Michael Kelly explains,

At the Together for the Gospel Conference, I heard CJ Mahaney make a remarkable statement:

“Behind every fruitful church is a dying pastor.”

He made this statement while preaching on 2 Corinthians 4, a chapter in which Paul exhorted his readers to not lose heart. The idea behind the statement is one that is pervasive in lots of other texts as well:

“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24).

Something has to die in order for something else to live.

Of course, we know that this is most importantly seen in the death of Jesus: Jesus died so that all who believe in Him might live. But it occurs to me, especially in light of CJ’s comment, that this principle is applicable in all areas of leadership.

In particular, it applies to dads.

That’s part of the responsibility of leading a family, and it works itself out in all kinds of ways:

- Dads, you wake up earlier than anyone else in the house so that you can have the family devotion ready at the breakfast table. You die to your desire for sleep so that the kids might have life through the Word of God.

You can read the whole article here.