Pilgrimage

Nicole and I used to live near Washington DC. Periodically we would travel into the city and visit the National Mall where there are many memorials to presidents, wars and activists. One of my favorite places to visit in DC is the Lincoln memorial. The memorial itself is an inspiring sight. Entering the central chamber one is overwhelmed with a massive marble statue of Lincoln. His statue is flanked by the Gettysburg address on the north wall and his second inaugural address on the south wall.

When We think of the time in which Lincoln governed, the U.S. was at a crossroads of monumental importance. The North and South were in a bitter war that threatened to tear the fabric of the country. When Lincoln was elected to his second term, the country had been in war over three years and the country was growing increasingly weary of the bloodshed. In his inaugural address, Lincoln stated:

Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. ‘Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.’ If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether’.
Lincoln’s speech and the memorial to him are markers in the history of the American people. These are sacred institutions that are passed from generation to generation to remind us that the bloodshed of our countrymen purchased our freedom.

Memorials are not a present day phenomenon. Thousands of years before the first limestone slab was laid in the swampland of Washington DC, God used memorials to remind His people that He lifted a burden from them much heavier than the scourge of war.

One such incident is found in I Samuel 7. The Ark of the Covenant, which had previously been captured by the Philistines, had finally been returned, 20 years later, to God’s people. The Israelites under the leadership of Samuel had agreed to rid themselves of all the foreign gods and return to the True God with their whole heart. In the midst of offering a sin offering to the Lord, the dreaded Philistines plotted an attack. Samuel interceded for the nation and without an arrow fired, God routed the Philistines through a thunderous intervention. Grateful for what God had done, the Bible says in 1 Samuel 7: 12 that “Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebeneezer, saying “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”

The Ebenezer stone became a witness to that generation and has spoken to successive generations until today. That memorial reminded the Israelites and reminds us that the battle is not won by might alone…but the humble and contrite of heart are able to call upon the God who hears.

The church of the Living God has a long history of reaching out to those who are destitute and despondent. We have left memorials in the lives of those to whom we have ministered. We are the child’s Sunday school teacher whose prayer was remembered by the teenager offered his first chance at drugs. We are the counselor who compassionately listens as the young girl tells of her mistake with the boy who left town. We are the greeter whose smile and handshake was the first warmth the single mom had felt in days. We played the clown in kid’s church that helped the child shake the images of abuse the night before. We are the sound engineer who helped echo God’s praises to the lonely heart of the elderly widow. We are the usher who collected gifts to God for missionaries who had almost run out of food.

We set up memorials in the lives of people by our servant’s heart and Christ-like attitude. By our work for the Lord, we help people to see that “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”

In the New Testament, Mary Magdalene was so grateful to Jesus for lifting her out of sin that she broke a vial of very expensive perfume and poured it on the Savior’s feet. She went on to dry his feet with her hair…a sign of appreciation and devotion. Jesus said that she had prepared His body for burial and what she had done would be told as a memorial to her in every generation.
A few days later, Jesus greeted his disciples in the upper room with a towel about His waist and bowl in His hand. He washed their feet not just as servant-hearted act, but as a memorial that signified the enduring mark of Christ they would all share.

Servanthood rarely takes the grandiose path, rather it is “patient, kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. It does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

There are many who have never set foot in the Lincoln memorial, yet the words he spoke on Saturday, March 4, 1865 still inspire them to freedom. The rock Samuel set up as a memorial to the Lord may long ago have turned to dust, yet his proclamation “Thus far the Lord has helped us” assures us that God uses us in powerful ways whether we are serving or being served.

