The Biblical Leadership Show

Beyond Five Loaves and Two Fish: The Leadership Multiplier

Tim Lansford and Dr. Dean Posey Season 4 Episode 93

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What does a 2,000-year-old story about feeding 5,000 people with just five loaves and two fish have to teach modern leaders? As it turns out, quite a lot.

Kicking off the third year of the Biblical Leadership Show, Tim and Dr. Dean examine one of the most significant stories in scripture—appearing in all four Gospels—to extract practical leadership wisdom applicable to any organization. The feeding of the 5,000 demonstrates how exceptional leaders see unlimited possibilities where others see only limitations.

"I would rather have a great staff person with limited resources than an average staff person with unlimited resources," shares Dr. Dean, highlighting how resourcefulness functions as a leadership multiplier. This principle resonates particularly with smaller organizations and churches, where 85% have fewer than 100 members but often operate with the limiting belief that only designated leaders can contribute meaningfully.

The episode transitions into examining Jesus walking on water during a storm—a powerful metaphor for leadership during crisis. When teams face challenges beyond their control, great leaders may not be able to calm external circumstances, but they can bring stability to their people. "Sometimes He calms the storm, other times He lets the storm rage and calms His child," Dr. Dean notes, emphasizing how intentional, quiet leadership builds trust during turbulent times.

Through examining these ancient stories through a leadership lens, the episode provides fresh perspectives on maximizing resources, empowering team members, and maintaining composure during challenges. Whether you lead a Fortune 500 company, a small business, or a community organization, these timeless principles offer practical guidance for seeing possibilities others miss and bringing calm when storms rage.

What storms are your teams navigating right now? How might you bring stability rather than adding to the panic? These questions and more make this episode essential listening for leaders seeking both practical wisdom and deeper purpose in their work.

Speaker 1:

uh-huh now, yeah, uh-huh, yeah, come on, come on, all righty welcome, welcome, welcome welcome, welcome, welcome, tim, how you doing To the. Biblical Leadership Show how you doing, doing great.

Speaker 2:

How are you doing today? I am doing fantastic, oh my gosh.

Speaker 1:

How are we doing on this End of the month? You know?

Speaker 2:

It is. It's hard to believe it's almost October it just went, so fast right. But you know, last week had a great second anniversary show had some snacks. We did, it was so good, did, did, still on the sugar rush from all my cookies right, so it's all right yeah. And then we're back to just so, just think today, very historic day for us.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

Starting our third year of the podcast.

Speaker 1:

Third year of the podcast.

Speaker 2:

I mean, that's just.

Speaker 1:

That's crazy.

Speaker 2:

I mean gosh. Still that just boggles my brain.

Speaker 1:

It does, it boggles my brain, it does it boggles my brain.

Speaker 2:

You know it's like wow.

Speaker 1:

How is that possible? I?

Speaker 2:

don't even know. You look back on it and I can say it doesn't even seem possible that we've been doing this 24 months.

Speaker 1:

No.

Speaker 2:

You know, it doesn't seem longer than 24 months.

Speaker 1:

No, exactly right, and thank you to our four listeners.

Speaker 2:

You guys are the best. They are staying with us.

Speaker 1:

All right, maybe I have a few more than four, but it sounds good. Okay, how's everything? It's good.

Speaker 2:

It's good, I had a nice ride on my bike this morning before.

Speaker 1:

I came to the studio.

Speaker 2:

Glad I'm sitting across the table from you.

Speaker 1:

That's good. I went to the gym, but you know it's all right. I got my workout in, but you know it's great. We're just social distancing here, so yeah, so we've continued. If you haven't been following, we've year grouping of all the books of the Bible and well, that is definitely going to extend out a lot on the year because we sort of hiccuped on some of these things coming through the New Testament, right.

Speaker 2:

That's sort of important.

Speaker 1:

And we went where we're going to try to cover some of these books in one setting. It takes us five to seven settings. So just look at this. We're on John right now, if you're just joining us, and we've pretty much been doing one, maybe one and a half, every chapter. So we're leading into John 6. And how many chapters I mean?

