Nehemiah on Leadership pt.2

We look today at Nehemiah and his leadership. Last week we looked at chapter 1 and saw how there are several aspects of leadership that we should look at in our lives when called to lead others. You can review that here.

Today there is again a lot that we can see in this scripture in reference to leadership and character that I want to draw our attention to as leaders.

The first would be the dialog that takes place between Nehemiah and the King. Something that I find interesting is that the king notices that something is bothering Nehemiah. For a king to notice a cupbearer and entreat to ask what is wrong says a lot about Nehemiah and his relationship with the king. For a king to care about his cupbearer to the point of asking what is wrong and how he (the king) can help say tons about how Nehemiah’s demeanor in his job had created a place of respect and trust that would allow the king to want to inquire and help.

The next and very important aspect of leadership is Nehemiah’s readiness and preparedness to answer questions. The king inquires about the logistics about the plan of going to rebuild. Nehemiah does not retreat and ask for time to think about what needs to happen, before even going to the king with the request he has mapped out what he needs and about how long the journey will take him. This vision and pre thinking creates a calmness in ministry and in leadership that helps calm those who are wanting to help or who are interested. If you don’t have a plan or description for most people, they will not follow you blindly into a vision or dream.

This leads into the next part of leadership and when you should share your vision and plan. In 2.12 we see that Nehemiah ‘told no one what my God had put in my heart to do’. The reason for this we is that he had not yet inspected (13-15) what all needed to take place and what the best plan of attack was. Nehemiah took the time to analyze and inspect what needed to happen and where. He took time to envision the vision taking place. The great practice here is looking into the future of your vision and seeing what all may need to be done in order to achieve the dream.

17-20 is the speech of motivation that stirs the hearts of the people. In verse 17 you see that he speaks on the visible reality that those in Jerusalem see. He points out the obvious but provides an opportunity. “Come, let us do”. Nehemiah shared his vision and gave them the hope that God was with them. He gives them the vision and then started. They didn’t wait around for a vote, he didn’t seek TONS of peoples insights about how to do. the simply said, ‘Let us start building’! I believe there is some great wisdom here in not taking lots of time to entertain ideas from lots of other people about how to make something happen. When you do this it can postpone the process and even worse keep things from happening because people aren’t unified. Which is the next point.

18: So they committed themselves to the common good! The people had come to a place of unity to work towards the same goal. The goal was laid out simple and clear with reasons for why! Goals that are too deep and to layered can cause for confusion and keep things from happening.

Lastly which is one of the most important I believe is found in verse 20: The God of heaven is the one who will give us success, and we his servants are going to start this build”. This verse is a great challenge and reminder that God is the one who grants the strength and vision behind any project…and needs to be the one we work for. To start and finish a project in Him and only in Him is the only sure sign of success in a Kingdom project. But the last part is very important as well…we are called to be the ones to get started in the building. With his help and guidance and our hands greatness is around the corner for His kingdom and the ministries we are apart of.

An overview for leadership:

• Be a man/woman of positive character: filled with integrity & trust. You are this not for the reason to follow, but because its what we are all called to. This positive character allows others to trust and want to follow and be genuine in their care for what is going and how they can help
• Readiness and being prepared to share the vision to its fullest extent when the time calls for it. To have spent a great amount of time in prayer and preparation so that the vision can be shared and caught by others…there is another lesson here as well in being a good communicator so as to communicate the dreams and goals with out confusion.
• Take the time to envision the vision! Take the time to map out how things should be going and how they will come to be. You need to think about the obstacles that may/will arise so that when they do you can move beyond them to a successful goal reached.
• Your team must be unified and working to towards the same goal. If not failure is bound to happen. If you don’t have a shared cause and vision those with different ideas and hopes may derail what needs to happen. (This is not always a bad thing, but we are going with the concept that you are in the right and doing what God has called you and your ministry to do)
• Do your best to keep a goal and vision something attainable and easy to communicate. You want something people can catch, see and participate in a realistic way.
  • Bad example: our goal is to change the culture of youth ministry for the better by talking to them about God
    • Something that needs to happen, but so abstract in the how and why few will jump on board
  • Good Example: We want to promote the awareness of positive and negative effects of technology to our teenagers, by doing a month long study in the effects that texting/cell phones/ video games with our students to help them find pros and cons.
    • This is slightly long, but gives something visible and attainable and some ideas of what will be done.