The Spirit of Prophecy: An Examination of the Prophetic Call

Art Katz

An important distinction, as we have said, is to differentiate between the gift of prophecy as opposed to the office of prophet. In fact, our failure to distinguish between the two may be the gravest mistake now being made. We tend toward calling a man or woman a ‘prophet’ who are only moving in the gift of prophecy, but are not called to the office. The fault lies with us in thinking that this is a New Testament dispensation that therefore requires another definition. If there is only one definition, however, and has been in existence for all time, though we have not seen it much in recent times, then there is no reason to look for a new kind. The Spirit of God divides severally His gifts, which He can give in a moment as He wills. That should not, however, be a permanent and abiding distinction or designation. The Spirit of God can fall on any one of us and we can prophesy. We are operating by the Spirit in the gift of prophecy. The gift is something that the Spirit exercises at His will, and it can come through either a man or a woman. It has nothing to do with their calling, their training, their preparation or their qualification. It may be informational, directive or a word of encouragement, but the office of the prophet is altogether something else and other.

The office of prophet differs from the gift of prophecy in that it is permanent. It is given with the man. It is a calling, and it may well be that men, who have the office of prophet, can go an entire lifetime in their service and never once speak out of the gift of prophecy. The church today is suffering from the ignorance of blurring these two categories. We are calling men prophets who have not the office, but who are operating in the gift of prophecy, and in many instances, not even the gift of prophecy, but rather even a deceitful clairvoyance.

The office of prophet is an ultimate thing and carries an enormous responsibility. Such a one brings the oracles of God. He is standing for very God and speaking from God with the authority of God. His statements are the intent of God’s heart to His people and have to do with His purposes in an understanding of the present time in view of the things that are future and eternal. It is the prophet who is alerted and alerts.

The man who calls himself prophet and talks statistically (for example, seventy or eighty percent predictive accuracy) is not in keeping with the timbre, the character and the knit of a truly prophetic man. To determine whether a prophet is true or false should not immediately depend on whether their predictions are accurate. The real issue is not the accuracy of prediction in assessing the validity of prophets. Even to think statistically is to put us on a false basis in determining true and false among prophets. False prophets can bring a biblically correct message, but it is the kind of message that is a routine commonplace, that is to say, which virtually anyone can bring. There is nothing in it that can be faulted in terms of doctrine, but it is not oracular. It is not a message that bears prophetic weight, intensity, seriousness or requirement. Oracular speaking can be distinguished by the way it brings with it a perception of reality and of the purposes of God that were not there before that word came. It opens up things as God Himself sees them, which is altogether not as we see them!

If we allow the word ‘prophet’ to be given to anyone who is giving predictive prophecy or even the gift of knowledge or what may be more likely, clairvoyance, and call that oracular prophecy, then we are well on the way to deception! These men speak messages of a predictable kind, but they are usually only a preliminary that one has to wait through in order to get to the ‘action’ for which we have really come, namely, for their predictive and personal prophecies that so excite and titillate us as an audience. The greater issue is not whether these prophets are accurate most of the time so much as whether they are prophets at all! To confirm the church in its present lightness by their own example is analogous to the false prophets of Old Testament time who confirmed Israel in its sin. All in all, one must ask, ”What is their revelation? How oracular is it? What is it more or other than the general preaching of others who make no profession of being prophetic? Is their distinctive not much more than the sensationalism or excitement of their gifts or the anticipation derived from the elevated status generated largely by their mutual affirmation of each other?”
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I found this article on the European Prophetic College blog…I think Katz still has a lot to say to our generation

Here is a great article on revival by Tozer from the Intercessors Network…

Integrity in Deed

The following series was written as a paper for SBTS on my personal leadership philosophy.

A third component that is necessary for a holistic philosophy of leadership is integrity in deed. As with the other elements of my leadership philosophy, submission to God and humility of heart, integrity in deed challenges one to congruence in the personal and professional spheres of life. “Ordinary discourse about integrity involves two fundamental intuitions: First, that integrity is primarily a formal relation one has to oneself, or between parts or aspects of one’s self; and second, that integrity is connected in an important way to acting morally, in other words, there are some substantive or normative constraints on what it is to act with integrity” (Cox, La Caze and Levine 2005). Christian leadership requires personal integrity to be judged by the scriptures. A professional minister’s integrity is rightly judged by his or her adherence to the biblical precepts.