Speaker 2:

how many chapters is it? John Over 20.

Speaker 1:

20-something We'll finish by February. Yeah, we'll finish by February, so we'll get there. We'll get there, that's all right, but you know it's our show and we don't want to skip things because. No, no, it's our show and we don't want to skip things because this book has such amazing practical leadership principles 100%.

Speaker 2:

That people can literally implement today, and that's what we try to do every week that we're here and we just appreciate you staying with us because we really enjoy it. Yeah, this is our fun.

Speaker 1:

And if you're just first time joining us, you got to understand that we talk a little bit about the biblical, we talk a little bit about leadership and we throw some dad jokes in. And I'm teeing it up for you, dr P. And you got to understand Dr P is a joke junkie, right, is a joke junkie, right. He's got a spread of books and calendars and cards and papers and printouts and so he's, I'm ready. Yeah, he's ready.

Speaker 2:

I am so ready Speaking of that.

Speaker 1:

Wow, why do you know about that?

Speaker 2:

What did the plant say when it woke up this morning?

Speaker 1:

What did the plant say when it woke up?

Speaker 2:

this morning.

Speaker 1:

Don't know.

Speaker 2:

This will be the best day ever.

Speaker 1:

All right, I really was going a whole different direction. I was trying to really think about that one. I'm like this should be a simple one, but no, I never got that one.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, you know.

Speaker 1:

So you had a good bike ride.

Speaker 2:

I had a really good bike ride. I had to rent the bike for a while because we were traveling and stuff like that for a while because we were traveling and stuff like that. So for those, of you who are new to the show.

Speaker 2:

We come from Arlington, texas, right in the middle of Dallas, fort Worth, and I live on the other side of Fort Worth, so drive into the studio. But I think one of the greatest resources in the Fort Worth area is the Trinity Trail. I have stopped riding my bike on the road, unless it's like a race or something like that, because there's just too much traffic and it's just more and more dangerous A lot of cyclists getting hit. So I go downtown to Trinity Park, get off there, ride and it'll literally go as far as you want to ride. So today I just had a short ride before I came in here and it was good to be back on the bike.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And I just enjoy it yeah.

Speaker 1:

That's so awesome. So yeah, I've been slowly trying to rehab my knees. I got all banged up so I'm going to get up, you're going to get there. Then I'm going to get well. I mean, I'm riding a bike every day and doing weights and stuff, but I have to go for a ride with you one of these days, you know.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that'd be good.

Speaker 1:

You know, see you for an hour, and I mean for 20 minutes, and see you for an hour when you come back for an hour when you come back. I'll be sitting at one of the restaurants there. Hey, Dr P, you're back.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and the thing about Trinity Trail. If you go from Trinity Park I guess that's to the west you go through a part by University Parks and there's several outdoor restaurant places there, there's some dog parks, there's some water stops, and so, yeah, it's really really nice. If you want to go the other way, you can go all the way through downtown, which is the last time I rode I did all the way through downtown and then go all the way back, so it's a really nice and it's concrete, it's not like, if you have a gravel bike, it's gravel, or there's a concrete path and it's concrete, and so it's well-maintained, really nice.

Speaker 2:

I don't normally go on Saturdays because there's so many people, so this morning it was nice and just a few people, but it was really nice and anyway it was good. Yeah, I like it. Yeah, I like it too there you go.

Speaker 1:

When there's days, I'll take my kids over there. They're usually free on the weekends and it's pretty crazy over there on the weekends.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it is, it is.

Speaker 1:

You got any more dad jokes? Yeah, of course, or we want to jump into Jar 6? I've only got 114 dad jokes, new ones today New ones, that goes on the other 550 he has in front of him.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so what do you call friends? You listen to music with.

Speaker 1:

What do you call friends that you listen?

Speaker 2:

to music with you, listen to some music with some buddies. What do you call those people?

Speaker 1:

Don't know Earbuds. All right, there you go. There we go we better get to the Bible we better before. To the Bible we better Before they go. Like what are we doing today?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, john 6.

Speaker 1:

There's a couple things that happen in John 6.

