Lessons for leadership drawn specifically from Scripture

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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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Podcast, Season 2, Episode 1: Lessons On Leadership From the Life and Times of Ezra (part 1)

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!

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Leadership Ezra: Who’s in Charge Here? (Part 1, Introduction)

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!

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Podcast Episode 27 – Without Compromise (part 10)

This week’s episode builds on Monday’s article, part ten in the series titled “Without Compromise.” Here is the transcript of the podcast:

Have you struggled with compromise or conformity? That’s the ongoing question we are talking about in this series.  Today’s discussion is the ninth in the series, and all of them are based on a study of Daniel chapter 1 and correspond to the articles posted each week on the Leadership Ezra website.  The big idea we are discussing is how you can navigate pressure without deviating from your values – specifically, the pressure to compromise or conform in an unhealthy or immoral way.  It’s really a discussion of how to lead and live with excellence without compromising your faith.  And today, it’s time for you to decide what your commitment will be.

Years ago, early in my teaching experience, I heard my principal, Brooks Everett, give a chapel message to students based on Joshua 24. It stuck with me, and over the years I have used the ideas he shared in conversations with others, and so I am doing the same here. Here’s the basic story:

Joshua and the people had finished all their battles in conquering the land of Canaan, which was followed by dividing it up among the tribes. Joshua had lived through the escape from slavery in Egypt, the establishment of the nation at Mt. Sinai, the 40 years of wandering in the desert, and then finally the conquest of Canaan.  At the end of all that, he gathered everyone together and very carefully reviewed the lessons that had been learned from their experiences. After reviewing their experiences, he issued them a challenge in verses 14 and 15 and said, “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” (And here’s the part that everyone knows and quotes.) “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” His assumption was that the people – collectively and individually – would serve someone (or something), but it would be up to them to decide who or what it would be.  Joshua planted his flag in the ground on serving God and threw down the gauntlet.

When they responded by saying, “We’re with you, Joshua! We will also serve the Lord!”, that’s where the story gets a little interesting.  Joshua looked around at the crowd, considered what they said, and replied by stating, “No, you won’t.”  He tells them that they are going to end up quickly turning away from God, who will then have to chastise them and administer consequences for their unfaithfulness and broken promises. Once again, the people say to him, “No, really and truly we will serve the Lord!” That’s when Joshua challenges them to look around, to notice who is making this commitment, and to hold each other accountable.

Joshua and the Israelites were at a crossroads, and they needed to make a decision. The decision they would make was future-focused – they were deciding their behavior and their response to what they would face in their foreseeable future. That serves as an example for you and me. We will be facing pressure to compromise at different times and in different ways, and it would be wise for us to determine ahead of time what actions we will take when it happens. This seems like a simple truth, but it’s one that I had to repeat and emphasize over the years to teenagers that I interacted with; otherwise, when they would not take the time to do this, they would wilt under pressure because the prior commitment wasn’t there. In the middle of a crisis, it’s much harder to make that commitment at the moment and in the moment, so it behooves you to be proactive and decide ahead of time. And as we learned from Daniel early in this podcast and website series, that process begins by first establishing and committing to your beliefs.

What does that mean for you? It means this:  first, be clear and confident of what you believe, of your worldview. My worldview is based on the truth of Scripture and the confidence that God is the Creator of the Universe and the source of wisdom and truth. You have to decide what yours is. Then, consistently make your decisions and take your actions today that reflect your worldview. Finally, commit to holding true to that worldview in your decisions and actions tomorrow when you face the pressure to compromise.

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The bottom line is that your ability to resist the pressure to compromise tomorrow is directly tied to your commitment to hold to your worldview today. If you are not prepared before it happens, you will find it very difficult to resist, and are much more likely to give in and compromise your faith.

When we circle back to Daniel as our model of this, I end up in Daniel 1:8, which tells us that “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself.” He decided ahead of time that he was going to hold strong to his belief in God and to the resulting implications and principles that aligned with that belief. When the pressure came, he was able to resist. Now, it’s your turn to make that commitment. Will you commit to holding fast to your faith in face of pressure? You get to decide.