In the Old Testament, God appeared to Solomon to instruct him to maintain “integrity of heart.” God states:
As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel’” (I Kings 9: 4-5).

While David did not always act perfect in response to the mandates of God, he was open and repentant about his failures. He also sought to please the Lord throughout his reign over Israel. Men and women of integrity are responsible to seek and do the will of God. In doing so, personal relationships are valued and God is glorified. God understood that David’s desire to walk in integrity had a direct correlation to David’s love for Him. Knowing this, God blessed David’s lineage. Proverbs 20:7 speaks of blessing to one’s posterity when one walks in integrity: “A righteous man who walks in his integrity; how blessed are his sons after him.” Leaders must be concerned for long-term organizational and ministerial success, even beyond one’s tenure in leadership.

In the New Testament, Jesus sought to capture the essence of integrity in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus’ teachings on moral living, marriage, prayer, and fasting call believers to bring harmony between their thought-life and personal deeds. Regarding adultery He states, “You have heard that is was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt 5:27-28). Jesus knew the seedbed of sin is in one’s thoughts. Sanctified thoughts begin to yield sanctified actions. Jesus’ intent was to help those he taught understand that integrity is essential to the community of faith and must be consistently resident in the life of believers.

In secular literature, Jim Collins found that many CEO’s lacked the integrity needed to secure their company’s future success. He states, “…concerned more with their own reputation for personal greatness, [these leaders] often failed to set the company up for success in the next generation. After all, what better testament to your own personal greatness than that the place falls apart after you leave?” (Collins 2001, 26). These leaders were so concerned about their own well-being and public standing that they were willing to risk their personal integrity in order to maintain a positive public persona. Collins goes further, “In over three quarters of the comparison companies, we found executives who set their successors up for failure or chose weak successors, or both” (26). Leaders with a high level of integrity provided a consistent frame of reference for employees, constituents, and family members.
Kouses and Posner found that character, honesty, and integrity are essential qualities in leadership.

They state:
It’s clear that if people anywhere are to willingly follow someone—whether it be into battle or into the boardroom, the front office or the front lines—they first want to know that the person is truthful, ethical, and principled. When people talk to us about qualities they admire in leaders, they often use “integrity” and “character” as synonymous with honesty. No matter what the setting, everyone wants to be fully confident in their leaders, and to be fully confident they have to believe that their leaders are people of strong character and solid integrity (27).

Integrity in word and deed provides a consistent compass that guides leaders in difficult times. “There is an ethical dimension to leadership that neither leaders nor constituents should take lightly” (393).

Integrity also attracts the best people to an organization. Aspiring leaders want to learn from the best. They desire to discover principles from people who strive for harmony in their public and private lives. Collins suggests that some of the “best and brightest” in the business world look for opportunities to work with individuals who seek to take organizations from “good to great.” He indicates that since these people joined an organization because of the leadership’s character and integrity, they are much more willing to work through organizational change. “The right people don’t need to be tightly managed or fired up; they will be self-motivated by the inner drive to produce the best results and to be part of creating something great” (42). The agility provided to an organization through employees who are accepting of change allows it to meet societal and economic transitions rapidly. Leadership sets the tone for this paradigm through concern for personal character and integrity.
Conclusions

These three components of my leadership philosophy are practically applied in the manner in which I relate to God and others. Submission to Christ, humility of heart, and integrity in deed are a means for God’s grace to be manifest in my life. It is through these virtues that God is glorified and His kingdom is advanced. The times when these virtues have been least present in my life are times when God has not been a priority. These components of Christian leadership are not something that I can learn on my own or achieve through a traditional didactic approach. Submission, humility, and integrity are qualities that can only be manifested in their purest form through diligent, consistent relationship with Christ.

