“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)
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
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 1, we build on Monday’s website article and introduce the series titled “Lessons On Leadership From the Life and Times of Ezra.” This is the transcript of the podcast.
The series will have 14 articles and episodes that begin with an introduction – that’s today – followed by 12 different lessons on leadership from the life and times of Ezra – and all of these lessons are representative of the big ideas in each chapter of my book, Leadership Ezra – with a final episode to wrap it all up. Over that time, we will talk about things like finding the balance between God’s sovereignty and my responsibility, understanding team leadership, the value of celebrations, the process of strategic planning, and several other valuable leadership principles. Taken together, they are a set of ideas that reflect leadership based on scriptural truths and they can help you not just be a better leader but a more biblical one.
Let me take you back to where this all began, when my answer to a question from my dad was, “I think I want to write books.” Years, ago, even before I started my career in Christian education, I had completed my seminary master’s degree in marriage, family, and personal counseling and had started working in my first counseling job. However, I was still wrestling with my future goals and where I ultimately wanted to be in my life. When I thought about what my future might look like, writing books sounded like a worthy goal. I admired people who could write books that inspired, helped, shaped, or guided others, and although I don’t think I realized it then, I wanted to emulate my dad by sharing wisdom with people that would make a positive impact. So, when my dad asked me what I thought I wanted to be doing in ten years, that was my answer. “I think I want to write books.” He reflected quietly for a moment and then with his usual wisdom, said to me, “Jeff, before you can say something, first you have to have something to say.”
Now, thirty years of life and experience later, it seems God has given me some things to say. Or, at the very least, something to say for my own benefit, lessons that I have learned and continue to learn from the life of ministry to which God called me over that span of time and that I can put down on paper. In particular, God has taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application. I am a connect-the-dots kind of person; therefore, one of the ways God has taught and grown me is by connecting the dots between scriptural truth and life application.
That’s the goal, therefore, of both the book, Leadership Ezra, and this series of articles: to connect the dots between Scriptural truth and life application, specifically within the realm of leadership, using a story in the Bible to do so. In this case, the story is the story contained in the book of Ezra, a book comprised of two different journeys of return for the people of God. The experiences in this book demonstrate and illustrate lessons that can then be applied to our practice of leadership today.
One of the most important things I pointed out in my book was that Ezra had developed an intimate, personal relationship with God, and 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 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.
In our leadership development, we need to develop that same kind of relationship and intimacy with God; and to do that, we absolutely must study Scripture. We need regular time with God, in prayer and in His Word. This must be central and foundational to what we do, to 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 then able to “walk the talk,” modeling and practicing what we know and living authentic, genuine lives that inspire trust and result in effective leadership.
In the next few weeks, we will be diving deeper into principles and practices that connect biblical truth with wisdom and applying it to the practice of leadership. The purpose is to connect faith, wisdom, and leadership in a way that would 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.
The lessons we will discuss over these episodes are some of the pivotal lessons on leadership that can be drawn from Ezra’s story, along with understanding our purpose and responsibility in the context of God’s sovereignty, and understanding the importance of the connection between what we believe and know with how we live and act. These are just a little taste of the lessons on leadership that I think we can draw out, and over the next few weeks, we are going to walk through these – and other – lessons in this series of articles that capture the ideas I talk about in my book, Leadership Ezra (available on Amazon). Order a copy to follow along with this series and learn valuable insights from Ezra that can help you in your leadership role! But even before that: first, open your Bible and read the book of Ezra from start to finish. You might be surprised at what God teaches you from your own reading of His Word!
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 1, we introduce the series.
One of the things I most love to do is to connect the dots between Scriptural truth and life application. More specifically, I love to do this within the realm of leadership. And that’s how I ended up seeing some great lessons on leadership from a story in the Bible. In this case, it was the story in the book of Ezra, a book comprised of two different journeys of return for the people of God.
I “discovered” these lessons when I randomly decided to do a personal Bible study on the book. I had been reading in the Old Testament and came across the first verse of Ezra 1, and figured out that it was connected to Jeremiah 29:10-11. That piqued my interest, so I decided I wanted to start reading through the book as a Bible study and asked the Lord to teach me from it. I started writing down my thoughts and responses to the story I was reading and began to recognize valuable lessons that directly impacted my leadership role at that time and place. By the time I finished the study, I was amazed at how much God had taught me about leadership from this unexpected book.
One of the most important lessons I observed was that Ezra had 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.
I also learned that, like Ezra, 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, to 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.
These are some of the pivotal lessons on leadership that can be drawn from Ezra’s story, along with understanding our purpose and responsibility in the context of God’s sovereignty and understanding the importance of the connection between what we believe and know with how we live and act. They are just a little taste of the lessons on leadership that I think we can draw out, and over the next few weeks, we are going to walk through these – and other – lessons in a series of articles that capture the ideas I talk about in my new book, Leadership Ezra (available on Amazon). Order a copy to follow along with this series, and learn valuable insights from Ezra that can help you in your leadership role!
