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Leadership Ezra: Who’s In Charge Here? (Part 5, Go!)

In thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament (and then published in my latest book). This week (along with the last two weeks, and in honor of the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris) we are starting the race of leadership. Today, in part 5, it’s “Go!,” when the starter’s gun goes off and the runners take off and run the race.

In my first year as the head of a school, I was enthusiastic and organized, with big dreams and a plan that I was developing and implementing. At first, though, I kept finding myself getting frustrated, because I would have seemingly constant interruptions that kept me from getting to the tasks that I need to do in order to carry out my plans. I know now how foolish this sounds, but I was getting frustrated because people were getting in the way of the tasks. Eventually it dawned on me that people were part of the job, so to alleviate the frustration, I began to designate specific time periods each day for people. And of course, people couldn’t seem to keep their interruptions confined to the times I had designated (you can read sarcasm into this). Finally, God smacked me over the head by reminding me of a former pastor’s sermon in which the message had repeatedly emphasized that people matter to God. I realized that the work of ministry is primarily about people, because people matter to God (and therefore they should matter to me), even though tasks are a necessary part of the work of effective leadership. I finally understood that leadership is about both people and tasks, and that the real challenge is in undertaking the work of leadership in a way that accomplishes tasks well while also meeting the needs of people in a way that draws them toward God.

Years of research and study on leadership by many researchers have concluded that the work of leadership does indeed boil down to these two things: tasks and people. At its core, effective leadership must be able to manage and direct the tasks appropriate to the circumstances, and at the same time manage and direct the people involved in a relational way that develops them individually. Very simply, it means getting the job done well, while working well with people and making them better in the process.

In practice, though, this is hard, and leadership is more complex than this, because there are lots of variables in both tasks and people: different personality types, different circumstances, different strengths and weaknesses, different obstacles, different tasks, and so on. And beyond that, it takes lots of work to develop a vision, then make plans, and finally implement the vision and plans in a way that most effectively accomplishes the tasks and leads people. The reality is that the work of leadership is daunting. However, the book of Ezra can and does help with this, providing some valuable lessons that help us identify important principles that make the work of leadership more effective. In his story, we find lessons that are beneficial for our own personal spiritual growth, but that are also applicable to our role as leaders. Specifically, Ezra chapters 7-10 illustrates ten actions that are necessary in leadership: three things to get and seven things to do.

First, there are three things to get:

  1. Permission: Getting permission can come from superiors, who give the necessary approval needed before getting a green light to go, but it also needs to come from below, by getting buy-in from followers. If they haven’t agreed to follow your lead, very little movement is going to take place.
  2. People: Getting people involves the task of identifying the necessary strengths needed for the task, and then assembling the best group of people to accomplish those tasks.
  3. Resources: Getting resources involves gathering those things – tools, supplies, finances, or people and skill sets – that must be assembled before beginning the tasks. First identify what you have available and then identify and solicit any additional needed resources. Figure out the resources you have and the resources you need.

With those three things in hand there are then seven things to do:

  1. Give recognition: Give credit where credit is due, immediately and at the front end of the process. First and most importantly, give honor to God, acknowledging that He is ultimately sovereign and responsible. People also need to be recognized and feel valued, believing that they are important to the process and the vision, and so recognizing them early (and often) affirms their value and enhances their level of commitment. Therefore, it is important to recognize the benefactors, the idea-makers, the planners, the leaders, the contributors, and the participants.
  2. Give people a voice: Give people an opportunity to speak and be heard, then listen to what they say. Often, those who are on the ground floor, or in the trenches, have an awareness and understanding of the obstacles, the needs, the details, etc., that the leadership does not clearly see because they are further removed from it. Therefore, there is great value in intentionally soliciting input and validating concerns and viewpoints; and where appropriate, that input should be used to modify or adjust the plans.
  3. Select the leaders: Gather a team that reflects the two purposes of oversight and representation. Those who are charged with oversight are people from among the leadership who have the task of overseeing and managing both the planning process and the implementation of the plan. Those who are charged with representation are people from among the followers who serve to represent and act on behalf of the people. Both kinds of leaders must be people submitted to God, and both are necessary for the work, therefore both need to be included in the teams you assemble.
  4. Define the purpose: The idea of purpose is related to the two questions of “Where are we going?” and “Why are we going there?” Answering the question of “where” happens when people can see the big picture, the overall goal. Answering the question of “why” happens when people understand motive, and it must be a motive that resonates with them. In any task, the motive must be clearly established and communicated.
  5. Determine the direction: Once the purpose has been established, direction can be given, both near (in the short-term) and far (in the long-term). Determining the right way to go (direction) naturally follows determining purpose, because once you know where you are going and why you are going there, you can then identify the path you need to take to get there. Like mapping out a road trip, this includes determining the next step or stop, and then the one after that, and so on, as well as determining the overall route.
  6. Establish the process: The process is the flow, the way in which everything takes place and connects together. The process of implementing a plan takes time and also brings many challenges, but there are important factors that – if communicated at the front of the process – will in turn help the process to flow well. These factors are: boundaries, including both limits and freedoms; methods, or, how the process will happen; and timing, including a schedule, checkpoints, and completion. Establishing these factors early will serve to greatly enhance the smoothness of the process.
  7. Provide the structure: A procedure provides the necessary guidelines for implementing a plan. The first procedural step is to meet, gathering the necessary people together to clearly communicate and initiate the plan. The last step is to celebrate (giving credit to God), and in between the first and last steps are incremental goals, or benchmarks, that need to be achieved (and should also be celebrated). Along the way, it is necessary to periodically assess progress and communicate.