Humility of Heart

After submission to Christ, the second component of my leadership philosophy is humility of heart. This component is one that I strive for, yet never fully apprehend. Duane Elmer discusses humility in Cross-Cultural Servanthood: “A proper perspective of the holy God we serve brings a proper perspective of self—defined by lowliness of mind, gentleness of spirit and meekness of attitude. These stand in contrast to a haughty, self important spirit” (Elmer 2006, 29). He goes on to say:
Humility unites us while pride divides us. The pride of Lucifer broke the unity of heaven and the harmony between God and his creation. Pride continues to break unity between us and God, and between believers. We can’t follow Christ as humble servants and participate in quarrelsome relationships. The humble servant strives to reconcile people in God-glorifying unity (31).

Elmer rightly suggests that prideful ambition destroys Christian unity. Unity is the seed of greatness in the Church body. In the upper room on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of the Lord came upon the Church as they were in unity together. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus indicated that there were great blessings for those who sought peace and unity.

Marshall Goldsmith suggests that there are twenty habits that prevent one from realizing his or her full potential. The need to win it all, the need to show the world how smart we are, not listening to others, and failing to express gratitude are a few habits on his list (Goldsmith 2007, 40-41). Each of the habits Goldsmith shares has, at its core, pride. Pride can be defined as an “inordinate love of one’s own excellence” (Livingstone 2006). Goldsmith goes on to say that the higher one climbs the corporate ladder, the more challenges become behavioral rather than logistical. He shares the example of Jack Welsh who became the CEO at General Electric. Welsh had a Ph.D. in chemical engineering, but the board of directors was hesitant to appoint him as CEO because of “his brashness, his blunt language, [and] his unwillingness to suffer fools. The issues holding him back were strictly behavioral” (43).

In ministry, Christian leaders have to quickly face behavioral challenges. Leadership that does not recognize the influence and negative effects of pride becomes self-serving. The scriptures speak plainly with regards to maintaining a humble spirit before the Lord. The Preacher proclaims, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth, I hate” (Pr. 8:13). He later says, “When pride comes, then comes dishonor, but with the humble is wisdom” (Pr. 11:2), and also, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling (Pr. 16:18). The Preacher of Proverbs articulates pride as an impediment to spiritual growth and godly leadership.

The secular marketplace has also found prideful ambition an impediment to organizational change. In Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t, Jim Collins shares several examples of successful companies that were propelled to the top by CEO’s that were larger than life only to have a significant fall once these men left their positions. His research suggests that “superstars” at the helm of businesses negatively impact the organization. Conversely, Collins shares several illustrations of humble individuals leading companies from the brink of extinction to marketplace excellence. What Collins terms a “level 5 leader” is one who “channels their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. It’s not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious—but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves” (Collins 2001, 21). Too often, humility and self-abasement are confused. As Collins shares, Level 5 leaders, while humble in their approach, are aggressive to reach goals for things larger than themselves.

Kouzes and Posner speak of the necessity of working toward purposes that are beyond one’s self. They suggest that one should seek to release the “human potential in others, [balance] the needs of the individual and the community, [defend] the fundamental values of the community, and [instill] in individuals a sense of initiative and responsibility.” They further state:
Attending to these goals will always direct your eyes to higher purposes. As you work to become all you can be, you can start to let go of your petty self-interests. As you give back some of what you’ve been given, you can reconstruct your community. As you serve the values of freedom, justice, equality, caring, and dignity, you can constantly renew the foundations of democracy. As each of us takes individual responsibility for creating the world of our dreams, we can all participate in leading (393).

Clearly, the notion of humble service is a virtuous attribute in the professional community. While virtuous, it is essential in Christian ministry.
Leadership that reflects the humility of Christ is not void of conflict. The temporary instability experienced by diverse ideas is often helpful as long as it is resolved in the spirit of Christian unity. Kenneth Gangel addresses this concept in Feeding and Leading. “Leadership style affects every aspect of administrative behavior and certainly looms large in the area of human relations. Conflict often starts here because autocracy can produce resentment…” (Gangel 1989, 207). Ted Engstrom and Edward Dayton concur in an article written for the Christian Leadership Letter titled “The Wrongness of Being Right.”

