The Moral Compass Chronicles

If You Aren’t Leading the Right Way, You’re Leading Them Astray

• Eyon Johnson • Episode 19

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We examine the burden and privilege of leadership, why words without action mislead, and how intentional direction shapes the people who follow us. We share hard lessons from ministry, mentorship, and everyday life about clearing the path, carrying the weight, and choosing the narrow way.

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Speaker 1:

Grace and peace. Grace and peace, everybody, and welcome to another rendition of the Moral Compass Chronicles. I am your boy. I'm your brother. Some of you, I'm your big brother. Some of you, I'm your little brother. But I'm Eyon J. That's E Y-O-N-J-A-Y everywhere. Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, Eyon Johnson. And it is a pleasure and a privilege to be here with you all yet again. I really want to dive into this thing. I would like to inform you that this particular episode, this particular chronicle, is brought to you by Camp Crusher. If you didn't hear the message before, rewind it. Rewind it. Listen back to it. You'll hear me talking more about Camp Crusher moving forward. I want to jump right into this message. Now, I found myself in a little bit of a situation, and the truth is, it may not have been a situation for most people, but I found it to be a bit of a situation for me. Why? Um, somebody might say that I take certain things a little too seriously, somebody might say that, you know, maybe I care a little bit too much about other people. Uh, and the list could probably go on and on. But I found, and I wrote this thought down, I found it unsettling, and I'm not gonna tell you what the situation was, but I'm gonna talk about the thought that has come to me based on this situation that has arisen in my life. I have come to the understanding over my years of living that it is imperative that we lead people the right way, or else we are going to lead them astray. We've gotta lead people the right way, or else we are going to lead them astray. Now, I asked myself this question, and it was for me, but I want to share it with us all because this I I want to s a lot of us see ourselves as leaders. Um, and a lot of times we like the idea of being a leader, but we don't like to do the work that leadership requires. Okay? Now I asked myself this question, and I asked us all this question. Are we really leaders? And if so, are we good ones? Are we good leaders? What type of leadership capabilities or qualities do we possess? And I just want somebody to know that if you do possess any of these qualities, it was God given, whether you believe it or not. Now, with these gifts and talents to lead people and lead in particular areas, some of us may be the left arm in the body, some of us may be the right ear. I may be the left foot, the left toe, one of the toes on the left foot. Somebody else may be the hair, somebody may be the hands, you, my brother, you might be the heart pumping the blood to the rest of the body, somebody else might be the lungs. Where are you? And now, in that particular capacity, if you are called to be leading, and to some degree we all are, and I'm gonna get into that in a second, but if you're called to be leading, are you doing what you are supposed to be doing as a leader? Um, I have found that people will do what they see you do. Now, myself, I have found myself in leadership positions over the course of my life, and even currently within my own youth department, I find myself being the president of my youth department at my church and ordained minister. I'm in ministry and I've led in other capacities. I've always been a leader in friend groups that I've been in, and um I I have seen that people will do what they see you do. People will listen to what you say, and the smart ones will listen to what you say and watch what you do afterward. And so we've got to be really careful a lot of times with what we're saying. Are we giving are we giving off the perception of being a leader? Are we are we talking about it more so than being about it? Um, that is something that I have found. I got to a point in my life where I'm like, yo, I don't even want to talk no more. I don't even want to do anything. And I remember I actually had this podcast episode topic. I never actually got to it, and it was about uh essentially not even not talking about what you want to do before actually doing it, because people will hold what you say against you. If you talk about what you want to do, you could have the best intentions in the world. You could have the best intentions in the world, and you talk about what you intend to do as a leader in this, all right? We're talking about leadership, right? As a leader, I talk about what I intend to do, what's on my heart to do, what I want to do. And when you if you don't get it done, people will hold it against you. People will hold it against you, and so that sometimes leadership, and I'm I'm teaching here, sometimes leadership is knowing I can't talk about everything. I can't even talk about I I I have I have my my committee that I work with, and I have some things planned for uh a few weeks down the line. I told them I haven't even, and people are asking me about it. I have plans I haven't even shared with you yet. That's one of the reasons why. People oftentimes, and I also mostly because I wasn't led to yet, but people will take what you say and use it against you. Some people yo, some people are diabolical like that too. And you could have the best of intentions, fellas. Let me tell you something, fellas. Don't talk about what you want to do for your woman. Do it. And I know there's a there's a there's a woman