Stewardship of Vision
Leadership in Context with Keith Tucci
Episode 145
Exodus 31:6
And behold, I Myself have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the hearts of all who are skillful I have put skill, that they may make all that I have commanded you.
God gave Moses the command to get it done, but Moses didn’t have the talent or the skill to make it happen.
Good visionary leadership liberates talents in other people. Sometimes talents are a seed, or fully developed fruit, or hidden, unknown to the person. When vision is presented to people, something happens in their spirit that liberates their talent. A good leader draws it out of them.
Up to this point, when God was speaking to Moses, the why was very clear—to worship. The what, all the details (priest garments, building of the altar, the robe, etc.), were very clear. Never did Moses ask how he was going to do that.
If you want to be a good vision-bearer, if you want God to trust you with more vision, you have to first be a steward of that vision. Stewardship of vision precedes impartation of vision.
Jesus gave us a vision for His Church. He said, “I will build My Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” That was the vision that Jesus gave. As the New Testament unfolds, we see some of the how-to’s that Jesus didn’t even talk about; but as they followed that vision, they fell into the purpose of God. Their talents and gifts were released.
Exodus 31:1-5
Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, to make artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship.”
There was someone there who already had skill but didn’t have a vision on what to do with that skill, Bezalel. His skill was from the Spirit of God.
When a leader begins to cast vision, the attention of people who have that talent will be found.
This podcast is an example of God putting something on my heart that I didn’t have the skill to do or even know where to start. But when I shared the vision with people, there were people who rose up with skills that help get it out to you each week. That vision had to start somewhere. As I was a steward of that vision and shared it, people came alongside me who would help me make it happen.
Moses had to trust someone to delegate the details to. Most visionary leaders are not great with details. However, if you are going to be a great visionary leader, God has to be able to trust you with the details. It won’t be the focus of your life and leadership, but you have to be able to re-communicate what God has shown you.
There is a tension with visionary leaders—they are big picture people who will start sticking their finger in places and interrupt what is going on. I think one of the reasons this happens is that after they get the vision, they don’t have a formal time where they walk someone through all the details.
Staff time or team time is an important discipline of a visionary leader--time where you aren’t doing it on the fly. You communicate it over and over again so others get it. Then when they are in the middle of doing it, the visionary leader isn’t interrupting, but trusting that God has brought skilled people who can be trusted with the details—the details that they, the leader, have communicated clearly.
The communication between Moses and Bezalel couldn’t have been just a casual conversation. Moses had serious conversations with him so he could do the things that God had called him to do. We need to take the same approach.
God has given you a vision to lead something. Write the details down, like Moses did. Then, in the right setting, download those and do it with joy and excitement to liberate the talent that is in other’s lives.
God never told Moses how to do this. He gave him the why and the what. Moses got the details and gave them to Bezalel and Bezalel and a team got it done. The people got so excited that they brought so many contributions of the goods needed that Moses had to ask them to stop. Wouldn’t that be a great problem?
Give people the details. Liberate the talent that is in their hearts.
Join us next week as Keith Tucci continues to put leadership truth in the context of the local church. And as always, please like, share, rate/review, and invite others to listen. See you next week!
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