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Without Compromise, pt. 10: You Decide

When I started a personal Bible study on the book of Ezra several years ago, I wasn’t expecting that I would turn my own study notes into a book about leadership, but that’s what happened (Leadership Ezra, available on Amazon). When that was done, I started a study of Daniel, and never made it past the first chapter before organizing my personal notes into a series of valuable lessons to share with students. As time has gone on, God seems to be prompting me to do more with it, so I have begun the process of turning my notes into short articles, that will then become the basis for chapters in a book (current working title: “Without Compromise: Leading with integrity in the face of pressure”). 

The underlying basis of the story is this:  In the time and world of Daniel, Israel and the capital city of Jerusalem were invaded and captured. In that process, the most gifted and talented young men were given a “scholarship” [albeit, against their will] to attend the most elite private school in the known world, one designed to prepare leaders & experts (Daniel 1:3).  Upon graduation, Daniel and his friends were at the top of the class and were hired into executive leadership positions right out of school (Daniel 1:17-20). But here’s an incredibly significant observation: In between . . . they refused to compromise their faith, values, and integrity.  

Now, it’s time for you to decide if you will make the same commitment!

The Bible provides us with a great example of this in the book of Joshua, in chapter 24, when Joshua and the people had finished all their battles in conquering the land of Canaan, which was followed by dividing it up among the tribes. Joshua had lived through the escape from slavery in Egypt, the establishment of the nation at Mt. Sinai, the 40 years of wandering in the desert, and then finally the conquest of Canaan.  At the end of all that, he gathered everyone together and very carefully reviewed the lessons that had been learned from their experiences. After reviewing their experiences, he issued them a challenge in verses 14 and 15 and said, “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” His assumption was that they would serve someone (or something), but they would get to decide who or what it would be.  He planted his flag in the ground on serving God and threw down the gauntlet.

Whether you have realized it yet or not, you will believe and follow something. We have learned from Daniel’s experience in Daniel 1 that your beliefs and your actions go together. Ultimately, your beliefs will determine what you value (or what you will serve), which will then determine your behavior. Therefore, the reverse is also true:  your behavior reveals what you value, which in turn reveals what you believe. You now get to decide your starting point:  What do you believe, and therefore, who or what will you follow?  Will you choose God, like Joshua, and will you do it without compromise, like Daniel? You are the one who chooses for yourself what your story will be.

We have walked through several principles that you can apply to avoid compromise while maintaining excellence, but you must understand that it doesn’t happen by accident. Daniel modeled for us what we are striving for, which is the commitment to integrity in our character and faith, and excellence in our work, both at the same time. The world would have you think that you must leave your faith at the door when you go out into the real world, but I would contend wholeheartedly that you can be both Christian and excellent without compromising either. But to do so, you must intentionally and consciously commit to a belief in the God of the Bible and the accompanying principles by which you set your values and make your decisions, and you must consistently live those out in daily life. Leading with excellence while living without compromise is up to you. You decide.

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Podcast Episode 26 – Without Compromise (part 9)

This week’s episode builds on Monday’s article, part five in the series titled “Without Compromise.” Here is the transcript of the podcast:

Have you struggled with compromise or conformity? That’s the ongoing question we are talking about in this series.  Today’s discussion is the ninth in the series, and all of them are based on a study of Daniel chapter 1 and correspond to the articles posted each week on the Leadership Ezra website.  The big idea we are discussing is how you can navigate pressure without deviating from your values – specifically, the pressure to compromise or conform in an unhealthy or immoral way.  It’s really a discussion of how to lead and live with excellence without compromising your faith.  And today, that begins with a review of the lessons we have learned from Daniel’s experience.

