I've taken quite a hiatus from blogging. I needed to focus on ministry and simply spending time with God without thinking, "How could I blog about this?" Through that time, I've been reading a "church leadership" book and studying through Nehemiah. With so many books on being a leader, I wanted to see from Scripture what characteristics a leader or how one should lead looks like. I think I found myself needing to restore my own leadership as a minister. Nehemiah is where I found myself. So, I will be giving my insights on leadership that I have discovered in the book of Nehemiah. Nothing groundbreaking, earth shattering, do these 5 steps and you will have the perfect ministry type of insights. I simply think we can get caught up in the hundreds of books about leadership or try to find the quick steps to building the best ministry and miss it all together. Or we simply get in a rut and do not even see we are simply maintaining something and not actually leading.
Restoring Leadership Begins By Seeking God Before the Work
I cannot count the number of times I have crafted an "awesome" message for teenagers or planned the best event ever expecting to see the greatest responses by students since the Billy Graham days only to find that it was just another thing. I remember once planning to be a speaker for a youth "revival" for a mission trip I was a part of. I was hearing that we should see a couple hundred students and it will be great. I was pumped and I took so much time crafting my message that seeking God was an afterthought. So the time came and besides my handful of students on the trip with me, we had about five youth show up. I was devastated, angry at God for the work I put into this and only to find my work was in vain. How arrogant of me! God used that to teach me a valuable lesson in humility as a leader and to know who truly is the Leader.
Our story begins with a man who faces a problem. His people have been taken from their homeland for years. Their city is is ruins and it seems God has left them. Nehemiah is struck at the heart by the situation and desires for change. The people of God have likely become a little complacent and comfortable with their lives. So, Nehemiah in his distress and desire to see things made right jumps right into a plan, reads some books about leading a nation back, and gets some people to help along the way. No! Nehemiah 1:4 says, "When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven."
When is the last time you (I include myself) actually wept and mourned for our people we lead? In the SBC we are "concerned" for declining and plateauing churches, missionaries being brought home from the field because money is no longer available, and students losing faith after high school. I put concerned in quotations because I wonder how concerned we are. I see new books, programs, and blogs about how to fix the problem; yet the problem remains. Where is the call to weep, mourn, fast, and pray for our state of affairs? If we are called by our leaders, how much to we really heed the call? Leaders, how are we giving the call to our people? First, it begins with us being broken by reality and the Spirit of God. I'm guilty as many who feel bad for a day about something then move on. Its almost like we have spiritual ADD and the next "fix" grabs our attention, but does not actually provide a solution. Nehemiah wept and mourned for days...days! Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs in the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:1). Mostly we prescribed this Beatitude to being spiritually broken for the sake of salvation. Yet, brokenness is a characteristic of the believer because it's foundation is in humility. Humility is a great reminder of how little we really know, how strong we really are, and how much we entirely rely on a God greater than us. In leadership, we can forget about God and unintentionally (sometime intentionally) "dethrone" Him and place ourselves on a throne of our kingdom. So, no matter what we face as leaders- change in the church, backlash from the community or culture, spiritual attack, etc. we must first remember that God is ultimately leading us and the people under our care.
In the midst of his mourning and weeping, Nehemiah also prays and fasts, again for days. Tied greatly to humility, the act of prayer and fasting as a leader is critical. It first places us under God and should remind us who He is and who we are. Also, seeking God first through prayer and fasting keeps us from being tossed to and fro by the next big way to lead. It keeps us from trying to find the church that is doing it "right" and imitating them or deciding what we think is best for our churches. Prayer and fasting means we seek God's vision, plan, heart, and strength for the tasks at hand. For example, Doug Fields is one of the best Student Minister's in the field. He's written books, spoken at conferences, and led many younger Student Minister's along the way. There is nothing wrong with that, but what was successful for him may not be at my church or yours. Seeking godly council is important, but seeking the God who knows our churches, communities, and the future is by far greater! Leader, what is the vision of your church? What is the plan to achieve that vision? Is it Tim Keller's? Andy Stanley's? Mark Dever's? Thom Rainer's? Missional guy with thick rimmed glasses, skinny jeans, a beard, and rocks a flannel shirt from the Catalyst Conference? They all offer great help and insight into church leadership, but they are not the source of ultimate truth for our leadership!! I encourage us to start anything we are leading our people in to pray and fast. Not for a few hours, not for even a day. Follow Nehemiah's example that is found in the source of all truth-Scripture- and take days to seek God.
The result of Nehemiah's faithfulness to seek God was a vision, plan, and the means to accomplish the goal. It was not easy and required incredible amounts of hard work, but blessing was received. In addition, a people were led to do incredible things-life changing things that impacted who they were and those around them. This is what I want to see happen!! So, I am determined to take more concerted time and effort to prayer and fasting in my leadership as a minister, husband, father, friend, etc. Will you?
