Podcast, Season 2, Episode 15: Lessons On Leadership From the Life and Times of Ezra (part 15 – The Big Ideas)

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 15, I am pulling out three big ideas that I hope you take away from the series. Here is the transcript of the podcast.

In this series, we have been 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.

We then spent 3 weeks laying the groundwork for effective leadership, 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!” The first command, “On Your Mark,” was all about getting to the starting line and in the right place by getting yourself into the right frame of mind and equipping yourself for what is coming. Aligning yourself with truth by seeking and knowing God and knowing where He has placed you, and by establishing your foundational beliefs and values, gives you the capability to lead. The second command, “Get Set,” was all about getting into position in the right form, so that you are best prepared to start well. Performing the actions that set you up to be followed and trusted involves living your life so that your actions and behaviors reflect those beliefs, and that gives you the credibility to lead. The final command, “Go,” is when the starter’s pistol goes off and you start running. That’s when your work begins as you start leading your people and your organization toward your mission, vision, or change. This is hard work and therefore requires someone who is both capable and credible, and that’s why this step must follow the other two. But with those things in place, the race is underway, and what follows are the things you do to maintain your pace and your race. We have already talked about the importance of the ability to see the big picture, giving people a voice in the process and then motivating them, facing obstacles and opposition, the importance of celebrating, the process of strategic planning, and restoration, or what to do if things have gone wrong or you have messed up. Last time we reviewed all of these lessons, and today, in the final episode of the series, I am highlighting three big ideas.

For years I have attended professional development conferences. Typically, it involved two or three days of gathering together at some conference center, hearing from keynote speakers, attending breakout workshops and sessions, networking, perusing various vendors, and trying to learn as much as possible. But that’s where the challenge comes. Usually, I would take all kinds of notes, collect lots of samples and examples, and walk away with a ton of ideas. But by the time I got home, the plethora of ideas was too much to practically implement, and in the busyness of work back at home combined with the overwhelming amount of ideas I had collected, most of the wonderful ideas and information were set aside with the intent of coming back to it at a later time . . . which, of course, never happened. At some point over the years, I finally learned the value of taking time at the end of the conference to reflect and review everything I had learned, and to identify two or three big ideas that I could do when I got home. Amazingly, I found myself implementing ideas when I did this. The difference was that I figured out how to focus on a manageable list of ideas I could actually follow up on.

That’s what I hope this week’s article episode does for you – that it focuses in on three big takeaways that you can remember. I hope that everything we’ve talked about in the previous 14 weeks can be a benefit to you, but if nothing else, I pray you can walk away with these three things.

1. See the big picture, which 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, that He is actively involved in the events of our lives, and that we also have a responsibility to act.
2. Remember that leadership is hard, but the right skills can be learned to help you succeed. Be intentional about learning them. There are a multitude of valuable resources available to help you in your development of leadership, so study and learn and grow. But don’t forget to also seek out resources that help the spiritual development of your leadership, 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.
3. The Bible is relevant to leadership. The Bible is not an archaic text with no relevance to modern leadership and living, but is, rather, an incredibly practical source of principles, wisdom, and guidelines that can be applied to leadership to help you become more effective. The secret is in understanding that God, the Creator of man and of this world, and therefore the source of the greatest knowledge and understanding of man, life, and relationships, has revealed Himself to us in the Bible. Therefore, when we can see into the stories and the history with that lens, we can identify the ideas that apply to successful and effective leadership and living today.

My hope is that you learned and/or grew from all the lessons that I drew from this study of Ezra, but it is also my hope that two things have happened in particular: first, that you remember a couple of important lessons from this series that you can implement, and second, that you figured out you also can draw lessons from the Bible that will help you be the best leader you can be. The Bible is a valuable (and valid) source of wisdom, so I would encourage you to become intentional about seeking wisdom from it. I pray that this series has been a blessing to your leadership, and as I have said before, if you want to go deeper in these lessons, order a copy of my book, “Leadership Ezra,” on Amazon. Thank you and God bless.