Video Transcript: Passion

All right, being an effective manager, qualification number six, passion. We're  going to look at some of the things that Paul said. Paul was obviously a person  of passion. He almost single handedly, brought Christianity to the Gentiles Asia.  Minor spread it around, and from there it went all over the world. An incredible  person, I Corinthians 9:24, do you not know that in a race, all runners run, but  only one receives the prize. So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete  exercises self control and all these things. They do it to receive a perishable  wreath. You know, back in those days, it wasn't a trophy. It was a wreath that  they put on their head. It was like a like a crown. But we and in an imperishable  we're going for something that's imperishable. People run and work hard for  these things that don't last, but we work for something that will last forever. So I  do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control lest, lest, after preaching to others, I myself should be  disqualified. So Paul is appealing to this image of athletes today. Athletes are  highly trained. The Olympics. People train all their lives to do something like  that. They get sponsors the average person, there's no way that they could even compete. So Paul is saying, look, look how hard everyone works. Look at the  passion, the energy, I mean, to keep working at some sport your whole life up to  that point. I mean, you see these young athletes, they've been doing that since  they can remember, and it's intense and it's daily and it's weekly, and it's yearly,  and it never lets up. Paul says, what is driving these people? What is the what  do people hope to get? And then here we are, children of God. We've been  saved by the grace of God. We have eternity. We've we've gotten, we've gotten  a wreath that doesn't wither. These wreaths were made out of out of twigs and  leaves and so on. And you know, after a week, of course, they're all brown and  dead. We have our prize is eternal life. And so how passionate are we with this  race? Shouldn't we at least have the same passion that people have for these  things that don't matter? Philippians 3:12, not that I've already obtained this or  already been made perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ,  Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I've made it on my  own. But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining toward what  lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize of the upward call of God  in Christ, Jesus, I press on. I press on. If your heart doesn't beat strong for the  cause of Christ, what does it beat strong for? I mean, what other cause Are you? Are you? You know staying not you know night and day? Well, what are the  things that keep you up at night, and why not the cause of Christ. So if you're a  manager in a church, you are managing the greatest cause in the history of the  world. There's nothing greater, and then to be lackadaisical about it like, well, if I  have time, maybe I'll get to it. Why is passion a prerequisite for management?  Leading people is hard. The only reason you have to lead people is people don't necessarily want to be led. They're not going to do things unless someone says, come on, let's do it. I mean, that's true with almost anything you know, you're not

going to, you know, go to the ball game with a group of people, unless  somebody in the group says, Hey, let's go to the ball game. Just check our  schedules. Let's do this, someone has to lead. And if no one leads, people don't  do things. It's hard. It's hard to lead people because, you know, this one objects, well, I can't this Saturday. I can't, you know, it's, it's a hard thing to get everyone  to do something. You're going to need passion to do it. Number one, they often  don't want to follow. You know, you want to do it, but I want to do something  else. They often will blame you for their own failures. You're trying to lead  someone and then it doesn't work out. They do it and they fail, and then they  blame you for it. I had that with our church. I was trying to get people to read the Bible a little bit every day. So I had a reading chart. I had little stickers. That you  would put on the wall at the back. And some people failed to put stickers on the  wall at the back because they failed to do the reading, but they blamed me  because of the stickers they acted like because I'm making you keep track of it.  Somehow you're failing because of that. I remember trying to get people to pray, and so we came up with this thing, Acts, adoration, confession, thanksgiving,  supplication. And we had these little sheets and people would actually write out  their prayers. So we had people writing out their prayers. So I remember  someone writing out their prayers, and after a couple weeks, they came back to  me and said, well, this doesn't work. This doesn't work. This thing that you gave  me doesn't work. And I said, Well, why doesn't it work? Well, I keep writing the  same thing, you know, every day I write the same thing. It just doesn't work. And I said, well, before you had this piece of paper, were you praying, yeah, but were you praying the same thing every day? Well, I don't know. I said, So you're  telling me that the act of writing is forcing you to somehow pray the exact same  thing every day, or is this the extent of what your prayer life was really like? I  mean, why are you blaming me? This is your prayer life. The piece of paper is  just telling you what it is. If you don't like it, it's something you're doing. But they  wanted to blame my piece of paper. They wanted to blame what I was getting  them to do, which just exposed to them the truth, but they wanted to blame me,  because I'm the one exposing the truth, they will often treat you like the enemy. I mean, when you're trying to get someone to do something and they fail, they'll  treat you like the enemy. Or if you're trying to get them to do something and they don't want to do it, then, you know, the first time you call to encourage, Hey, I  just want to call to make sure you're on top of this. And let's say they did it. They  go, Oh yeah, appreciate the call. Love the encouragement. Week later you call,  they haven't done a thing. They answer the phone. Well, how you doing? Yeah,  fine. Well, how's that going? Well, you know, I didn't really get to it. Next time  you call, they see the caller ID. It's you. They don't even answer because they  don't want to be caught not doing something. They often see you as part of the  management. A lot of companies will have managers. They all meet, and they  dress and they have ties, and then you have the people on the floor doing all the