At its most basic level, the work of leadership centers around and involves both people and tasks, and it is hard work that requires an intentional plan which includes these three things to get and seven things to do. It is, however, also incredibly fulfilling to be an instrument in God’s plan in that work. As His instrument, our desire and effort should be to do this work with excellence, and understanding these ten components will help us to do so. And when you reach the destination, don’t forget to celebrate, and don’t forget to give credit to God.

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Quote Your Dad

“Your walk talks and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks.”

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Podcast, Season 2, Episode 4: Lessons On Leadership From the Life and Times of Ezra (part 4 – Get Set!)

In my thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are leadership lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This particular series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament, the same lessons that I have published in my latest book. This week, (along with last week and next week, and in honor of the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris) we are starting the race of leadership. Today, in part 4, it’s “Get Set!,” where we get into position to start running by first preparing ourselves, both personally and spiritually, with lives of integrity. This is the transcript of the podcast.

This is a series where we are diving deeper into principles and practices that connect biblical truth with wisdom and applying them to the practice of leadership. The purpose of the series, and of the website as a whole, is to connect faith, wisdom, and leadership in a way that will help you grow in your leadership and make an impact. That starts with realizing that God has a plan and purpose that can be trusted, whether or not we can visibly see His hand in it, and He has a part for us in this purpose.

Now we are in a 3-week subset in this series in which I am laying the groundwork for effective leadership. I am using the analogy of the starting blocks in a race, when all the runners line up and get into position, and the starter yells, “On your mark, get set, go!” (I know that the starter actually fires a starter’s pistol, and doesn’t yell “go!”, but you get the idea.) Those three commands capture the ideas I am discussing:

  1. “On Your Mark” – that’s all about getting to the starting line and in the right place. As a leader, that means getting yourself into the right frame of mind and equipping yourself for what is coming. That’s what we talked about last time.
  2. “Get Set” – that’s all about getting into position in the right form, so that you are best prepared to start well. As a leader, that means performing the actions that set you up to be followed and trusted. That’s what we are focusing on today.
  3. “Go” – that’s when the starter’s pistol goes off and you start running. As a leader, that’s when the work begins as you start leading your people and your organization toward your mission, vision, or change. That’s we will be discussing next week.

In the specific ministry to which God had called me, part of my purpose was to help facilitate restoration, healing, and health. Depending on where the Lord placed me, that took different forms relevant to the history, context, and mission of that organization. One of those places, I discovered, was most in need of healing and restoration of relationships. I recognized God’s sovereign purpose and process in bringing me there, so when I arrived, I first took the time to learn the history and context to understand the culture and it’s needs, and I diligently sought God’s discernment and leading (those actions reflected the step of “On Your Mark!). In doing that, what I learned was that there was a tremendous level of hurt and wounding that occurred prior to my arrival, and lots of leadership dysfunction that had caused that hurt. As a result, there was a lack of trust across all levels of relationship – administrators didn’t trust the board of directors, teachers didn’t trust administrators, the board of directors didn’t trust either the teachers or the administrators, and the parents didn’t trust any of them.  For the most part, these were people who loved God and loved the organization, but the dysfunction and wounds had led to everyone’s need for self-preservation to inhibit transparency and trust, which in turn was affecting the health and function of the organization.

I knew that my most important job early in my leadership there was to help people heal and restore trust. So, that’s what I set about doing.  How I chose to do that was by first focusing my energy on being trustworthy.  I wanted everyone to see that I would do what I would say I was going to do, and that therefore, I could be trusted. Every week I would tell teachers things that I would be doing – visiting their classroom, sending out a communication to explain something, providing some resources, and many other things. Before I ever said those things out loud, I had made sure, with certainty, that I would be able to do those things. In most cases, they were things that I would have been normally doing anyway. They difference was that I said it out loud where they could hear me.  Then, I made absolutely sure that I did it. After doing that over and over again, people began to believe that they could trust me to do what I said I would do.  All I was doing was building trust. Understand that this was not manipulative behavior on my part, because I was being genuine to who I was and to what my purpose was.  Integrity is one of the virtues that I most value, and so it is important to me that people see me being who I say I am. That mattered in this context, because people could tell that not only would I do what I said I would do, but they could tell that it was a reflection of my character. The end result was the restoration of trust.  I still remember the joy I felt at the end of the school year when almost every one of my employees included “trust” as one of the top three positive factors in the year.

