Paris Day 2

Today marks our second day in Paris, France.  We were able to get here without incident, but many weird things have already happened to our group. My passport was either stolen or accidentally thrown out, another team member lost her passport as well.  We both needed to travel to Buffalo, NY to get a passport ASAP.  Praise the Lord we were both able to get them the same day we applied!

Once we got to the airport, one of our students accidentally left her passport on the van that dropped us off.  Again, thanks be to God we were able to call our driver (the amazing Elliot Freeman) and get the passport very quickly.  From America to France, no one had any more passport problems!

Another odd happenstance that occurred was shortly after we got to our hostel in Paris.  The gentleman at the desk told our team that there was one less room than we thought.  He stated to Jen Armenis and me that we could bunk together or room with a stranger.  We both sat in stunned silence for about 10 seconds and quickly tried to figure out this weird conundrum.  We came up with the idea that I could take the mattress of the bunk in "our room" and simply use it to sleep on the floor in the guys' room.  So we were able to take all of these awkward, frustrating things and make them work out in the end, thanks be to God!

Yesterday in Paris was an incredible time of ministry as we joined the Genesis Center in their Latino Night event.  The Genesis Center is a community hub, run by Envision to develop evenings where Parisians can mingle with Americans, brush up on their English and engage in meaningful conversations. Our Aletheia team jumped right in.  A few sang karaoke with the Genesis folks and others engaged in really incredible conversations.  Each team member ran full bore into the trip by helping set up and clean up without being asked; they simply served joyfully and enthusiastically.

I (Marv) was able to engage with three French folks.  We began our conversation by talking about Pokemon Go.  God can literally use anything to get people talking.  I was able to share passionately with a young man why we were there in these conversations. We talked about the state of the church in Paris and in America.  He himself was not religious, but was willing to hear how a group of Americans wanted to learn how to better lovingly engage a post-Christian culture. He just happened to be invited by a friend that night and decided to come, even though he lived about an hour away from the Center; and God opened a door.

I know our team has been overwhelmed by two things thus far. 1. The beauty, enormity and history of this great city and 2. The pervasiveness and strength of the darkness.   It is quite interesting how heavy the weight of spiritual darkness is here.  The Free Masons (a demonic cult) have flourished in this city for many, many years and their spiritual influence is tangible.  We visited the Louvre yesterday and saw this reality before our eyes as we beheld the Masonic glass triangle.  I felt the heaviness of the lost in that moment and pretended to be OK, but was hit deeply with how powerful the darkness was.

 


 

Please continue to pray for our trip.  The enemy does not desire us to be here.  He doesn't desire us to learn what God has brought us here to learn.  The enemy doesn't desire for us to create open doors with people like Jehn to welcome them into Christian community so they can hear the Gospel.  Today, we will be headed to church, engaging with Parisian young adults and then inviting specific people to coffee to help them with English as well as to develop relationships with the people here.  Pray for more doors to be opened.

 

Even as I sit here, our students  welcomed a stranger from California to play cards in the main room of our hostel.  It is incredible to see God use them to develop meaningful relationships with people they don't even know.  They are jumping right in!

Leadership From the Wall #4

Leaders Are Discerning (Nehemiah 6)


Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm. And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” (Nehemiah 6:2-3 ESV)

Nehemiah wasn’t fooled by the tricks of the enemy, they were offering now to help with the rebuild and cease opposing its progress. Most leaders may have been excited to see the new change in the opposition, but not Nehemiah. Nehemiah discerned their true and ultimate intention was to harm him, not to help him. I enjoy what Warren Wiersbe says on this matter:

“Once the enemy gets a foothold in a ministry, he starts to weaken the work from within; and ultimately, the work will fail. While cooperation in the Lord’s work is a noble thing, leaders must take care that they cooperate with the right people at the right time for the right purpose; otherwise they may end up cooperating with the enemy. Satan is a master deceiver and has his servants ready to join hands with God’s people so he can weaken their hands in the work (2 Cor. 11:13–15).” (Wiersbe, 1996, pp. 71-72)

There is great strength in the denial of help, when we can discern the outcome of such partnering. This reminds me of the city of Pittsburgh and the casino they allowed to be built. The thought was that it will boost the economy, which it has. Yet, the leaders failed to see further down the road than just “the now”. We now have gambling as a city addiction. Once casinos roll in, soon other things begin to creep in like: more drug use, sex trafficking such as prostitution, gambling addictions and more alcohol consumption. In the long run, this casino may in fact be the assistant to helping the City of Pittsburgh go south.

Nehemiah could tell that these old enemies although they were playing nice now would soon become his enemies again after they “help” rebuild the wall.

“And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me”(Nehemiah 6:12-13 ESV).

