How do you maintain team values, direction and momentum? (120-5)

Effective leaders provide for leadership during their long-term absences. Read Nehemiah 13.

Nehemiah is one of the best models of effective leadership in the Bible. But, even Nehemiah left some vital leadership roles unfinished and they ultimately hurt both him and his team. After 12 years in Jerusalem, Nehemiah returned to Babylon to once again serve the king. According to 13:6, “…Some time later I asked his permission and came back to Jerusalem.” Upon his return he learned that a priest had allowed a foreigner to use part of the temple as his extravagant residence, that the people no longer provided provisions for the priests and Levites as required by the Law of God, and that the Jewish residents had violated the covenant they had made with God and were once again intermarrying with pagan neighbors.

So what happened? Nehemiah forgot that “things” don’t wind up or even stay the same, but in fact wind down unless energy is applied. Nehemiah had led the population to a high level of success but he did not assign someone to be directly responsible for his leadership role that would keep the people focused on the goal of honoring God by obeying His laws. Nehemiah learned the hard way that unless there was someone who directly replaced his leadership role the people would drift. My mom used to say, “When the cats away, the mice will play,” meaning that when my dad wasn’t home us boys would goof off and eventually get into trouble. Maybe it would be easy for leaders to remember if my mom’s saying was changed to, “When the leader is away the people will stray.” Wise leaders know that a sound legacy develops only when a team has been trained and positioned to carry on.

Do you have someone who can maintain the team’s values, direction and momentum if you were gone for an extended period of time?

Exodus 18:21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.