Leaders Developing Leaders

Leaders under fire

Other organizations have their own ways of ensuring that leader develop leaders. In the Special Operations Forces, only the best and brightest people are asked to become instructors. But every person that makes it into an elite unit is expected to develop other people.

Recently, we spent two days at Fort Benning, Georgia, with the U.S. Army’s First Ranger Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment on a visit arranged by Col. David Abrahamson, a ranger at the United States Special Operations Command.

It was during that visit that we saw in action a culture of leaders developing leaders. The Special Operations Forces is known for the complexity

of its missions and its detailed rehearsals and preparations. While at Fort Benning, we watched a simulated mission during which a platoon entered a compound of terrorists (actually, army personnel) who were well-armed and also had chemical weapons.

As the simulation unfolded, we saw that it was anything but the well- orchestrated ballet we expected. It was chaos. Such simulations aren’t, as some people might think, opportunities to become perfect in choreographed maneuvers. Instead, they’re meant to season soldiers to make split- second decisions and risk their lives based in those decisions. In other words, the simulations are designed to develop leaders.

After the mission, a dozen of the platoon and squad leaders gathered at a tent deep in Fort Benning’s wooded landscape. Black camouflage still covered their faces. Despite their fatigue, they met to critique the operation while it was fresh in their minds.

For two hours, they discussed everything that they could have done

better in the 45- minute raid. At the end of the briefing, a senior noncommissioned officer, a 20-year veteran, reminded the leaders of their most important mission.

“Everything we just discussed will let us do our jobs quicker with fewer casualties,” said the NCO. “But don’t forget: What gets the job done is bold, aggressive leadership.

“Nothing went according to plan. We were supposed to face a chain- link fence; we faced triple-strand razor wire. The enemy wasn’t supposed to have night-vision goggles, but they did, so we were compromised before we breached the fence. Our radios were supposed to work; they didn’t.

“That’s going to happen. But we got it done because some men stepped up and made decisions. Whe n the alpha-squad leader went down, his team leaders took charge. When the communication didn’t work, the lieutenant didn’t fiddle with the radio or yell at his communications specialist. He ran around to find out what was going on and gave orders. When the fence turned out to be razor wire, the bravo-squad

9leader changed his approach and commandeered two men to help him get everyone into the compound.

“When you leave tonight,” the NCO told the group, “you can and should work with your men to correct the little things. But before you correct actions, remember to strike a balance. Never do anything to discourage that bold, aggressive leadership initiative.”

- How Leaders Develop Leaders, by Eli Cohen and Noel Tichy (p. 9-10)

Fun Lessons in Humility

So, there are times in life when you're faced with a decision that either leaves your feeling like a man or a cowardly boy... we'll call them "Man-up Moments". A few days ago, I would say I was faced with such a moment. I was walking through a shopping mall on-route to go say hi to a friend I had met a couple days previously. On my way, I saw a strikingly beautiful girl working in a small clothing shop. I shrugged it off, and went to go meet up with my friend. Afterward, however, I passed the same shop, to see her still standing there by herself. For reasons beyond me, after I passed by, a voice spoke into my head, "You should go tell her she's pretty." We'll call this my Insane Voice. Immediately shrugging off the suggestion, I kept walking, but the voice insisted. "What are you, too cowardly to do it?" I stopped... the internal challenge had been waged.

Sane Voice: Now, why in the world would I go say that to her?

Insane Voice: Why in the world wouldn't you? Think about it... One, you have an opportunity to hopefully encourage a girl in a non-creepy way, which she probably never gets. Two, you get an opportunity to prove you still have the balls to do it. Three, you're in South Africa... you'll probably never see her again, so even it goes poorly, no biggie.

Sane Voice: I.... uh..... hmmm....

The logic was pretty sound. "I'll do it..." After like four attempts at walking toward the entrance, and then suddenly steering away trying to rationalize myself out of it, and then another internal dialog, I finally entered the store and approached the girl. She welcomed me with a smile, as I regurgitated my scripted conversation that I can't even recall to this day. I was something along the lines of... "Hi, my name's Jon. I hope this doesn't come off poorly, but I just wanted to let you know that you are one of the most strikingly beautiful women I've ever seen." She smiled and said thank you, as I quickly rushed to my exit line. "I just wanted to let you know that. So, have a great rest of the day." I turned and proceeded to leave the store, my heart racing and certainly sweat noticeable. However, after a few minutes that anxiety turned to confidence... I had manned-up...

One would hope the story would end there, but no. The literal next day I was walking with my friend Shannon who said she wanted to stop by the mall to say hi to a girl she met a week or so ago. Not thinking anything of it, I said sure and we walked toward the mall. Suddenly we started taking an oh-too-familiar path, as she walked directly to the clothing shop. I panicked, told her I had to go to the bathroom, and retreated as I saw her go in to talk to the EXACT SAME GIRL. I went to the bathroom, literally laughing out loud in the stall. I walked back near the door, but didn't go in. I knew Shannon was waiting for me to come back and meet her there, so she was just going to stay in there until I returned. But how could I go in and face this girl whom I just made a fool of myself with the literal day before.

The irony really set in... yesterday I was all cocky and confident for manning up, and here I now stand with my tail between my legs scared to death of this woman. Humility is a funny lesson to learn most of the time...

The Prophets

Chapter 10 Notes from How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth

Confusion revolving the books of the prophets often stems from the inaccurate definition of the word "prophet." It's typically linked with "prophecy", which is then linked to mean some sort of future prediction or foretelling of what is to come. However, to have this view of the prophet books is to miss their primary function, which was to speak for God to their own contemporaries.