Nehemiah was a discerning leader in more than one instance, here we see him seeing the true person who sent a person to him. He saw that this certain man was not indeed sent by God and that what his words were false. Leaders need to know which people to listen to because it could spell disaster for us in the future if we listen to the wrong people. Here we see Nehemiah discerning the voice to be not from God and we should pray for the same discernment in our own lives. I’ve seen a lot of leaders listening to “Wormtonuge” and not listening to God and in so doing have shipwrecked their leadership roles and the churches they were leading.

Here, I think the illustration of counterfeit money comes into play. The police force in charge of detecting counterfeit money in order to determine what is counterfeit and what is real study the real money closely. They spend time learning it, understanding it and they have a deep rooted understanding of the real thing. This deep knowledge of the real deal helps them to easily spot that which is fake. When we spend intimate time with the Lord and get to hear His heart beat and allow His Spirit to speak deeply into our lives, we, like Nehemiah will be able to very quickly determine or discern that which is fake. This thought and idea challenges me to become intimate more and more with my Lord, so when a person “not from the Lord” appears in my path with some “direction” I will be able to quickly determine whether or not they are from the Lord.

Nehemiah’s intimacy with the Lord was directly connected to his intimacy with the Word of God! Warren Wiersbe says: “Nehemiah rejected Shemaiah’s proposal because it was contrary to the Law of Moses. It was forbidden for a layman to go beyond the altar of burnt offering at the temple. “The outsider who comes near shall be put to death” (Num. 18:7, NKJV). When King Uzziah tried to invade the holy precincts, God smote him with leprosy (2 Chron. 26:16–21). Nehemiah knew that Shemaiah was a false prophet because the message he delivered was contradictory to the Word of God”. (Wiersbe, 1996, p. 76)

Leaders Remember God’s Goodness (Nehemiah 9)

Nehemiah chapter 9 is all about repenting and remembering the goodness of God. After rediscovering the Word of God in Nehemiah chapter 8, the people realize their own sin and the Goodness of their God. The Law spoke so deeply to their hearts that they realized just how sinful they have become and they had no more reason to be confused about God’s seeming have abandoning them, which of course he didn’t…he simply removed his blessing and allowed them to become captured. This deeper understanding of God’s Word then turned them back to their God and chapter 9 recounts this beautiful turning back. All of this, the Law reading and the repenting were led by Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a man who knew his faults and sins and realized his complete and utter dependence upon the Lord. The entire book is littered with Nehemiah confessing his dependence upon God and how it was God (not himself) that was doing the work of rebuilding and doing the work of allowing the rebuilding to happen. His dependence and confession thereof is a beautiful picture of leadership. We must recognize the goodness of God in gifting us with the abilities we have. We can’t claim our gifts…we had no choice in the matter, God chose and the Holy Spirit delivered those gifts. Nehemiah recognized this and his example caused the entire nation to confess their own junk and in turn remember the goodness of God by recounting aloud his wonderful works!

Leaders Sign First (Nehemiah 10)

After the repenting and remembering the goodness of God, the leaders decided that they were going to make a covenant to follow the law. This they would declare to the people of Jerusalem and sign a document in front of them all proving the seriousness in what they were about to undertake. Seeing the severity of their sins and the great goodness of God convicted them to change their lives and the leaders decided to go first. The great thing I notice in chapter 10 is that at the top of the list, #1 is Nehemiah…he signed the document first! This may seem like a small principle of leadership or a small gesture by Nehemiah, but I think it speaks volumes! If God is calling for a change and the leaders feel convicted about the need to make the change…the leaders step up and change first. This is so not only to let the people see that it’s possible, but to assure the people that they as leaders aren’t asking of the people anything that they themselves aren’t willing to do.

When I was in college and for a time after I worked in the restaurant business as a server and had many managers above me. The managers that worked at Chili’s with me were men who would ask their staff to work harder or do more stuff, or pull their weight more but they themselves were unwilling to do that themselves. Many servers lost respect for these “leaders” and in so doing became lazier then they were before! Leaders who call for change, whether radical or not must be willing to make the change first and like Nehemiah sign the covenant of change before anyone else does.

Leaders Celebrate Wins (Nehemiah 12)

“And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres.” (Nehemiah 12:27, ESV)

Lastly in the book of Nehemiah I see a leader who celebrates wins. Leaders need to show emotion when things go right, there must be a celebration when we come to the completion of a project and see what the Lord has done. It’s really cool to see the excitement that Nehemiah and the people have at the end when the wall is successfully rebuilt. Not only was the wall built, but God changed the hearts of the people through the building of the wall…that’s something worth celebrating! I have experienced in the church a lack of celebration for what God does, too often we chock it up as normative and ignore the wins that God sends our way. I think this is wrong and I enjoy seeing the recognition here in the book of Nehemiah! I believe that we as leaders need to be more positive and find wins (not making them up mind you, but real live wins) where and when we can and then celebrate them! When we start leading with celebration at what God is doing and has done the people will be spurred on and re-ignited and they will remember the God-task they are on while following the leader!

