Sunday was a low day for me. It seems that there were a tremendous amount of problems; a handful (less than five!) guys were consuming me with frustration over their folly, pride, and general spiritual blindness. The day got worse in the evening as I dealt with some incidents of poor judgement with my leadership. By the time I hit my pillow, I was despairing, crushed, and broken.

But His mercies are new every morning.

I woke to my alarm at 4:45 feeling refreshed and well rested. I had a solid time of prayer, study, and Bible reading and hit the day feeling encouraged and excited.

The day was a rough one. I spent it jumping from one crisis to the other; dealing with leaders pushed past their limits and students making grand errors and parents calling. I had several leaders who were discouraged and hurting deeply–and I hate to see my leaders hurting.

But through it all, I was able to hold fast to these truths God gave me this morning.

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

This is not my ministry. It is not my burden. Not my work. God gave me the passion in December 2004, God gave me the vision over the summer and fall months of 2005, and gave me the mission in April 2006. I may plant or water, but God gives the growth. I may preach, teach, or rebuke, but God is the one who grants repentance. God doesn’t ask me to work miracles, or to change lives.

What does God ask me to do?

To do justice.

To love kindness.

To walk humbly with Him.

In my mind, this is a simple, straightforward manifesto for leaders in ministry. Here is all God has asked us to do. Justice. Kindness. Humility.

The issue of justice is key for a leader. Much of my role as the top leader in Quest is administering justice. Many of my mistakes have been because I didn’t do justice. I didn’t make justice a priority–I was more concerned with fairness or with popularity.

To love kindness is straightforward: We are to mirror God’s love for us in our love for others. God’s mercy for us in our mercy for others. God’s covenant faithfulness for us in our faithfulness to others.

In leadership, it means that that love motivates us and our actions are rooted in that and not in selfishness or in pride.

But the key thing God asks: That we walk with him in humility. For me, that means remembering in the way I walk that God is the one doing all the good. He is the one that is worthwhile.

So this is my encouragement: Its not my job to change guys lives; all I need to do is focus on these three things. He does the rest.

The Lord is my helper, I shall not fear what man can do unto me.

Tonight, the seven senior leaders of the Quest program were privileged to eat at Col. Tanner’s house. The food, as always, was amazing. Bacon cheeseburgers with all the fixin’s, tapioca pudding, baked beans, real tortilla chips and salsa from a local Mexican restaurant, and one of Mrs. Tanner’s famous ultra-rich chocolate desserts.

Of course, the conversation during the meal was great. We have a great group of GL’s and AGL’s this year and of course Col. and Mrs. Tanner are really fun so we had no trouble having a great dinner. Mrs. Tanner proudly showed off her new study Bible and a really interesting book on Greek. We discussed Bible versions and generally had a great, fun, uplifting conversation.

After the meal, Col. sat down with us and shared some of his heart for us. He told us that while Quest just keeps getting better, the reality is that the age group we are working with is never going to be an easy group to work with. He told us his thoughts that a “Boot camp” is really effective at getting compliance and creating momentum and comradery. It is easy. With Quest, we are trying something harder but ultimately more effective: Achieving long-term change through relationships and discipleship.

With this he emphasized that Servanthood is foundational to leadership and that being a servant must be our top priority.

As I was preparing the schedule and asking men to share in these informal sessions with the senior leadership, I tried to determine what the different facets of leadership (especially leading leaders) were and sought out men to teach on each area. When I thought about the area of organization and management, I immediately thought of Lt. Col. Russell Moulton. Having been at ALERT for over 10 years, Lt. Col. Moulton has a solid track record of producing results and managing projects and people with a high level of efficiency and effectiveness. As the director of operations and executive officer, he was heavily involved in the first two Quest programs and thus brought a level of familiarity with the program that was valuable. Since last fall, he has been in charge of the ALERT facilities staff and thus has been less involved in Quest and more involved in the day-to-day aspects of upper management.

He started by addressing the core question of "What is Leadership?" (answer: A leader must have followers!), he said that leaders must  learn the importance of being efficient and effective.

Quest is about helping young men embrace their calling to be men. "Men have to be efficient and orderly and must be expedient in getting a task done," he shared, "otherwise we become dead weight, and we cannot be deadweight in our organizations."

He emphasized that we (the core leaders) need to learn efficiency in everything we do, because we are the picture of Quest: What we do, what we say, what we show in our lives is what they (the students) will learn from Quest. We are Quest. Quite the weighty responsibility!

He encouraged us that the Lord is faithful, and God wants Quest to succeed. As long as we follow God and are faithful to Him, the Lord will make us a good picture.

He then delved into the topic at hand. He told us that he isn’t the kind of accomplished, detailed leader like Maj. Farr, but that "There are things I major on to get through my day-to-day tasks efficiently." He outlined the seven steps to efficiency:

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Reliance on intelligence alone results in rebelliousness. Exercise of humaneness alone results in weakness. Fixation on trust results in folly. Dependence on strength and courage results in violence. When all has all five virtues together, each appropriate to its function, then one can be a military leader.

—Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Chapter 1: “On Assessments”

Strong men always proclaim a strong message. They do not read the polls and check the surveys before they give their opinions. In fact they do not even have opinions—they have convictions. They bleed convictions. They are strong men anchored in the strong Word of God, and, as such, they bring a message with gravitas and punch. When they stand to speak, they actually have something to say—and they say it, whether anyone listens or not. When they sit to write, they do not skirt the issues—they tackle them. When they address the times in which they live, they do not tickle ears—they box them. They do not have one message for one group and a different message for a different group. Wherever they go and whomever they address, they have only one message—God’s message. This is what makes them strong men. They speak God’s Word, or they do not speak at all.

Steven Lawson, Foundations of Grace

Hand Me Another Brick: How Effective Leaders Motivate Themselves and Others Charles R. Swindoll. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. 1998.

There have been many books written on leadership. Just this spring, for instance, I have read at least ten different books. Out of these, “Hand Me Another Brick” stands out because of its strong Scriptural base, the emphasis on timeless principles, and the eminent practicality of Swindoll’s insights. It is a well-organized, easily readable book that covers the basics of Leadership in an effective and comphrensive manner.

Using the Biblical “memoirs” of Nehemiah as a guide, Swindoll distills principles of leadership that Nehemiah demonstrated in his roles as cupbearer, builder and governor.

Throughout the book, the importance of devotion to God and of prayer are emphasized. But, so is the need for action: to “Take problems by the throat”, to face problems head on, and to plan thoughtfully. I appreciated this book’s careful and thorough evaluation of criticism, opposition and discouragement. These three “enemies” frequently undermine otherwise strong leaders and are rarely addressed in much contemporary literature. Using Nehemiah’s experiences as a guide, Swindoll clarifies the causes and then explicitly outlines the cure for each of these negative problems.

The book’s format is well organized. It works through Nehemiah’s life in a chronological fashion, yet outlines the topics in a sequential manner ideal for easy understanding. Each chapter contains specific points to remember, and an excellent study guide in the appendix brings the material home for clear applications.

Overall, this book ranks as one of the best books on leadership I’ve read. It is broad in reach, dead center in focus, and powerful in application. I highly recommend this book.