Lessons from Nehemiah Part 3

Work the System

Nehemiah is a tutor of sorts for Spiritual leaders. In the past two posts we’ve seen that he was a man of great compassion and courage. He was sensitive to God and His people.

Nehemiah also worked the system. When Nehemiah saw the need of his people he used his position as a cupbearer to his advantage.

In Nehemiah 2 we see the interaction he had with his boss. “If it pleases the king, send me back home to rebuild the walls.” Well it pleased King Artaxerxes and Nehemiah was released to rebuild the wall. He even got the king to write a letter of endorsement to ensure that he would be able to travel safely back to Jerusalem.

Based on what we know of Nehemiah was able to work the system because he was a trustworthy worker. The cupbearer was a position of trust. They ensured that the king’s drink was safe from poison. More than that they gave counsel and wisdom to the king. My guess is that Nehemiah had worked faithfully for years and because of that was able to cash in his chips so that he could go attend to the wall in Jerusalem.

You may think that working the system is using people to your advantage. This feels slimy. I’ve seen people in ministry to use relationships to get free game tickets, meals and even trips. This is NOT what I am talking about. A Spiritual leader must NEVER leverage their influence and relationships for personal gain.

Working the system ISN’T using people, it’s maximizing relationships. Nehemiah didn’t demand or pressure the king, he asked humbly. He also was’t asking selfishly, he was thinking of the people of Jerusalem.

I’ve made the mistake of not asking before. I don’t want to appear as if I’m using others so I don’t ask. This is a big mistake. If I don’t ask, then others aren’t included in serving the kingdom like Artaxerses did. I need to be more like Nehemiah and work the system.

We can work the system in a God honoring way when we act like Nehemiah. Don’t pressure people to get what we want. Serve others without expecting to get something in return. Ask humbly and selflessly when we know they can meet a need. This is working the system.

What are needs in your ministry that could be met simply by asking? Who are the people who can meet those needs? Chances are they are probably more than willing to help as long as you humbly work the system.

Read Part 2 of Leadership Lessons from Nehemiah
Read Part 1 of Leadership Lessons from Nehemiah

Kevin Libick is a Middle School Pastor living in Fort Worth, TX with his wife Kara and her two cats. He is a novice banjo picker and expert Hawaiian food eater. Kevin loves to connect with other youth workers and equip them to live out their calling in God’s Kingdom. Connect with Kevin on Twitter: @kevinlibick

Leadership Lessons From Nehemiah # 2

God Inspired Courage

The book of Nehemiah is full of great nuggets on Spiritual leadership. Last week I unpacked how Nehemiah had a tenderness that moved him to action. 
 
Another interesting thing I’ve noticed in the book of Nehemiah is how much prayer is in the book. 
 
2:4 “With a prayer to God in Heaven.”
4:4 “Then I prayed”
4:9 “But we prayed”
9:5 “Then they prayed.”
 
When you read Nehemiah, you see that these short little prayers come when Nehemiah needs courage. It’s when he’s talking to King Artaxerxes and when there is opposition to the building of the city wall. 
 
To me it reveals not Nehemiah’s super-spirituality. Think about this. Nehemiah must have been the one who retold the story so it could be written down. That means Nehemiah (a governor and reformer) intentionally revealed that he prayed for courage. I respect Nehemiah all the more now that I know that he led the Israelites even when he didn’t have the courage in himself.
 
Nehemiah knew that his strength to achieve great things came not from his own abilities and vision, but through the power and strength of his God. More than that, Nehemiah demonstrated humility by letting others see his lack of courage. 
 
By turning to God for courage Nehemiah becomes the leader the Israelites need. He rallied the people around God instead of himself and through that the wall was built and the glory of the city was restored.
 
Many times in ministry we are called to face a challenge that we aren’t up to. I know that I lack courage when I have conflict with someone and I need to address the issue. In those times, Nehemiah begs us turn to God and ask Him for courage.
 