Here’s what really happened: I lived out in my actions what I believed to be true and important, and that produced the credibility that people needed to see in order to follow me.  In previous episodes of this podcast series, when I talked about the importance of pursuing an intimate relationship with God as well as learning to understand where He has placed you, that was all about developing the capability to lead. But when you then live a life that is clearly consistent with what you say in your words, that develops the credibility to lead. When you have both the capability and the credibility, you become an effective leader who makes an impact. I often point to Ezra 7:10 as a model of this, which says that “Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.” First Ezra had learned to know God, then he lived it out, and then he was equipped to lead, based on the capability from what he knew and the credibility from how he lived.

What that means for you is that if you want to succeed at the work of leadership, you first need people to accept you as the leader. Before they will do that, they need to know that they can trust you. That means that before you can do all the work that is required of leaders, you first have to live a life that is consistent with your beliefs and values, and do it transparently enough that people can see it so that they can tell that you are authentic and genuine. But even before you can live consistent with what you believe, you first have to know what you believe. In other words, before leading comes living, and before living comes learning.

The bottom line is that leadership is like starting a race:

  • “On Your Mark!” – means to align yourself with truth by seeking and knowing God and knowing where He has placed you, and by establishing your foundational beliefs and values. This is where your capability comes from.
  • “Get Set!” – means to live your life so that your actions and behaviors reflect those beliefs, which is another way of describing a life characterized by integrity. This is where your credibility comes from.
  • “Go!” – means to step out and do the work of leadership. It’s hard work and therefore requires someone who is both capable and credible, and that’s why this step has to follow the other two.

Last week, we focused on the first step. Next week we are focusing on the third step, the crucial components of the work of leadership. But today, our focus was on the importance of living a genuine life, one where your beliefs and your behaviors match, so that people will trust who you are and be willing to follow.  As my dad would say, “Your walk talks and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks.” If you want people to follow you when you do the work of leadership, they first need to see that that you are living what you believe. And that’s what it means to “Get Set!”

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Leadership Ezra: Who’s In Charge Here? (Part 4, Get Set!)

In thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament (and then published in my latest book). This week (along with last week and next week, and in honor of the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris) we are starting the race of leadership. Today, in part 4, it’s “Get Set!,” where we get into position to start running by first preparing ourselves, both personally and spiritually.

Do you remember your first opportunity to serve in a leadership capacity? I do. I remember feeling like I was not ready but putting on a front to convey the opposite. I was young and had accepted a position as the head of small Christian school. I knew how to teach, because I had been doing so for a number of years. I even knew some things about school administration, because I also had experience in the role of assistant and had developed academic programs. But this time I would be the senior person in charge, fully responsible for the operation of the school. And as excited as I was about the opportunity, when I began the job I felt great uncertainty, unsure of whether or not I was ready to lead well. I was questioning myself, wondering if I had enough knowledge and experience to be prepared.

The book of Ezra provides us with a lesson on leadership preparation, through the illustration of two particular experiences, and they paint a picture of what an effective Christian leader can do to become prepared. The first is in Ezra 7:6-10, and it informs us that Ezra had requested and would be receiving permission and resources from the King, in order to return to Jerusalem. Pay special attention to the last verse in this passage: “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.” The second is shared in Ezra 8:21-24, and it describes specifically the preparation for the journey they would take. Here we see that Ezra had gathered his team together and would soon be traveling to Jerusalem with the supplies for the temple. However, before leaving, he stopped to proclaim a fast and to entreat God for the coming task, and then began dividing up responsibilities.

The first passage above provides a picture of the preparation of the person, and the second provides a picture of the preparation for the task. Together, they provide an overall picture of the preparation for leadership, both spiritually and personally. Ultimately, this preparation is applicable to both who we are and to what we do.

The spiritual preparation for effective Christian leadership begins with an understanding of the all-encompassing context of God’s sovereignty and presence. Throughout Ezra, there are examples of God’s intentional activity, and that includes both of these passages. Verses 6 and 9 in chapter 7 both point out that God’s hand was involved in those circumstances, and clearly Ezra realized that concept, because verse 22 in chapter 8 reveals that Ezra had shared that very same truth with the king. The implication that we can draw is clear: spiritual preparation arises out of recognition of God’s sovereignty. By learning to do this, we can begin to see His purpose in all circumstance

Therefore, the first step you must take in preparing yourself to lead, before doing anything else, is to acknowledge God’s sovereign activity, and then submit to Him and to His plans and purpose. Prepare your heart by seeking God (through prayer and through Scripture, as Ezra did in chapter 8), submitting your plans to His grand design, and recognizing His role in your circumstances. Submit to Him for His direction, His blessing, and His instructions. By doing this, you move yourself into the right frame of mind to allow His involvement to shape and filter your actions and your responses. I talked a lot about this in part 2 in this series, God Has A Plan.