work, and the people on the floor doing all the work. Sort of resent the people  telling them what to do. And you have this, you know, the workers against the  management thing. So you're a manager, you're just trying to get things going.  You're just trying to make the company succeed, and people see you as the  management why is passion or prerequisite for management, helping people  succeed is hard work. Number one, you pour your time into someone, and then  they walk away from everything you did for them. A lot of parents have this they  work with their kids for 18 years. They try to train them, try to give them  opportunities, pay for their clothes, pay for their housing, pour their life into  them, and the kid at 18 goes, You know what? I think I'll go a different direction. I don't think I like the home that I grew up in. I think I'm just going to rebel against  everything I was taught that's hard. You pour your energy into someone, and  then they just walk away. You pour your energy into an employee, and then they  quit, and they go somewhere else in church, if you're a pastor, you know, I can  just see all the people that I sat down with lunch with, I said, and help their  marriages. I did all. I just poured my life into these people. And then they were  gone. They found a better deal. They found something else they wanted to do,  and gone. Ah, now, now I got a new person. I gotta go to lunch. I gotta help  them with their marriage. And it's tiring, it's hard. You need passion and energy  to keep going when things are difficult, like that number two, if they succeed,  they don't always recognize your role and their success. So you help someone,  they succeed, and then they don't say anything to you. And after a while, it gets  discouraging, because you feel like you're doing things, but am I really  accomplishing anything? Number three, the coach does not always get the  recognition the players get. Why is Why is passion a prerequisite for  management? Managers are often caught between the workers and the owners. It is the owner they want certain things. There's the people above you, and then  there's the people below you that are working for you, and they're not happy  with you, and the owners are not happy with you, and it's like you have these  two different people to keep happy. Owners blame managers for lack of  progress. Workers blame the manager for the lack of progress. Why is passion a prerequisite for management? The managers, job is never finished. I mean, you  can always do something. There's more that always could be done. The worry  does not stop at quitting time. For a lot of workers, they work, and when there's  quitting time, they quit, and then they go home and they fish if they do whatever  they want to do, but the manager is still worried about what was. Not done. How  are we going to get this done? Are we on time? Are there some things that I got  to do? Is there someone I have to fire? Is there someone I have to hire? Did I  hire the right person? Did I not fire the right person? All these things to worry  about, they don't stop at quitting time. Number two, the buck often stops on the  manager's desk. If there's a problem and someone messed up. It ends up being  your problem. You don't get out of it, you inherit the problems of all the people 

that you manage. If you're the pastor, you inherit all the problems of all the  people. Why is passion a prerequisite for management? Manager's job can be  the most rewarding of all. Very few people can do what a good manager does,  that is help a team of people succeed. So if you are a manager and you have  the passion and you can hang in there, you really have the most influential job  that there is in the world today, helping people succeed. There's nothing more  rewarding than that, and especially helping a team succeed the win with the  team. You see these professional teams and and when they win the big thing,  you know, the World Championship, you in the interview the coach, there's  nothing, there's no greater feeling than being the one that helped a bunch of  people come together without you, it would have never, ever happened. So if  you're the manager, if you're a manager of a non profit, you're the manager of  your church, maybe the pastor of your church. You're planting a church or even  a for profit organization. It is a prized role. Do not lose heart. It is difficult. It is  hard. That's why very few people can do it, and maybe that's why you're the one that's being called to do it.