Leading a With a Staff

A staff is an odd tool for a leader. A sword would be more impressive.

Yet a staff works miracles that a sword will never do. Moses had whittled his staff from a tree branch and polished it smooth through many sorties in the desert. The stick became a staff when Moses threw it down on the ground before the God who burns but never burns up.

The stick in Moses’ hands represented what any leader calls his “staff”. What did Moses learn from a stick that taught him how to lead through a staff of people?

by Phil McCallum

Staff members do not belong to the leader but to God.

Moses had to throw down his staff on the ground before he could take it up again. In the same way a leader has to drop even his most intimate friends and supporters before God and say in so many words, “They don’t belong to me, Lord, they belong to you.”

Only what is given to God is truly safe to use. When people are released to the Lord, a leader is freed from control and manipulation.

Then the LORD asked him, "What do you have there in your hand?" "A shepherd's staff," Moses replied. "Throw it down on the ground," the LORD told him. So Moses threw it down, and it became a snake! Moses was terrified, so he turned and ran away. Then the LORD told him, "Take hold of its tail." So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it became a shepherd's staff again. Exodus 4:2-4

In Moses hands the staff was just a stick. But surrendered to God it was a conduit of miraculous power. Your staff will become most effective when you surrender them to become God’s staff.

Even though people can hurt you, work through them anyway because you trust God.

Moses had to take his staff by the tail even though at the other end was a hissing snake. Any sensible shepherd knows you never pick up a snake by the tail.

But God told Moses to take up his hissing, striking staff by the tail. It could have bit him but God protected him.

The snake by the tail routine was a symbol to Moses of the years to come when he would lead a people who so many times would try to bite him. But each time God intervened and saved him.

Leading through people is the most difficult way to do the works of God. Anyone who has worked with a staff can tell you that people can bite. It feels safer to do it alone. But the Lord holds the other end of the snake and turns it into a staff to trust.

Even though it could bite him, the Lord asks the shepherd to pick up the staff and use it.

A leader must use ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

Moses had to use his staff and trust it for the journey ahead. His stick would intimidate a river, a monarch, an ocean if only he would use it.

God gives a leader a staff of people to use, very ordinary people that need to be trusted for God to use them in extraordinary ways.

The Lord said to Moses, “Take your shepherd’s staff, the one you used when you struck the water of the Nile. Then call some of the leaders of Israel and walk on ahead of the people. I will meet you by the rock at Mt Sinai. Strike the rock and water will come pouring out. Exodus 17:5-6

Many leaders want call in the professionals or maybe do it better themselves. But God calls us to use the plain old stick, just ordinary people, and watch him do miracles through them. That’s why the best staff are home grown.

A leader needs a faithful band who are not afraid to move beyond public opinion and be the first to follow.

Moses had to walk on ahead of the people. A leader must consult with his people. Moses did many, many times. But there are bold occasions when a leader must strike out on a word from God and move on beyond the grumblings of people.

But a leader cannot do this alone, he needs with him a band of dependable people who have the courage to step beyond public opinion and do God’s will.

So Moses took his staff and walked on ahead of the people beyond the grumblings into the open place where God is heard and miracles are seen.

Leaders need managers who can support the staff, for he cannot hold up the weight alone.

As helpful as the staff was to Moses, there came a point he could not lift it alone. So Aaron and Hur, some of his key men, held up his hands and the battle was won.

As the ministry extends the leader needs managers to help him support his staff. Immediately after Aaron and Hur lifted up the staff, Moses learned from Jethro how to organize leaders in teams.

A leader needs an inner core of managers who help him to develop the staff that he is given. If the staff is supported well, they can bear the weight of supporting a leader too.