somewhere who agrees with me. Women are tired of hearing us talk. Women are tired of hearing us talk, fellas. So as a man and as a leader, you want to do something for your lady, your wife, your girlfriend, your your family, your daughters, even your daughters. I have a daughter now. Don't talk about it. Just do it, get it done. Now, if it's something that you're gonna be working toward with your wife, with your girl, whatever the case is, that's different. Surprises and stuff, bro. Don't even talk about it. Just get it done, my brother. Because if a lot of times we live in a world where it will be held against you. I'm talking from experience. I have been there. I have been there. I have been there. So, let me, and I don't want to get too far off topic here. We're talking about leadership. We're talking about leadership. You've got to lead people in the right way, or else you're gonna lead them astray. And every leader, watch this. Every leader is a direction giver to some degree. All right. If you are, I've I used to say this years ago. If you're not leading people toward God, if you're not being intentional about drawing people closer to God, if you are keeping friends and people around you that don't that don't draw you nearer to him, they will be drawing you away from God. I probably there's there's no in-between, there's no like, you know, little bit, little bit of Jesus here, little bit there, little bit of the world here, little bit of the world there, you know, half and half, nah. That's called lukewarm. And that that's not, I don't want to go down that path too much, but that's lukewarm. As a leader, if you are not leading, intentionally leading people in the right direction, which is to God, you're leading them away from God. If you're somebody who, like myself, who has you're you know the Lord as your your your your personal savior, and yet you have these people in your circle, and they may not know God for themselves, and you're not drawing them closer to him, you're not using that opportunity to say, hey, listen, yo, do you have you heard the good news? Have you heard the good news? If that's not something you're doing, like myself, I I put I'm putting myself out there on Front Street right now. This is because this is the life I used to live, right? I've known Jesus my whole life, grew up in church, knew right from wrong, knew what was gonna happen eventually. I knew I know how all of this is gonna end, right? Yet I find myself partying every week. Yet I find myself smoking and drinking every day with some of these people. So mind you, I know I know what I'm supposed to be doing versus what I'm not supposed to be doing. Yet I'm not walking the right way. I found myself astray. I felt I found myself walking on that broad road, right? That that road that the Bible says leads to destruction. Not the narrow one, right? Walking the right way is a very narrow path. And I didn't find my, I wasn't on that path, right? I found myself on that broad path. And now, me who knows who Jesus is, right? I know right from wrong, I know what I'm supposed to be doing. I find myself having that conscience, right, of what I'm supposed to be doing, the life I'm supposed to be living, and not only am I not living that life, but I've got all of these people who are following me, who I'm following. We're all friends, and we're we're we're we're living this life outside of God, outside of the safety that He provides, outside of that promise of things to come, exceedingly abundantly, above all that even we could ask or think is to come. Right? Where our minds can't even perceive the glory that is yet to be revealed. We're not on that path. I and I should know better, but now I am not leading them to God. I'm leading them away from God because I'm not being intentional. I found myself not being intentional about saying, hey, have you heard the good news? Do you want to come to church with me? Do you know Jesus? Does he live in your heart? Do you what what's your your you know what's your level of spirituality, right? Do you uh what is spirituality to you? That's a good question to ask somebody nowadays, because you got to be careful now. What what does what does the word spiritual mean to you? What does it mean to be spiritual? Are you a spiritual person? In what ways are you spiritual? What spirit what's what what practices? I guess what do you practice? Right? So we we leadership influences whether we mean for it to or not. Our influence will our our our leadership will influence people, whether we want it to or we don't want it to. There's there's no nobody leads in neutral, right? You're either in drive or you're in reverse, especially young people. I I find myself saying, like, it's so much that's where my heart is. Young men specifically, like talking to them and working with them. Because I mean, we I and I was once a young man who needed that. You know what I'm saying? Maybe that's why, because I relate so well. And shout out to my young boys, my young bulls, y'all know who y'all are. Uh the truth is, some most they don't even listen to this podcast, probably. That's the truth. Some people who may need it the most, those young men who may need it the most. The Moral Compass Chronicles, the idea behind this podcast is for them, it's tailored toward them. But this is not something they want to hear more most times. And so, as a leader, it's important that we reach them however we need to. Especially young people. Especially young people. And they're watching what we're doing more than we think they are. I guess maybe I I don't know if I'm talking like a father. I feel like one. They're they're watching when we don't think they're watching. Even so, even when we think they're don't, they're they're not listening.