So what about you? What are you lacking courage to do? Is it a hard conversation or a ministry change? Take time right now to ask God for courage.
Kevin Libick is a Middle School Pastor living in Fort Worth, TX with his wife Kara and her two cats. He is a novice banjo picker and expert Hawaiian food eater. Kevin loves to connect with other youth workers and equip them to live out their calling in God’s Kingdom. Connect with Kevin on Twitter: @kevinlibick

Leadership Lessons from Nehemiah

A Tender Heart

Over the holiday break, I read through the book of Nehemiah for the first time in a while. I was struck by the great insights about Spiritual leadership from this great book. For the next few weeks of posts, I’ll be pulling some of these lessons out and seeing what they can teach us today.

The first lesson from learned from Nehemiah is that Spiritual leaders have a tender heart. 

As a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes in Persia, Nehemiah had gotten word that the people of Jerusalem were in trouble and that the walls of the city were in shambles. This meant that they were vulnerable to attack. More importantly Jerusalem, the a symbol of Israel’s spiritual condition, was in shambles and God’s glory was at stake.

Nehemiah’s reaction to the news reveals much of his heart.

1:4 “When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.” (NLT). 

Let me remind you that Nehemiah was a politician. He didn’t even live in Jerusalem. Yet, his heart was stirred to compassion for the city and people he loved. I don’t normally think of politicians as having tender hearts toward the people in their constituency, but Nehemiah displays it immensely.

A tender heart is a necessity for Spiritual leadership. Unless we can sense the pain and brokenness of our people, we cannot speak the truth in love. Leadership without a tender heart leads to indifference. We see those in our care as objects to be used instead of people who need to grow. When we lack tender hearts we put programs and initiatives ahead of people. This doesn’t lead to life change and true Spiritual growth.

I know that I am lacking tenderness when I am short with people, when I blame people and when I stop listening to them. I start getting frustrated with their lack of progress or for taking up too much of my valuable time.

We want the opposite. Tenderness sees the pain and walks with the other person. Tenderness helps us value the other person and makes us want to understand their situation.

Every other lesson we learn from Nehemiah is worthless unless we get this one down. Nehemiah is leading others because he cares for their well being.

Is your heart tender toward those you are leading or is it calloused and indifferent? If it is the latter, then maybe you need to spend some time with Jesus asking for a new heart toward those you are leading. Ask God to create in you a new heart of compassion and tenderness for those you are serving.

Kevin Libick is a Middle School Pastor living in Fort Worth, TX with his wife Kara and her two cats. He is a novice banjo picker and expert Hawaiian food eater. Kevin loves to connect with other youth workers and equip them to live out their calling in God’s Kingdom. Connect with Kevin on Twitter: @kevinlibick

Nailed It!

Youth workers are great at managing our image. We are great at painting a public picture that everything is going great. Peruse the youth ministry blogs out there and many of them will offer lists and tips that promise to revitalize and revolutionize your ministry. I love how the youth ministry community shares thoughts and resources. I am thankful for the many women and men who are willing to bless others with their work, usually for free. But there is a dark side to this culture of tips and tricks. It comes when there is a deep divide between image and reality.

Do a google search of “Pinterest vs. Reality” and you’ll see tons of people who have attempted to do creative ideas from Pinterest and failed miserably (usually with the caption “Nailed It!”). The Pinterest community thrives on the idea that we can follow easy steps and create cool DIY crafts, art and meals. The reality doesn’t always work that way.

The youth ministry world works in a similar way. We read blogs where someone offers their tips and tricks. They sound promising, so you try them in your own context only to fail miserably.

Inadvertently, the youth ministry world has sent the message that there are some ministries out there that are “model” ministries and leaders that we should imitate. This has always been around. When I started in youth ministry every conference and book promised to offer the best model. The problem is that now it’s so not just in books or conferences. It’s podcasts, blogs, tweets, pins, and ‘grams. Because of our adoption of social media, the amount of tips and tricks overwhelm us by the hundred and thousands each day.

