Get With The Getting Crowd

Eva Tagger was one of the best leaders and wisest persons that I have ever met. Mississippi-born and bred, Eva was married to Roy and they raised three daughters in St. Louis, Missouri. For more than half a century, Eva held the office of the “Pastors’ Steward,” at St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church. The “Pastors’ Steward” is an honorific title given to the highest ranking and most influential leader in that church. Eva served with distinction, dedication, and drive. Her ability to diagnose and diffuse difficult problems was amazing to watch. So much of what I do and say I learned from her.

Like most effective leaders that I know, Eva operated from a set of carefully selected and proven principles. She returned to those principles again and again, and carried them around in her mind and in her mouth like the bag of peppermints she kept in her pocketbook. One of the principles that I heard her say over and over again was to “get with the getting crowd.” Whenever I would complain that someone didn’t seem excited about a project that I had planned, she would say “get with the getting crowd.” Whenever I would lament that I couldn’t convince a skeptic to accept the merits of an idea, she would say “get with the getting crowd.” Whenever I would worry if an initiative would be supported, she would say “get with the getting crowd.”

What Eva knew and what I had to learn is that you will never have 100% support, consensus or acceptance of anything. Abraham Lincoln is alleged to have remarked that “you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time". If you can’t fool all of the people all of the time, you certainly won’t be able to convince them all of the time. If you desire “all” of anything to do anything, you will never do anything. You will never have “all” of the time. You will never have “all” of the money. You will never have “all” of the support. I once read that you can have it all, just not at the same time LOL. You will never have 100% of anything.

Hence, to wait until you have it “all” to start making moves is the height of folly. I was reminded of this truth while meditating on the last conversation that Jesus had with the eleven men that he was closest to. After his resurrection from the dead, Jesus spent forty days assuring them, comforting them, and trying to convince them that he had really risen, and that they were to continue the work that he had begun. Afterwards, Jesus led them to a mountain for what would essentially be his exit interview. In one account of the conversation, the writer makes a stunning observation. He says:

Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted! (Matthew 28:17-18)

After all the miracles those eleven men had seen, some of them still doubted. After three years of watching and working with the Master, some of them still doubted. These men were not strangers. Nor were they adverse to or dismissive of Jesus’s agenda. These eleven men were insiders. They were Jesus’s cabinet. They had seen him the most, watched him the closest, and known him the longest. Yet despite of all that, they still doubted.

However, Jesus did not allow their doubts to silence, stop, nor sway his agenda. He decided to “get with the getting crowd.” He just said what he had to say, and whoever “got it” got it. I’m not sure which of the eleven got it. But those who got it truly got it, and in 30 years they turned the world upside down. As Micheal Green pointed out, “it was a small group of eleven men whom Jesus commissioned to carry on his work, and bring the gospel to the whole world. they were not distinguished; they were not well educated; they had no influential backers. In their own nation they were nobodies, and their own nation was a mere second-class province on the eastern extremity of the Roman map. How could they possibly succeed? And yet, they did!” They succeeded, even though some in the small group still doubted.

Stop focusing on, complaining about and worrying over your doubters. Get with the getting crowd. The getting crowd will always be small. The getting crowd may not seem impressive, and may even lack some of the credentials, capabilities or connections that you think are necessary to achieve your objectives. The getting crowd rarely stand up or show out. They just keep showing up. Find them. Love them. Listen to them. And get with them.

So here’s my question for you today: why do you keep complaining about people who won’t help you but keep ignoring those who do?