Shepherding the Flock Vs. Ensuring that the Flock is Shepherded

I heard an interesting talk by Chip Ingram recently. Wanted to share it.
First, let me address pastors. I know your job is difficult. Your job is impossible, really. You all work so hard caring for your flock. You are preacher, teacher, administrator, boss, father, husband, counselor, exhorter, encourager, organizer, prayer leader, and more.
So a few weeks ago on the radio I heard Chip Ingram talk about this very subject. He talked about a period in his pastorate where he was, you know, "up to here" ....with the demands of his job. Just full-on working like a dog. A parishioner called him and berated him for not coming to visit her when she was in the hospital .... for (evidently) something on the minor side. When queried, Chip replied that yes, he knew she'd been in the hospital. Then he asked her if anyone from the church had come to visit her and she said that yes, a member of her small group had visited her more than once, and she'd had meals delivered to her home several times. So he was able to determine that she had been visited and she had been prayed for and she had had her needs taken care of, by and large.
His point was this: (and I paraphrase) The pastor's job is not to shepherd everyone in the flock. The pastor's job is to make sure everyone in the flock gets shepherded.
Evidently Chip started up small groups in his church after it got upwards of 200 attenders/members/whatever. They were grouped according to some reasonable organizational pattern, and it was basically working. But, he indicated, there will always be those who think that the pastor needs to drop everything, disregard the set-up organizational plans, and tend to a particularly needy or demanding person, just because.
So when I heard this talk on the radio, I began to understand afresh the uncompromising pressure that pastors are under, when faced with unreasonable demands. This was an eye-opener. Chip explained it so well. His job is not to shepherd everyone! His job is to make sure that everyone is shepherded. Setting up the small groups by and large serves this purpose. He said that when a church grows bigger than 100 or so -- that's about the maximum number of people that a pastor can "handle"..... so then you start splitting them up into groups so the needs are more manageable.
I like Chip's approach. I guess he and his church (and radio program Living on the Edge) have helped to set up thousands of small groups across the country and maybe even on a broader scale.
Bottom line... I think Chip was assisting us in understanding a fundamental concept about leadership. He helped me to realize there is a difference between being a micromanager and a delegator. Micromanagers control everything; delegators keep things controllable. Delegators empower others to take control. Micromanagers grab power and control.
This concept is important in any workplace, yet I am seeing that it's much more significant in the church. I would like to explore this more in detail in future postings. Bear with me as I struggle with an understanding of this complex topic.