"It is the people."

"Why don't you do what a lot of those rich guys do who are at your level of wealth?" I asked my friend. "They start buying sports teams, or airlines, and things like that."

"Because I don't know anything about those businesses," he said. "My own business is really all I know at very significant levels. So, I don't try to get into businesses that I don't understand."

"But that's not true," I said. "I know of other businesses that you invest in. You have told me about some."

"No, that is not right. I never invest in businesses other than my own."

"But what about ..." and I went on to list about five that I knew of that he had big investments in.

"I did not invest in those businesses. I invested in the people. I never invest in businesses I don't know anything about, but I will invest in a person. If I know their character, their history, how they operate, what kind of judgment they have, what kind of risks are acceptable to them, how they execute, and things like that, and I know them well, I will invest. But I don't go buy businesses I don't know anything about."

.... All I could do was reflect on what he had said. It was such a clear picture of what makes for success. It is not always the "market" or the "strategy" or the "resources." It is the people. ... They come up with a way to make it work. ... if you don't have the people he was talking about, then you can lose in a great market with a great strategy and a ton of resources.

excerpted from Integrity: Courage to meet the demands of reality, Dr. Henry Cloud, pgs. 29-30

This is a great story and insight into what's involved in developing leaders, particularly in the church. People are the key. This is especially true when it comes to church planting. As a sending pastor, assessor or coach, what we're looking for are people. We're looking for men and women of character who've proven themselves over time. Persons of integrated character can succeed even in the face of difficulty, while persons without this kind of integrated character can fail even in the best of circumstances.

Certainly we see Jesus engaging in this kind of behavior. On the surface, the Twelve probably did not have much going for them on paper, in terms of strategies and resources. But it seems clear that Peter and Matthew and John and James and Thomas more than made up for it in terms of integrated character able to overcome in the face of adverse challenges. May we be people who invest first and foremost in people.