Four things to emphasize their role and function:

1) The prophets were covenant enforcement mediators
2) The prophet's message was not their own, but God's
3) The prophets were God's direct representatives
4) The prophet's message is unoriginal

To understand the books of the prophets, one must often seek out external sources to learn more about the context as to the current circumstances.

The Law

Chapter 9 Notes from How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth + Class Discussion

Arguably probably my favorite, yet also most confusing, topic: How do present-day Christians handle the Law? (The "law" meaning those 600+ specific stipulations, or even more broadly those books of the Old Testament relating to the law. )

What do we know:

We must start with what do we know about the Old Testament law. Here are a couple snippets:

- Jesus summarized the entire law in vertical and horizontal love; loving God and loving others (Matthew 22)
- Jesus doesn't want to throw law out? (Matthew 15)
- Paul states that all Scripture is beneficial (2 Timothy 3:16)... given that the New Testament was yet to be assembled at this point, he was directly referring to the Old Testament


Present Day Viewpoints:

Traditional - Portions of the law can be divided up into moral, civic, and ceremonial laws. We are no longer bound to civic and ceremonial laws, but God's moral law remains intact.
Problems -
1) No Hebrew would have distinguished these, because everything is significant to God.
2) Scripture doesn't explicitly categorize these laws into those sects, so who determines which goes in what category?
3) 2 Timothy 3:16 - Paul said ALL Scripture is beneficial, not just parts.

Antinomian - Throw the law out, because it has no implications for us.
Problems -
1) Argued that you cannot read the New Testament without the Old Testament.
2) 2 Timothy 3:16 again, ALL is beneficial.

Reconstructionist - Attempt to reconstruct the law in today's terms.
Problems -
1) Typically people who hold to this view believe America to be the new "Israel", so push for a more theocratic government (God-run) than democratic, versus seeing the church as being the new "Israel" in a people sense.
2) The Old Testament stipulations were for a separate covenant that we are currently not bound to.


Conclusion

Different covenant, so assume none of the stipulations are bound to us unless explicitly renewed in new covenant. However, it is still FOR us if not written TO us. What matters is how much we can learn from this law about God, his demands for fairness, his ideals for society, and his relationship to his people.

Other Points when Reading Old Testament Law:

- Nowhere is it suggested that anyone is saved by keeping the Law (in fact, in Leviticus 4 there is no atoning sacrifice for intentional sins (only for unintentional), so it's assumed that people were only forgiven by God's grace).
- The law is paradigmatic, meaning it sets a standard by an example rather than by mentioning every possible circumstance.

Parables

Chapter 8 Notes from How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth

A good place to start with parable is to determine what their primary purpose is. Contrary to many individual's belief, parables do not function primarily for theology. Their primary function, instead, is to call forth a response from the hearer.

Parables are stories. They are not allegories, in which every element has some direct symbolism. The point of the story is can be found in the intended response.

The difficulty? Ever been around someone who had to explain a joke to you? Sure, you understand it, and can even say "Wow, that would have been funny," but it looses the original punch had you heard it and understood it simultaneously. Thus is our dilemma. As we search for the intended meaning of a parable, it can be much like someone explaining a joke to us. We can understand, but can find it harder to relate to that same original punch. Thus it takes that much more effort to place ourselves in the shoes of the original audience.

Let's use the classic example of the Prodigal Son. Most people read it and immediately identify with the prodigal, extracting God's mercy and love. Though that may be true, that wasn't the primary force of the original parable, as it was more focused to "sting" or "catch" those who were self-righteous and judging the love shown by Christ to others.

Continuous effort is needed to place ourselves in the original audience, as well as to hermeneutically translate the same point into our own context.

The Gospels

Chapter 7 Notes from How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth

The gospels are books written about Jesus, not written by Jesus. They are unlike other books because they contain elements of both narratives and teachings.

So, the captain obvious questions remain... why four? Wouldn't one be good enough? Well, in a certain sense, the gospels function as hermeneutical models for us, as each was designed for a particular audience.

Matthew - Focuses on the Messianic nature of Christ, fulfilling the Old Testament, for Greek Jews
Mark - Focuses on martyrdom, action, and defends the universal call to discipleship for Rome
Luke - Focuses for instruction and handling the attacks of nonbelievers
John - Focuses on believing in Christ and knowing Him to have eternal life

All of these, believed, to be orchestrated by the Holy Spirit.

It's important also to keep in mind to take the teacher for what he means, not necessarily what he says. Context is of continual importance with interpreting well. However, the difficulty arises when teachings are transmitted without their contexts.

Book of Acts

Chapter 6 Notes from How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth

Though rules from the previous chapter apply, most Christians don't read Acts the same way they read Judges or 2 Samuel, even if they are not fully aware of it. The underlying question that needs to get answered to provide clear hermeneutical precision is "What is Acts trying to teach?" The interest that brings people to Acts (whether historical, devotional, etc.) typically develops a great deal of selectivity to take place in what's studied.

A few observations about Luke's possible purposes with Acts:
- Interest in showing the movement of the gospel, starting from a Jerusalem-based, Judiasm-orientated beginning to a Holy Spirit led worldwide phenomenon.
- Interesting in what he doesn't tell us, including biographical information of individual lives, little to no interest in church organization and polity, and other gospel expansion beyond a direct line from Jerusalem to Rome.
- Fails to standardize or bring things into uniformity
- Shows to be a model, but a model of the overall picture rather than specifics

The large discussion arises between people asking "should we do this?" as described in Acts, or "can we do this?"

A generally shared rule is that: Unless Scripture explicitly tells us we must do something, what is only narrated or described does not function in a normative (i.e. obligatory) way - unless it can be demonstrated on other grounds that the author intended it to function in this way.

Do we have to follow what Acts states? Maybe not... but one must ask that if such a procedure makes good sense, why anyone would fight it.