Face to Face: the Leadership Lessons Inspired by Moses

By Vinnie Venturella

A man of destiny, Moses was born to lead a nation through impossible situations, despite not starting his primary mission for eighty years. Leaders and leadership are found everywhere, past and present. There are great examples everywhere you look, if you know what to look for. There are differences as well as commonalities in all leaders that we study. Moses is a phenomenal example to learn from. He is one of the most-mentioned characters in the Old and New Testaments. God held Moses in the highest regard, over all other prophets, and he was the only prophet to speak to God face-to-face. Born in the most inauspicious of environments, under a death warrant by Pharaoh, raised as an Egyptian for his first forty years. Then Moses escaped to the furnace of the Midian wilderness where I believe his leadership, character, and humility were honed for his God-given mission that would last the rest of his lifetime. His final forty years was as unquestioned leader of the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage to the precipice of the promised land. Studying the inspired leadership lessons of a man who lived one hundred and twenty years is as formidable as it is thrilling. This journey will be enlightening, exciting, and energizing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9781665579469

Vinnie Venturella

This is Vinnie’s seventeenth book. Vinnie and his wife Tammie have two daughters, Meaghan and Sophia. They live in Texas. Vinnie was born in Pittsburgh, PA. His Mom Joyce and Dad Frank were a big influence on him, and he has a twin brother, Frank and younger sister, Jill. He graduated Woodsville High School in NH. He has a Bachelor’s in Accounting from Campbell University, NC; and an MBA from Southern New Hampshire University. Vinnie retired as a Chief Master Sergeant from the Air Force after 21+ years as a Combat Controller in Air Force Special Operations. Vinnie works in the Personal Finance industry. He has a passion for reading, writing, and physical fitness.

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2023 Vinnie Venturella. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 12/30/2022

ISBN: 978-1-6655-7945-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-7946-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022924099

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]

I want to dedicate this book to

Connie Freriks.

She’s a friend, a wonderful lady,

and a saint amongst us.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Introduction

1. The Environment Before Moses Got on the Scene

(Genesis and Exodus 1)

2. Are Leaders Born or Made

3. It Doesn’t Matter Where You Start

(Exodus 2:1 – 10)

4. Leaders Believe in Justice

(Exodus 2:11 – 20)

5. Leaders Go Through the Furnace

(Exodus 2:21 – 24)

6. Leaders are Called to Lead

(Exodus 3:1 – 10)

7. Leaders May Be Reluctant

(Exodus 3:11 – 4:17)

8. Get the Leadership Team on Board Early

(Exodus 4:18 – 31)

9. Failures Will Happen – Deal With It

(Exodus 5:1 – 21)

10. Leaders May Have Self-Doubt

(Exodus 5:22 – 6:12)

11. Leaders Stay On the ‘Right’ Course

(Exodus 6:28 – 7:13)

12. Some Don’t Get That They Don’t Get It

(Exodus 7:14 – 10:29)

13. Follow the Rules

(Exodus 12:1-11)

14. Establish Lasting Traditions

(Exodus 12:12 – 20)

15. Proactively Communicate Critical Items

(Exodus 12:21 – 28)

16. Keep Your Word

(Exodus 12:29 -30)

17. Don’t Mess Up the One Big Thing

(Exodus 12:31 – 42)

18. Know When Strictness is Required

(Exodus 12:43 – 51)

19. Some Things Should Not Be Delegated

(Exodus 13:19)

20. Never a Shortage of Something to Complain About – Handle It

(Exodus 14:10 -14)

21. Leaders Move Forward

(Exodus 14:15 – 31)

22. Leaders Give Credit and Honor Where It’s Deserved

(Exodus 15:1 – 21)

23. Leaders Understand Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

(Exodus 15:22 – 16:19)

24. Leaders Complain Up

(Exodus 17:1 – 7)

25. Sometimes Others Need to Hold Leaders Up

(Exodus 17:8 -16)

26. Focus On the Positive

(Exodus 18:1 – 12)

27. Leverage Trusted Outsiders

(Exodus 18:13 – 20)

28. Leaders Must Delegate

(Exodus 18:21 – 27)