I always say to my youth leaders that I am so excited during youth group because I desire to spur my teens on through my excitement: if I’m excited they’ll be excited, but on the other hand if I’m not excited, they won’t be either. Celebrating wins helps us be excited and in turn our flame of excitement will ignite others around us and the work of God can advance all the more!

As can be seen, there are many leadership principles which come forth in the book of Nehemiah. This book has been an inspiration to me and I know that by the help of the Holy Spirit I hope to implement all of these leadership principles into my own life and leadership.

Leadership From the Wall #3

Leaders Delegate (Nehemiah 3; 7:2)

In chapter 3 of Nehemiah’s book, we see a long list of people doing different things. This can be a boring list of names and jobs but in it, we see a very real and practical leadership/administration principle: Leaders delegate. A Leader can’t get things done alone, this is why he/she casts vision: to get others on board so they can help make the vision come to be. Without people following you, you aren’t a leader. A leaders job is to cast vision, then manage the vision coming to fruition. It’s as John Maxwell says in his book Developing the Leaders Around You “A leader’s success can be defined as the maximum utilization of the abilities of those under him” (Maxwell, p. 15). Nehemiah couldn’t have built a city wall by himself; to try would have been foolish. He needed people around him and he needed to pour into these people the vision and mission of what was to come.

Nehemiah, we can see was able to rally several people to the cause and also give them specific jobs. Maxwell says that leadership is influence and to a degree, I agree with him and I think in this type of leadership role, Nehemiah had to have a ton of God given influence. Like Maxwell says in Developing the Leaders Around You: “Leadership is influence. Every leader has these two characteristics: (A) he is going somewhere and (B) he is able to persuade others to go with him” (Maxwell, p. 49). Nehemiah needed to be able to persuade people to follow him in order for him to delegate. Again, as we can see in Chapter 3, he was able to do this.

Along with this idea of delegation, a leader must know who to place where. In Nehemiah 3, we see certain people doing certain jobs. Nehemiah must’ve known who would work best where and so he placed them in their area of strength in order to get the job done to the best of their ability. This also means, that Nehemiah knew the people well enough whom he was leading to put them in their areas of strength! He took the time to assess each individual to then place them where they needed to be. This is a powerful lesson in leadership! We, if we are to be good leaders need to know the people we are leading so we can fit them into the role they can work best in!

Lastly, this area of delegation shows us that each individual had their own task to complete. Not everyone can do everything and each person needs to be assigned a specific job that only they can do. This creates unity as well as autonomy. People need to feel needed and when they don’t, they jump ship. A perfect example of this (albeit unhealthy) was a guy named Jimmy T. on the recent Survivor show. This guy needed to be needed and when he didn’t feel needed, he unwittingly sabotaged his team. He felt his gifts weren’t being used, so he complained and whined and brought the whole of his team to his sad level. He couldn’t function on a team where he felt unnecessary. Although he was a bit paranoid, the truth of his feelings rings true and every leader needs to learn this lesson of people needing to feel needed. Nehemiah made sure that each person who he was leading had their specific role where they could shine and do their work well.

Leaders Deal with Opposition (Nehemiah 4 & 6)

When God uses people to do great things, or when great things are done there will almost always be opposition. The wall to the enemies of the Israelites represented stability and safety and so when they saw great progress being made on the wall, they were angry (Neh. 4:7); “And they plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it” (Neh. 4:8 ESV). They were going to mess up this progress that was happening in Jerusalem, it was not going to happen on their watch, but God often defies the desires of sinful men!

Nehemiah knew how to handle this type of opposition and he was ready for it! Once he saw what the enemies of Jerusalem were plotting, he gathered people together to pray. As a leader, he knew he was also a follower of God; he knew his role and sought God for advice. God had asked him to build the wall, so God must have a plan to protect the wall from being destroyed again!

After praying, Nehemiah came up with a battle plan: set a guard day and night as protection (Neh. 4:9).

So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes” (Nehemiah 4:13-14 ESV).

He also set up people ready to fight and we hear that this frustrated the plans of their enemies (Neh. 4:15). This battle plan stopped their enemies in their tracks, because the Jews were ready to fight when their enemies expected them to be vulnerable while building. However, Nehemiah didn’t rest assured with just frustrating their plans; he insured the safety of his people. Once opposition came and left, he wasn’t under the delusion that it wouldn’t pop up again; in fact he readied his people for it to happen at any moment! He prepared them with weapons as well as a plan of action if some more opposition were to creep up on them.

From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us” (Neh. 4:16-20 ESV).