We started this series with the purpose of digging into the story of Daniel, and specifically the story of how he navigated his first years in captivity.  Daniel was a young man when his story began, most likely a teenager.  Nebuchadnezzar was on the rise as the ruler of the Babylonian Empire at the same time that the Jews had demonstrated unfaithfulness to God and had turned to false gods.  In other words, they were confronted with pressure to compromise their faith, and . . . they compromised.  As a result, Nebuchadnezzar and his army conquered Judah and carried the people away in captivity.  In the process, a select group, which included Daniel and his three friends, was taken to the capital city and enrolled in a special program of study in preparation for serving in the kingdom.  Daniel 1 then walks us through Daniel’s experience, where we learn that in spite of the fact that his home country as a whole had compromised their faithfulness to God, he chose a different path and refused to compromise.  I love how verse 8 states his commitment when it says that Daniel ‘purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself.”  And that’s exactly what happened.  Daniel refused to compromise, and demonstrated excellence at the same time, so much so that he “graduated” at the top of his class into an executive leadership position.

 Daniel’s experience laid the foundation for our series, a study on how to live without compromise in a world that pressures us to conform to worldliness and turn from godliness. Throughout his years in his university training, he maintained his commitment to God, did not hide his faith, faced conflict and pressure, and was able to stay strong.  There were certain and specific things that he did, and characteristics he exhibited, that form the basis of the lessons we can take away and apply to our own journeys as leaders. You might find more, but in our study of the last few weeks, we focused on these 8 lessons:

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  • The Foundational Lesson: What you believe and how you live go together.  Know what you believe and why it matters; just as importantly, your actions must match your beliefs.
  • The Lesson of Circumstances: In all circumstances, God has an intentional purpose for your life; you often have no choice over the circumstances, but you do get to choose your response, your trust, and your obedience.
  • The Lesson of Ability:  God has gifted you with talents and abilities that are unique to you, and He wants to (and can) use them for His purpose.
  • The Lesson of Wisdom:  The importance of intentionally pursuing knowledge (grasp of accurate information), understanding (knowing why it matters), and wisdom (knowing how to apply it godliness and life-decisions).
  • The Lesson of Integrity:  The importance of consistently matching your behavior (conduct) with your beliefs (convictions), with the refusal to compromise regardless of the pressure (while balancing truth with love).
  • The Lesson of Relationship:  Relationships matter, and they open the door to impact.  Seek and build positive relationships among believers, and be gentle, loving, compassionate, and considerate to all.
  • The Lesson of Outcomes:  God is involved and active in your life, even in the midst of trials and challenges. Learn to see and trust His hand in the process and in the outcome.  Be intentional about maintaining a community of believers to walk through life with you.
  • The Lesson of Purpose:  You have a part and a purpose in God’s story.  See your life experiences through that lens, and find where your identity and abilities align with the opportunities God places in front of you. 

We spent a week, one brief website article and one short podcast episode, on each of these lessons.  The intent was to identify things we could learn from Daniel and apply them to our own lives and experiences. Therefore, each of these was described and applied in a way that is useable for you and me but can be connected back to specific behaviors, decisions, and attributes that Daniel showed us.

 I would challenge and encourage you to review these eight lessons and look for your own specific examples that you can use to help you see how these need to be applied in your own life.  The bottom line, though, is that there are biblically based and clear steps we can each take to help us follow Daniel’s example.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s easy, but it is achievable.  We, too, can live and lead without compromise.

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Without Compromise, pt. 9: A Quick Review

When I started a personal Bible study on the book of Ezra several years ago, I wasn’t expecting that I would turn my own study notes into a book about leadership, but that’s what happened (Leadership Ezra, available on Amazon).  When that was done, I started a study of Daniel, and never made it past the first chapter before organizing my personal notes into a series of valuable lessons to share with students.  As time has gone on, God seems to be prompting me to do more with it, so I have begun the process of turning my notes into short articles, that will then become the basis for chapters in a book (current working title: “Without Compromise: Leading with integrity in the face of pressure”). 

The underlying basis of the story is this:  In the time and world of Daniel, Israel and the capital city of Jerusalem were invaded and captured.  In that process, the most gifted and talented young men were given a “scholarship” [albeit, against their will] to attend the most elite private school in the known world, one designed to prepare leaders & experts (Daniel 1:3).  Upon graduation, Daniel and his friends were at the top of the class and were hired into executive leadership positions right out of school (Daniel 1:17-20).  But here’s an incredibly significant observation: In between . . . they refused to compromise their faith, values, and integrity.  

