In the Bible the shepherd’s staff appears as a source of comfort, concern and compassion, often symbolizing the Spirit of God. In Moses’ hand, it was a sign of God’s miracles and deliverance. It parted seas. To David, the Lord’s rod and staff were a source of comfort. The staff had a type of aura about it. Shepherds used a variety of equipment and aids while tending their flocks, but the staff was mainly practical, used by shepherds to draw sheep together, guide them, rescue them and set them free from entanglement.
In The Shepherd and His Staff, our examples of the qualities of a good shepherd and the uses of his staff start with Abraham, then cover Moses and David, concentrating on the men called by God and their use of an actual wooden staff. When we move to Jesus and his 12 apostles we move from a wooden staff to human staffs. Jesus tells Peter to be a shepherd and to feed his flock. We end with those of us today who are heirs of Jesus as modern shepherds, and while we do not use a wooden staff we surround ourselves with human staffs just like Jesus did. It is no accident that the word shepherd has the words “she” and “he” in it. As women and men serving in his Kingdom we are living staffs used by the Lord to guide and lead his sheep as he would have. This book illustrates the key characteristics a living staff should have, as we also lead as good shepherds.
The Shepherd and His Staff: A Guide to the Biblical Principles and Practices of Leadership
Copyright ©2017 Theodore Mistra
1st edition 2004, 2nd Edition 2005, 3rd Edition 2008, 4th Edition 2017
Previous ISBN 1-58597-303-3 Leathers Publishing
All rights reserved
Printed in Canada and the United States of America
ISBN 978-1-927355-93-0 soft cover
ISBN 978-1-927355-94-7 EPUB
Published by:
Castle Quay Books
Burlington, Ontario
In the USA
Lake Worth, Florida
Tel: (416) 573-3249
E-mail: [email protected] www.castlequaybooks.com
Cover and inside design by Burst Impressions
Printed at Essence Printing, Belleville, Ontario
All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form without prior written permission of the publishers or the author.
Scripture quotations are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright © 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Mistra, Theodore, author
The shepherd and his staff : a guide to the biblical principles and practices
of leadership / Theodore Mistra.
Previously published: Leathers Publishing, 2004.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-927355-93-0 (softcover).--ISBN 978-1-927355-94-7 (EPUB)
1. Leadership--Religious aspects--Christianity. I. Title.
BV4597.53.L43M57 2017 248.8’8 C2017-905261-6
C2017-905262-4
For my father, who served as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army, in memoriam. And for our Father in heaven and Jesus his Son, who sent the Holy Spirit to inspire full appreciation
of my father’s true legacy.
Contents
Reflection: A Shepherd’s Staff
Two Key Principles of Shepherd Leadership
Reflection: Our Chief Shepherd
The Essence and Attributes of the Shepherd
Reflection: The Piney River Flock
Foreword by Ken Blanchard
The headlines of the world’s newspapers report daily on the growing evidences of man’s inhumanity to man. CNN.com, under all its headings—U.S., World, Money, Opinion, Health, Sports, Politics, Tech, Entertainment, Travel, and Style—conveys that relationships in each field are in deep trouble. Even the most ostrich-like of us becomes aware that if realizations are not made and actions immediately taken in light of the intrinsic connectedness of the human family, we will not even save the earth, let alone establish the Kingdom of God on it.
Paralleling this process of destruction, however, is another process not so well advertised, focused on or debated. It is characterized by a growth of consciousness that “winning,” if somebody else has to lose, doesn’t “taste” right. Indeed it has the effect of turning the sweetness to sawdust in the mouth. A growing number of people are daring to believe that “win/win” might be a possibility; that life is not about “either/or” but instead is about “both/and.” And with that realization there is an experience of relief at the level of the soul.
Onto such a stage comes The Shepherd and His Staff: A Guide to Leadership. While the author is completely honest that the source of his inspiration is his own