Nehemiah prepared his people for more trouble and this preparing of his people is a great principle for leadership! We as leaders need to see this principle of leadership and apply it, because we need to prepare our people for opposition and show them how to deal with it when it comes. This may not ring as true in the business world as it does in the ministry world but none-the-less it is a great principle.

We in church leadership are going against our enemy just by being there and so we must expect opposition to come. It is then upon us to lead our people through opposition and help them through it as well as preparing them for when it comes. Satan is a lion, waiting for his prey (1 Peter 5:8) and God’s people need to know how to have a hammer (to do the work of God) in one hand and a sword (to fight off the enemy) in the other. This picture is one that rings true for the Christian life and we as leaders should be helping the people we lead how to live with the expectation of opposition and give them to tools to fight it.



Leadership From the Wall #2

Leaders are Bold (Nehemiah 2:1-8)


In these verses, we see Nehemiah putting feet and action to his prayers to God. He boldly asks the king if he may go and rebuild the wall that had been destroyed in Jerusalem. This was a bold request because not only did he ask for leave to go and rebuild it, but he asked for help in getting it done. He needed the king’s help in getting the wall built and knew he would have to ask for this help. But as Nehemiah says: “And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me” (Nehemiah 2:8b ESV emphasis mine). This reminds me of a statement in Jesus on Leadership where Wilkes makes the statement, “Good leaders cultivate the ability to read current events and thus have a strong sense of what the future may bring” (p. 65). I believe because of Nehemiah’s care and prayer, he was able to foresee that the king would grant his request. He read the current situation well. Nehemiah, during the discussion prayed as well (Neh. 2:4) so as to ensure the time was right and to seek God’s blessing.

Leaders Assess the Situation (Nehemiah 2:13)

“I went out by night by the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire”(Neh. 2:13 ESV).

Nehemiah took the time to see what it was he needed to do before he did it. Good leaders take the time to assess the situations they are in and don’t just rush in and try to fix things. This is a lesson I personally need to learn. I love to rush into things without thinking and without assessing the situation. Generally I have a good sense of what must be done but have no inclination towards the steps to get there unless I sit down and assess the full picture. Too often in my life I have rushed into things and have hindered the progress of getting things done. Nehemiah didn’t make that mistake. He didn’t rush it nor did he cause anyone to freak out. He simply took time out to go and inspect the walls to see what needed to be done. He took stalk in the places that needed extra care and the places that would be quick and easy to rebuild.

In my limited experience, I’ve seen and heard of pastors getting fired because they tried to rush change. Too many spiritual leaders, like me can see the situation and know where things need to change and be rebuilt, but they don’t usually take the time to assess the whole situation. This has resulted in them leaving by force or by desire because of the lack of simply assessing the situation. Warren Wiersbe says a few things as well on this idea.

“Investigating (Neh. 2:11–16). After his long difficult journey, Nehemiah took time to rest; for leaders must take care of themselves if they are going to be able to serve the Lord (Mark 6:31). He also took time to get “the lay of the land” without arousing the concern of the enemy. A good leader doesn’t rush into his work but patiently gathers the facts firsthand and then plans his strategy (Prov. 18:13). We must be “wise as serpents” because the enemy is always watching and waiting to attack. (Wiersbe, 1996, p. 30)

Leaders Cast Vision (Nehemiah 2:17)

“Then I said to them, ‘You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision’” (Neh. 2:17 ESV)

Nehemiah has taken the time to assess the situation, has taken the time to care about these people and has taken the time to pray to ask God what must be done. Finally, he is ready to cast the vision to the people and get them on board with the mission. His steps were deliberate and wise. He didn’t rush into telling them what must be done and how he Nehemiah was going to do it. He took the time to patiently seek the Lord and to patiently see what ought to be done and think through how best to get it done. He casted vision but not prematurely and in a way that rallied the people around the vision.

Wilkes says: “Leadership begins when a God-revealed mission captures a person” (p. 19) and I believe that the God-revealed mission has captured Nehemiah and he is ready to start working on the rebuilding of the wall. He can now, captured by the vision, perfectly articulate that vision to the people and speak of it in such a way that people can see the end result. It’s as Wilkes said of Jesus “Jesus articulated his mission in order to define what he was as Messiah. Where and how he led flowed from a clear sense of why he had come in the first place…he led with a vision of what things would look like when he completed that mission” (p. 11).

Leadership From the Wall #1

The book of Nehemiah is chock full of amazing leadership lessons for anyone to glean wisdom from. Nehemiah was a man who cared about his people, loved the name and fame of God and he was a man who was willing to stand in the gap. Leaders who go out of their way to stand in the gap for others shows not only humility but a deep concern for people over production, which when we study the Bible as a whole we see is the very heart of God. God cares more about our hearts than he does our behavior and Nehemiah was a man who cared for the people.

