Jerk, You Are Using Me

Before I started People's Church, I was a traveling speaker/evangelist. When I traveled full-time, I thought people really loved Herbert Cooper the man. It took me a while to figure out that most people didn't love Herbert Cooper the man, they loved Herbert Cooper the communicator/preacher. I had a gift that added value to their church, convention or organization. When my gift was no longer available to their organization, the love quickly stopped. This is not a negative thing - it's just reality. God gives us gifts and talents to be a blessing to others. I just had a hard time distinguishing between the fact that people can love my gift but not love and value me.

If you are going to lead a team of people effectively, you can't love people’s gifts and not love and value the people. As leaders, we must surround ourselves with gifted people, but we must love and value the people for who they are and not just for what they do.