MAKE SOMEBODY ELSE BETTER

14 hours ago
2 min read

FRIDAY • SEPTEMBER 4, 2026

Weekly Journey: The Towel & The Title

Theme: Servanthood & Leadership

Focus: Leadership that develops people

Key Insight:

Mature leaders don't need everybody beneath them; they help somebody else become everything God called them to be.

Governing Question: Can God trust me with influence?

Acts 11:23–24 NLT

“When he arrived and saw this evidence of God's blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord. Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And many people were brought to the Lord.”

Supporting Scriptures: Acts 11:25–26 • Ephesians 4:11–13 • 1 Thessalonians 5:11

Barnabas arrives in Antioch, sees God's grace at work, and rejoices instead of competing with it.

Then he goes looking for Saul and brings him into the work.

Barnabas doesn't protect his platform from another gifted person.

He helps develop one.

And his leadership keeps pointing people toward the Lord, not toward dependence upon Barnabas.

Tuesday night something important surfaced:

Secure leaders aren't intimidated by somebody else's gifts.

Insecure leadership needs to remain the smartest, strongest, most important person in the room.

Kingdom leadership asks:

“Who can I help become better?”

Your influence shouldn't make people permanently dependent upon you.

Good leadership equips people to grow.

Look at the people God has placed around you.

Who could you encourage?

Teach?

Introduce?

Recommend?

Give an opportunity?

Share knowledge with?

Celebrate?

Make room for?

Use your influence to make somebody else better.

And when they grow, don't become threatened.

Celebrate what God is doing in them.

Friday's Question:Who should become better because God placed me in their life?

FRIDAY WORD

If your leadership only makes your name bigger, you've missed the Kingdom. Kingdom leadership helps somebody else become stronger.

Father, thank You for every gift You have placed in me and every person You have placed around me. Deliver me from insecurity, competition, jealousy, and the need to be the most important person in the room. Give me the spirit of Barnabas—able to recognize grace in others, encourage their growth, and make room for their gifts. Use my influence to help people become everything You called them to be, always pointing them toward Jesus. Amen.

Barnabas encouraged people to remain faithful to the Lord.

That's the goal.

Healthy Christian leadership doesn't make people dependent upon us.