Charles R. Swindoll - Hand Me Another Brick: TImeless Lessons on Leadership

BOOKS BY CHARLES R. SWINDOLL
Active Spirituality
The Bride
Come Before Winter
Compassion: Showing We Care in a Careless World
David
Dear Graduate
Dropping Your Guard
Encourage Me
Esther
The Finishing Touch
Flying Closer to the Flame
For Those Who Hurt
The Grace Awakening
Growing Deep in the Christian Life
Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life
Growing Wise in Family Life
Hope Again
Improving Your Serve
Intimacy with the Almighty
Killing Giants, Pulling Thorns
Laugh Again
Living Above the Level of Mediocrity
Living Beyond the Daily Grind, Books I and II
Living on the Ragged Edge
Make Up Your Mind
Man to Man
Paw Paw Chucks Big Ideas in the Bible
The Quest for Character
Recovery: When Healing Takes Time
Sanctity of Life
Simple Faith
Standing Out
Starting Over
Strengthening Your Grip
Stress Fractures
Strike the Original Match
Suddenly One Morning
The Strong Family
Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back
Victory: A Winning Game Plan for Life
You and Your Child

HAND ME ANOTHER BRICK

Revised edition copyright 1990,1998 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
Copyright 1978 by Charles Swindoll

The song "Got Any Rivers," 1945, renewed 1973 by Oscar Eliason,
is assigned to Singspiration, Division of Zondervan Corporation.
All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the
New American Standard Bible, The Lockman Foundation 1960,1962,1963,1968,
1971,1972,1973,1975, and are used by permission.

The Bible quotations marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible (Wheaton,
Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 1971)
and are used by permission.

The Bible quotation marked MLB is from the Modern Language Bible,
The New Berkeley Version, Copyright 1959,1969,
by Zondervan Publishing House.

The Bible quotation from J. B. Phillips's Letters to Young Churches is now published
as The New Testament in Modern English
( J.B. Phillips 1958, 1960,1972) by the Macmillan Publishing Company, New York
and Collins Publishers, London. Used by permission.

All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from the publisher to use or
reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data:

Swindoll, Charles R.
Hand me another brick / Charles R. Swindoll.[Rev. ed.]
p. cm.
"Complete with study guide."
Includes bibliographical references
ISBN 0-8499-3709-4 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Christian leadership. 2. Leadership-Biblical teaching. 3. Bible. O. T.
Nehemiah-Criticism, interpretation, etc. 4. Nehemiah (Governor of Judah)
I. Title.

BV652.1.S94 1998 98-26784
262'r-dc2I CIP

8 9 0 1 2 3 4 9 RRD 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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THIS is A PRACTICAL BOOK ABOUT LEADERSHIP. My desire is threefold: (1) to be accurate with the facts as they relate to this subject and to Scripture, (2) to be clear, that is, nontechnical and free from meaningless cliches, and (3) to be relevant and current in my comments, explaining how these ideas and suggestions can be implemented.

This is not a book of theory. I will leave the philosophical and psychological aspects of leadership and character development to the experts on the subject. My approach grows out of realistic observations I have made over the past forty-five years in various areas of personal experiencea hitch in the U.S. Marine Corps (military leadership), several years in graduate school (educational leadership, employment in industry and business (labor and corporation leadership), almost two decades in churches, both in America and abroad (ecclesiastical leadership), and as a husband and father of four active children (domestic leadership).

As a student of the Bible, I continue to uncover more and more truth on this subject. It seems a shame to keep it hidden in my head or tucked away in my files, especially with so little being communicated about leadership from a scriptural perspective.

Because I am convinced of the profound and powerful impact God's Word brings to those who glean its wisdom, I share these insights with genuine excitement.

My hope is to reach a broad cross section of today's worldfrom the up-and-coming young person who is stimulated with the thought of leading others, to the top executive who lives in the threatening arena of difficult decisions and exhausting demands. It is out of a deep respect for these men and women, whose spheres of influence require long hours and disciplined thinking, that I write these words.

Being a leader is an unenviable calling. It appears glamorous and gloriousbut it is more often lonely and thankless. As we shall see, the best leaders are actually servants. Unselfishly, they give of themselves to accomplish the objectives, regardless of the sacrifice or cost. The perils are ever present, and the toll is great. But so are the rewards, fleeting though they may be.

Originally, this material was presented to the attentive and responsive congregation of the church I served as senior pastor, the First Evangelical Free Church in Fullerton, California. Shortly after I concluded the series in 1974, numerous friends and members asked me to put the material into print. Since that time I have shared the insights in a number of Bible conferences, on scores of Christian college campuses, and at seminars dealing with leadership. I cannot remember a time following such occasions when individuals did not urge me to make the series available in book form.

I appreciate, more than words can say, the editorial assistance of Brenda Arnold, whose counsel and suggestions proved invaluable. I am once again greatly indebted to Helen Peters for her secretarial assistance in transcribing the original material and then typing the final manuscript with such personal interest, remarkable speed, and devoted concern. And to my wife, Cynthia, a constant partner, my source of stimulating encouragement and penetrating discussions, I freely declare my gratitude. Only she knows the relendess process of putting all these thoughts into wordsand ultimately these words into a book.

To God be the glory.

c.R. s.

GLANCE THROUGH TODAY'S NEWSPAPER and chances are good you will find another story of leadership breakdown. We no sooner had put Watergate to bed and finished wading through the Washington sex scandals than we were standing face to face with yet another delicate matter, called by some "Korea-gate"foreign influence-peddling in the congressional arena.