It’s like we’re taking ministries selfies where we suck in our stomach and photoshop the flab. We’ve become the supermodel that can’t even recognize herself by all the digital work that’s been done.

The reality is there is NO perfect ministry. For every tip that we have that works are dozens that fail. Every ministry has it’s weaknesses and that’s ok. Hiding our problems isn’t helping anyone.

I realize that I am part of the problem. I’m coming to realize that in my desire to bless others I may fudge the results to help me sound more authoritative or convincing. For that I’m sorry. We’ve had wins in our ministry this past year, we’ve also had flops (like our mega event where 6 kids showed up). I am sorry for being part of the culture that doesn’t give you the whole picture.

Can we resolve for 2014 to paint a more realistic picture of our ministries? Can we stop putting up the impression that we’ve got it all figured out. We can learn from each other and share resources, but let’s just be honest. None of us have it all figured out. As soon as we start being realistic we can actually help one another be healthy (instead of perfect).

Kevin Libick is a Middle School Pastor living in Fort Worth, TX with his wife Kara and her two cats. He is a novice banjo picker and expert Hawaiian food eater. Kevin loves to connect with other youth workers and equip them to live out their calling in God’s Kingdom. Connect with Kevin on Twitter: @kevinlibick

Take Your Youth Pastor to Work Day

Take Your Youth Pastor To Work DayYesterday I went to work. I’m a youth pastor, so I don’t have a real job, but my friend Russ does work. As I found out, he works real hard. He owns an A/V installation business and he’s also a ministry parent/volunteer.

For the past couple of years I’ve been asking him to take me to work with him so I could see what he does for a living. Spending the day with him I came away with an even greater appreciation for the men and women who serve in our ministry in addition to having families and careers. These people give selflessly to the cause of Christ without getting paid to do it.

As a kid I used to think that people didn’t really exist outside my presence. People just came in and out of my life like actors in a scene. When they were off stage they were waiting around for their next scene. I think we can view our volunteer leaders the same way. We forget that they have lives outside of your ministry and the church. Yesterday I got to see Russ have a really stressful day. I’m sure I didn’t help when I broke one of his brand new ladders. Seeing Russ in his world helped me appreciate his investment in the church all the more.

Your leaders are more than bit players in your ministry story. They are not here to fulfill your ministry desires. I appreciate and lead leaders better when I remember these two things:

Their presence is a valuable commodity. Even by being involved in your ministry they are sacrificing greatly. It’s no small thing for a mom to spend all day with a toddler and then lead a small group. Just showing up is a sacrifice. Honor that sacrifice by making their involvement worth their time. Give them meaningful responsibility and relationships instead of busy work.

They don’t have as much time to prep as you do. Chris, one of our leaders, is a dad, husband, has a career, and coaches his sons archery team. All this while trying to pour into his neighbors and our middle schoolers. He loves to teach the word of God to middle schoolers. He does his best, but he doesn’t have 20 hours each week to put together a super amazing Bible study. Bless them by giving them the resources they need to succeed instead of making them struggle to find it on their own.

You will be amazed what they can do. I saw Russ in his element making tough decisions and solving difficult problems. It made me wonder if maybe I had underestimated his gifts and abilities. When a leader is a bit player in my story I don’t get to see them as stars in their own right. How can you best equip your leaders if all you know about them is what you see for an hour on a Wednesday night?

You ask leaders to come to your job and help you out. Is there a leader or parent that could take you to work with them? Ask them if you can. Tell them it’s an assignment from your senior pastor. It will help you appreciate your leaders in a new way.

Kevin Libick is a Middle School Pastor living in Fort Worth, TX with his wife Kara and her two cats. He is a novice banjo picker and expert Hawaiian food eater. Kevin loves to connect with other youth workers and equip them to live out their calling in God’s Kingdom. Connect with Kevin on Twitter: @kevinlibick