The story behind The Jethro Plan

I've spent most of my working life in two worlds. In one, I'm a licensed minister, serving alongside pastors and lay leaders in the local church. In the other, I'm a project manager. I spent years as a CIO and an IT consultant for organizations ranging from small businesses to federal agencies, and today I teach project management and leadership at several universities.

For a long time, those two worlds didn't talk to each other much. Then I started noticing the same thing over and over in the church.

I saw faithful leaders doing ten jobs. Pastors finishing sermons late on Saturday night after a full work week. Ministers juggling hospital visits, bulletins, and the broken air conditioner. Sunday school teachers who had poured out week after week for years without ever sitting under teaching themselves.

Not long ago, I combined our Sunday school classes for several weeks and taught everyone together, for one simple reason: our teachers needed a season to rest and to be fed. Watching them sit with an open Bible instead of standing at the front, I was struck by how rarely the people who serve get served.

Around that same time, I kept finding myself back in Exodus 18.

Before the advice came worship (Exodus 18:1 to 12)

The chapter doesn't open with a leadership lesson. It opens with a family reunion and a worship service. Jethro, the priest of Midian and Moses' father-in-law, hears everything God has done for Israel. He brings Moses' wife and sons to meet him in the wilderness. Moses tells him the whole story: the deliverance from Egypt, the hardships along the way, and how the Lord rescued them.

Jethro rejoices. He blesses the Lord and says, in effect, "Now I know the Lord is greater than all gods." Then they offer sacrifices and share a meal together before God.

I don't think that order is an accident. The wise counsel that follows grows out of remembering what God has done. Good planning in ministry starts the same way: not with a calendar, but with worship.

A long day in the wilderness (Exodus 18:13 to 16)

The next morning, Moses sits down to judge the people, and they stand around him from morning until evening. When Jethro asks why, Moses gives a holy answer: the people come to him to ask what God wants.

That's worth noticing. Moses wasn't wasting time. He was doing good, sacred work, and it was still too much. Most ministry burnout doesn't come from doing the wrong things. It comes from doing good things alone.

"Not good" (Exodus 18:17 to 18)

Jethro's response is kind and blunt: "What you're doing is not good. You'll wear yourself out, and the people too. The work is too heavy for you. You can't handle it alone."

The Hebrew phrase is lo tov ("not good"). It's the same phrase God used in Genesis 2:18, when he looked at the man he had made and said it was not good for him to be alone. From the very beginning, God did not design people to carry life alone. I believe he doesn't design leaders to carry ministry alone either.

And notice who else was wearing out: the people. When one leader carries everything, the whole church waits in line.

Counsel under God (Exodus 18:19 to 20)

Jethro begins his advice with a prayer: "Listen to me, and I'll give you counsel, and may God be with you." Then, before he says a word about structure, he tells Moses what to keep:

1. Stand before God for the people, and bring their concerns to him.
2. Teach them God's decrees and instructions.
3. Show them the way to live and the work they are to do.

Prayer, teaching, and formation come first. The structure that follows exists to protect them.

Capable, God-fearing people (Exodus 18:21 to 22)

Then Jethro tells Moses to choose people from all Israel who are capable, who fear God, who are trustworthy, and who hate dishonest gain. Character comes before skill. They would lead groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. The hardest cases would still come to Moses. Everyday matters, they would handle themselves.

Jethro's summary is beautiful: this will lighten your load, because they will carry it with you. Not for you. With you.

"If God so commands you" (Exodus 18:23)

This may be the most important verse in the chapter. Jethro doesn't say, "Do this because it's efficient." He says, "If you do this, and God so commands you, you'll be able to endure, and all these people will go home in peace."

The word for peace there is shalom ("peace, wholeness, well-being"). Jethro's plan wasn't meant to replace hearing from God. It was counsel to be brought before God and confirmed by him. That's the heart of The Jethro Plan. Plans are offered to God, not substituted for him. We plan so that we have room to listen.

Moses listened (Exodus 18:24 to 27)

Moses took his father-in-law's advice and did all of it. Think about the humility in that. The man who had spoken with God at the burning bush and led a nation through the sea took advice from his wife's father.

Then Jethro went home. Good counsel doesn't create dependence. It equips people and steps back.

The rest of the story (Numbers 11)

Years later, Moses reached the breaking point again. He told God the burden of the people was too heavy for him to carry alone (Numbers 11:14). This time, God answered directly. He told Moses to gather seventy elders, and he said he would take some of the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on them, so they could carry the burden with him (Numbers 11:16 to 17, 25).

Put those two chapters side by side and you see the whole picture. Exodus 18 gives the structure. Numbers 11 gives the Spirit. Sharing the load was never just an organizational chart. It's God's Spirit resting on more of his people, so the work of ministry belongs to the whole body.

How the name came to be

The earliest working name for this project was "Pastor in 15 Hours." It had two problems. First, many of the people carrying the load aren't pastors. They're ministers, teachers, youth leaders, worship leaders, and faithful lay leaders. Second, it made it sound like ministry could fit in a box of 15 hours. It can't. The Spirit leads when and where he chooses, and ministry happens at 2 a.m. in hospital waiting rooms.

So we named it for the man who helped Moses share the load. The 15 hours stayed, not as a limit, but as the planned core of the week. That's what our tagline means: Plan your 15. Trust God with the 168.

What The Jethro Plan is, and what it isn't

The Jethro Plan gives small-church leaders a quarterly series map, a weekly all-ages lesson, a simple 15-hour weekly plan, and monthly office hours. It's built to carry some of the planning weight, so you have more time to pray, study, listen, and care for people.

It is not a replacement for hearing from God. Every series map and every lesson is a starting place. Change it, adapt it, or set it aside when the Holy Spirit leads you somewhere else. Our aim is simply to clear the table so there's room for what God wants to say to his people through you.

If you've been sitting from morning until evening with a line of people waiting, Jethro's words are for you too. This is too heavy to carry alone. You were never meant to.