  My next series of blog posts will be a highlighting of the amazing leadership principles which come out of the life and book of Nehemiah!  There is so much to glean from, so I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!  Today, we will highlight Nehemiah 1 and see what we can grab from it's contents with the eye on Leaderhip Principles.

Leaders care about their people (Nehemiah 1:2-3)

“… that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, ‘The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire’” (Nehemiah 1:2-3 ESV).

Nehemiah took the time out of his life to ask how things were going in his home country. He was a cupbearer who was living off of the luxury and dollar of the king, he didn’t need anything from the people of Israel, but he cared enough to ask how they were and how things were going. In his book Be Determined, Warren Wiersbe says:

“Why would Nehemiah inquire about a struggling remnant of people who lived hundreds of miles away? After all, he was the king’s cupbearer and he was successfully secure in his own life. Certainly it wasn’t his fault that his ancestors had sinned against the Lord and brought judgment to the city of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah. … Nehemiah was the man God had chosen to do those very things (Wiersbe, 1996, p. 14)!

In Nehemiah, we see a man who cared about others. He set his own life aside and jumped in with his life to help his people rebuild the wall. Nehemiah didn’t need to ask about the people, he simply had a natural inclination towards caring about his people. As Warren points out here, Nehemiah’s life was set. Nehemiah didn’t need anyone or anything, much less the need to worry about other people. Many people, left to themselves if they were in a similar situation as Nehemiah would’ve sluffed off the worry about other people and would’ve lived their lives in manner unto themselves.

This is a great attribute of a good leader. If we are leader of people and do not care about our people and we simply live our leadership life to get ahead for ourselves, we stop being a leader and start being a dictator. Our early picture of Nehemiah shows the type of leader he will show himself to be: one who cares deeply for others.

Leaders pray (Nehemiah 1:4)

As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. (Nehemiah 1:4 ESV)

Nehemiah doesn’t simply care for people and leave it there; he goes before the almighty God on their behalf! He prays for them and enters into their pain with them, even though he himself is not really near it. This shows the heart of a leader who is willing to stand in the gap for his people! Great leaders (spiritual or not), if they believe in Jesus Christ should be praying leaders. If we claim that Jesus is our “all in all” yet we don’t ask Him to assist us and those we lead we are simply giving lip-service to a faith that has now bearing in our real life. That may sound harsh but I think it’s true and the sad fact is that in the American church, a praying pastor is something that is lacking. That is poor leadership that makes no sense at all: a spiritual leader who is supposed to lead people towards a deeper faith and knowledge of God spends little to no time with the Lord? How is that possible to then lead people to God?

This is what Wilkes, in his book Jesus on Leadership would call “and act of submission” and the first step towards servant leadership. Wilkes says: “Submission to God and to the divine mission for your life is the first step to servant leadership” (pg. 22). Nehemiah by praying was seeking the best of others, not himself. When we pray as leaders, we are seeking what God would have us do for Him and for His people, not ourselves. When we lead in this way, we are acting as Jesus did in the capacity of servant leaders.

Nehemiah didn’t just stop at a simple prayer either; he stood in the gap for the people. He sought their best and asked God to forgive them their sins.

Leaders Intercede for others (Nehemiah 1:6)

“Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned” (Nehemiah 1:6 ESV).

Nehemiah cared enough to not only do a simple prayer for them, but like a priest he interceded for them before God. He went to the Living God and asked Him for mercy upon the people. Leaders care enough to pray for their people in this way. This type of praying for leaders can go a long way with their leadership not only because it trains them to become better prayers but also because it helps them to be tenderer towards the people they lead. There is always a need for a harsh word spoken in love for sure, but there is also a time for tender intercession where we as leaders seek God’s forgiveness of them. While reading this idea of leadership from Nehemiah, I am struck with the reality that I rarely do this for my people. I am convicted by Nehemiah’s example and desire to be a leader who intercedes for the people I lead!

Nehemiah was also claiming the promise from 1 Kings 8:29; 2 Chron. 7:14 that God would be attentive to the prayers of His people. Warren Wiersbe in his book Be Determined says:

“The greater part of Nehemiah’s prayer was devoted to confession of sin (1:6–9). The God who promised blessing and chastening also promised forgiveness if His people would repent and turn back to Him (Deut. 30; 1 Kings 8:31–53). It was this promise that Nehemiah was claiming as he prayed for himself and the nation. God’s eyes are upon His people and His ears are open to their prayers (1 Kings 8:29; 2 Chron. 7:14)”. (Wiersbe, 1996, pp. 17-18)

Again, I feel like this all comes back to the idea of “Servant Leadership” which Wilkes talks about. Nehemiah was humbling himself before God and going before Him on their behalf. He wasn’t caring about himself or what others thought of him, he was simply reaching out to the Almighty God for the people. I like what Wilkes says in his book: “As long as leaders are worried about who sits at the head table, they have little time for the people they are called to serve” (p. 36). This was a statement about not caring how important you are as a leader but how important the people are you are leading. As leaders, we must put the people we serve ahead of ourselves.

