When Finding Leaders Seems Impossible
By Elisa Morgan
I’m in a leadership spot right now. One where I’m part of a team that will discern who will become the next leader of an institution I serve. As a search committee we’ve spent hours – days – weeks – creating a thorough Opportunity Profile that will be produced in glossy color accompanied by an articulate video. The qualifications and criteria needed for the role are dense and multi-faceted. More than once I’ve wondered, who in the world possesses all these attributes? And how can we find them?
Been there? Facing a gaping hole in the leadership somewhere you serve? Wondering who would step in and how you can find them?
As sometimes happens, God wooed me to my regular scripture reading where he reminded me that while I’m fretting/praying/seeking/worrying/wondering/trusting, he is calling, gifting and setting apart his people for his purposes.
Go there with me?
Ever since I met my husband in Seminary Old Testament and lost my ability to tune in to my professor for most of the semester, I’ve been Old-Testament-challenged. A few months ago, I plowed into Genesis (again) and then into Exodus to make up for lost time and meager knowledge. (It’s been months and I’m still in Leviticus but I’m progressing!)
I usually get bogged down in the details describing the Ark, the Table, the Tabernacle, the curtains, the priestly garments, etc. But recently I have been intrigued by God’s intricate imagination, creative passion and specific instructions. For example:
“Make a lampstand of pure gold. Hammer out its base and shaft, and make its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms of one piece with them. Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand, three on one side and three on the other. Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on one branch, three on the next branch and the same for all six branches, extending from the lampstand…” Exodus 25:31-33
Or this one:
“Make a courtyard for the tabernacle. The south side shall be a hundred cubits long and is to have curtains of finely twisted linen, with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases and with silver hooks and bands on the posts.” Exodus 27:9-10
What person – people – could create such elements?
Then I came to Exodus 31.
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘See, I have chosen Bezalel, son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills – to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts. Moreover, I have appointed Oholiab, son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, to help him. Also, I have given ability to all the skilled workers to make everything I have commanded you…” Exodus 31:1-6
God laid out complicated plans, describing what needed to be created in miniscule detail. A seemingly impossible design. And then God called, gifted and equipped specific people to accomplish and complete his design.
Where are you seeking God to provide a person to accomplish a complicated task in your world?
As I turn through the carefully crafted pages of our opportunity profile, I picture God’s Spirit moving through the masses of his beloved ones, extending his wooing finger and injecting someone’s heart with “wisdom, understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills,” to implement his vision in the leadership vacuum before me.
God equips his people to accomplish his plans.
Elisa Morgan is the author of When We Pray Like Jesus. She is the cohost of the podcast, God Hears Her. She is also the cohost of Discover the Word and contributor to Our Daily Bread. Her other books include, You Are Not Alone, Christmas Changes Everything, Hello, Beauty Full, and The Beauty of Broken. Connect with Elisa @elisamorganauthor on Facebook and Instagram.
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