Once you have done this inward step, the outward step is your response to God with your ensuing actions, because stepping follows seeing. Having oriented your thinking to God, now it is time to move forward in obedience and start the tasks that you have been given, and that’s where the work of leadership will start. That’s what I’ll be focusing on in part 5. Remember, even with the recognition of God’s role, leadership is not a passive process. It requires intentional planning and action, carried out with skillful practice, but it still must take place within the acknowledged context of God’s activity. In essence, the spiritual process of preparing for leadership is one that is first inward and then outward: first, seeking God and preparing your heart, recognizing His sovereign purpose and involvement, and then second, responding to God’s direction with steps of obedience and action.

In between those two things is something that is crucial to the success of your subsequenct actions. It’s personal preparation for effective leadership that is modeled by Ezra and spelled out in 7:10, which states that his preparation had been “to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.” This statement describes the simple, yet profound, process of learning, living, and leading (a microcosm of the current series articles, “On Your Mark,” “Get Set,” and “Go”),

  1. “On Your Mark” (last week’s discussion) – It begins with what we introduced last time, which I call “Learning.” As Ezra showed us, “to seek the law of the Lord,” requires spending time with God and in His Word. It means investing yourself in study of Scripture to learn who God is and what he says. It also means cultivating an intimate, personal relationship with God. For Ezra, it was this knowledge that stemmed from his relationship with God that gave him the capability to lead effectively, because he had taken the time to first spiritually prepare himself. As a result of this, he was able to see and trust God’s involvement, and could therefore act with boldness and confidence.
  2. “Get Set” – This is the crucial transitional step between the inward and outward pieces that is highlighted in this week’s discsussion. In Ezra’s words, this is “to do it,” the step I would call “Living,” and it requires putting the Word of God into practice in your life. This means consistently and willingly obeying God’s commands, observing and following the truths of His Word. In doing so, you follow God in obedience with your practice, by what you do, and you provide an example of obedience in who you are. For Ezra, his practice and his example gave him the credibility to lead effectively, because he demonstrated consistency and authenticity in his leadership. His walk matched his talk, his life matched his words, so the people believed him and were willing to follow.
  3. “Go” (next week’s discussion) – This is the outcome of leadership preparation, when the work begins, and is the step I would call “Leading.” In Ezra’s words, this is “to teach statues and ordinances,” and it means that Ezra was now prepared to lead because he was able to teach and explain God’s Word and God’s direction out of his knowledge and relationship with God, and his teaching and direction was believable because of his own life of obedience. He had prepared himself first, and by doing so, had made himself an effective and believable messenger of God, ready to teach, ready to lead, ready to motivate and influence. In the next article, we will break down what those action steps of leadership would be.

It’s that middle step, the personal preparation for leadership, that I am highlighting, and it can be as important as leadership itself. Ezra showed us what it looks like, and the outcome for him was a high level of competence and effectiveness. The methods and process of his personal preparation therefore provides us with valuable tools for our own leadership. And the order that he prescribed for the process is also important. You have to do before you can lead, but you have to know before you can do. So first you have to know it, then you have to do it, then you can teach and lead others.

Ultimately, preparing for leadership involves both spiritual preparation and personal preparation. Effective Christian leadership, therefore, sees God in circumstances, submits humbly to Him, builds a depth of knowledge and relationship, and lives those values consistently, resulting in the preparation to lead well. It is the living out of those values that becomes your starting position in the runners block, so that you are set to start the race when the starter’s pistol is fired.

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Quote Your Dad

“The more you know, the more you know you don’t know”

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Podcast, Season 2, Episode 3: Lessons On Leadership From the Life and Times of Ezra (part 3 – On Your Mark!)

In my thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are leadership lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This particular series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament, the same lessons that I have published in my latest book. This week, (along with the next two weeks, and in honor of the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris) we are starting the race of leadership. Today, in part 3, the topic is “On Your Mark!,” where we step up to the starting line by stepping back to recognize the necessity of being genuine – of consistently matching what you believe with how you live, and matching what you know with how you will act. This is the transcript of the podcast.