Speaker:

They're listening.

Speaker 1:

If we don't show them the path to righteousness, the world will show the path to destruction. That's all that's out there. That's all that's out there. There's um there's a scripture that says uh it talks about well before I even get there, before I even get there, we're talking about leadership and the fact that if you don't lead people the right way, you're gonna be leading them astray, right? And I kind of I kind of went on a little tangent there. It's so funny. This scripture came to my mind, and then as I began to research scriptures, this is one of the first ones that came up. James. James chapter 3. It says, Be not many masters, my brethren, be not many masters, masters as in teachers, leadership positions, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. Leaders, I'm talking to you. Leaders, I'm talking to you. You who you live your life as somebody who other people look up to. You are somebody who you have a specific arena that you're in where you're looked at as a leader, and other people, whether it's one or one hundred, are looking to you, and they're looking at you, and they follow what you do or say. It could be a thousand people, you could be a pastor, you could be an usher, you could be a young brother, you could be an athlete, you're a leader on your team, you could be uh a supervisor at your job. I I have found this scripture, it it can relate to all of these things. Be not many masters, don't be so quick to want to be a leader, because you who are called to leadership, you shall receive the greater condemnation. Now, biblically, that has a lot more weight to it than even like you as a supervisor on your job. As a supervisor on your job, you are tasked with overseeing other people and their performance levels. You it is literally your job as a supervisor to watch what your employees are doing and to correct them accordingly. And whatever the job is that you're doing, it is contingent upon the performance. Whatever the business is, whatever the arena, the entity, whatever it is, the industry, whatever it may be, it's contingent upon the performance of the employees and the performance and the supervision of the manager or the supervisor. So if you're in a supervisory role at your job, it's it's easier said than done, oftentimes. And a lot of times when you talk about the grass looking greener, it looks better than it actually is sometimes. Everybody wants to be the supervisor, and everybody wants the supervisor pay until it's time to one take ownership of the project, until it's time to oversee everybody and everyone doing their job. Some people would prefer to be an employee, you know. Some people prefer to sit on a sideline and chill and relax and not have to worry about anybody else doing their job. All I gotta do is my job. I come to work, I clock in, I do my job, and I'm out. Nah. Supervisors don't get to do that. Leaders, you don't get to do that. I told my boy the other day, he he was telling me how, and and this is out of context, but bro knows the conversation, but I can share it with you. He was called to a leadership position. He accepted the leadership position, and he told me that some situations occurred, some situations uh uh rose up, and he decided, yo, this is a dub. I'm done. I I I'm in this leadership position, but I ain't doing this no more because of this, this, this, and that. That's it. And I was like, yo, and we talked, we talked, but ultimately I had to tell him, yo, that is unacceptable. That's unacceptable. You're called to leadership, and it's not even like you step down from the position, you're called to a job, you do that job. You agree, and that's that's the moral compass right there. You've got to have that in you where you you you know what what's right in a particular situation, what it doesn't matter what the circumstances are, I'm not gonna allow these circumstances to dictate what I do. I'm not gonna allow these circumstances to stop me from giving my all. I had we we we we had this talk back in July. There's a chronicle here. If you scroll up and look, there's an episode that is titled Your Choices Outweigh Your Current Circumstances. Leaders understand this. Oh, come on, somebody, talk with me. Somebody talk to me. Your choices outweigh your current circumstances. So as a leader, I've got to understand that even if I'm placed in a situation, even if I'm placed in a under under a specific type of pressure, I don't like the cards that I have been dealt as a leader. It's incumbent upon me to work it out, figure out a way. I'm a leader, I'm not a follower. I am not somebody who just shows up and sits down and gets to chill while the snow is being shoveled. Nah, there's there's pallets and pallets of material that need to go from outside. They need to get into the warehouse. As a leader, I am not gonna sit back and just watch and stand by and watch the materials get rained on. Listen, if you want to be, oh Lord, help me. Help me here, Lord. If you want to be somebody who sits back and watches the materials get rained on, at least be honest about it. At least be honest about it. Be honest about the fact that you do not want to be a leader. Leadership