Vol 1 Iss 2

Leadership in B&W
Volume 1, Issue 2, August 2018
Thomas Sowell
on the
sign of Stonebridge Church of God
Lessons Never Learned
While some will disagree, an objective study of history
will reveal that, through the centuries, cultures who have
been at peace within and without and experiencing
overall prosperity; were those who were close to God at
that time. They incorporated God into their everyday
lives and sought to live life as the Bible instructs. Has
there ever been a perfect culture? No, and not because
of God, but because mankind is imperfect, self-seeking,
and sinful in nature. Those societies who made a
conscious effort to live according to God’s ways were, for
the most part, peaceful and prosperous. Without
exception, when cultures go astray of God’s ways and
seek worldly gains and pleasures, they begin to crumble
with much discord and division inside and outside.
Today, in 2018, I can’t name one single culture that is even attempting to infuse Godly living
into their society. Can you name one? I doubt it and, as a result, isn’t virtually EVERY culture
on Earth struggling with much discord and division? The only possible exception may be Israel,
but even there are signs of discontent. If you can name a culture that isn’t experiencing
discontent, discord, and division, please let me know … my email is mikebianchi33@gmail.com.
Okay, let’s leave God out of it. What are some characteristics of a good society that we would
all like to live in? Let me name a few: 1-Not to be jealous or obsess over other people’s
accomplishments, possessions, and spouses. Other people’s accomplishments are celebrated
versus attacked. 2-Telling the truth is considered honorable. Telling lies is not common.
3-Thievery of all kinds is non-existent. 4-People are faithful to each other. Spouses are faithful
to each other, Families are faithful to each other. Employers are faithful to their employees.
Employees are faithful to their employers. Citizens are faithful to their country. The country
is faithful to its citizens. 5-Murder is not a societal problem. People do not harbor thoughts of
hatred toward others. Hateful speech is unheard of. 6-Children are respectful of their parents.
Elders are honored. Respect is offered to those in authority. 7-People not only respect each
other, but show compassion and brotherly love for each other.
I don’t know about you, but I would love to live in such a society. Wouldn’t the world be a
much better place if we all practiced the above characteristics? All of these characteristics are
taught in the Bible and the world needs people to practice them and become leaders who teach
them to the next generation.

Leadership in B&W
page 2
Following is an excerpt from my upcoming book,
Effective & Enduring Leadership … Visions of Greatness!
Legacies Lost
Over many decades, indeed centuries, Christianity
has lost its legacies and has not developed or
Discipled Effective & Enduring Leaders and so
Christians do not understand or know how to become
great in God's eyes. Indeed, God expects us to be E &
E Leaders for our families, our communities, our
work, our government, and society in general. Billy
Graham said, “Every generation is crucial, every
generation is strategic. But we are not responsible for
the past generation, and we cannot bear full
responsibility for the next one. However, we do have
our generation! God will hold us responsible at the
Judgement Seat of Christ for how well we fulfilled our
responsibilities and took advantage of our
opportunities.” What 'responsibilities' are Billy
Graham talking about? Perhaps he is talking about
God's New Testament purposes for our lives as
discussed by Rick Warren; Worship, Fellowship,
Discipleship, Ministry, and Mission.
Moses spent most of forty years mentoring Joshua to
be the next leader of the nation of Israel. Moses was
truly an Effective & Enduring Leader. While Joshua
was an exceptional military leader and the one God
selected for His people at that time, he failed to
mentor a good successor for the next generation. As
you will see later in this book, Joshua made an
excellent Level 3 Leader and that is a good thing, but
it did not make him an E & E Leader. Since that time,
we (Christianity) have failed over and over again to
mentor Christian leaders for future generations,
whether the setting has been in the home,
To
Or provide feedback,
send an email to:
wewillbegreat.com
the church, our schools, our communities, our work,
or government.
John Maxwell, in The Maxwell Leadership Bible,
talks about Joshua and his failure to mentor a
successor, ""Joshua's leadership failed at only one
major point: He left no "Joshua" to follow him, as he
had followed Moses. Joshua did not reproduce his
leadership in someone else.""
It is imperative that the Christian community seeks
to Disciple strong leaders in order to see as many
souls come to Christ as possible. We are now at a
point in society where we can no longer be apathetic
about mentoring new Christian leaders. Perhaps it is
late in the game, perhaps not. No one knows God's
timing. The Bible does tell us that Christian's will be
removed from the earth at the Rapture. Those who
remain will go through the seven year Tribulation
period. Many seeds planted by Effective & Enduring
Leaders will come to harvest during this time. If E &
E Leaders do not plant seeds into future generations
then many more people will be lost to satan during
the Tribulation period who might otherwise be saved.
Michael R. Bianchi is the author of
and