In the last two weeks, I introduced the series and said that we would be diving deeper into principles and practices that connect biblical truth with wisdom and applying them to the practice of leadership. The purpose of the series, and of the website as a whole, is to connect faith, wisdom, and leadership in a way that will help you grow in your leadership and make an impact. That starts with realizing that God has a plan and purpose that can be trusted, whether or not we can visibly see His hand in it. That plan is not contingent upon or predicated by my perfection. He doesn’t wait until you are perfect before choosing you as a leader or carrying out His plan. He has a purpose, and you get to be part of it. So my challenge was for you to look back over your life and experiences and identify where His sovereignty has been at work in the seemingly random circumstances.  Look for times where something “just so happened,” and I think you will be able see how God was involved, and for a purpose. That will help you trust God’s activity in your life and in your leadership.

Now I am beginning a 3-week subset in this series in which I am laying the groundwork for effective leadership. I am using the analogy of the starting blocks in a race, when all the runners line up and get into position, and the starter yells, “On your mark, get set, go!” (I know that the starter actually fires a starter’s pistol, and doesn’t yell “go!”, but you get the idea.) Those three commands capture the ideas I will be discussing:

  1. “On Your Mark” – that’s all about getting to the starting line and in the right place. As a leader, that means getting yourself into the right frame of mind and equipping yourself for what is coming.
  2. “Get Set” – that’s all about getting into position in the right form, so that you are best prepared to start well. As a leader, that means performing the actions that set you up to be followed and trusted.
  3. “Go” – that’s when the starter’s pistol goes off and you start running. As a leader, that’s when the work begins as you start leading your people and your organization toward your mission, vision, or change.

Today, I’m focusing on the first command.

In the corresponding website article this week, I talked about my early experience as an organizational leader, an experience in which I did not first learn the right things I needed to know before undertaking the task of leadership I was facing. As a result, I had to deal with challenges and obstacles that were my own making. But I learned from that experience, and years later, when I arrived at a new organization, I started differently.

This time, my first priority was to learn where I was. I identified different groups of people among employees, customers, and stakeholders that I need to hear from. I started meeting with those people one at a time (in fact, this was probably how I spent at least half of my time in the first couple of months), asking questions, listening, probing, and taking notes. Over a little bit of time, I began to gain an understanding of where I was, and to develop a good picture of the history, culture, and challenges to be addressed. It was only after I had done that, that I was able to start preparing my plan of what I would need to do. I was able to prioritize the needs in the context of the organization and created a strategy of what I needed to do, in what order, and in what way. What I was able to do was to match what I learned and knew with what I needed to do, and that consistency would be crucial to my success.

In essence, I was able to get to the right starting lane before ever beginning the race. Before I determined what I needed to, what changes needed to be made, or what programs to drop or add, I needed to know the culture, community, history, and people. There was a lot that I needed to learn before there was a lot that I needed to do. So before I could start “doing,” I had to spend time “knowing,” so that my knowing and my doing could match in the way they needed to match.

That’s the lesson for your leadership. If you start doing before knowing, you can end up doing the wrong things, or even doing the right things in the wrong time, place, or way. Therefore, before you prepare a strategic plan or start running ahead with a great idea, first take some intentional time to learn. I once went to a new school and tried to use something to connect with students that had worked wonderfully in the previous school. But when I tried it in the new school, the students looked at me like I had three heads.  It was a good idea in one environment, but not in another.  I needed to learn that, and once I did, then I could find the right ways to engage with students in this new environment.

The bottom line is that if you are going to lead effectively, knowledge must precede action so that your actions match your knowledge. You need to know the people and place where you are, and understand how and why they operate. Only then can you strategically plan your action steps out of an informed awareness. As a leader who also follows Jesus, on a deeper and spiritual level that also means you need to know God before you can serve God. You need to understand who He is, His nature and character, and then you can act in a way that reflects and honors Him.

So, as you are getting ready to run your race of leadership (or run the next lap, or run your leg in the relay), remember the importance of knowing before doing. To get “on your mark,” you need to prepare and equip yourself for the race you are about to run, so that the race you run is the right one, and that means knowing God, knowing yourself, and knowing where you are. Only after that has happened are you ready to “Get Set!”

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Leadership Ezra: Who’s In Charge Here? (Part 3, On Your Mark!)

In thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament (and then published in my latest book). This week (along with the next two weeks, and in honor of the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris) we are starting the race of leadership. Today, in part 3, the topic is “On Your Mark!,” where we step up to the starting line by stepping back to recognize the necessity of being genuine – of consistently matching what you believe with how you live.

Before you can teach and lead others, you have to live it. But in order to live it, you first have to know it. I experienced this (or better put, failed at this) in my first experience as the senior leader in an organization. To be honest, as I walked in the door I was questioning my own preparedness, unsure of whether I knew enough to be able to lead well. But I had been given the opportunity, so I quelled my fears and jumped. 