How did they do it? We have talked about a number of lessons in the last couple of months. You may find different lessons that are valuable for your own leadership, but I see at least these:

  • The Foundational Lesson: What you believe and how you live go together.  Know what you believe and why it matters; just as importantly, your actions must match your beliefs.
  • The Lesson of Circumstances: In all circumstances, God has an intentional purpose for your life; you often have no choice over the circumstances, but you do get to choose your response, your trust, and your obedience.
  • The Lesson of Ability:  God has gifted you with talents and abilities that are unique to you, and He wants to (and can) use them for His purpose.
  • The Lesson of Wisdom:  The importance of intentionally pursuing knowledge (grasp of accurate information), understanding (knowing why it matters), and wisdom (knowing how to apply it godliness and life-decisions).
  • The Lesson of Integrity:  The importance of consistently matching your behavior (conduct) with your beliefs (convictions), with the refusal to compromise regardless of the pressure (while balancing truth with love).
  • The Lesson of Relationship:  Relationships matter, and they open the door to impact.  Seek and build positive relationships among believers, and be gentle, loving, compassionate, and considerate to all.
  • The Lesson of Outcomes:  God is involved and active in your life, even in the midst of trials and challenges. Learn to see and trust His hand in the process and in the outcome.  Be intentional about maintaining a community of believers to walk through life with you.
  • The Lesson of Purpose:  You have a part and a purpose in God’s story.  See your life experiences through that lens, and find where your identity and abilities align with the opportunities God places in front of you.

Remember that the intent of this was to learn from Daniel how to keep ourselves from compromising our faith when we face the pressure to do so.  The starting point of the eight lessons is recognizing the importance of aligning beliefs and behavior, or convictions and conduct.  The basis of all the other elements is knowing what you believe and ensuring that your words and your actions reflect it.  If these things don’t match: 1) you will be labeled as a hypocrite; 2) people won’t believe you and therefore won’t follow you; and 3) you won’t have the internal strength to keep from compromising.  My challenge and encouragement to you is to resolve this first, then review the other principles and lessons to apply them in your own life.

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Podcast Episode 25 – Without Compromise (part 8)

This week’s episode builds on Monday’s article, part five in the series titled “Without Compromise.” Here is the transcript of the podcast:

Have you struggled with compromise or conformity? That’s the ongoing question we are talking about in this series.  Today’s discussion is the eighth in the series, and all of them are based on a study of Daniel chapter 1 and correspond to the articles posted each week on the Leadership Ezra website.  The big idea we are discussing is how you can navigate pressure without deviating from your values – specifically, the pressure to compromise or conform in an unhealthy or immoral way.  It’s really a discussion of how to lead and live with excellence without compromising your faith.  And today, that begins by understanding your purpose.

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In the matching article to this podcast on the Leadership Ezra website this week, I talked about the story of how God moved me from a ministry in Christian counseling to a ministry in Christian education.  Here’s the rest of that story.  I left off in the article with a phone call that I made in desperation that opened the door to a job as a temporary teacher in a Christian school.  With no other options opening up, and at my wife’s suggestion, I contacted the church she had attended in high school to ask if they had a counseling position available.  They said they did not, but immediately transferred me to the office of their Christian school.  When they picked up the call, I gave them my name and told them who I was married to, and they begin singing the praises of my wife as one the most well-loved students that had graduated from that school, and invited me in to apply.  I said that my background was in Bible and counseling, but not education, and they told that a teacher who taught Bible, Psychology, Family Living, and ancient history had suddenly resigned the day before, and wanted to talk to me about at least taking a temporary position to help with those classes. Before the end of the day, I had met with them in person, been interviewed, and was offered the job.  Two things happened next.  First, almost every other place to which I had applied called me back about interviewing for a job AFTER I had already accepted the job at this school, and second, I began to get excited about the possibility of shaping the minds and worldviews of students.