Leadership Fail #3- King Saul

    As We've seen in the previous two posts: Ownership Fail and Listening Fail; Saul has had a ton of "Epic Fail" moments where he dropped the ball BIG time in his time as King over Israel.

  The more I read his story, the more blunders I find.  It's absolutely amazing to me how many "fail" moments he actually had in his leadership.  Several of the fails are similar and end up coming down to the same problem.  Today's Leadership fail (and the final in this series) is no different.  Once Saul began down this path, he continued to make this fail a lifestyle.  In fact, this fail from this point forward defined the rest of his career. 

Leadership Fail #3- Apprentice Fail

  One of the best new leadership models is the model of Apprenticeship.  It is a model which encourages leaders to reproduce themselves in younger, emerging leaders.  It challenges the old guys to seek out young guys who will bring new life, new vision and new direction to the positions, companies and churches they are leading.

  It is an exciting movement in the leadership world which will help make the future of those positions, companies and churches brighter and more vibrant.  It is also where Saul failed the most in his leadership.

  Saul loved the spotlight, he loved the accolades that were poured onto him as king.  Saul loved power, prestige and butt kissers.  Anything or anyone that made him inferior was something to be pounced on like a lion.  He didn't want to be out-shone, nor did he desire to share the glory with any man...or even God.

  He took credit, owned the glory for himself and tried to kill those who may interfere with his glory.  This was the case with David.

  Saul at first was relieved when David showed up on the scene.  David killed Goliath...but when David started gaining more facebook fans...Saul got a bit peeved.

"And the women sang to one another as they celebrated,

 "Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands."

And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, "They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but(C) the kingdom?" And Saul eyed David from that day on." (1 Samuel 18:7-9)

"And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, "I will pin David to the wall." But David evaded him twice.

 Saul was afraid of David because the LORD was with him but had departed from Saul." (1 Samuel 18:11-12)

"And when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him." (1 Samuel 18:15)

  Saul had messed up as king, so God had left Saul and stopped giving him favor.  Due to Saul's wicked and unrepentant heart God was forced to choose another king.  God chose David and began showering favor upon David and had His Spirit rest upon David.

  This success peaved Saul off to no end.  Instead of celebrating that God was giving Israel a better king, Saul became jealous and sought to end David's life...further seperating himself from the Lord and the Lord's will.

  I will be the first to admit that as a leader it is hard to see those under you achieving success.  It's hard not because I'm so great but because my sinful nature wants to be better than them.  We judge ourselves in comparison to others.  I've even found myself wondering why someone on facebook has more "friends" than I do....that's pretty freaking low and pathetic!

  However, we are jealous of others success, aren't we?  Someone gets promoted over us, we get ticked.  Someone younger than us gets more accolades for their effort than we do...it makes us freak out, because after all: we've been doing it longer!

  True, honest leadership I'm learning is leadership that develops others.  A strong leader may be effective for 30 or 40 years, but if they invest in the up and comers, they celebrate the success of a younger person and seek to make that person better...they are investing for much longer!  When we apprentice, our skills and our gifts sometimes get transferred...so even if we die off we are still a part of that younger leaders life!  Our influence goes farther!

  Saul sought only his glory and so he jealously kept all his leadership stuff to himself.  There was no attempt to teach a younger guy how to be king.  He hated the success of David and the moment it looked like David was blessed by God to take the throne was the moment Saul went ballistic.

  We as leaders need to be seeking how to invest in the future...even if someone eclipses us in the process...especially in the church!  It's not about us...it's about Him!  Saul as the king over Israel was supposed to be pointing the whole nation to God...instead he was trying to point them to himself.

  His reign was all about his glory...not God's glory.  Saul cared more about his image than he did the image of God.  Brothers ans Sisters, we can't be like Saul! 

I fail here a ton, I am a people pleaser and I want people to like me, I want the glory, I want the spotlight.

  I, however must die to myself and start pointing to God.  My gifts are His gifts.  My ministry is His ministry.  My wisdom is His wisdom.  We, my friends, are simply stewards of all he has given us.  We don't own anything, not even who we are.  We had no control over who we would be...we simply have a choice to steward that which was given.

  Saul failed in developing an Apprentice.  We should not fail here, God has entrustedd our leadership roles to us to not only lead now, but to lead when we're gone.

We must look and see: who are the young leaders that have the Lord's Annointing on them?  How can we pick them out and apprentice them for what God has for them in the future?

Leadership Fail #2- King Saul

  King Saul has some huge blunders recorded from his career as king over Israel.  last week we looked at Leadership Fail #1- Ownership Fail. 
This week, we will look at Leadership Fail #2 from his life.