29. Leaders Must Have Stamina

(Exodus 19:1 – 34:35)

30. Leaders Should Be a Calming Influence

(Exodus 19 – 20)

31. Leverage Technical Talent

(Exodus 31:1 – 11)

32. You Must Have a Strong #2

(Exodus 32:1 – 10)

33. Leaders Advocate for Their People

(Exodus 32:11 – 14)

34. Make Things Right

(Exodus 32:15 – 30)

35. Leaders Take Accountability

(Exodus 32:31 – 35)

36. Leaders Inspect What They Expect

(Exodus 39: 32 – 43)

37. Leaders Do Their Share of The Work

(Exodus 40:1 – 33)

38. Leaders Lead Organization Transformation

(Numbers 1:1 – 54)

39. Share the Burden

(Numbers 11:1 – 35)

40. Every Leader is Accountable for Their Actions

(Numbers 12:1 – 16)

41. Leaders Value Reconnaissance

(Numbers 13:1 – 25)

42. Leaders are that Voice

(Numbers 13:26 – 33)

43. Leaders are Faithful

(Numbers 14:1 – 9)

44. Know When to Use Healthy Challenge

(Numbers 14:10 – 19)

45. Choices Have Consequences

(Numbers 14:20 – 39)

46. Rash Actions Often Have Rash Results

(Numbers 14:40 – 45)

47. What To Do If Your Leadership is Challenged

(Numbers 16:1 – 50)

48. Do We Live in A One Mistake World?

(Numbers 20:1 – 13)

49. Create Environment for Organic Leadership

(Numbers 25:1 – 18)

50. Leaders are Flexible

(Numbers 27:1 – 11)

51. All In a Day’s Work

(Numbers 27:12 – 23)

52. Leaders Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

(Numbers 32:1 – 42)

53. Set High Expectations

(Deuteronomy 31:6 and 31:23)

54. Leave a Great Legacy

(Deuteronomy 34:1 – 12)

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

I want to thank Connie Freriks and her son Rex for all their help editing my books over the years – this is just the latest example. I use a lot of different sources for my books and one that I used for this project is located at https://www.conniessundayschoollessons.com/.

This is from the home page of this site, and written by Rex. I share verbatim:

For over half a century (yes, you read that right) my mother has taught Sunday school at our small church. One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit listed in Romans 12 is teaching, and she certainly has been anointed with that gift. She has always had a place in her heart for the importance of teaching God’s word to help us grow as Christians. I am thankful for my late brother Kevin who had the foresight to record many of her lessons. I am grateful for my best friend Danny who encouraged me to put these recorded lessons on the internet. This website is a way to honor my mother and to help others grow from spiritual milk as a child to spiritual meat for the mature as the Bible says in Hebrews 5. The Bible says in James 3:1 Not many of you should become teachers for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. I think you will find listening to these lessons that my mother passes said judgment as teacher with high marks. I recommend using external speakers on your computer to listen as the level of sound on many lessons is not very strong.

Thank you, Connie, for being a teacher of the Word and for teaching me as well.

Foreword

You can read this book cover to cover or you can jump around to the various lessons. I think you will get the most out of it if you also read the scripture that I used as the backdrop of the lesson. Either way, I hope you enjoy this book. These are lessons I was inspired to write using Moses’ life from Exodus through Deuteronomy in order as the referenced scripture is found. Moses was one of the greatest leaders of all time. Admittedly, some of these lessons have nothing to do with being a Christian per se. But that’s not the point of the book. I want you to embrace the ‘leadership’ lesson gleaned from Moses’ life and actions. All of my scriptural references use the New International Version (NIV).

Because I have a ‘day’ job, I am bound by a very strict code of ethics and I have rules I must follow to be compliant with any conflicts of interest in my writing which is an outside business activity. As such, you’ll see me NOT reference people by name or reference very specific details about the examples I use in the leadership lessons. The lesson can still be gleaned, while at the same time allow me to exceed my employer’s expectations.

The world is always in need of strong leadership and strong leaders. I hope you get a lot out of the book, put into practice some of these lessons, and use it in your own and others’ leadership journeys. Thank you.