is not just a role, it's a responsibility. Let me get back to the notes. Misleading someone, misleading. That's where that word comes from, leadership. Misleading, a lot of times we talk about uh when you mislead somebody, what's the first thing you think about? Lying, right? You mislead somebody, you think about somebody uh uh not uh either lying to you or omitting some truth. If someone misleads you, typically we think of the fact that they led you to believe something other than what actually was, right? That's what it is to mislead somebody. But it's in the word. The root of the word mislead is lead. Leadership. You can mislead if you mislead people. There's more than one way to mislead somebody. I could lie to you, that could be misleading. But misleading is me being in a leadership position and me not charting the path clearly for you. Me charting the wrong path. Me, I'm supposed to be leading the group, all right? My SDA folks, pathfinders, right? There's pathfind oh holy ghost, I thank you. Oh my god, oh Lord, help me. Help me here, Lord. There's pathfinders, those are the leaders, bro. If I'm a pathfinder, I'm paving the way. I'm the one out in front. I'm cutting the bushes down. I'm clearing a brush. I'm getting rid of I'm seeing poison ivy and I'm seeing dangerous things, branches and and and chopped up wood. I'm clearing the way if I'm a leader. I'm making straight the path. Come on, Pathfinders. I'm finding the right way. I'm learning the right way. And you know what? Sometimes, as oh, you know, this is not how this was supposed to go. If I'm doing all that, I may be the one getting hurt. Oh Lord. I might be the one getting, I'm gonna be the one that gets cut by that branch, that sharp branch there. I'm gonna get cut by it as I'm clearing it. I'm the one who my skin is gonna rub up against the poison ivy as I'm clearing the path for those that are following behind me. My skin, I'm gonna be the one that gets itchy skin now and gotta go to the hospital because I got touched by the poison ivy. But once I clear that path, everyone following behind me is gonna have a clear shot through. Come on, somebody, talk to me. Talk to me. My brethren, be not many masters, knowing this, that you shall receive, that's James chapter 3 and verse 1, you shall receive the greater condemnation. Watch this. Matthew 15 says, if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into a ditch. If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into a ditch. So as a leader, I can't be misleading you if I'm called to be a leader. In whatever the capacity. Let me tell you guys, it's important, it's important to be filled with the Spirit of God because I had a little bit of a plan. Even the plan I was unsure of, and I had no clue how this was gonna go, but I can feel as the Lord speaks, I can feel him directing me in a certain way, which was not the plan. Come on, Pathfinders. Where are the Pathfinders? Where are the Pathfinders out there? Where are the Pathfinders? You are called to find the path. And when the path is found, and the path is clear, now it's time to walk straight. It's time to walk straight. And you've got to lead the people down the right way. And watch this. Some of us are pathfinders, but we're young. And there was a pathfinder before us. And there was a way that was set out for us to walk. And there is there are instructions on what I'm supposed to be doing. Come on, somebody. There is a way that seems right unto man. The Bible says, There's a way that seems right unto you and me, which is it's but it's not right unto the Lord. That's the broad path. There is a narrow path that has been paved already. There is a narrow path that Jesus cleared by himself. He walked the path. Oh my God in heaven. He walked it, beaten and bloodied, opened wounds on his body, carrying a cross heavier than the couch I'm sitting on right now. And he went all the way with it. He cleared the path for us to walk on. And those of us who are called, oh Lord, I thank you. We are called, you walk the path the right way so that people can follow you. But if you are setting the wrong example, you will be destroying others. And it's not al oh Lord, it's not always the sin. Sometimes it's just the weight. Lay aside the sin and the weight that so easily, so easily throws us off track. It's not always the sin. Sometimes it's just the weight. I'm sorry, I feel like I've been yelling a little bit at you. But we we we we're here now. We're cooked up. We in it now. We in it now. It took us a little while, right? It's not always the sin. Sometimes it's just the wait. So a lot of times we feel like, eh, as long as long as I'm not the reason you sinning, I'm good, right? No. That's not leadership. That's not leadership. If I know the right thing for you to be doing, I just I just sent my boy a voice note. It was yesterday or this morning or something. I'm not, I can't remember. But I legitimately said, yo, if I'm gonna go to hell for my stuff, God forbid, but it's gonna be for my stuff. What I'm not gonna do, yo, oh man. I'm called to leadership, bro. I'm gonna listen, I'm gonna make sure y'all know the right way. I'm gonna make sure this person knows the way, bro.

