9346$$$$FM

88 THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP

❖Moses’ exhortations to the Israelites as he led them out of Egypt

and through the desert

❖The delivery of the Ten Commandments

These communications rank as some of the most powerful, effective,
long-lasting messages ever communicated in the history of humankind.
No one could ever dismiss them as ‘‘last week’s memo’’ or the ‘‘usual
platform speech.’’ They were impassioned, inspired, and uniquely
memorable.
And despite the lack of sophisticated telecommunications equipment,
the leaders of the Bible made sure that there was plenty of two-way
communication as well. Moses, Jesus, and David were masters of man-
aging group meetings and group process (with some of the groups
reaching into the thousands). Particularly during the time of Jesus, let-
ters (epistles) went back and forth across the Middle East, Greece, and
Rome and were the primary method of communication and coordina-
tion among those who were attempting to spread the gospel in an
often-hostile environment.
Today’s leaders, with modern media at their disposal, are able to
reach many more people instantaneously. But the principles of commu-
nication remain the same. Ironically, because of the ‘‘overkill’’ of elec-
tronic communication (many of us receive several dozen e-mails a day,
most of them from people just down the corridor!), face-to-face com-
munication has taken on added importance and impact. Today’s smart
leaders complement ‘‘high-tech’’ communication approaches with
‘‘low-tech,’’ face-to-face contact to preserve the personal power of
communication.

THEIMPORTANCE OFCOMMUNICATION

Without frequent and appropriate communication of overarching ideas,
mission, and vision, Judaism or Christianity would not exist today. The