Introduction

A man of destiny, Moses was born to lead a nation through impossible situations, despite not starting his primary mission for eighty years. Leaders and leadership are found everywhere, past and present. There are great examples everywhere you look, if you know what to look for. There are differences as well as similarities in all leaders that we study. Moses is a phenomenal example to learn from. He is one of the most-mentioned characters in the Old and New Testaments. God held Moses in the highest regard, over all other prophets, and he was the only prophet to speak to God face-to-face. Born in the most inauspicious of environments, under a death warrant by Pharaoh, raised as an Egyptian for his first forty years. Then Moses escaped to the furnace of the Midian wilderness where I believe his leadership, character, and humility were honed for his God-given mission that would last the rest of his lifetime. His final forty years was as unquestioned leader of the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage to the precipice of the promised land. Writing about and studying the inspired leadership lessons of a man who lived one hundred and twenty years is as formidable as it is thrilling. This journey will be enlightening, exciting, and energizing.

From a Levitical family he was no ordinary child, he was born under Pharaoh’s death warrant that all Hebrew baby boys were to be drowned in the Nile. Ironically, he was saved by women – the midwives, his mother, his sister, and the coup d’état, Pharaoh’s own daughter. He was raised into Egyptian royalty. He refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He was a fugitive following the murder of an Egyptian who was mistreating a fellow Hebrew. He thought he would be seen as a fellow Hebrew, but he was not, the opposite was true, he was not accepted. As a fugitive, he escaped to the Midianite wilderness.

Upon arriving in Midian, he was immediately impactful with his future father-in-law and his daughters. What became an act of justice turned into forty years of enduring the Midianite furnace. Forty years tending sheep in a crucible of leadership. Forty years of serving others. Forty years of obscurity. Forty years of building and maturing his leadership, character, and humility that he would need later on. Was God testing and training Moses in those forty years for his life’s mission? I believe He was. Moses received the strangest of all calls to lead. Initially reluctant, he eventually answered the call and journeyed to Egypt to lead God’s people. Was the question from a fellow Hebrew of forty years ago, Who made you ruler and judge over us, (Exo 2:14) still in his mind? I am not sure but obviously this was part of God’s master plan.

Moses faced innumerable tangible and intangible obstacles first trying to convince the inconvincible Pharaoh to let God’s people go. He had an equally hard time convincing his own people that God had sent him to lead them out of bondage. Following the tenth of ten plagues, Moses led this fledgling nation out of Egypt, amazingly across the Red Sea, and into the desert on their way to the promised land. Because of their constant disobedience, complaining and obstinance, what should have been a far shorter journey, turned into another forty years wandering in the wilderness.

The foundations of the Jewish faith were given to them by God and codified by Moses in that wilderness. We see amazing stories of the Israelites’ fate during that forty years and we see how Moses led – every day, day in and day out – Moses led. Following the death of all those twenty years and older, not counting Caleb and Joshua, Moses led them to the precipice of the promised land just east of the Jordan river. Here he was one hundred and twenty years old, and still had more to give. His leadership, character, and humility were unmatched and he fulfilled God’s mission for his life. Within sight of the promised land, Moses’ journey ended but his legacy continues infinitum

1

The Environment Before Moses Got on the Scene

(Genesis and Exodus 1)

In most leadership environments, a new leader should understand the context of the environment they are entering. They need to understand and appreciate what has gone well and why. They need to know what can be done better and why. They need to fully assess their talent and conduct a SWOT analysis for the area they are responsible for. They need to understand all the internal and external stakeholders and areas they can leverage and maximize. Having a keen understanding of the environment and the organization’s history provides the context for the leader moving forward. I will explore the history of the Jews prior to Moses arriving on the scene and the context of the environment when he entered.

