Paul wrote his last letter from prison, to a younger leader named Timothy. One sentence in that letter holds four generations.
Paul is the first. Timothy is the second. The “faithful men” Timothy will teach are the third. The “others also” those men will teach are the fourth.
Paul did not measure his work by what Timothy knew. He measured by whether the people Timothy taught could teach.
The idea. Sharing leadership is the fifth step of the LEADS Path. Most leaders stop at the second generation: I trained my replacement. Paul’s test goes two further. Your leadership is unfinished until the people you developed are developing someone else, without you in the room.
The action for this week. Draw four boxes in a row. Put your name in the first. In the second, write someone you are developing. In the third, someone that person is developing. In the fourth, the next. Find the first empty box. Your work is there.
“What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”2 Timothy 2:2, ESV
Jake
P.S. The four-generation test is one of three tools on the LEADS System page.