In God we trust?
I believe the greatest need in the world is seasoned Christian leaders, who honestly care about the people they lead and the impact they have on their communities and society as a whole.
Yet, in many cases there has been a great disconnect between successful business leaders and the local churches they attend. There are legitimate reasons for this in many cases: I have met successful business people that have honestly stated: If I ran my company they way they run this church, I would be bankrupt in 30 days. Business should be win/win the clients receiving great value for the products and services they purchase, the suppliers making a fair profit on their goods and services.
Yet, where does a Christian leader go for help? To the pastor trying to effectively minister to the business community in their area, AND to the business owner honestly determined to make an eternal difference in their calling through their business, this book is written for them.
The author has spent over ten years navigating the jungle of construction contracting victoriously serving Jesus through it all.
The heart of this book came from an encounter the author has with his pastor in 2007. A wealthy businessman had come forward for prayer at a church service at Victory Christian Center in Tulsa, Oklhaoma, led by the legendary Billy joe Daugherty. Billy Joe asked the author to join him in praying for this beleaguered businessman, and he looked the man in the eye and said: Sir, why don’t you join one of our small group Bible studies. The leader looked Billy Joe in the eye and said: ‘Billy Joe, you know I can’t do that. I have money, and every time I give Christians access to my life, they treat me like a walking ATM, constantly looking for me to pay for their latest missions trip or outreach.I’d rather stay home and watch a movie with my family’ I interjected: ‘ Exactly! Seems that about every missionary in town drops by my office when they are in town looking for a donation, it would be good if there was a Bible study where leaders could actually study Gods Word for answers, without getting hit on for money.” Then Billy Joe looked me in the eye and said: ‘That’s a great idea, why don’t you start something’.
And so I did. With one of my business partners initially, we began to meet Tuesday mornings from 7:30-8:30AM at the local coffee shop, and since 2008, we have continued to meet. We read the book “The Richest Man Who Ever Lived: King Solomon’s Secrets to Success, Wealth, and Happiness’ by Stephen K Scott. The gist of the book is this: find a group of 6-10 people who will commit to reading a chapter of Proverbs every day, and putting it into practice in their homes and businesses. Since there are 31 chapters of Proverbs, it puts you through this book every month, and our weekly Bible studies are very simple to calculate. Let say that a particular Tuesday falls on the 15th of the month, we read Proverbs 15 that morning, each of us reading 2-3 verses, and at the end, each person shares what they got out of that particular reading, or anything else the Lord might put on their heart.
Over the past 10 years, we have met weekly with leaders in both business and ministry, and read the Proverb chapter of the day, and deliberately sought God for wisdom. He has answered and given us a portion of His excellence, and we have learned that Holy Spirit led leaders, fully grounded in the Word of God, are the greatest need of this generation.
As I have read these two apparently contradictory commandments from Proverbs, I hope you see this clearly.
Pr 26:4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.
To the business owner with a foolish employee, how are they to respond?
Verse 4 says not to respond to their foolishness, yet verse 5 commands that they be answered and corrected, and humbled from their pride.
Is this situational ethics?
No, this is wisdom in working human relationships in the business world, and requires a walk with God that causes the leader to know exactly what to do in each possibly complex situation.
As I have stumbled through my Masters in Ministry Degree program, I have learned that there is much Old Testament wisdom to be learned from Jewish rabbi’s that have studied the Scripture thousands of years longer than our Christian fathers in the faith.
So, let’s read those verses from the Jewish Bible translation;
Proverbs 26:4, 5 Complete Jewish Bible.
4 Don’t answer a fool in terms of his folly,
or you will be descending to his level;
5 but answer a fool as his folly deserves,
so that he won’t think he is wise
Seems the original meaning of these verses lines up with what I teach, there is a godly way to deal with fools, that requires the wisdom of God to successfully navigate..(https://www.chrisaomministries.com/2017/05/why-do-jews-often-prosper-more-than-christians)
Over the years, many precious pearls of insight into the Scripture have been given to our group, so I have compiled this rich storehouse of truth into a series of leadership motivational talks, that I’m sure will be of great use to many called into Christian leadership.
Get the book after it publishes this week, if is full of meat and potatoes life lessons from the Bible.
It’s published! Get it here: https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-River-Obeying-God-Our/dp/1087954037/ref=sr_1_1?crid=W1PU3CFYXZGH&dchild=1&keywords=leadership+in+the+river+chris+walsh&qid=1617043134&sprefix=Leadership+in+the+River%2Caps%2C187&sr=8-1