Less than a month later, as I started teaching students in a classroom, I began to discover a passion for impacting both the minds and the hearts of these students, and began to connect for that purpose.  I discovered a passion that I didn’t know was there.  That redirection from God led to a 30-year ministry in Christian education.

That’s what we see in Daniel’s experience Daniel chapter 1. I would be certain that his personal career plan and life goals did not include being taken as a captive to another country and being forced into their training program. I’m sure he had different plans.  But when God unexpectedly changed his direction, he embraced it with a faithful commitment to God.  From our historical viewpoint when we read the account, it becomes obvious to us that God had specifically equipped Daniel for a purpose that God had in mind.  And in being obedient to that, Daniel found his purpose and his fulfillment, so much so that he served in a leadership capacity not just for the king that first took him captive, but for kings (and kingdoms) that would come after.

In the same way, God has specifically equipped and prepared you for a purpose, and He continues to use the people and circumstances in your life to shape you for that purpose.  In a big-picture view, we each have a story that is a chapter in God’s great story.  His story is much bigger than ours, but He intentionally uses ours as part of His.  When we understand that we get to play a part in what He is doing, we can get excited about the purpose He has for us.  We can see our lives through that lens, we can begin to align our identity and our experiences with what He is doing in and through us.

The truth is, God has a purpose, and He knows what it is and where it is going, even when we can’t see the whole picture.  What we can do is learn to identify the things we do well and the things we love to do, and pray for the wisdom to see the opportunities that God puts in front of us that match those things.  And once again, realize that God will be using all of our past experiences and relationships to help develop that purpose.  Interestingly for me, as God broadened my passion and purpose to helping Christian schools with brokenness and struggle, one of the schools He moved me to required the wisdom and ability to help people heal from great wounds.  In other words, it required counseling abilities.  Although that was almost 15 years after He moved me away from counseling ministry, I could see how that had been part of His intentional preparation for the work I would be doing in Christian schools down the road.

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The bottom line is that you have a purpose, and it’s not random.  God has equipped and gifted you, and He has put people and circumstances in your life as part of that preparation.  Learn to see your life experiences through that filter, and embrace what God gives you to do.  Find your purpose in His plan.

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Without Compromise, pt. 8: Finding Purpose

When I started a personal Bible study on the book of Ezra several years ago, I wasn’t expecting that I would turn my own study notes into a book about leadership, but that’s what happened (Leadership Ezra, available on Amazon).  When that was done, I started a study of Daniel, and never made it past the first chapter before organizing my personal notes into a series of valuable lessons to share with students.  As time has gone on, God seems to be prompting me to do more with it, so I have begun the process of turning my notes into short articles, that will then become the basis for chapters in a book (current working title: “Without Compromise: Leading with integrity in the face of pressure”). 

The underlying basis of the story is this:  In the time and world of Daniel, Israel and the capital city of Jerusalem were invaded and captured.  In that process, the most gifted and talented young men were given a “scholarship” [albeit, against their will] to attend the most elite private school in the known world, one designed to prepare leaders & experts (Daniel 1:3).  Upon graduation, Daniel and his friends were at the top of the class and were hired into executive leadership positions right out of school (Daniel 1:17-20).  But here’s an incredibly significant observation: In between . . . they refused to compromise their faith, values, and integrity.  

How did they do it?  One way was by understanding their purpose.

When I graduated from high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, I only knew that God had called me to serve Him in ministry.  When I graduated from college, I still wasn’t completely sure what I wanted to do with my life, so I went to grad school.  When I finished grad school, I started doing what I thought I wanted to do with my life, but within a few short years, God changed my direction.  That’s when I finally figured out my purpose.