Speaker 2:

Oh yes.

Speaker 1:

I guess one of the biggest ones it's sort of. I mean, there's big ones there, but one of the first ones we want to sort of talk about is Jesus feeds 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish, yes, two fish.

Speaker 2:

And let's just before we talk about the leadership principles, because there's many in that particular story. Let's just think about that particular story because when we read the first four books of the New Testament called the Gospels, this is one of the stories and there are very few. You have the crucifixion, you have the resurrection, you have the Last Supper and you have the feeding of the 5,000 in every one of these four books. You don't even have the birth story in every one of the books. You only have the birth story in Matthew and Luke. There's not a birth story in John. There's not a birth story in Mark. So that shows how important this story was to the early church and to those writers, because it appears in all four of the books. And so I know you have some leadership principles.

Speaker 2:

I just want to jump in and say for me and I shared this in Sunday school class a couple of days ago that everybody looks at life with a filter. You know, we've seen that or heard the. You know, is the glass half full or half empty? Well, everybody has a filter, and so for some people, their filter is always negative. I think good leaders, their filter needs to be positive. And so, for this particular story, I think one of the leadership principles we can get in is that a good leader sees where there is limited resources, they still see unlimited possibilities. And that's exactly what Jesus showed, and he saw. He saw okay, I've got limited resources, but I've got 5,000 people that was just men plus women and children, so there could have been 10,000 or more people and he fed them with 5,000, I mean with five loaves and two fish. And so he saw the unlimited possibilities with limited resources. And so I'm just going to say this and then I'll let you jump in.

Speaker 1:

No, that's fine Speaking of this particular principle.

Speaker 2:

I would rather have a great staff person with limited resources than an average staff person with unlimited resources, because that great staff person will be creative with the resources they have and they can see what can be done instead of what can't be done. And so I think that's what a leader is challenged to do. Leader is challenged to do is to help their people see what can be done with the resources they have. They might have very little resources and in churches a lot of times we have limited financial resources, but you've got creativity okay, and what a great resource is that You've got teamwork, you've got your lay people.

Speaker 2:

So sometimes we see, or we have almost like tunnel vision of our resources and a great leader begins to open up their blinds and help people see they have more resources than they realize and if they just access those and know how to use those resources, there can be more possibilities than they see at the beginning.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and that's exactly what I had in my notes. You know resourcefulness is a leadership multiplier. You know we you know great leaders maximize what's available and let's talk about this because we have a lot of people that are church leaders and you have a very big background in your one and a half years you've been doing this right All right, maybe 40 plus that.

Speaker 1:

You've had the blessings of being really, really small churches and then larger churches as well. What are some things that you can think of? Maybe the smaller churches can learn from the bigger churches? Are there any resources or anything and this?

Speaker 2:

I know I'm catching you off thing.

Speaker 1:

but I'm trying to think, because we have a lot of church leaders that listen, is there anything the recommendations, since you have that very diverse background that you could maybe think of to give them a head start on something like?

Speaker 2:

this. Well, I'll just say this and this statistic is a few years old, but I have a feeling it's still pretty accurate and that is it doesn't matter the denomination it could be Methodist, baptist, lutheran, episcopalian, non-denominational, it doesn't matter. 85% of all churches in the United States are have 100 people or less on a Sunday morning and it's not I can't say that 100% but a large portion of those churches have the mindset that the pastor we pay the pastor. It might be a dual-career person, that might be a plumber, but they feel like they call, so they're a pastor of a church, which is awesome. That might be a plumber, but they feel like they're called, so they're a pastor of a church, which is awesome. We have to be so thankful for those dual career people. They could be a teacher and then she feels called to be a pastor on the weekend. I just think those people are phenomenal. So we have like a quarterly meeting with clergy and spouses, whether we're retiring or not, in our area of Fort Worth and one of the people that I mentored early on he now teaches math in junior high, but he is a pastor on the weekend, and so I'm just thankful that that happens.

