Don't call me a good leader until you see what happens after I leave the room. I mean that. Because any leader worth their salt can make things look good as long as they've got their hands on everything. But the real measure of leadership isn't simply what you can accomplish while you're present. It's what you've prepared other people to accomplish when you're no longer there. Does the organization continue to flourish, or does everything begin falling apart because the person who built it never prepared anybody else to carry it? Here's what I need you to understand: Every single one of us has an expiration date on our current leadership assignment. Jesus' ministry started at the age of 30 and he had 3 years to get it done in such a way that it would continue long after He was gone. And I don't care how gifted you are, how anointed you are, how long you've been doing it or how convinced you are that nobody else could possibly do what you do. Eventually, your time in that position is going to come to an end. So, if we genuinely love the people we've been entrusted to lead, we ought to be thinking about what happens to them when that day comes LONG before it actually arrives. Because real love doesn't only care about the present we're a part of. Real love also prepares people for the future that will exist when we're no longer there. This is one of the things I absolutely love about Jesus. He didn't spend three years gathering people around Himself simply so they could watch Him be amazing. He intentionally developed people who would continue the mission after His physical departure. He invested in them relationally, modeled the life He expected them to live, gave them opportunities to lead, released authority to them and prepared them for what was coming. Jesus didn't wait until He was leaving to start developing the people who would carry the mission after He left. Their development was happening the entire time He was with them! And more than 2,000 years later, we're still participating in the mission He entrusted to them to continue moving forward.