I am a connect-the-dots kind of person. Therefore, one of the ways God has taught and grown me is by helping me connect the dots between scriptural truth and life application. It is from that perspective that I initially launched this website and its accompanying resources a little less than a year ago. The purpose was to connect faith, wisdom, and leadership in a way that would help other followers of Jesus grow in their leadership and make an impact. That original dream of an idea turned into three things: the self-publication of a book on Amazon (Leadership Ezra), the creation of the Leadership Ezra website, and the initiation of a corresponding podcast. The overarching theme became “Faith. Wisdom. Leadership.: Connecting biblical truth with wisdom for leadership.” Therefore, that is the basis of these “Leadership Ezra” resources – a book, a website, and a podcast – that are now available to help you grow in leadership from a biblical foundation.
The book, Leadership Ezra (order your copy on Amazon), is all about connecting the dots between Scriptural truth and life application, specifically within the realm of leadership, using a story in the Bible to do so. In this case, the story is actually the story contained in the book of Ezra, a book comprised of two different journeys of return for the people of God. The experiences in this book demonstrate and illustrate lessons that can then be applied to your practice of leadership today.
The website, www.LeadershipEzra.com, is intended to be a resource to help leaders with this same connection, again providing principles and practices that connect biblical truth with wisdom and applying it to the practice of leadership. If you are new to leadership, if you are struggling in your leadership, or if you simply want to learn more and grow in your leadership, here you will find counsel and insight to help you be more equipped to lead and to do it in a godly way. The goal is to help you lead like Ezra: know God deeply, live by His Word, and apply that wisdom in your leadership of others.
The podcast, also called “Leadership Ezra” and available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, is likewise all about connecting biblical truth with wisdom for the practice of leadership. These are short 5-10 minute episodes that share an illustration and provide some explanation and application of topics from the website. The episodes are helpful handles to understand and remember key ideas.
These three resources work together to connect three dots: “Faith…Wisdom…Leadership.” Aimed at Christians in leadership, including those who are leading in Christian schools and ministries, my purpose is to connect these dots so that I can help people lead well. So if you have found any of those to be good for your leadership, would you tell at least three other people? With your help, I believe that God can use these resources to better equip leaders who will make an impact for His Kingdom.
A little less than a year ago, I embarked on a new (scary) journey. For the needs of my family, I had stepped away from 30 years of ministry in Christian education, with 24 of those years as a principal or superintendent/head of school. I wasn’t retiring, but my personal family circumstances necessitated making a change so that I could be at home every day. So, I stepped down from my most recent position at the place where I had served for 9 years as the Head of School to start a new journey of using my experience and abilities to serve God and develop people. And that led to this venture at www.LeadershipEzra.com. What made it scary was that I was starting something completely new in my life, while still needing to provide for my family, with no idea of what the outcome would be. God was gracious in providing some additional work along the way to teach an online graduate course on leadership and an undergraduate online course on education, and to mentor doctoral students in their dissertation and research project work. My real desire, though, is that He will use Leadership Ezra in a much greater way to grow others in their leadership.
The initial idea came about out of a lot of prayer, and in that process, what the Lord made clear to me was that I needed to connect faith, wisdom, and leadership in a way that would help other followers of Jesus grow in their leadership and make an impact. That original dream of an idea turned into three things: the self-publication of a book on Amazon (Leadership Ezra), the creation of the Leadership Ezra website, and the initiation of a corresponding podcast. The overarching theme became “Faith. Wisdom. Leadership.: Connecting biblical truth with wisdom for leadership.” As an added bonus, I included a weekly feature on the website called “Quote Your Dad,” where I simply shared wisdom-filled quotes that I would often hear from my dad.
The book was something that had been on my mind and heart for a long time, and it came first in the timing of everything. Immediately after it was published on Amazon, I launched the website (with a lot of help from a friend who is a website wizard). Then, I did a little online research into how to produce a podcast, and a few months after the website was up and running, I started releasing a short weekly podcast episode that would match the website article that had been published at the beginning of the week. By the end of 2023, everything was beginning to settle into a rhythm.
For the first few months, the website articles – and the podcast episodes, once they had started – had been stand-alone articles that highlighted an important leadership principle or lesson that I had learned over the years. But by the beginning of 2024, I was starting to feel a little more comfortable with the routine of what I was doing, and began developing series of related articles and ideas. The first series, “Without Compromise,” was a look at lessons learned from the life of Daniel, and specifically at how he managed his training and equipping to become a leader in the king’s government, but without compromising his faith or his character in any way. The second series, “Complementary Contradictions,” was a look at seemingly contradictory leadership ideas that, in fact, can and should work together to help you become a better leader.
So now, I am heading into year two. What’s in store for the next year is in God’s hands, but my current plan is the continuation of different series, and prayers for opportunities to reach more people. The next series will be connected to the original idea of the book and the website and will walk through the important lessons that are talked about in more detail in Leadership Ezra. That will be followed by a series called “Be a Better Leader,” which will focus on attributes of effective leadership. Beyond that, what I would hope for is that God would bless this work and put it in front of more people who would benefit from what He has given me to share. So, if you have read the book, followed the website, or listened to the podcast, and have found any of those to be good for your leadership, would you tell at least three other people? With your help, I believe that God can use these resources to better equip leaders who will make an impact for His Kingdom.
Thank you for following and listening! On to the next year!
God Bless,
Jeff McMaster