Speaker 2:

But with the mindset with 100 people or less, many times congregations have the opinion that the pastor does everything, that that's why we pay him or her is the pastor does everything. We pay them to preach, we pay them to teach, we pay them to go visit hospitals. We do this, and so they are not as involved in the church. And so one of the things that I think can multiply ministries you talked about ministry multipliers is to help people see that they have the ability to be involved in building the kingdom as much as the pastor. Now, the pastor has specific roles. You know teaching and preaching, but the pastor doesn't have to be the only one to go to the hospitals. You know the pastor doesn't have to be the one mowing the grass. You know the pastor doesn't have to be the one that fix the toilet in the church. You know those kind of things, but there are churches where that's the mindset and I think that holds them back. So if they can see the possibility of every person in ministry, it could be that you have a group of ladies that want to do quilting or knitting, and we have some friends that they make quilts and they give them to the children at the hospital. What an amazing ministry.

Speaker 2:

So the challenge, I think, is to help people realize that if we are accepting a call from Christ to be a Christ follower and we are breathing, then we still have a mission, we still have an opportunity to help build a kingdom somehow. We're not just called to go to church and then go home for the rest of the week. You know we're not just called to go to church and then go home for the rest of the week. We're called to do something to serve. You know. Bless God and serve other people during the week. What that is, I don't know. It depends on their giftedness. But when more and more people see that in a congregation, the congregation might not grow numerically but they will grow in influence in their community. And that's really, really exciting to see people getting involved and working with the pastor to spread the good news of Christ in their community, wherever they live.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's great. Yeah, yeah, just coming off. I was actually out of town this last weekend.

Speaker 1:

We had ours where you know, everybody, all the men were to meet and do landscaping and clean up our church yard and do a lot of stuff. So yeah, I think that's important to be involved, I mean and it gets you closer to your congregation, it makes you feel like you're part of a church. If you're taking an active role in something like that and doing things, you know it's just like anything that you have. If you're involved, you're going to have more of an ownership of it.

Speaker 2:

Correct. And so I think part of a good leader sees the potential, and we saw this last week when we talked about the man that was healed by the pool, that Jesus saw possibilities that that man was not able to see because of his condition. And good leaders see the possibilities in their people, the added value Everybody has added value to do something. And so the question is, how can I see that? Do I see that in my people? Whatever you know my warehouse manager, what do I see in that person? Am I training that person, him or her, to do a better job? In the people on the floor? So I think that is one of the great principles here from John, chapter 6.

Speaker 1:

Awesome, awesome.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Well, the next one that shows up in there, unless you have more to say on that one is Jesus does a little dance on the water there he does walks on the water.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's a pretty big thing.

Speaker 1:

And I actually think that's one of the things that really stands out. I think as childhood that's one of the things that I remember hearing the story when I was young, and I think a lot of times, if you ask people and John, I mean, that's one of the ones that shows up a lot of times too, with the feeding, the 5,000 and the walk on water you know, where, like the one by the pool and some of these things, you don't remember them, but I remember walks on water.

Speaker 1:

You know that where, like the one by the pool and some of these things, you don't remember them, but I remember walks on water.

Speaker 2:

That was a huge one, I'm like well, how's this possible, right, yeah, and so to me, what's interesting is it's in the same chapter. So you have the miracle of feeding on the 5,000 and the miracle of him walking on the water, and they're in the same chapter. So the question is, what was John? He could have put those stories anywhere, but he put them in the same chapter. So the question is, what is he trying to convey between the lines? Maybe not just the whole concept of that chapter? And I think it's the same thing that good leaders see possibilities when other people see limitations. And for Jesus there was no limitation. He was like okay, I'm going to walk on water, I created the water, I'm going to walk on it. And so that, to me, is just like a one-two punch, right there in the same chapter. You read that one chapter and you're going to go wow this is amazing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's pretty powerful. Yeah, For me, one of my notes and stuff and I'm a huge fan on this and is I got on. Faith invites miracles, right. And if you have faith, how many times I go down, pass. Or I say this and you know I tell my wife I know it'll work out right, it's faith. You've got to have faith and that's the way I've. You know, 30 years of being in business, it's like we're going to do this. I have faith it's going to work out.