Because didn’t know for sure what I wanted to do when I was in college (other than perhaps teaching and mentoring in higher education, which is what I have now come full circle to end up doing at this stage of my life), I took the next step of grad school and earned a Master’s degree in marriage and family counseling.  With that degree in hand, I started working in a Christian counseling center under the mentorship of the director, with the hope and plan that I would eventually become the director of the center and have my own counseling and therapy practice.  As I was developing my experience and skill, I also found myself at times struggling with joy and contentment.  But it was what I had committed to do, so I threw myself into it, and was becoming effective in marriage counseling and in premarital counseling as specialties.  That is until God knocked my feet out from under me. 

The counseling director had an accident that was going to put him out of commission for at least 6 months, so he closed down his practice, which left me without a job.  I was mad at God and decided to move my family and go on to medical school for psychiatry or neuromedicine.  In my anger at God, I had decided that I just needed to do something that made as much money as possible, and I would support other people in ministry but I wasn’t going to serve God in ministry any longer.  We moved from Michigan to Florida (by my wife’s family), and I started applying for a job – any job – that would help make ends meet until I started medical school.  The problem I ran into was that in spite of all the applications I submitted, no one called me back.  I was getting angrier at God, and then one day my wife suggested I contact the church she attended in high school and see if they were hiring a counselor.  I didn’t want to, but felt like I had no other choice.  It was that call, however, that opened the door to a job as a temporary teacher in a Christian school, which, in turn, became the purpose and direction that God had for my life.  That’s another part of the story, one that I will talk a little more about, in the podcast episode that matches this article this week.

That’s a lesson we learn from Daniel, in verses 17-21, which says, “17 As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.  18 Now at the end of the days, when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 Then the king interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they served before the king. 20 And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm. 21 Thus Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus.”

At the conclusion of their educational experience and training, Daniel and his friends were appointed to serve the King in leadership roles and did so for the remainder of that King’s rule (and during the reign of the next two rulers as well).  God had gifted them with specific talents, and abilities, and they had grown and developed in maturity and skill, all while maintaining their godliness and character.  When the King administered their “final exam,” they scored the highest grades and were placed in a position where they could have an impact.  In the end, it became clear that God had a purpose, and had given them purpose.  Similar to what God had done with Joseph’s captivity in Egypt, God used the captivity of these Hebrew children as a means to position them in roles within the highest office of the land so that He could carry out His purpose.  What the king was looking for was skill in understanding and wisdom, and (wouldn’t you know) that’s exactly where God gifted these Hebrew children.  As for his part, Daniel had embraced this mission and calling and was intentional about submitting to God’s purpose at every step.

Likewise, for you and me, all of the events, circumstances, and people in our lives are all things that God is using and has used to place us where we need to be in order to fulfill His purpose. You see, God has a greater purpose, and He has prepared, equipped, and placed you in a particular context within His greater purpose for a reason. Remember that your story is one chapter in God’s Grand Story, and within the context of God’s Grand Story, you can find the meaning and purpose in your chapter. Your responsibility is to seek out, embrace, and carry out that purpose. How does that happen?  To oversimplify, you need to write down the things you love doing and the things you do well; pray that God will give you the clarity and discipline to develop those; and pray that God will put the right opportunity in front of you at the right time. When it appears, seize that opportunity.

Like the #JeremyCamp song “These Days” says, “I believe that you and I are in the right place at the right time . . . Maybe we were made for these days.” That’s the Lesson of Purpose:  You have a part and a purpose in God’s story.  See your life experiences through that lens and find where your identity and abilities align with the opportunities God places in front of you. There, you can find purpose.

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Podcast Episode 24 – Without Compromise (part 7)

This week’s episode builds on Monday’s article, part five in the series titled “Without Compromise.” Here is the transcript of the podcast:

Have you struggled with compromise or conformity? That’s the ongoing question we are talking about in this series.  Today’s discussion is the seventh in the series, and all of them are based on a study of Daniel chapter 1 and correspond to the articles posted each week on the Leadership Ezra website.  The big idea we are discussing is how you can navigate pressure without deviating from your values – specifically, the pressure to compromise or conform in an unhealthy or immoral way.  It’s really a discussion of how to lead and live with excellence without compromising your faith.  And today, that begins by trusting God with the outcomes.