I arrived at a school that had longstanding, competent employees, and my relative youth probably didn’t help my reception. Then, in my enthusiasm, I started to run without first taking the time to learn. I began making changes (some of them drastic) and implementing new policies and procedures but failed to take the time to study the history, culture, and people involved. As a result, my actions stemmed from ignorance and arrogance rather than knowledge, and the outcome was conflict and disruption. It wasn’t until I took the time to learn, developing the necessary understanding of the relevant information, that my actions of leadership could represent the right knowledge and therefore win followers and become effective. I needed to know the right things before I could do the right things.

But for Christian leaders, this truth goes much deeper: to do what God wants, you first have to know who God is. To be effective in your actions of leadership, you must first and foremost have a personal and in-depth knowledge of God and His Word. Your knowledge of His truth is more important than anything else in your preparation. Ezra, as a leader, provides a great example of this. In the description of his preparation for leadership – and more pointedly, his preparation for a specific task – Ezra 7:10 states, “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.” Clearly, he had prepared himself for what he was about to undertake, but notice the order of the steps, because the order is important! The first step in the process was “to seek the law of the Lord,” which led him to living out what he knew, and in turn enabled him to teach and to lead. People followed him because his life gave him the credibility to lead, but first having the knowledge gave him the capability to lead. 

What does it mean, then, that he had sought the law of the Lord? It means that he had spent time with God. He had studied the Scriptures intensely and diligently, learning who God is and what He says. And that took time and intentional practice. At the core, this is a basic and fundamental part of the Christian walk, and so it shows up nearly everywhere that someone talks about steps of spiritual growth. Gordon MacDonald, in Ordering Your Private World, discusses the importance of first having the private world of the inner man in order, and says that this must come from developing intimacy with God through regular time with Him and in His Word. Tim Challies, in The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment, explains that the ability to discern is directly related to knowledge of God and of His Word. J. P. Moreland, in Love Your God with All Your Mind, communicates that faith is also an act of reason, based on truth – specifically the truth of Scripture – and therefore Scripture must be studied for faith to grow. Kevin DeYoung, in Taking God at His Word, explores the doctrine of Scripture, and in the process argues for the importance and necessity of reading and studying the Bible. And the list could go on and on. The clear understanding is that every Christian (not only leaders) needs to regularly spend time with God, studying Scripture and building that personal relationship.

Scripture itself supports this truth, as is seen in the examples of men and women of God (like Ezra), but as is also specifically stated in various passages. Psalm 1 describes the person who will be blessed because of his moral choices, and states in verse 2 that this is someone “whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.” In the book of Joshua, chapter 1, verse 8, as Joshua is preparing to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land, God challenges and encourages him with this statement: “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” The bottom line is, our thought processes, choices, and outcomes are directly impacted by our time spent in the Word of God.

As a crucial byproduct of studying Scripture, Ezra developed an intimate, personal relationship with God. Because of that personal and deep relationship, he didn’t simply learn to know who God was and is; he also came to understand God’s nature and heart. He had developed a relationship that enabled him to trust in God even in uncertainty and difficulty. It was from this relationship that he was therefore able to move and act with confidence in God’s sovereign plan, and that he was able to see God’s hand and His purpose in the events that occurred. His personal, intimate knowledge of God (and of His Word) was the necessary prerequisite to living the right kind of example in his leadership.

This is a critical lesson for you and me. It’s been said that leaders must be learners; but Christian leaders must also be learners of God’s Word. Therefore, in our leadership development, we absolutely must study Scripture, growing in intimacy with God. We need regular time with God, in prayer and in His Word. This must be central and foundational to what we do, how we live, and to our call or purpose from Him. Doing this first is what makes us knowledgeable and gives us the capability to lead, because we will learn to see people and circumstances from God’s perspective, shaping how we think and act. It is from this growth of knowledge and relationship with God that we are able to “walk the talk,” modeling and practicing what we know, and living authentic, genuine lives that inspire trust and result in effective leadership. So before getting into the starting blocks of your leadership, spend time with God and make sure your thoughts and beliefs are aligned with Him (and, therefore, on the mark), and then you’ll be ready to “Get Set!”

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Quote Your Dad

“God’s sovereignty operates in conjunction with man’s responsibility, in the context and for the purpose of restoration, resulting in relationship and purpose.” Jeff McMaster, Leadership Ezra (2023)

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Podcast, Season 2, Episode 2: Lessons On Leadership From the Life and Times of Ezra (part 2 – God Has A Plan!)

In my thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are leadership lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This particular series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament, the same lessons that I have published in my latest book. This week, in part 2, we build on Monday’s website article and are reminded of God’s plan and purpose in our lives and in our work. This is the transcript of the podcast.

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Last time, I introduced the series and said that we would be diving deeper into principles and practices that connect biblical truth with wisdom and applying them to the practice of leadership. The purpose is to connect faith, wisdom, and leadership in a way that will help you grow in your leadership and make an impact. So, whether you are new to leadership, struggling in your leadership, or simply want to learn more and grow in your leadership, the goal is to help you lead like Ezra, which is to know God deeply, live by His Word, and apply that wisdom in your leadership of others. Therefore, we will be talking through lessons and insights in this series of articles that capture the ideas I talk about in my book, Leadership Ezra (available on Amazon) that can help you in your leadership role!