Speaker 1:

I have faith it's the right decision and you know the good Lord provides you know, and opens up doors that you're not expecting you know to open up and opens up doors that you're not expecting you know to open up, and it's part of having the faith and believing where you're going.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so let's go back to this feeding, I mean to the walking on the water. So we see, in the story it really starts on chapter 6, verse 16. And it said the disciples got in a boat and they started across the sea to convert. Now you got to think about it. Most of these guys were fishermen. They had been in a boat their entire life. They knew how to handle a boat in a storm, but it was dark. It's like this is nothing new, but for some reason, this particular night the storm was really intense and it said they had rowed three or four miles and they saw Jesus coming near the boat. Now let's just think about your business or your whatever, your softball team, your whatever, and things are not going well, even though you've done what you've done a thousand times, just like these fishermen. Things are just not going well and you begin to panic, you begin to see limitations, you begin to see maybe, hey, we're going down, or you know whatever. And Jesus came along and he said do not be afraid. And they took him into the boat and it says immediately they were at Now.

Speaker 2:

In other stories it says that he calmed the storm. Okay, and there's an old saying Some of you might have heard this before and this is I think it's so powerful right now. It says sometimes he calms a storm, other times he lets the storm rage and calms his child. I'm talking about Jesus. I think that what a great leadership principle, because sometimes the storm we can't calm the storm. You know, it might be an economy thing, it might be a supply chain thing, it might be, you know, whatever. Like our whole town is out of electricity. It might be whatever. You might not be able to calm the storm. So if you can't calm the storm, the question is how can I bring calm to my people?

Speaker 2:

And that's what Jesus did. It doesn't say here you calm the storm. The question is, how can I bring calm to my people? And that's what Jesus did. It doesn't say here you calm the storm. It says that I'm going to be with you. I'm not going to be. We're going to do this together, and so I think a good leader in the midst of the storm makes sure that the people know that he or she is with them. We're going to ride this out together, Whatever the consequences. We're going to be in this together, and I think that, right there, what a great leadership principle 100%.

Speaker 1:

You know, I put in there, you know like what storms are your teams rowing through right now? Or is there something you can show up with the stability where you can use your voice to create calm instead of panic? Right, because you know when teams get that, or we have to do this or this has to be done, and a lot of times the leader has to be the person that's the voice of reason, the voice of calmness, the voice of refocusing, pinpoint, accuracy and all that stuff, and you know. So what storms are you going through, as a corporation, as a person, and what it might be? How can you change it?

Speaker 2:

So, yes and um, that that's such a good point and and so, like we said, we might not always be able to calm the storm on the outside, but we can work to calm the storm on the inside, to move forward with whatever it is that we're doing. So I just think that that's a really good opportunity and, like we said at the very beginning of this podcast, everybody has a filter, and so if you, as a leader see, my filter is to bring calm. How can I bring calm to that? I think getting to know your people so they trust you, be a person of integrity, tell the truth. Those are the kind of things that really bring calm and then be literally, physically, if you can be with your people.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

You know that to me is huge.

Speaker 1:

Be intentional with quiet leadership. Yes, that's what I put, that's right. So be intentional. You know that to me is huge.

Speaker 2:

Be intentional with quiet leadership. Yes, that's what I put, that's right.

Speaker 1:

So be intentional, you know it's not the spotlight, it's behind the scenes, it's the quiet leadership. Are you intentional with your group? And that's how you become a good leader.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, excellent, there you go, man, all right. Well, we finished after today. Well, we didn't finish, but we sure got on. So we got a few minutes.

Speaker 1:

We got to get some dad jokes in here before the end of the day. I got one question before that. Yeah, sure, and to finish out, the John 6, and. I want to know your thing. He declares I'm the bread of life.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 1:

Right. Is there a bigger meaning or is there anything like that that we can take out of that?