Being right can be a losing proposition. If you are right all the time, you will intimidate people, and make it harder for them to remember the facts or attempt to share them with you. “No sense telling old So-and-So. He has his mind made up before you begin.” People don’t really believe old So-and-So is right all the time. They just believe that is what he thinks about himself. People in this situation easily become isolated (Engstrom and Dayton 1980).

“The goal is not absence of conflict; disequilibrium in the organization often leads to creative results. How we resolve the conflict demonstrates whether we are advancing the cause of Christ or our own personal careers and goals” (Gangel 1989, 207).

John the Beloved shares the stark contrast between goals that are egocentric and goals that seek good beyond oneself. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is of the world” (I Jn 2:16). The negative effects of pride are contrasted with humility gained through pleasing the Father. Leadership that is focused on pleasing the Father yields internal character. This internal character is generated through a humble spirit that seeks the well-being of others. Those enslaved by the “pride of life” find little use for an omniscient God. Conversely, those of a humble spirit seek answers beyond themselves. They are eager to seek God through prayer, ask questions of peers and subordinates, and implement solutions where others receive credit. They become almost eclectic in their approach to problem-solving: they seek the best solution, no matter who is the originator of the idea.

“Christian leadership is different from other kinds of leadership because no Christian leader can assume the position of being ‘number one,’ that is, the leader” (Lawrence 1987). In secular organizations those at the higher levels of corporate structures are often seen as models of leadership. They are studied in academia and their companies are researched as products of their leadership expertise. In contrast, biblical leadership is ultimately concerned with ascribing worth, value, and honor to God. Goals are focused on these ideals. Vocational pursuits of the Christian leader are a means to accomplish a divine purpose as ordered by the Lord. Rather than authoritarian structures based on concerns of profit and loss, Christian leadership encourages pastors, teachers, parishioners, and students to introspectively examine and define core thoughts about themselves and God; then define a philosophy around that framework.

Submission to Christ

In developing a personal philosophy of leadership, submission to Christ is the initial and primary component. Christ consistently sought to submit His will to that of the Father. Even in death He prayed to be delivered from His torturous destiny, yet instinctively submitted Himself to God’s chosen plan for redemption. “And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will’” (Matt 26:39, NASB). In His words, in His prayers, and in His actions, Christ not only exemplified genuine submission to the will of God, but also chose it to be His first priority in His earthly ministry.

Jesus is the sole prototype for leadership development. His methodology and practical applications are affirmed–often unwittingly–by leadership theorists in almost all professional industries. James Kouzes and Barry Posner articulate Messianic virtues in The Leadership Challenge. They state: “The climb to the top is arduous and long. People become exhausted, frustrated, and disenchanted. They’re too often tempted to give up. Leaders encourage the heart of their constituents to carry on. Genuine acts of caring uplift the spirits and draw people forward” (Kouzes and Posner 2002, 19). In a strikingly similar statement, John records Jesus as stating: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (16:33; NKJ). Close to two millennia before Kouzes’ and Posner’s text became a blockbuster in the business world, Jesus encouraged the heart of His disciples by letting them know the journey ahead would be long and hard, but He would be with them.

