that control. We gotta relinquish that throne to the Lord, to the one, to the one who, who, uh. Who's fit to guide us, man. Yeah. And, uh, anyway, we'll, we'll come back to that a little later. Yeah. Yeah. That's a strong point to recall when the going gets a little fast and blurry. Right. I mean, when we're moving from one thing to the next, maybe we tend to forget who got us here mm-hmm. In the first place. And Allen, you say something, uh, to the effect of slowing down to go faster in life or even just. Simple, A simple task. Slipping seems to be slipping past our team. Talk about that for a minute. Slowing down to go faster. Yeah. Slowing down to go faster. I I love that. Um, that phrase that it, uh, the, I don't know if we could call it a mantra, but it, it's, uh. That's, that's key in leadership slowing down to go faster. But it, it doesn't sound like it makes sense, but, but check this out. Slowing down to go faster means that our, our team results turn out better when we're, when we're taking the time to engage our team, to ensure that we're all on the same page and we're all going in the same direction. If we're rushing through it, if we're push, push, push. What's getting missed? Mm-hmm. You know, we gotta slow down so that we can go faster, because if we're missing something, we gotta come back and, and redo it. Right? You know, if we're, uh, if you know, so, so we gotta slow down to go faster, make sure everyone's on the same page. Pace makes waste, taste, makes waste. And man, man, that was one of my mom's favorite ones. Haste makes way a lane haste makes ways. Thanks for that. Uh, so, but. But when that happens, when we slow down to go faster, we, we get the answers that we need the first time, the team, the whole team's informed, and we, and we're on the same page. We're moving forward together. And, and when we're, when we're getting it right the first time, we spend less time making mistakes that could have been avoided. Uh uh, and when we like. That we might have made. Mm-hmm. We can avoid the mistakes that we would've made, uh, from prideful decision making, uh, instead of listening to our team's input. That's good. Uh, we gotta engage our teams. And when we engage our teams, and I've learned this the hard way, I think the greatest lessons. That I've learned in life, and I don't think I know the greatest lessons that I've learned in life. And I, you could probably speak to this as well, uh, as has been the greatest less, uh, the greatest lessons, greatest life lessons, um, from the mistakes that I've made. Mm-hmm. And I've learned to, I,'cause I used to be that lousy leader around, I used to be the, you know, my way or the highway. Uh, but when we engage our team, our team will engage us. Yeah. That's a big deal. Write that one down. Unless you're driving. When we engage our team, our team will engage us. We gotta listen to our team. Mm-hmm. And the, uh, when we're willing to listen. The Holy Spirit will put us in check and he lets us know, uh, that authentic leadership means casting off pride to serve the bigger mission with the team. Remember, we gotta, it's not about, uh, leading the team means not always governing over the team. Not lording over the team, but working with the team. The team, yeah. Right. One of the biggest struggles leaders face. And one of the biggest struggles that I have faced too, as a leader is celebrating people consistency. Yeah. Consistently. Um, you know, I can get so focused on the end goal that I have forgotten that people aren't just tools to get us there. Yeah. And the fact of the matter is people are the mission. Yeah. And I have to remind myself of this consistently. Jesus never overlooked the individual in the crowd. He saw them. He valued them. He called them by name. By name. Yeah. Because, and I love what you said, their people are the mission. They are. And we, and we can't treat'em like tools because everybody's, everybody's, everybody matters. Mm-hmm. Everybody matters. And that's, uh, and Jesus knew that. And as we're, as we're called to, you know, emulate his example, uh, you know, we gotta, we gotta do that as well. Yeah. And, and. Treating people like tools is, is not a, a way to do that. Treating people like pawns, you know? Yeah. We gotta treat people like people because everybody deserves that. Uh, they, they have that as we're all created under, uh, in his image. Mm-hmm. That, that, that deserves dignity, that deserves respect. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, rega, I mean, even, even those crazies out there, you know, uh. Even those people, they were create, even if they don't believe that they were created in God's image. Right. They were created in God's image. Absolutely. And, and they deserve, even as disrespectful as they can be, they deserve, uh, a certain amount of dignity and respect. Yeah. Because they just for the, just simple fact that they were, they are created, uh, they're, they're image bearers Yeah. Of the one True and living God. Well, going back to the about the tools thing, I think, you know, for me early on, being a female woman and being a female in leadership, female woman, female woman, female woman in leadership, you know, I think a lot of times that's good for me. I think a lot of times we as women feel that we have to prove ourselves. Yeah. We have to prove ourselves. Yeah. And maybe it's the same for men too, like in when you're fir, when you first step into leadership that you have to prove yourself and you have to be the boss. Yeah. And you have to tell people what to do. Right. And you get focused. You do get focused, like I said, on the mission. But when you bring Christ into the center of that, and when you start recognizing that Jesus did not do that. Yeah. Then everything shifts. So, you know, I, I spent years reminding myself that, you know, this is not, I don't have to prove myself in leadership. Right? I've been put here for a purpose and I haven't gotten myself here. He put me there, he put you there, and it's, it's important. And you recognize, and I've, and I've seen you do this, uh, uh, you recognize that he's the leader, right? And, and that. That's something that we have to recognize as, as, as Christ following leaders. That, that he's the leader. Yeah. Uh, the term servant leader gets overused sometimes. It's, there's a, a, a good, uh, mm-hmm. We'll, we'll get to that. We're, we're gonna talk about servant leadership here Yeah. A little later, but, uh, but I wanna go back to, to, you know, that he saw them. Yeah. He saw them, he valued them, and he called. People by name. Yeah. Yeah. He, he did. And because, you know, that's important and, and that's, and that's, it's a big deal to know people's names. Mm-hmm. You know, and that's something I, you gotta know your team's names. Yeah. If you don't know your team's names, that really says you don't care. Yeah, that's, yeah, that's something I've worked on over the years. And it's something that, uh, as I was walking with, uh, my direct report around, he's, he goes one as we're walking away from the jobs, Hey, he goes, you know everyone's name. Mm. I'm like, it's, you gotta know their names, man. You know, because you know, you gotta know their names. If you're gonna coach'em in the moment, you gotta know. It helps that their names on their helmet sometimes. Well,'cause you have a big team. There's a large team, there's, there's about, there's, you have a large team going from site to site and there's a large influx of Yeah. Of new hires now. Right. And, uh, anyway, it's important to know their names. It's, and it's the, uh, and I, like I said, I've worked on that over the year and it matters. Yeah. When you call someone by name and, uh. It matters to them. Yeah. Because, you know, I, I want someone to treat, I want to, I wanna treat people how I want to be treated. Mm-hmm. I mean, I think that's probably the golden rule. Yeah. You know, and, uh, but it's the knowing their name is, is the authentic indicator of whether a leader cares about their team or not. Mm-hmm. If you don't know their name, if they're just a number, if they're just a position to you. Not too cool. No, I'm thinking if I don't know my team's name, because I have a small, small team name. You better know your team's name. If I don't know their names, I'm in big trouble. And two of'em are your daughters. Exactly. I'm in big trouble. Oh no. If that's the case. So another challenging, another challenge, uh, with, with team, uh, or. Or with anything is handling conflict. Mm-hmm. Woo. Conflict is inevitable. Yeah. Uh, and if, if in leadership, you better know how to deal with it. Uh, we're all humans and we were all created with different brains that form different opinions. Uh, we all have different personalities and that's great. That's how God created us. Right. But. Some people let the world shift them over here and they're a little different than the rest of us. And, and then they think we're a little different than them. But, uh. Uh, and sometimes we just, we're just dealing with strong preferences, right? And it doesn't always go over well with, with, uh, other teammates. Mm-hmm. So we gotta, and that comes, uh, I'll take that back to maturity. Mature leadership has got to know they gotta be able to navigate through that conflict peacefully. So you mean like when two strong personalities both think they're right? I mean, I may or may not have a little experience with that. I don't know what you're talking about anyway, but, but honestly, I mean, we never clash. Never, never, never. But conflict has a way of revealing what's really inside of us. Some of us try to avoid it altogether. Yeah, I happen to be one of those people that, you know, I have spent years trying to avoid conflict, just smiling and nodding and hoping that it'll disappear