Speaker:

Hmm.

Speaker 1:

And and then now, cuz because I as I know the right way to walk and to go, I'm gonna teach that. As I am currently now myself trying to walk. The path is narrow, guys. It's very narrow. The path is very narrow. And it is my job as a leader to teach the right thing, preach the right thing if I'm called to, and to walk that walk as well. Walk that walk. The right path. Yeah, man. So I I we we hopefully hopefully somebody is encouraged on today. Hopefully somebody's encouraged. I I feel like I feel like that's where we're that's that's that's where we need to end here. That's where we need to end. Um leaders, you you have you carry weight. You carry weight on your shoulders. Again, this this can be applied to any type of leadership for real. Yes, there's biblical principles. That's what that's what that's what I do. Right? I try to help the world with the principles of the church, right? Because that's the only thing that's gonna save this world. It's the only thing that's gonna save this world. The principles of the church. Because the principles of the church, that's the way of God. That's the only thing that's gonna save this world. The people in it, rather. So, um, leaders, where wherever you are, whatever capacity you lead in, understand that you carry weight. It's it is a heavy task, it is not easy, it is not easy. And if you can't lead the right way, get out get out the way, move out the way, and let the people follow someone else. If you can't le as a man, if you can't lead your wife, your woman, your children, your brothers, your sisters, the right way, get the hell out the way, and let somebody else do it.

Speaker:

Respectfully. Get out the way. I don't know who needs to hear that. Get out the way if you can't do it the right way.

Speaker 1:

And if you don't get out the way, leaders, James chapter 3, don't be so quick, don't be so haughty and so hardy, so willing to be leading in any type of capacity, because you shall receive a greater condemnation if you ain't doing what you're supposed to be doing. That condemnation, the greater one, see now that's the biblical one, but I've noticed that in all these areas I talked about, all these examples I gave, there's condemnation there also. There are penalties. Penalties when leaders mislead. There are consequences. So this is your reminder. This is your public service announcement. This is the Moral Compass Chronicles. I love y'all. I appreciate you. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being with me. And um, let's stay locked in. And um until next time, this is the Moral Compass Chronicles.