Are You Destined to Lead?: A Biblical Analysis of Leadership Skills and Principles

By Ray R Fairman

Leadership in todays families, churches, and nation is sacrificed to self-indulgence and the pursuit of prominence, power, popularity, profit, and political correctness. Values such as In God we trust, Honor, Courage, Commitment, and Duty, Honor, Country dont ring as true or as reverently as they did when first uttered by yesterdays leaders.

And yet, the greatest gift that one generation can pass on to the next is the legacy of strong leadership. Leaders like those whom God raised up to lead His people understood this.

Join author Ray Fairman as he applies biblical standards of leadership to our modern, everyday life. Through leaders such as Moses, Solomon, King David, Peter, and Joseph the author explores values such as sacrifice, confidence, maturity, integrity, truth, mentoring, momentum, and accountability. By examining each biblical leaders style and approach to the very same moral and ethical battles we face today, Fairman confronts our need for strong leaders to emerge.

No matter what your occupation, position, or current assignment, this biblical analysis of leadership skills and principles will help you recognize that your missionary and service opportunities are endless.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Mar 30, 2009
• ISBN: 9781440129834

Ray R Fairman

Ray Fairman has more than forty-two years of military service, and over thirty-nine years of overlapping civilian law enforcement experience. He is married and has two grown children. He currently serves as a reserve law enforcement officer and a police chaplain in northeast Georgia, holding the rank of Colonel.

Book preview

Chapter I

Pre-mission Briefing

People have often accused me of speaking or writing over the heads of my audience. Those critics feel I should lower my expectations for those who listen to me or choose to read what I write. They just don’t seem to understand Marines. We just don’t look at things that way. I feel that if I can influence people to exercise, they will grow stronger, and if that philosophy holds true for their physical bodies, it must also apply to their character and intellect as well. So, as you prepare to read this book, get ready also to get actively involved with the manuscript. Argue with me, agree with me, or disagree with me. Write in the margins, use a highlighter, challenge my ideas, or feel challenged by them, but don’t read the book and stagnate. Growth is dynamic and contagious. I have been growing as a leader for many years, and my growth has not happened by chance, luck, or accident. I have learned and am still learning more every day about what leadership is all about and how to improve mine by trial, error, effort, observation, education, and the grace of God.

I’ll bet some of you are already sitting there wondering, just who the heck is this guy and who gave him the right to call himself a leader? Well, the process started in May of 1963 when I joined the United States Marine Corps just before graduating from San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara, California. My recruiter, Gunnery Sergeant Leroy Steiner, would not let me leave for boot camp until I finished the last semester of my senior year. He told me that a career in the Marines would require a good bit of discipline, determination, experience, and education, as well as courage, especially if I desired to become a well-trained Marine Corps leader. He was oh, so right, but he failed to tell me it would take a lifetime for me to realize that leadership is not a destination but a continuous