if I ignore it long enough. Oh, no. And. And then there's others of us who run straight towards it. They're ready to prove a point instead of pursue peace. And I've done that too. I've been on both sides of that coin. Mm-hmm. But real leadership doesn't do either one of those healthy leaders learn to redeem conflict, not run from it or dominate it. And when we slow down long enough to listen, and I mean, really, listen, you gotta listen. To the heart behind someone's words. We often find that we're not even on opposite sides, right? We're just coming from different perspectives, and that's where grace centers the room, because if we can handle those moments with humility, patience, and maybe even a little bit of humor, sometimes that helps a lot. Uh, that's where unity gets forged, and that's where trust will deepen. And that's where teams actually start to grow stronger instead of falling apart. Yeah, our challenge, you challenge, I, I would agree. I would agree. And I like, uh, sometimes I try to deal with, with conflict, uh, through humor. And it's, it's a little too, sometimes it's a little too early for that. Too soon, too soon. But, uh, anyway, I digress. But, uh, so our, our challenge is leaders. I mean, we have many challenges, many challenges, many challenges as leaders, but, uh. Is whether we're gonna, how are we gonna handle conflict? Are we gonna, are we gonna be that prideful, you know, guy, you're not gonna get too far with handling conflict with with stubborn pride. Uh, and there's different kinds of pride. Uh, there's, uh, but when it leads toward arrogance and narcissism and, you know, do things my way or hit the highway, uh, it's not gonna work out too well. So, so we have decisions to make. We all have decisions to make. How so? But concerning leadership, are we gonna lead, uh, with humility? Are we gonna lead with pride? Do do we approach conflict with a my way or the highway mentality, or do we decide to reflect? Jesus Christ to, to lead us through that conflict for, for the Holy Spirit of truth who comes to bring us all the truth and all the truth that he gets that he's giving us comes from Jesus who got it from the Father. So there's unity from, from the Father to the, the son, to the spirit, to us. Mm-hmm. We're, we're getting, we're getting direct. We're when we're willing to listen. On how to lead from a, from a, uh, a spot of humility, we're, we're gonna be much better off. Uh, so are we deciding to, to lead, um, with Christ, uh, the way he would lead, uh, and seek reconciliation to seek restoration? Mm-hmm. Or are we going to go the, the hard road? Uh, and, uh, with the. It's, it doesn't ever work out too well. I I can, I, I, I can attest to that and, uh, there's always a better way in his name's Jesus. Yeah. And I, and I am preaching to myself, well, you know, integrity in leadership, you know, I wanna touch on that because that means being the same person at the front of the room as we are. Behind closed doors. Yeah. And nothing unravels unity faster than hypocrisy. Yeah. I mean, how many of you like, like to be told the, you know, do as I do? Not as I say. Hmm. Or do as I say, not as I do, I think is how my dad, that's the one used to say it. Yeah. Do what I say, not as, not what I do. Yeah. And. I always thought, wow, that, I don't understand that at all. Yeah. But you know, teams can smell a fake, a mile away, and that scent is never, is never a pleasant smell. It's never a pleasant. Smells. Smells like that rotisserie chicken that sat in the sun for seven days. Ooh, that's gross. Where did you have a rotisserie chicken that sat in the sun for seven days? That's just, that's just what? Just the smell you say. That's what it smells like. It's just not, it's just not good. The whole do, as I say, I'm glad I've never smelled that hypocrisies. Stinks. It does, it stinks. Mm. And as leaders, we, we cannot lead like that.'cause your teams will not follow. Right, right. And, um, anyway, uh, so what is the Christ-centered way forward? And we, uh, we always like to wrap up with some solutions. Mm-hmm. And. And today our, uh, our first, uh, Christ-centered way forward in leadership is authentic servant leadership. Mm-hmm. Authentic. The real deal. Real, the real deal Servant leadership. It's so important to recall that leadership isn't about position, it's about service. What We gotta serve our teams. Yeah. I, when, even, even when I recall back in the day when I was a lousy leader, I wouldn't ask my teams to do anything that I haven't already done or that I wouldn't get beside'em and do with them. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, other than that, I was pretty lousy at the time. But, uh, I, I,'cause I, I did come from the, uh, the do as I say, uh, do as I say, not as I do. I did come from my way or the highway. Mm-hmm. And that never panned out well for me. Right. Uh, but. Well, we can't lead a team unless we're with the team. We can't lord, over a team and expect them to follow. Uh, they, we, we want them to. We want to, we want them to follow because they want to. Yeah. They, they want, they want. I, I. Somewhere along the line, I've heard year over year that, you know, a, a real leader will be hated by his men. That's a military thing, I guess. I don't know. But, uh, I don't, I don't want to be hated by my men. Oh, I wanna, I want to be one. I want to be appreciated. And, and there's, there's difficult conversations. There's conflict that needs to be dealt with, but I don't wanna be hated by my men I want, or, or women as, as the team. Mm-hmm. Right. Um, but you got, I, that doesn't even make sense to me. Well, that doesn't even make sense to me because Jesus was the greatest leader of all time. Oh, I didn't say it was a biblical principle. I understand. But wherever that came from, that is really a skewed belief. That is a, that is a worldly belief. I would call that a lie from the enemy. I definitely would call that a lie from the pet of hell. But, uh, but yeah, but we can't, we can't lead a team unless we're with the team. We got, we gotta be with the team and the team needs when we're, when we as leaders decide to be with the team, the team will be with us. And that means that. We're willing to lead by example. Uh, and we're not that person that walks around in the shallow end, uh, with the, like we mentioned, do as I say. Mm-hmm. And, uh, not as I do. Position leaders must be willing to dig in with their teams to do what's necessary and to train and mentor along the way the best ever at this Jesus Jesus. Jesus. We're always going to point it back to Jesus. Yeah. And I, I remember I, when I was, uh. So, uh, when I was first learning how to be a dad, and I would, I would, Jesus Duke, every, I didn't even know what Jesus Duke was. And, and then si our, our, our middle daughter, uh, Sybil, sorry for the middle daughter thing. So, but she was like, she's civil in the middle. He's, he, she's like, ah, he, Jesus, duked it again. He did it again. You know? Right. But, uh, but Jesus really, I mean, Jesus led by example. Yeah. Uh, through all of his life in ministry mm-hmm. He didn't do anything that, uh. The father didn't tell her to do his, his entire life and his entire ministry. Was he? He did. He followed the father's plan and, and the father did. You know that the father has a plan for each one of us? That's right. As we were created in his image, he has a plan as we were formed in our mother's wound, as we were fearfully and wonderfully made. We have been created on purpose for his purpose, and he has a plan for each one of us, and we believe in that. Hundred percent. A hundred percent. Um, so, but, uh, following him mm-hmm. Is, uh, I mean that's really gotta re and, and if I'm honest, in and out through all the busyness, I gotta remind myself of that daily. Mm. You know who brought me to this point, because I remember where I was and who I was. And, uh, and I'm not that guy these days. Right. You know, and, uh, we were, I just got back from a men's conference and there's this, this country music artist upcoming. His name's, uh, drew Parker, and he's got a, uh. A song called Blame Jesus. Mm. You know, and in, in his shirts say, blame Jesus, his hat. Say, blame Jesus. And, uh, I, I mean, the secular world could take that out. I'm gonna blame Jesus. Fine. He's like, no, no, no, no, no. Blame Jesus.'cause I can't be who I once was. Amen.'cause And, uh, the song's pretty good. So if you're, if you're, if you're into country music, check that out. Drew Parker, blame Jesus. Cue that one up. Download it, check it out. And, uh, if you're not country music, check it out.'cause I'm not really into country music, but it's a pretty good song. Uh, blame Jesus by Drew Parker. Um,'cause I, I blame Jesus.'cause I'm definitely not who I once was for sure. And I still need, but I still need to follow because, uh, it's, he's still working on me. Well, he's working on all of us. Yeah. But let's get back to, gonna reel it back in. I'm gonna reel it back in. We're reeling it in so. Our next one is celebrate when the team wins. So take time to stop and honor those small victories. Yeah. Um, regardless of what it is, regardless of how small it is, maybe it's an email that your team member sent. I did this the other day. You know, I read the email, I, I just shot back to her. It was an email that was copied. I was copied on, and I sent back to her and I said, that was an excellent email because it was a hard conversation to have. Yeah. So, you know, when a team feels appreciated, they thrive. And when you recognize someone's effort, even in the little things, you're reminding them that they matter to the mission and everyone wants to matter. Yeah. They wanna be valued, they wanna be seen, and they wanna know that they matter. Yeah. And it's vital to reward actions that we want to see again. Right. Team morale will grow and will just, yeah. Grow. Yeah. It'll grow. It'll grow. And, and as, and as morale grows, you know, the, the, uh, appreciation for leadership grows and, and it's a circle. Yeah. It's a circle. And as the team appreciates the leader, the leader appreciates the team, the team grows. And, and that builds trust. And trust is, in any relationship, is, is huge. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But I wanted to, before we go on to our next point, I wanted to, uh. As far as, uh, humility goes, uh, and again, Jesus modeled it the best. And, and in the John's gospel, he, he washed his disciples feet. Mm. And that's, uh, that's. He said as, as I am the teacher, as I am the master, you know, I wash your feet and so you should wash each other's feet. Mm-hmm. So, sir, as I serve you, you should serve each other right? And something, and there's a, there's, do you have a difficult person on your team? Yeah. Is there someone that, that is a little, a little at times. Sometimes, you know, we got deal with conflict, but Jesus had Judas. Mm. Yeah. Jesus had Judas and, uh, and, uh, I think we all know how that story ended, but remember what we're, as far as humility goes in leadership, remember that Jesus washed Judas feet as well. Yeah. And knowing, knowing full well, knowing full well, yeah. That he was going to betray him. Yeah. And he, and he also, and he still washed his feet. He did. He he was part of the team. Mm-hmm. And, and it. Yeah. If you know who, if, if we're, if we're coming to understand, if our relationship's growing with, in, in the word, if we're in the word and we under and we're coming to understand who Jesus is and as the word, he actually is the word, uh, he is the truth. Uh, he knew who Jesus, he knew who Judas was. He knew what Judas was gonna do when he picked him. Right. He's just, you know, so anyway, and that's a great segue into the third one. Absolutely humility and conflict. We gotta practice humility. Mm-hmm. And conflict. Mm-hmm. And you know, just what, what we just mentioned there, that's hu that's humility and conflict. He washed just, just modeling that. Washing the disciples feet, but washing Judas feet too. Yeah. As, uh, but uh, another example of that would, uh, is our Philippians 2. Uh, reference that we talked about earlier. Uh, Paul tells us to, uh, look, look to the interest of others over our own interest. This means listening more than we're talking. Yeah, and I love, uh, and I'll, I'll point this back to Dick Smith every time, uh, when, uh, when he was mentoring me, uh, back in the day, uh, and he said, Allen, he go, the Lord gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason, so you can, you can listen twice as much as you speak. Yeah. And, uh, so it's important to, to listen more than we're talking. It's important to apologize immediately when you're wrong and you know you're wrong. You know, be the first, be I I know when I'm wrong. You know when you're wrong. You know when you need to apologize. Yeah. And be the first you want a good relationship. Apologize first. Be the first to forgive. Um, and sometimes, uh. It's, it's, I would say most times it's choosing, choose unity over being right. Yeah, something I think, uh, I don't know. I think it might have, I don't know. Was it Dick? It might, it was either Dick, uh, Steve or or Jonathan back in the day said, Hey, do you, do you wanna be married or do you want to be right? You know, humility, disarms hostility, truth, humility, disarms hostility. Truth. I know Pride builds it. Your pride is gasoline on the hostility. Fire. Yeah. Yeah. And humility puts it out. Yeah. And finally, what's next babe? And finally, our last one is invest in people. You know, Jesus spent more time with his disciples than he did preaching to crowds. He poured into them. He corrected them. He encouraged them, and then he released them to lead, and they carried his name as he intended them to do. And they changed the world because they were mentored, or in this case, discipled very well. Yeah, and as leaders, our greatest legacy. Isn't the projects we finish, but the people that we raise up. Yeah. Great leaders build great leaders. Absolutely great leaders, begat great leaders. That is so good. And you can't build a great leader if I'm just, uh, that's stuck in my head now. You can't build a great leader if those you are leading who are afraid of you or, or hate you or you're not building anything, dislike you or whatever what you said. I'm if your, if your team's, if you, if. If you're leading, uh, with fear Yeah. Over instead of faith. Mm-hmm. Instead of faithfully following Yeah. Christ. And, and following his lead. If you're leading in, uh, if you're lording over him with fear. Yeah. If your team fear is you, you're not growing any leader and that's not investing in your people. That's not, that's not, it's