00:00:00 Thanks for joining me on episode 707 of the inspired stewardship podcast. Hi, I'm Paul sawn from Kara. I challenge you to discover your true identity and calling so you can be empowered to live everyday to the fullest. One way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Mader. other things from the past began to be looked at with nostalgia.
00:00:32 That's what we do. This is what people do, and you, if you're leading an organization, need to recognize this and accept it without judgment, but begin to recognize it and work with your people to begin to not just intellectually understand the need for change, but you begin to emotionally accept it as well. Welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcasts.
00:01:00 If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world. And today's spiritual foundation episode about developing your influence.
00:01:29 I talk with you about who is in the back to Egypt committee. Also share why we will always have these groups in our churches and indeed, even in other organizations. And I also talk with you about the reason that aiming to never have a back to Egypt committee is a path to failure. Let's talk a little bit about the back to Egypt committee.
00:01:52 You know, this happens in churches, but honestly it happens in all organizations. This is that group that for whatever's going on for whatever change has been proposed for whatever new has come to bear always has the, that's not how we did it. We used to do it this way and what's more, it was better back then. It's the nostalgia feeling.
00:02:15 It's the group who looks on the past with Rose colored glasses and remembers the time when everything was at its peak. Even though it may not really have been as good as they remember today. It's the group that wants to go back to the beginning rather than moving forward. And I'll give you a hint. Odds are really good for something at some time and in your church or in your work or in your home.
00:02:40 At some point, you've had a seat on that committee yourself. You've had that feeling of it was better back when, and I wish we could go back to that time. I wish we could recapture that feeling and that experience that we had them so that we could do what we used to do. Then, you know, these groups always exist in all churches and all organizations and families anywhere where people have gathered together and we'll always have them to there's.
00:03:11 There's no way to get rid of them because we all have this tendency to look at the past. And remember it as the highlight reel, we were a member of things that were better than they really were. We reflect on things that were, and we think about them as the best they could have been. It's really hard to change and to move forward.
00:03:34 And the first thing to realize is recognize that change creates grief for lack of a better term. Anytime that you're asked to change, it means giving something up. It means letting go of something. And that's one of the problems with this. That's one of the things that happens to people that causes this group to naturally come about. If you're a leader in an organization,
00:03:58 you have to recognize that even if the person can intellectually acknowledge that the change is good, that it's for their best, they're still going to be an emotional loss. And we have to accept that loss. We have to. We have to realize size that change means giving something up. You know, we call it the back to Egypt committee because if you've read numbers,
00:04:23 you'll notice that throughout it. There's this constant litany of, of complaining about how we've we've left Egypt. This is where Moses has taken folks out of Egypt and they're going towards the promised land. And yet they're complaining about how, when we were back in Egypt, everything was better. An example of that numbers, chapter 11 verses four through six, the rabble with them began to crave other food.
00:04:50 This is after manna from heaven has been provided. And again, the Israelites started wailing and said, if only we had meat to eat, we remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost, also the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now we have lost our appetite. We never see anything thing,
00:05:08 but this manna, the point is, here's a miracle that has happened there. They're having food provided for them. And yet they can pay plain about it because it's not good enough. And it was better when they were back in Egypt, even though they were slaves, even though they were servants, even though they were made to work and do things that they weren't wanting to do,
00:05:28 they don't remember that part of it. They just remember the good stuff and there they're grieving the change. They're grieving over the fact that things have changed. And this happens in our organizations too. It happens in our churches that happens in our families and it happens in our business. And one mistake that leaders will make is they often think, well, the job is to get rid of this committee.
00:05:53 The job is to make sure that a hundred percent of the people buy into a hundred of the change, a hundred percent of the time. But the truth is that's a nearly impossible goal, aiming to have everyone buy in to every change. A hundred percent is not really the goal. Instead, you do have to recognize their loss. You have to recognize it without judgment.
00:06:16 And you have to get people who are passionate to enroll first and over time. Other people will buy in, but you're not necessarily aiming for a hundred percent buy in. You're aiming for people to at least be willing to try it to at least buy in with the idea that we'll give it a shot. We'll see what we can do. We'll see how it happens.
00:06:38 That's really kind of all Moses did with the Israelites. He got them to agree to go on the journey. He promised them a destination, but they couldn't see it yet. They couldn't see that destination. They hadn't reached the promised land yet. And therefore they began to remember the past with nostalgia. What's interesting is once they reach the promised land and it was wonderful,
00:07:01 they still began to look at other things. Then that new normal became normal very quickly. And then other things from the past began to be looked at with nostalgia. That's what we do. This is what people do. And you, if you're leading an organization, need to recognize this and accept it without judgment, but begin to recognize it and work with your people to begin to not just intellectually understand the need for change,
00:07:29 but begin to emotionally accept it as well. Thanks for listening. Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoy this episode, do me a favor, go over to facebook.com/inspired
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