Learn to Hide

In his book Ordering your Private World, Gordon MacDonald quotes Elton Trueblood.
"A public man, though he is necessarily available at many times, must learn to hide.  If he is always available, he is not worth enough when he is available."

This quote illustrates an important truth for leaders, "learn to hide."  We need and it is necessary to have down time, away from ministry and the demands it imposes on you and your family.   Jesus himself exemplified this for us.  Luke 5.15-16 says, 
15 But the news about Him spread even more, and large crowds would come together to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 Yet He often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.  (HCSB)

We need to have our favorite deserted place to hide from others and commune with Him not just for us but for those whom we are trying to minister too. 

Enjoy you hiding time today with Jesus!

Trustworthy Leadership with Money

All Judah then brought the tithe of the grain, wine and oil into the storehouses. 13 In charge of the storehouses I appointed Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and in addition to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were considered reliable, and it was their task to distribute to their kinsmen .

Neh 13:12-13 (NASB95)

I don't know about you but I hate to preach about money.  I hate working on budgets and working with finance committees.  I wish I could just do the work of ministry and not have to consider money at all.  But leaders can learn something from Nehemiah about trustworthy leadership with money.

Nehemiah has been away and the tithe has been abandoned.  It seems from a closer look at the text (Nehemiah 12-13) that the main reason the tithe had been neglected was because of poor, well actually, really bad leadership while Nehemiah was away.  There are four important steps a leader can take to restore trustworthiness to the handling of finances.

1. Reprimand (vs. 11)  Nehemiah had to reprimand, literally rebuke present leadership.  I've already told you this, I hate to talk about money.  But it is necessary for a leader to rebuke others about untrustworthy behavior with the finances.
2. Restore (vs. 11)  Nehemiah had to set things right again.  Put things back in order.  Restore the integrity of your church or organization if you find a problem.  Don't cover it up and don't ignore it.  It won't go away and it will eventually be discovered.  Have integrity, come clean and restore the integrity.  When the people knew Nehemiah was trustworthy and was restoring the temple treasury they began to give again.
3. Reliability (vs. 13)  Nehemiah found reliable men who would take charge of the treasury.  to often I have seen to many churches and leaders who took the approach that we are not a business we are a church.  They suggest we operate on faith, trust and mutual respect and we don't hold our leaders accountable for their actions.  As pastors/leaders of churches we are not a leading corporation and we may not follow the standards of business.  But perhaps we should realize that we are operating something greater than business.  We are leading in the body of Christ to further the Kingdom of God.  Perhaps we should have a higher standard than business.  Our integrity should be much higher.
4. Ready to work (vs. 13)  Finally, Nehemiah put me in charge who were not afraid to work.  They were ready to do what they were called to do.  A frustration that I have often faced in ministry is having leaders who were afraid to spend money on ministry because they were concerned we might need it later.  Kingdom work requires leaders who recognize that the money we have today God has given to meet the needs of Kingdom work today.  While we may not know what tomorrow will bring God does.  He will provide for today, today and for tomorrow, tomorrow.  So go to work!