Leadership Fail #2- Listening Fail

  If I'm honest, this is probably one of the biggest struggles I myself have in leadership.  It's one of those leadership fails that attacks and you rarely know it has taken a hold of you.  It is a Leadership Fail that only close friends can point out and only they can walk beside you and help you conquer it.

  It's all about who we listen to and who we desire to please.

  Too often in my life I want everyone to be happy.  I want all the people that surround me in leadership; those above and below me; to be happy with my performance.  I hate criticism, and I dread ticking people off. 

  This is something I am working through, something God is refining me in, so when I share Saul's Fail here, I am very aware that I am looking in the mirror and telling my own story as well as telling myself the answer to getting over this fail.  Here's where Saul began his downward spiral in his position as king over Israel.

He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, "Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings." And he offered the burnt offering. As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came.

And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. Samuel said, "What have you done?" And Saul said, "When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, I said, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the LORD.' So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering." (1 Samuel 13:8-12)

  Saul was supposed to wait for Samuel.  Saul had instructions to wait, but Saul didn't wait.  After he does what he shouldn't have done, Samuel calls him out: "What have you done!?"  Saul then shows to whom he would rather listen to.

  Saul saw his followers, his army, his trusted men going back home. He realized that they weren't please with him and what he was doing at the moment.  The people didn't want to sit around and wait for Samuel so they could worship God.  The people wanted to get away from that place and they were not happy that Saul waited. 

Some probably tested his kingship with words like: "Look at this king waiting around like a puppy dog for a prophet! Who rules who?  Who really in charge here, Samuel or Saul?"

The attitude and the voices of the people rang louder in Saul's ears than did the voice of God.  So Saul scrambled to make the people happy, he sped up the process and made a sacrifice to God on his own...even though he was supposed to wait.

Saul was worried about the people's feelings towards him and Saul was also worried about Samuel.  When Samuel came Saul reveals his heart for trying to make the people happy and he also tries to blame it on God as an after thought.  He says: "...and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, I said, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the LORD.' So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering." (1 Samuel 13:11b-12) 

Saul, in an effort to appease Samuel says he was worried that if he didn't please God with this sacrifice the Phillistines would be allowed to crush God's people.  He also says: "I made myself do it.  Samuel I struggled and I really didn't want to, you have to see that!  I forced myself to disobey God because I thought I would die if I didn't!"

Saul needed to worry more about God's command than he did the grumbling and leaving of the people. 

We as leaders need to do the same.  Our hearts desire should be to please our Father, not His people.  As Shepherds entrusted to steward His flock, we shouldn't listen to the bleating of the sheep but the whisper of our Lord.

  Again as I shared above, I struggle with this fail like no other.  I get frustrated at myself when I notice myself doing it.  I pander, I appease, I've lied, I've wriggled out of things all in an effort to make people happy.  If I don't know an answer to something, I've even made stuff up in an effort to have people think highly of me.

  I can't worry about other people's opinions.  I can't worry about what they think, I need to be close to the Father so I can hear what he desires me to do...and then I do it!

I do what He asks me to even if: people get ticked; people don't understand; people jeer at me or even if people leave my side because the only voice that matters, the only voice I need to listen to is His voice!

  It can be so easy to please the crowd.  It can be so easy to "go with the flow"...but it can be very difficult to go upstream, against the current.  Sometimes (more often than not) God calls us to go upstream and go after things that may make other people ticked; he often calls us to step on people's toes (in His Name of course) to wake them up from the slumber they are in.

  Sheep like to slumber and as the Shepherds, we need to wake them up!

I think some practical advise in order to not have this Leadership Fail is our life is:

1. Yeild our desires to the Holy Spirit
2. Be ever ready to listen to His voice
3. Be dilligent to be in the Word to hear from our Chief Shepherd (because we too are dumb sheep in need of waking up)
4. When God directs, we follow...no matter who may get ticked

May we take the hind-sight lesson from Saul's life and dedicate our lives to hearing His Voice and following it!

Leadership Fail #1- King Saul

We've all read or at least heard about King Saul in our lifetime somewhere along the way.  He was a King who was good in most respects...until he started messing up, then his leadership skills took a nose-dive. 

   God said of him after a short-while (only 5 chapters after he was annointed King): "I regret that I have made Saul King, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments..." (1 Samuel 15:11 ESV)

  That's not a facebook fan page worthy of following...God regrets his decision to make Saul king...that's some hurtful stuff.  Saul must've really stunk...which of course he did.

  I've decided to do a blog series on all the messed up leadership attributes that Saul has displayed and if I'm honest I see an all to familiar reflection in these leadership fails....I see myself.

