Leadership

I haven't been very good at keeping a blog. But, as I worked on 5 year goals this morning and thought about my desire to write. I decided, blogging is a free way to write and put my thoughts out there without any formal commitment. It's a stepping stone. Today is a new day and therefore the perfect day to start a new journal.

I've been doing a lot of research on leadership lately. I'll be starting my Masters in Global Leadership from Fuller with the next few weeks. I hardly feel equipped to be a leader and yet I find myself striving to be the best leader I can be. I'm naturally drawn to great leaders and often wonder why that is. Today, I spent some time this morning gleaning from CCC in Naperville. Jon Ferguson has been a big inspiration to my church and a lot of other churches. I wonder what it is like to work with someone like that. He seems like the kind of senior leader that cares deeply about investing himself in to the staff he works beside. I don't always see churches, particularly Lutheran churches investing in the staff they serve beside. So often, we are preoccupied with the work that NEEDS to be done and not the work that COULD be done.

Nehemiah, is in my opinion, one of the best stories God provides on leadership. Nehemiah's dream is to restore the wall around his hometown. This is much to the annoyance of Sanballot a neighboring leader. The Jews fear being attacked, but Nehemiah prays with the people and puts guards near the family. As the community stands in fear of rebuilding the wall fast enough, watch what he says to them about the tasks at hand, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."

Nehemiah reminds me to fight hard for my home and my family. Leadership is not always family friendly. It doesn't always give me time to care for the home God has helped me establish. But Nehemiah reminds me that God is great and awesome and wants me to fight for those blessings. God longs for us to invest in the lives of the people he has put into our lives. My hope is that I can be a reflection of the leader God empowered Nehemiah to be. So often I look at ministry as wall in ruins, evidence of past wars, wear and tear, noticeable cracks. Yet as God has shown through prayer and proper vision, we can repair the church. We can change the world. But, it will take some fighting.