Providence Downtown – Roots by the River

Book Title – Leaders Who Make A Difference (Leadership Lessons from Three Great Bible Leaders)

Publisher – Striving Together Publications

Author – Paul Chappell

So I picked this little 94-page booklet off the shelf and read it in one sitting.  I was edified in reading again snippets about the lives of Joshua, Nehemiah, and Joseph.

And Chappel threw in some noteworthy thoughts of his own.  Such as . . .

“As with Joshua, God sends custom designed proving grounds into each of our lives.  To us, they look like inconveniences, added responsibilities, delays and obstacles to our plans, or painful situations.  We tend either to balk at them because they are difficult or to feel frustrated by them because we want to move past them to reach our larger goals” (13).

“The measure of a man’s greatness is not how many people serve him but how many he serves” (14-15).

“The man or woman with a true servant’s heart views every need he can meet as part of his job description” (16).

“Rather than becoming impatient, we must place the situation in God’s hands and give Him full control of the timing and the outcome” (20).

“A vision will motivate, but a plan will mobilize” (25).

“Our goal is not just survival; it is advancement. . . . God had promised the Israelites a vast amount of land, but they never claimed more than ten percent of it.  This tendency is typical of most Christians today” (27).

“God-given vision can be accomplished only through God-given provision” (31).

“Broken-hearted leadership is less glamorous than wall-building leadership, but it must come first” (41).

“I’ve made a vow to God that I will not let a critic set the agenda for my life” (59).

“A Christian’s race is not just difficult–it is impossible.  Thus faith is essential to the Christian life, for ‘without faith it is impossible to please [God]‘ (Hebrews 11:6).” (69).

“Refuse to quit during the tough times.  These are the greatest opportunities we have to express our faith in Christ through our faithfulness to Him.  Anyone can be faithful when the road is smooth, but only those who trust in God’s unwavering goodness will persevere with faithfulness on the rocky climbs” (83).

“Every leader is given plenty of opportunities to become bitter, but wallowing in resentment and bitterness only hurts oneself.  I’ve seen mothers destroy their families through bitterness toward the pastor or another member of the church.  I’ve seen families ripped apart by bitterness over an offence that no one even remembers any more.  Truly, bitterness hurts the vessel in which it is stored more than the vessel on which it is poured” (86).

“A spiritual leader is always looking for God’s hand in a problem.  He knows he can’t control the problem, but he searches for God’s working through the problem” (88).

“Finishing well does mean finishing.  Don’t drop out of the race.  The endurance to stay in the race requires faith in God’s Word, faithfulness to God’s will, and forgiveness by focusing on God’s character” (91).