Leadership Development Musings: December 2016

Barbara and I, over the next few months, are going to further explore with you the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership she listed last month. Our first practice is Model the Way. Exodus 3:1-12a says to us: 3 “One day Moses was taking care of Jethro’s flock. (Jethro was the priest of Midian and also Moses’ father-in-law.) When Moses led the flock to the west side of the desert, he came to Sinai, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire coming out of a bush. Moses saw that the bush was on fire, but it was not burning up. 3 So he said, “I will go closer to this strange thing. How can a bush continue burning without burning up?”4 When the Lord saw Moses was coming to look at the bush, God called to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” 5 Then God said, “Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground. 6 I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. 7 The Lord said, “I have seen the troubles my people have suffered in Egypt, and I have heard their cries when the Egyptian slave masters hurt them. I am concerned about their pain, 8 and I have come down to save them from the Egyptians. I will bring them out of that land and lead them to a good land with lots of room—a fertile land. It is the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 9 I have heard the cries of the people of Israel, and I have seen the way the Egyptians have made life hard for them. 10 So now I am sending you to the king of Egypt. Go! Bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt!” 11 But Moses said to God, “I am not a great man! How can I go to the king and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 God said, “I will be with you.”  In 1981 in the United States, 11, 005 people between the ages of16 and 21 died in car accidents. Under normal circumstances, that statistic wouldn’t have meant much to Robert Anastas, a hockey coach at Wayland Public High School in Wayland Massachusetts. But 2 of those 11, 005 young people had been on his hockey team. They were killed in a car accident involving a drunk driver. Robert was stunned. It doesn’t have to be this way, he thought. Robert knew nothing would change if no one did anything to combat the problem. So he started Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) and has dedicated his life to combating the drunk driving problem. The organization works to alert students the dangers of drinking and driving. Under Robert’s leadership, SADD has grown to a national organization with 4 million members and chapters in all 50 states and Canada. Robert has also received dozens of awards for battling this serious problem. Robert saw a problem and became a leader in the fight to overcome it. In the same way, Moses learned about the Israelites’ persecution in Egypt and followed God’s call to lead them to freedom.

Questions to ponder:

1. What similarities are there between Robert’s call and Moses’ call to leadership? What differences do you see?
2. How can you Model the Way in your congregation? Your home? Your community?
3. How can you encourage others to Model the Way in their congregation? Their community?

Blessings on the journey,
Barbara Wise-Lewczak & Laura Leighton-Harris
Your Co-Ministers of Leadership Development