"And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed be you to the LORD. I have performed the commandment of the LORD." And Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?" Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the LORD your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction." (1 Samuel 15:13-15 ESV)

Leadership Fail #1- Ownership Fail

One of the things that Saul continued to do throughout his life is put the blame on other people. He rarely owned his issues or his mistakes. The real kicker in this story that always cracks me up is his fake façade with Samuel. He pretends to be super happy to see Samuel and BRAGS about himself and the marvelous job he did by doing what God asked him to do.

Saul is so worried about his image (which we will get to in the next leadership fail) that he runs up to Samuel to prove his worth.

When Samuel calls him out on the spot where he neglected to listen to the Lord, Saul immediately blame shifts and states that: "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the LORD your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction."

He blames the people. He was willing to take credit with Samuel when he thought he could make Samuel think it was good but doesn’t own up to the failure! The scripture clearly states it was Saul and the People (1 Samuel 15:8-9)…not just the people!

We as leaders need to be the first ones to own up to a problem. We should be in the front honestly waving our hands when someone asks who is responsible. In my experience, I fear we pastors (and all Christians for that matter) are like Saul way too often.

When things go bad, it’s easy to point the finger and say: “The board wouldn’t allow me to make changes” or “The church members are too old to move, so we stayed stagnant” or “I have too many office hours to fill so I don’t spend time in the community”.

Leaders MUST own problems. When the people we follow see us owning up to our failures, they can feel free to own up to theirs. When we admit our junk as it is: junk; we can get free of it and grow. However, if we neglect to own it…it won’t change because we’ll continue to sweep it under the carpet and pretend it doesn’t exist!

Good leaders own failures and seek to make it right.

This sad story of Saul’s leadership fail was the beginning of the end for our man Saul, because at the end of this story, we find that God regretted making Saul king: “Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the LORD regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.” (1 Samuel 15:34-35 ESV)

I know for sure that I struggle with this Leadership Fail…I fail to own up to my mess ups, I try to pin the tail on some other donkey but no donkey fits my tail quite like I do. I’ve been trying to work on it and I’ve been trying to be more authentic with both my wife and my ministry.

I want to be the type of leader that God loves and desires in leadership. I don’t desire to be the self-absorbed donkey that so many people turn into (and I myself have been!). It’s tough owning our failures and as leaders it’s tough when we have to swallow our followers mistakes and own those too…but it must be done!



Let’s take one from Saul’s book of tricks and BURN it! May we all learn from his failure and choose within our hearts not to do the same!

Authentic Leaders

If we could put our fingers to the pulse of the upcoming generations need from leaders, I believe it would beat over and over again the word: Authenticity. This generation is crying out for real, raw transparent leadership and if leaders leave this on the side of the road and treat it as if it is another "meaningless leadership fad" they will begin to lose ground with this generation.


I contend that the reason Barack Obama was able to sway this generation to his side and cause a polling frenzy of the younger voters was because to them he was being real. He found this deep desire in the younger voters, that of authentic leadership and pounded that idea into his campaigns, answering honestly questions that were skirted around by prior candidates. (See my Blog on Obama Here)

Who really wants to follow a phony who doesn't admit when he has done something wrong? Being authentic is admitting when you've messed up, it's asking forgiveness for those mistakes and it's holding others to a standard of authenticity as well. This upcoming generation is fed up with phony leaders everywhere: in the church, in politics, and in major corporations, they are done with the fake and desire real, raw authenticity.

This poses a huge problem for most leaders, because they've been trained to have the answers and be strong, confident and have no weak links in their armor. Even as pastors, we've been trained to share self very little and when we do, share a success story, not a failure story.

Leaders everywhere must un-learn this training in some respects if they ever expect people of this younger generation to follow them for the long haul (or for that matter assist them with their bottom line by continuing to support their products). Leaders must learn the ancient art of repentance and confession, a lesson that sadly even we pastors struggle with on a large scale.

Many leaders I’ve been following recently have found this pulse and are using it exceptionally well. They are open and honest with their staff, they are willing to admit their own mistakes, they are willing to take risks and are willing to not hide behind certain masks to get ahead. Some of these leaders are: (Church) Mark Driscoll; (Corporate) Larry O’Donnell III; (Non-Profit) Rich Stearns. They are unafraid to be real and raw about themselves and admitting their mistakes and failures.

Authenticity will prove to be a vital reality for the generations to come as well. Research done by the Barna Group (found in the book UnChristian) is a real slap with reality on this issue. Fake is out; real is in. People won’t follow, or assign themselves to a group of people who are not willing to live authentically.

Authentic living is an arduous task but I am convinced taking on that task will not only transform the leaders, but the people who follow them as well as the products they produce. When a follower can trust a leader implicitly, they will follow full heartedly and when a consumer can trust the leader of products they buy, brand loyalty will sky-rocket to new heights like never seen before.