In the matching article to this podcast on the Leadership Ezra website this week, I talked about an experience in my ministry of Christian Education that put me in the position of having to decide whether or not I was going to trust God with the outcome of that experience. If you want to get the full story of what happened that led to what I’m about to talk about, you’ll need to read the website article.  But here’s where I left off.  I went home that day and told my family that my position had been eliminated and that it would end in 28 days. But then, with a smile on my face, I told them that God had a perfect plan for us that we could trust.  I said that He was doing this for a reason, and therefore, we could fully trust Him and didn’t need to have any anxiety.  We prayed together as a family and committed to having peace and confidence in what He would do.

The next day (on a Wednesday), I prayed, and then I updated my resume and began to look for places to apply.  By Thursday afternoon, I had copies of my resume ready to go and in envelopes, with about a dozen different places to send them. We prayed over them, put them in the mail, and consciously determined to trust God with the outcome, choosing not to have any anxiety.

The next day, my daughter came downstairs and told us that she had been praying and that God had impressed on her that I would be getting a phone call the following week on Tuesday and would have an interview on Wednesday.  We assured her that God could do that, but that even if He didn’t, we would still trust Him. She was adamant that that’s what God had told her He would do.  The next Tuesday morning, as she left for work, all she said was, “Text me when you get a call.”  I left right after her for work, and when I sat down in my office, almost immediately the phone rang.  You guessed it.  It was a phone call from a school in another state, and I had an hour-long conversation with someone who finished the call by asking me if could do a conference call interview with their search committee the next day.  My daughter’s response when I told her was simply, “I told ya!”  The end result was that literally 3 weeks later, we unloaded a moving truck in a different state, starting a new job at a new school.  I didn’t know until after the fact that my resume landing on their desk was just as much a miracle of God’s timing for them as it was for me.  We were to learn over the next couple of years that there were clear reasons why God had uprooted and moved us so quickly, but that wouldn’t have happened the same way if we hadn’t been committed to fully trusting Him for the outcomes and then responding accordingly.

 That’s the same mindset that Daniel and his friends exhibited in Daniel chapter 1. They were uprooted from their homes and families, against their will, and taken to a place that was unfamiliar, lonely, and possibly antagonistic to their own culture and faith.  Yet they chose to have an attitude of complete trust in what God was doing.  In their case, they refused to compromise their faith by adhering to their dietary laws and trusted that God would still keep them healthy.  They refused to bow to an idol of the king even when the consequence was a fiery furnace.  And years later, Daniel refused to cease praying to God even when the consequence was a lion’s den.  In all of those cases, they trusted God for the outcome, regardless of what the outcome might be.  They knew that God had the best plan in mind for them, and they trusted wholeheartedly.

What this teaches us is the importance of trusting God for the right outcome in our own circumstances.  The hard part is often trusting Him even when the outcome might be different than what we anticipated or wanted.  But if you and I believe that God is real and that the Bible is true, then we can completely trust what God is doing.  That means, therefore, leaving the outcome in His hands because He has a purpose that He intends to accomplish for His benefit and for ours.  We still need to act, doing what is right, and intentionally planning and moving wisely toward the goal and purpose in front of us, but all while keeping in mind that God – not us – is in control of the outcome and end result.

So, when you face circumstances that are frightening, unknown, or unexpected, Daniel has modeled for us how to lean into God, and how to be confident that He is going to do what is best.  Knowing that, we can trust Him for the outcome.  That doesn’t mean that we stop doing the right things.  In fact, the outcome God brings about is typically directly tied to how we are living in obedience to Him, so what we really need to do is to first obey God without compromising and then trust Him for the outcome. 

The bottom line is God has a purpose with you in mind, so you can trust Him for the outcome and let go of the anxiety in the circumstances.  I also think it’s a lot easier to do this if you take some time and make an “altar” list – a list of personal experiences where God has worked in an unexpected way, as touchstones to strengthen your confidence in God, to serve as your constant reminder that you can trust God with the outcomes. Learn to see and trust His hand at work in your life.

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