After the Flood we see a great story of Noah and his family, and we are introduced to Abraham (known as Abram at the time) in Genesis 11, and see his call from God in Genesis 12.1. He is told to leave his current country, Ur of the Chaldeans (modern day Iraq), and told by God to go to a land He will show him (Gen 12.1). God tells him that He will make him into great nation. Abram doesn’t argue, doesn’t complain, doesn’t tell God ‘No,’ he obeys and moves out. This is the very beginning of God’s promise to the future Jews for a promised land of their own. Hopefully you’ve read the story and appreciate the backdrop of this promise. This is the first recorded time God spoke with Abram and tells him of this huge promise. What we see from the Bible is Abram was 75 years old at the time and his wife Sarai had not birthed any children at this time – hardly the environment to become a great nation or a situation where ‘all peoples on earth will be blessed through you’ (Gen 12:3). But that is thinking through a human mind and not God’s.

The rest of Genesis covers the story of the Patriarchs: Abram (renamed Abraham), his son Isaac, Isaac’s son Jacob, and their families. Genesis 12 – 50 offers a phenomenal history of the Patriarchs and their families and has innumerable lessons we all can learn, and includes how the Jews happened to be in Egypt when Moses came on the scene.

Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers…you can’t make this up. He ends up in Egypt working for one of Pharaoh’s officials, Potiphar. God was with Joseph and he found favor in Potiphar’s eyes (Gen 39:3,4). Potiphar put him in charge of his whole household and all that he owned and God blessed Potiphar. The Bible tells us that Joseph was well built and handsome and Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him. Joseph refused following her multiple attempts. During the final time she tried to get Joseph to sleep with her and he again refused. Joseph ran out of the house leaving behind his cloak. Jilted, she concocted a false story that Joseph tried to seduce her, screaming and holding on to his cloak. Of course, Potiphar believed her and threw Joseph into prison. God was with Joseph and the prison warden saw that God was with him and put him in charge of the whole prison.

Some time later, Joseph meets Pharaoh’s cupbearer and chief baker who have been thrown into prison. Some time after they got to prison, they each had a dream that God, through Joseph, interpreted. Basically, the cupbearer would be freed and continue his duties, the chief baker would be executed. Joseph asked that after they were released to remember him. They both were released, their dreams came true, but the cupbearer didn’t remember Joseph, still squandering in prison.

I am not sure how long Joseph was in prison up to that point, but two years ‘after’ the cupbearer was released and restored, we see that Pharaoh had a dream, involving seven fat and sleek cows and seven ugly and gaunt cows that came out of the Nile. Pharaoh then had another dream that involved seven good heads of grain followed by seven bad heads of grain. Pharaoh was troubled about the dreams and no one could interpret them. The cupbearer then remembered Joseph still in prison and informed Pharaoh that he had the ability to interpret dreams.

After he is cleaned up, Joseph is brought to Pharaoh and is asked if he can interpret his dreams. He of course responded that he could not but that God could. After the retelling of both dreams, Joseph tells Pharaoh that they are the same dream. He explained that the land would experience seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine.

Joseph (because of God) not only told Pharaoh what the dreams meant but described a solution to help Pharaoh and the people. The plan was marvelous in its depth and breadth and won the approval of Pharaoh who put Joseph in charge of making it happen.

Let’s step back a moment. Joseph was 17 years old when he was sold into slavery and ended up in a foreign country – Egypt. Due to God’s master plan Joseph found favor with Potiphar because he proved his value. Then he was thrown into prison because of a false charge. There he proved his value again to the prison warden – doing well despite the circumstances. Because of, some would say, serendipity, most others, including me would say God’s master plan, he interprets dreams which got him an audience with Pharaoh – on God’s timeline, not Joseph’s. Then this foreigner interprets Pharaoh’s dreams and also articulates a plan to save Pharaoh, Egypt and ultimately his family.

For the next seven years, Joseph followed the plan and took advantage of the foreseen abundance and stored much of the grain – so much it couldn’t be counted. Joseph was basically in charge of all of Egypt. His massive public works plan was the nation’s priority – which he led. Then the seven years of famine started and Egypt had the food to survive. The famine was so bad it affected much of the land outside of Egypt as well. This included Joseph’s family, who, let’s be honest, had no clue Joseph ran the show, nor that he was even alive. Jacob told his sons to go to Egypt since he had learned they had grain they could buy.

In Genesis 42 through 44 we see the phenomenal story (with some perhaps chicanery or trickeration by Joseph) of Joseph’s brothers who went to Egypt to buy