Speaker 2:

Well, he's obviously talking about spirituality here. He's not talking about you, know, but he was symbolically talking about himself being the very substance that your soul needs to survive. And if you would, he says, eat my flesh and drink my blood, which is very symbolic, okay. And then afterwards it says that was such a hard teaching, some people didn't want to follow him anymore. But he's saying, hey, you're going to need me, like a drowning man needs air, okay, and you need my life in you. I am your very substance. Just as much as you need the air to breathe, you need me in you to live a spiritual life. So that totally relates specifically to something we're going to get here to and the way we're going a couple months about the Last Supper.

Speaker 2:

I did my doctorate dissertation on the Last Supper, on the Lord's Supper and Holy Communion, and how that's still important today, and so, in fact, many churches have communion every Sunday.

Speaker 2:

You know Catholic Church has a mass every time. Other denominational churches have it, maybe once a month, like the church we go to has it once a month. But it's a way to remember that our spiritual life is dependent upon what we take in. And we can take in health and wholeness from Christ or we can take in something that's not health and wholeness from the world. And Jesus said no feed on me. You know, feed on me and you will have a growing spiritual life.

Speaker 1:

So anyway, was that good? Yeah, that was good. I just want to finish my notes and questions and everything you know, because this is my leadership, personal leadership hour. I mean personal ministry. That's why I got in here. I got a personal minister here and just teaches me on a one-on-one basis, right? The?

Speaker 2:

question is everybody feeds their body, their mind, hopefully their soul, their relationship, somehow right?

Speaker 2:

We feed it somehow. And the question is we get to choose how we feed ourself, whether that's physical food, whether that's spiritual food, mental food, psychological food, relationship, whatever it is. We get to choose. And Jesus says, no, choose me, choose me. And John chapter 6 is a very long chapter and this whole symbolic teaching about being the bread of life is, I mean, it's lengthy but it's really, really powerful, and Jesus talks about that a lot. And so, anyway, if you haven't read John chapter 6 in a while, just go back and read it. It's a fantastic teaching tool.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. Yeah, the only thing we're missing at this show is some dad jokes at this point.

Speaker 2:

Well, you know, I had a next-door neighbor that couldn't pay her water bill, so I sent her a get-well card. I have to get that out. Oh, that's bad. Oh bad, oh bad. Hmm, I sent her a get well card.

Speaker 1:

I have to get that out. That's bad.

Speaker 2:

Oh bad.

Speaker 1:

What do you got? I don't even have any teed up. You don't even have any jokes teed up. I've got my. Oh, I do have it over here.

Speaker 2:

Okay. So what did the coat say to the hanger?

Speaker 1:

Coat, say to the hanger Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

Maybe we should hang out sometime.

Speaker 1:

I know this one for some reason. Let's see. Why are pigs so bad at sports? Simple one you shouldn't be able to do, I should know this one I can't think of it right now. They always hog the ball.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's it. Oh gosh. Well, how do you wash your clothes at the beach?

Speaker 1:

You sand them.

Speaker 2:

You use.

Speaker 1:

Tide there you go, all right oh told my son I was gonna buy him a book on procrastination, but I keep putting it off.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you know I had to fire the guy who's mowing my lawn yeah yeah, he just wasn't cutting it.

Speaker 1:

Parenting style do dads like best improvising. Yeah, he just wasn't cutting it. Parenting style do dads like best Improvising? That is the truth, so why was the laptop late to school? I didn't have the code to get in.

Speaker 2:

He had a hard drive All right One more, one more, I had like 100 more.

Speaker 1:

You got one more Close this out, okay, okay.

Speaker 2:

So what do condiments do on the weekend?

Speaker 1:

I've heard this one, but I don't remember it.

Speaker 2:

They catch up on their sleep, that's right. Some people have been catching up on their sleep for the last 30 minutes, the last 30 minutes.

Speaker 1:

Right, exactly right, all right, all right. Well, thank you for joining us today. You guys, check us out next week, where we will go into another fine one of maybe John 7.

Speaker 2:

Maybe John 8. Maybe John 8, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Looking at the schedule there, but check us out. Physicalleadershipshowcom. I'm Tim Lancer, with me Dr Dean Posey and other than that, Dr Dean, take us out. Hey, make it a great day. Thank you, guys.

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