The writers of the New Testament continued to emphasize Jesus’ conviction that godly submission is essential to the Christian faith. The apostle Paul encourages submission to God, submission to governmental leaders, and submission within the family in his letters to Rome, Ephesus, and Colossae. Peter also encourages Christian leaders to live in submission to the Lord and others. He states: “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (I Peter 5:5, KJV). The early church leaders understood that God’s mechanism to produce and reproduce leaders was keenly designed in humanity’s willingness to submit to the Father and to one another. This is a basic, yet essential building block of God’s kingdom on earth.
Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol and Ken McElrath elaborate on this notion in The Ascent of a Leader. They state:
When we reflect on the nature of our Creator, we gain a sense of these deeper needs of our heart. The degree to which we entrust ourselves to the Supreme Being demonstrates the level at which we have understood the character of that being. Each of us must ask, “Is God good or capricious…?”…If we trust that God is good by nature, we will honor God’s authority and power in our lives (68).

By honoring God’s authority and power in one’s life, there is a realization that egocentric behaviors fail to further the divine plan. Individualism submits its will to kingdom prerogatives. Goals and aspirations find their focus in the common good. With this principle in mind, as I seek to establish God’s headship in my personal and professional life, ministerial opportunities are an occasion to further submit to the will of God and advance His Kingdom. Personal goals are measured by my desire and willingness to submit to God’s kingdom plan.

Zenger and Folkman share five fatal flaws that “must be fixed” in order for a leader to realize his or her full potential. They articulate lack of accountability as one of the key detriments to exemplary leadership (164). According to the authors, the extraordinary leader consistently seeks to put greater emphasis on group needs and affirmation than on personal needs and affirmation. Those in leadership who are regularly seeking to gain personal credit for jobs well done and abscond responsibility when work goes awry consistently fail in leading organizational change. Their unwillingness to submit themselves to the counsel and leadership of others brings failure both organizationally and personally. Conversely, one who eagerly seeks to listen to others and implement suggestions for improvement is an organizational asset. Herein lies the goal of this component of my leadership philosophy–to bring blessing to the kingdom of God, my family, and the ministries in which I labor.

The initial leadership paradigm instituted by God first requires submission to Him and His divine purposes. Personal leadership philosophies that begin here establish a bedrock principle, which guides through the myriad challenges of professional and ministerial leadership. My personal practice is to seek submission to Christ through prayer, fasting, and meditation on His Word. These disciplines are the essential elements of all the other components of my philosophy. One’s response to Christ and His calling are to first submit one’s will to His will, and then follow as He leads. Richard Foster in his classical work, The Celebration of Discipline says the spiritual disciplines (which include fasting, prayer, and meditation) liberate one from the “stifling slavery to self-interest and fear.” These are the antithesis of submission to Christ (Foster 1998, 2).

The following series was written as a paper for SBTS on my personal leadership philosophy.

“Leader” is an oft-quoted appellative for individuals at the helm of organizations in business, healthcare, politics, education, and theology. The terms leader and leadership are referenced so frequently in virtually every sphere of life that a useable definition is elusive. Often, leadership is associated with what one does. It is seen as the product of one’s personal achievements and sacrifices. Western society relishes the stories of larger-than-life CEO’s from humble beginnings who reach the pinnacle of success through sheer grit and determination. A recent article in Forbes magazine acclaimed the leadership prowess of Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft, as the richest, most successful businessman in the world. He is labeled as the star “Titan” that propelled Microsoft to the top of the successful Fortune 500 list of companies (Davenport 2008). His brash leadership style is celebrated for keeping Microsoft’s investors pleased with their returns. In contrast, the scriptures share a much different portrait of leadership.

In the book of Exodus, the narrative indicates God’s leadership of the nations is established by “being.” Moses shudders at God’s plan to use him as the mouthpiece for Israelite deliverance. Seeking to abdicate the responsibility bestowed upon him, Moses indicates to God that his captive brothers and sisters would not know who is sending him to deliver them. God proclaims, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you” (Ex. 3:14). God does not indicate His leadership abilities by what He had accomplished; the essence of His leadership is found in who He is. Likewise, in modern scholarship, the useful development of a philosophy of leadership is not found in a litany of accomplishments. Nor is it found in a larger-than-life personality. Rather, true leadership is the product of submission to Christ, humility of heart, and integrity in deed.