leading

Using Empathy: How to Help Members Return to Church

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As churches look to recover from the separation caused by the pandemic, many pastors have lamented their poor church attendance. I’ve heard pastors say things like “we’re back open but we only have a few people each week.” Some have said “our members won’t come to church but I see them everywhere else.” I’ve considered … Read more

Communicating In A Crisis

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The final point in my sermon this week was “Communicate Everything”. During that point, I explained how Nehemiah made communication a priority during a crisis. There’s a story I wanted to share but the Lord didn’t lead me to share it at that time. So I’ve decided to share it now to emphasize the value … Read more

Four Communication Principles for Leaders

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The best leaders communicate well with their teams. The Apostle Paul, writer of 13 books of the New Testament, used letters to keep followers on track spiritually and connected to his ministry. I’d like to share some communication principles from Paul’s example that every leader can apply for immediate results. Let’s look at 2 Corinthians … Read more

Hurricane Preparations for Pastors

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This is a busy hurricane season. Hurricane Harvey has flooded the 4th largest city in America and hurricane Irma is currently making landfall in Florida and other Southeastern states. As pastors, we may feel the call to make a response. We may also feel the need to encourage our people as they wrestle with the … Read more

Keep learning to follow. 

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Thanks for reading these posts from Hosea 4. If you’ve missed any of them, please refer to previous posts. As we continue in this passage in Hosea, God is still speaking to the spiritual leaders of his people and reveals he’s rejecting those leaders because they stopped following God. “My people are destroyed for lack … Read more

Keep learning about culture. 

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   “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” ‭‭Hosea‬ ‭4:6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ http://bible.com/114/hos.4.6.nkjv This verse makes me shudder. As a minister and leader, I would … Read more

Planning, planning, planning. 

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For last few weeks I’ve been wanting a standing desk. What is that, you ask? It’s literally a desk tall enough for a person to stand and work rather than sitting all day. So, last week I visited a few furniture stores and office furniture stores looking to price a standing desk. I found two … Read more

Leading Ways

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He who walks with integrity walks securely, But he who perverts his ways will become known. (Proverbs 10:9 NKJV) Honesty lives confident and carefree, but Shifty is sure to be exposed. (Proverbs 10:9 MSG) As a leader, how would your followers describe you? Proverbs 10:9 describes two extremes of what of person or leader can … Read more

Put People First

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The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” (Nehemiah 1:1-3 NKJV)

Before setting out to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah’s chief concern was for the people in Jerusalem at that time. His passion was for the “great distress and reproach” and the wall just happened to be “also broken down”. This may come as a surprise but the book of Nehemiah isn’t about rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. It’s actually more about making reforms in the lives of the Israelites. 

More than half the book is dedicated to chronicling Nehemiah’s efforts to restore a God centered culture among the people. The rebuilding of the walls was necessary to create a controlled environment where deep change and transformation could take place. As a leader, Nehemiah put people and their greatest needs first. Leaders today must do the same in order to be successful. 
 
The people we lead may be team members, family, employees and staff, or customers and clients. Regardless of where we lead them or the personal goals we have for leading them, we must remind ourselves to put them first. We may have a goal to grow a ministry through our leadership but the people we lead also have a goal to fulfill their spiritual purpose in our ministries. We may want to increase sales for products and services at our businesses, but we can’t forget the customers and clients make purchases to fulfill their own needs. The focus must always remain on the people, not profits. 

We have a responsibility to lead those on our teams to opportunities for success and fulfillment. We can lead customers and clients to helpful products, services, and solutions. Our programs and strategies are only vehicles designed to carry people to the place where their needs can be met. Once they reach their goals through our leadership, they will help us fulfill our goals. 

Time and Planning

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The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, (Nehemiah 1:1 NKJV)

And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before. (Nehemiah 2:1 NKJV)

It Takes Time to Plan Well
In the Jewish month Chislev Nehemiah heard about the conditions in Jerusalem. He fasted, prayed, and planned. Four months later in the month Nisan he stood before the king, shared his plan in detail, and received what he needed to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem. Let that sink in. He took four months to plan a strategy that allowed him to lead the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem in a miraculous 52 days with ancient construction methods and mostly unskilled labor. 

The level of success we experience in our projects, events, and initiatives is directly proportional to the amount of time we spend in quality planning. Last minute, knee jerk, rapid fire planning causes us to lean more on talent than excellence. I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t want to rely on talent alone because deep down inside I know I’m just not that talented. Quality, strategic planning gives us the ability to position people and resources to make up for our flaws as well as take advantage of opportunities. 

What are some other advantages of time and planning?