One of my favorite stories to tell is the story of how God introduced me to the person who would become my wife. It is a story that reveals God’s activity in retrospect even though I didn’t know it at the time, because of how many instances of, “It just so happened . . .” that took place.  It began with a new youth program that my dad just happened to introduce in my church when I was a junior in high school, and this particular program included a competition component that let you compete against teens in other churches around the U.S. I did well enough in the competition that I was invited to the awards week that as taking place during a week at a Christian camp in another state, but no one else from my church had qualified for the awards reveal or would be attending the camp week, so my dad happened to find me a ride with another church group taking a busload of their youth to the camp. The driver of that bus was the principal of the Christian school associated with that church. When we arrived at the camp, the counselor of the cabin I was assigned to just happened to have gotten sick, the bus driver and school principal that drove us down filled in as my cabin counselor, and over the course of that week, he had lots of conversations with me as he got to know me.  At the end of the week, based on what he had learned about me, he asked me to consider enrolling at his Christian school. As it turned out, they were not able to offer the classes I needed for my senior year, but it just so happened that the principal offered me the opportunity to join them on their school senior trip to Europe anyway. And it just so happened that they were partnering with a couple of other Christian schools from other states in order to have a larger group, and therefore, a lower price for the trip.  At the end of that school year, I embarked on that trip, and on day 1, when I got on the tour bus and sat down in the back, it just so happened that the very next person to get on the bus was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen, the one would become my wife.  And the apparent coincidences didn’t end there. We met and learned that we were both planning to attend the same University.  Once we got to college, we just so happened to end up with jobs at the same place, and eventually just so happened to get leadership roles in brother and sister dorms.  It took a while, but we finally realized that God kept bringing us together for reason, and she has now been my best friend, companion, counselor, and spiritual encourager for over 36 years of marriage.  And all because it “just so happened . . .”.

 The truth is, I don’t believe any of those things were coincidences.  I believe God was at work with His plan and purpose, and all of those apparent coincidences were the working out of that plan.  The last verse in Proverbs 16 says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but it’s every decision is from the Lord.” I learn from that verse that there are no coincidences with God, so I have therefore also learned to trust God’s sovereign activity in my life.  When I see things that appear to “just so happen,” I intentionally choose to recognize them as the hand of God at work. 

That should do a few things for your leadership:

  1. It should take off some pressure that it’s all up to you.  Now, that doesn’t mean that there is nothing you need to do, because God still expects you to make your plans and do your work, but (as I have talked about in other places on the website and the podcast) you can trust God to be directing toward His desired outcome. So rest in the fact that God has control, not you.
  2. It should give you a confidence in the right outcome that God intends, even if it’s not the outcome you intended. There may be things that you learn, or that God teaches, in the process, but your learning is also part of the process. Proverbs 16 also says to “commit your works to Lord, and your thoughts will be established.” Commit to the Lord what you are doing, place the outcomes in God’s hands, and leave them there.
  3. When it doesn’t go the way you thought, look for what God is teaching you. Even in failure God brings good and uses it to conform you even more to His image.

The bottom line is that God has a plan and purpose that can be trusted, whether or not we can visibly see His hand in it. And as I pointed out in this week’s corresponding website article, that plan is not contingent upon or predicated by my perfection. He doesn’t wait until you are perfect before choosing you as a leader or carrying out His plan. He has a purpose, and you get to be part of it.

 I would challenge you to look back over your life and experiences and see if you can spot where His sovereignty has been at work in seemingly random circumstances.  Look for times where something “just so happened,” and I think you will be able see how God was involved, and for a purpose. Once you can start seeing it there, it becomes easier to see it in the present, which in turn also makes it easier trust God’s activity in your life and in your leadership.  God has a plan, He wants to use you in it, so look for and trust His active involvement.

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Leadership Ezra: Who’s in Charge Here? (Part 2, God Has A Plan!)

In thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament (and then published in my latest book), and this week, in part 2, we are reminded of God’s plan and purpose in our lives and in our work.

The work of leadership is hard, and it is not for the faint-hearted. There are decisions to be made, problems to be addressed, challenges to be solved, tensions to be managed, conflicts to be resolved, tasks to be accomplished, and numerous other responsibilities that ultimately have an impact on many people. And add to that the work of leading and managing people, who are imperfect and operate in the context of a fallen world. For the Christian leader – regardless of whether you are a school leader, church leader, ministry leader, or a Christian leading in a secular industry or organization – it can be even more challenging as you seek to reflect Christ in all you do.