not. And you're not gonna go too far as a leader. And I, and I will say I have an amazing, an amazing team of. Freedom, support solutions and, and I can see the leadership rise rising up. Yeah. And, and our daughters. Yeah. Um, I can see where they are becoming great leaders. Mm-hmm. And I'm not saying it's just because of me, um, because it's Jesus through me and Jesus in them. Yeah. Um, that is. Just they're growing in leaps and bounds. My whole team is, is incredible. Right. And I'm grateful for that. Right? Because, uh, uh, I mean, you, you carry a couple of titles there. I mean your, your CEO, your mom and that. But, uh, I mean, regardless, at the end of the day, people don't remember a title, right? They remember your heart. Mm-hmm. And boy, you got a great one. Like we said that earlier. Yeah. Uh, they remember. Whether you, whether you did or you didn't lead with honor and integrity. Mm-hmm. That's what people, uh, I mean, we've said this in other podcasts, I think it's actually a, uh, a Maya Angelou, uh, quote that people, they won't remember what you, what you did or what you said, but they will remember how you made'em feel. Right. You know? Yeah. It's important. Well, that's good because at the end of the day, you know, teams don't remember your title like you said. Yeah. They remember your heart. Right. And, um, yeah. And whether you led with honesty and integrity. So, so wrap it up babe. What do you, what's the takeaways to today? Our takeaways today? Alright, so leadership is not about position, it's about service. That's number one. Seems simple. Number two, I would say teams thrive where humility and honor are practiced daily. Right. And number three, when leaders model unity, teams grow and unite around their mission. Right on. That's good. That's good stuff. Do I need to repeat'em or you got'em? No, it's good. It's good. Did you get'em though, folks? Did you get'em? Did you get all of those leadership's? Not about our position. It's about service. Mm-hmm. Teams thrive where humility and honor our practice daily. Good humility and honor. And when leaders model unity, yeah. Teams grow and unite around the mission. That's it. Working with our teams, not over our teams. Yeah. So as we wrap up here, we always like to leave you with an. With an action item or a challenge of the week, challenge a challenge of the week. And your challenge this week is to find one way to serve your team, uh, one way to serve your family, uh, even your coworkers, and expect you wanna serve them and expect nothing in return. Yeah. Big leadership principle. Serve without expecting anything in return because you'll, you'll, without expecting anything in return, but when you do that, you'll get. Something in return. Uh, so maybe it's, uh, maybe you're writing a, a thank you note. Maybe you're admitting that you're wrong. Maybe you're apologizing first. Maybe you're f apologizing and forgiving. They kind of go hand in hand. Uh, maybe it's just, you know, buying, buying that cup of coffee for, for someone you know, who appreciates that or Chipotle. Or Chipotle. Well, hey, uh, small acts of service multiply toward unity. Yeah. Small acts of service multiply toward unity. So take take time in your quiet time with the Lord this week and ask him what he wants you to do. Ask him how you can serve your team, uh, today and through the week. Uh, when you ask the Lord what he wants, he's never gonna steer you wrong. Right. And that's definitely the way to go for sure. And remember, you know, stewarding a team with integrity isn't about being the loudest voice in the room. It's about reflecting Jesus who led with love, humility, and with sacrifice. So united, we lead because united in Christ, we cannot be divided. Right. United in Christ, we cannot be divided. That's right. And he is the foundation. He is the cornerstone. Mm-hmm. Uh, and the enemy will surely try to divide us. But when we focus, when we fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, we cannot be divided. That's right. And the only way we could be divided is if we allow the enemy in to give him a foothold. Mm-hmm. So stay focused on Christ. So we thank y'all for. Uh, joining us on faithfully invested. Until next time, uh, keep leading and serving with Christ at the center of all things. Yes. And remember that when you live faithfully invested, God brings the increase He does. So peace be with you all and God bless you and your families. Absolutely. Have a great day. Thanks for joining us on Faithfully Invested with Allen and Stacy Jo, if today's conversation encouraged you, challenged you, or helped you see your calling more clearly, don't keep it to yourself. That's right. Share it with a friend. Leave a five star review and keep leaning into God's blueprint for your life, your leadership, and your legacy. So until next time, remember, when you invest in his kingdom, he brings the increase.