THE ALIGN CONFERENCE HELD IN TURKEY FROM 11TH- 18TH NOVEMBER 2013.
LEADERSHIP IN TIMES OF CRISIS
SPEAKER: REV JOHN ABISAI (KENYA)
TOPIC: BUILDING THE BROKEN WALLS AND ITS GATES IN TIMES OF CRISIS.
TEXT: NEHEMIAH 1: 1 – 5
The world today is going through so many crisis ranging from
a) Natural disasters of earthquakes, floods ,typhoons ,hunger, diseases just a few
to mention
b) Financial Crisis. Presently we have witnessed most of the world currencies
depreciate their values causing high inflation on common items that most
people use.
c) Political crisis. Most nations of the world are out to search for the best political
system that can work well for their different nations but all in vain.
d) Security crisis. The world today is insecure both at home and abroad. Reports
of explosives, shootings, people taken hostages and many other insecurity
activities.
e) Family lives in Crisis. In the resent past many terrifying incidences have
happened within our societies. An incident in Eldoret where a father stabbed
three daughters to death just because he had a misunderstanding between
him and his wife. Over and again husbands and wives have turned to kill one
another. Divorce is normal in families today and this literally shows that
families are in Crisis.
In our basic text from the book of Nehemiah 1: 1-5 presents the nation of Judah in
crisis.
The crisis is described in the following three ways
1) The remnants were in great distress
2) The walls had been broken down
3) The gates had been burnt up.
WHY NEHEMIAH IS CONCERNED ABOUT THE FALLEN WALLS AND THE BURNT
GATES.
The Importance of Walls and Gates to the Jewish Community.
The lack of a wall the Jews were facing assimilation into the culture of their
neighbours. In those days a city without a wall was easy pickings for any robber band.
Jews concerned for security, had scattered among other nationalities in small villages
outside Jerusalem. There they were intermarrying and gradually losing their own
language, culture and most important, their religion. A wall would give them a
chance to make Jerusalem a truly Jewish city, keeping it safe and controlling who
came and went.
As a Leader learn to be Guided by the following four principles when attending to
issues during crisis.
1) SEEK TO HEAR THE STILL SMALL VOICE OF GOD.
Elijah finds himself in a crisis after he had experienced a great miracle of God
sending fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice that was laid on his Alter
after all other false prophets of Baal had failed the same with their gods. He
then had put all of them to death. The next day Jezebel the wife to King Ahab
sends threatening message to Elijah and he decides to flee for his life.
Before God gave him the next instructions a number of things are happening.
There is a mighty wind that tears rocks a part, an earthquake, and a great fire
but God was not within all those and therefore Elijah remains under hiding
until a still small voice calls out. Many a times when leaders are faced with
crisis there is always a temptation of wanting to react in the direction of the
crisis. Either by misusing our position and authority as leaders. This does not
only happen during crisis but even at the peak of our excitements. Many a
times we make big promises which we never fulfil in the end of the day. At
such a time the enemy speaks more loudly than our saviour. Jesus says in John
10:3 “To him the gatekeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice”
A few more examples: Matthew 14: 22-31 In those verses the disciples are in a
crisis with the storm and their master Jesus is not with them. Imagine how
these great fisher men Peter and Andrew with the rest struggled to save their
lives with their great experiences in the lake. We need to depend on Him more
than we may relay on our experiences in various fields.
When Peter saw Jesus coming walking on the water he wanted to be sure of
his voice “Lord, if you are the one, tell me to come” and Jesus told him come.
As long as Peter focused on him who called him, he kept on moving. The
moment he came to his human thinking of what a man can and cannot do he
started sinking. We do not go by sight but by faith in him who can do all things
amen.
Moses was given a very clear instruction by God to speak to the rock before
the elders of Israel to give water. Moses out of stress goes to normal way of
striking the rock with his rod. Though God honoured him by bringing forth
water later on he summoned him on Mt. Sinai and Moses never came back for
not having obeyed his word. He saw Canaan by never entered it. 1 Cor.9:27
“But l roughly treat my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by means,
when i have preached to others, l myself should be disqualified”
It is important that in times of crisis we seek to hear clearly before we take the
next step. An incident happened as we were travelling by bus from Izmir to
Ephesus. We had been travelling for many hours and most of us were tired and
hungry and needed some food. The tour guide gave out a bottle of water to
each member of our team and after that he gave out a small item that looked
like a biscuit and as he gave out he never spoke a word. Seemingly he wanted
to finish giving to everyone before he gave instructions as to what the item
was for. A number of our team without information broke thinking that it was
a biscuit only to realise that it was a piece of clay that the tour guide intended
to teach us when we visit the city of Ephesus.
Over time and again l learned from a mother hen that she never releases her
young chicks to the outside before she teaches them on different types of
sounds that would guide them through their life time.
2) A LEADER MUST LIVE AN EXEMPLARY LIFE.
A good leader will always say like the Apostle Paul follows me as l follow Christ.
In times of crisis leadership which simply mean walking a head of the flock or
group is vital. At such a time a leader will give encouragement and motivation
for the new start. During the trip to Rome, Paul and all other prisoner had a
shipwreck and everyone lost hope for survival. Paul who was always
connecting to his master had a message of hope and gave food to those that
were on board Acts 27: 33-38.
3) MENTORING IS IMPORTANT FOR THE NEXT GENERATION
Jesus commanded us in the great commission to make disciples.
As one speaker put it, mentoring one is doubling and tripling yourself.
However it is important to also say that mentoring has its own challenges.
a) At times a mentee gets a sense of being at the same level with his mentor.
This can easily cause disobedience in the way they act and at times they
may feel they know it all.
b) At times they become over enthusiastic
c) At time it is like they take a spiritual sleep. This is a time when they take in
no more new ideas.
At all these different periods a mentor must exercise patience and love and
never give until he achieves his objective. A good example is Barnabas and
John Mark. Though John Mark left the apostles during the first missionary
journey Apostle Paul felt the young man was no good. Thank God for
Barnabas who never gave up on him. As Paul is about to die he comments
on John Mark whom he refers to as the most suitable to him at that time.
4) AT TIMES OF CRISIS, BE A RISK TAKER.
Sometimes we are so comforted in our comfort zones. AT times Crisis helps us
to discover the other face of God. When an eagle teaches the young ones on
how to fly she will always carry them on her wings and fly to high and at the
time when they do not expect, the mother eagle shuts her wings suddenly and
the young eagle have no choice but to struggle for their lives and in turn they
learn how to fly. It is an opportunity that ushers us in to new things.