The good news is that successful and effective leadership is a skill that can be learned, but it requires intentional effort. In today’s world, there are a multitude of valuable resources available for helping you in your development of leadership, however many of those do not address the spiritual context for the leader who is a follower of Jesus, which is just as important (if not more so) for Christian leaders. So where can you go to get help for understanding leadership principles and practices within a biblical context? This may seem to be an obvious answer, but ironically it is one that is often overlooked by leaders: look to examples of leadership in the Bible.

The book of Ezra, surprisingly, is one of those examples that has a lot to say about leadership. It is a relatively short book, with ten chapters, that tells a 2-part story. The general story involves the fulfillment of the prophecy found in Jeremiah 29, when God foretold the return of the people of Israel to Jerusalem. Chapters 1 through 6 describe the return of a remnant specifically for the purpose of rebuilding the temple, and chapters 7 through 10 – which take place a number of years later – describe Ezra’s role in leading religious leaders back to Jerusalem to restore the spiritual culture of the people. In essence, it is a story of restoration by God, the restoration of His house and His people. Along the way, there are a great number of lessons that are applicable to the task of leadership for the Christian in today’s world.

One of the most important lessons is a big picture lesson, representing the overall theme for the book of Ezra, and it is this: God’s sovereignty operates in conjunction with man’s responsibility, in the context and for the purpose of restoration, resulting in relationship and purpose. Therefore, in the application of leadership, it is vital that we begin with an understanding that God has a plan and a purpose, and He is actively involved in the events of our lives.

Throughout the Old Testament it is apparent that God has a sovereign plan and purpose – again, largely connected to the restoration of his house and of his people – and He works to carry out that plan. However, we usually spend our time acting completely unaware of that truth in our own lives today. We know that it is true, in a nebulous, spiritual truth kind of way, and we can see it clearly in retrospect (both in the stories in the Bible and in reflection of our own past experiences) but in the actual current day-to-day experiences of our lives, we behave as if we don’t realize it.

The events of Ezra provide a wonderful backdrop for seeing God’s involvement, for spotting His sovereignty at work in apparently random circumstances. Although God’s sovereignty is evident all through the book, interspersed throughout are a number of references that specifically point out His intentional involvement. Among these verses are the following:

  • Ezra 1:1, “the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom”
  • Ezra 1:5, “all those whose spirits God had moved, arose to go up and build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem”
  • Ezra 5:5, “the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, so that they could not make them cease till a report could go to Darius”
  • Ezra 6:22, “for the Lord made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God”

Numerous other verses and passages – such as 1:4-8, 4:24, 6:8-10, 7:6-10, 7:27-28, 8:18-31, 9:9 – state or imply God’s involvement in a variety of ways, such as in the circumstances, the preparation, the call, the timing, the plans, the processes, the provision, their protection, the results, and the responses. These verses reveal that God’s sovereignty is evident from start to finish, throughout all of the events and activities that were taking place. They also reveal that God’s sovereignty occurs both externally – directing outside circumstances, people, and activity – and internally – moving in the hearts of people, including me.

Why is that important for you in your leadership? It matters because it offers you a confidence, one that exists outside of any present events or circumstances, that God has an intentional plan and purpose, and that His plan can be trusted. If the direct references to God’s involvement were removed from the book of Ezra, it would read like a great story with amazing coincidences that seem to work in favor of the Israelites, and reflect excellent leadership by Ezra. But, like what happens in the “The Wizard of Oz,” the curtain is pulled back so that we can see behind the scenes, providing us with a view of God’s supernatural involvement on so many levels. Because we believe the Bible and know that God is God, we are not surprised to see this, and yet we can easily fail to realize that God is just as involved in our stories!

Several years ago, I became convinced that a significant program change needed to be implemented in an organization in which I was a leader. I did the research to confirm the need for the change, and then did more research on how to introduce the change. I prepared diligently for the big announcement, but then, at the midnight hour – literally – I was stopped from moving forward by the board of directors. I was frustrated and it threw me off balance, and I am afraid that I responded without a view of God’s sovereign purpose. As time passed, and the program changed was implemented a year later, I was able to see that God had a plan that also involved timing, and that He used people and events to carry out that timing. Of course His plan was better than mine, and if I had been alert enough to see that when it happened, it would have save me some anxiety and helped me to respond better.

So as a leader, it is essential that you understand and remember that God has a plan and purpose that can be trusted, whether or not we can visibly see His hand in it. Thankfully, that plan is not contingent upon or predicated by my perfection, as we can see in the last couple of chapters of Ezra, which describe the repentance and spiritual restoration of the people after the rebuilding and return. God had carried out his plan even before all the wrongs had been righted. The same is true for us. He doesn’t wait until you are perfect before choosing you as a leader or carrying out His plan. He has a purpose, and you get to be part of it. So, whether your current circumstances are challenging or fantastic, continue to trust that God has plan and rest in that knowledge.

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