Tag: Leadership

Leadership Lessons: Moses

Moses was raised in Pharoah’s court, likely given the best education in Egypt and he was a natural leader. (Acts 7:22).

And I think he had an issue with pride.

When Moses rose up and delivered a fellow Hebrew from the hand of an Egyptian, the Bible says “he supposed” the Hebrews knew “God was granting them deliverance through him.” (Acts 7:24-25). They didn’t, but Pharoah did and Moses fled.

Moses’s failure and forty years of shoveling sheep dung in the wilderness so changed Moses that when the Lord finally did call him, all Moses could do was think of reasons why the people wouldn’t follow him. (Exodus 4:1, 10). Continue reading “Leadership Lessons: Moses”

On Leadership In The Kingdom

Well, it looks like Muammar Gaddafi is on his way out in Libya, following in the footsteps of Egypt’s Mubarak and Tunisia’s Ben Ali.

There are probably a lot of things these three have in common, but one for certain is they were all poor leaders. They have all demonstrated that power alone does not a leader make.

I don’t think anyone seriously doubts the importance of leadership when it comes to running a country.  I think those who study such things will tell you leadership is the most important factor in successful businesses or governments, even more important than ideology or intelligence.

I believe many Christians, however, would be surprised to know how important leadership is in running a church or other so-called spiritual endeavor. Continue reading “On Leadership In The Kingdom”

Speaking Truth To A Secular World

Today I attended a luncheon for employment law attorneys.

I had arranged for the speaker. He is one of the best employment attorneys I know, an excellent speaker and a friend. He also happens to be a Christian.

I knew his general topic (“How To Lose An Employment Case”), but I didn’t know what he was going to say. The setting and group to whom he spoke were secular.

Somewhat to my surprise, in the context of discussing his topic, he spoke about the importance of church, obedience to God and integrity, but he did it in a way that was persuasive and was not self-righteous or religious.
Continue reading “Speaking Truth To A Secular World”

Standing In The Pain Of The Question

Do you like problems? Most people don’t. They are not at the top of my list of favorite things. They detract from my productiveness and require my time.

For most of us, the definition of happiness is the absence of problems, and yet, even after we become Christians the problems keep coming.

While I don’t like problems, I do have a better attitude toward them than when I was younger, and that’s because I’ve begun to understand the benefit of what  my friend Dennis Peacocke calls “standing in the pain of the question.”

Jesus had been conducting a tent meeting healing service out in the country, it was getting late, they were far away from any place for the people to get food and the people weren’t leaving. (Matthew 14:13-21). That was a problem, the disciples knew it was a problem and so they gave the problem to Jesus to solve. Continue reading “Standing In The Pain Of The Question”

Read To Lead

If the title of this post sounds like it has its origins in a twenty-first century marketing campaign, guess again.  You are twenty-two centuries too late.  Its author is Cicero.  Here is the full quote:  “Read at every wait; read at all hours; read within leisure; read in times of labor; read as one goes in; read as one goes out.  The task of the educated mind is simply put: read to lead.”

Great leaders are, by-and-large, readers, and for good reason.  Reading helps one see beyond oneself, understand other points of view, gain the benefits of others’ experience, generate ideas, solve problems, and the list goes on and on. And because it is the destiny of the kingdom of God to lead the world, kingdom citizens should be readers. Continue reading “Read To Lead”