Chaplain (Col) Ray Fairman

In Judges 4:1-16 we are going to learn a lesson from the distaff side of life as we learn about the leadership of Deborah a strong and respected Israelite leader.

Most of us are or should be aware of the fact that unspoken and informal leadership more often than not exists in all organizations. Whenever and wherever people congregate, you can almost always stand off and observe the posturing or testing of the waters so to speak. The strongest leaders, even when not officially empowered, will tend make a few tentative moves, assess the results, and prioritize their own impact then position themselves as they feel comfortable. By the time they finish you can easily recognize those people who will set the tone for and control the gathering. Merely by observing these resulting reactions even a casual observer can identify natural leadership. This is because it is normal for even leaders to follow leaders stronger than themselves.

I, therefore, am going to refer to Deborah's principle as the "Principle of Deference". We should all know that deference (also called Respect) cannot be demanded and neither does it come with authority or position alone; to be effective it must be both earned and freely given.

Continue Reading to find out more about this remarkable leader. 

To read the first draft of my second book

"Are You Destined To Lead" 

use the Leadership Lessons Tab to the right.

A new chapter will be added every other week until I run out of them.

  The purpose of this section is to let you know something about the person who is running this website and to keep you abrest of my current books by directing you to the article entitled BoxingYour Moral Compass.

 Amalgamation

I do not often like to use negative examples as training examples, but at times they do serve a purpose. Once when I was feeling somewhat inept and depressed, one of my subordinates told me that all was not lost, he said I "could always serve as a good, bad example." I guess never ruled that advice completely improvident. Thus I come to this important chapter with a negative example.

If we read I Kings 12:1-24 we can learn a few lessons on how not to lead from Rehoboam a good example of a somewhat egocentric leader. You see Rehoboam was a leader who had a very hard time ever getting beyond connecting with anyone but himself. He did very little to attract and endear his followers. I feel that we can learn great lessons by examining and analyzing our own failures so I guess that's why I have chosen to refer to Rehoboam's leadership contribution as the "Principle of Amalgamation."

Charisma

In II Kings 2:1-15 we can learn from Elijah and Elisha, who were both good leaders, that the exercising of good leadership will attract the loyalty of both other good leaders and a higher quality of followers.

My experience over the years has taught me that the kind of people you attract is much more likely to be dependent on what type of a person you are than on what you have already accomplished or want to accomplish in the future. I find that people tend to draw closer to people who are a lot like themselves. If you are an, "I am the most important part of this team," type of leader, then imagine what it will be like leading a band of folks who feel the same way about themselves. However, if you are willing to sacrifice for the benefit of others, think of how much you will be able accomplish with followers who are willing to give their all to insure the success of your vision.

I have chosen to refer to this as the Principle of Charisma and it is present to some extent in all leaders, both good and bad. Every person is born with an instinctive need for affection, recognition and a sense of belonging. Observing a persons hunger to find something or someone to follow most easily evidences this need. This generally results in even the weakest leader, one who has even the smallest desire to lead, finding themselves with some modicum of followers. Why does this occur? That natural desire we humans are instilled with to gather will always result in some folks following and some folks leading, whether qualified or not. This is something that every leader needs to remember, because every leader whether good or bad is also following someone or something.

That's Spiritual Weapons And Tactic's TeamThis site is dedicated to promoting, developing and encouraging the kind of leadership God ordained and intended for use in both the Military and Law Enforcement professions. Those are the primary fields of missionary service upon which I simultaneously dedicated my last 40 + years. I spent those years actually working in those jobs and being impacted by what I observed and participated in directly as a Marine and a LEO, and not, as some of you may be thinking as some kind of a "by-standing Chaplain". Not until I had finished my overlapping careers as a US Marine and a Deputy Sheriff and Police Officer and retired from both, did I see that God was calling me into service as a Police Chaplain with a secondary role of working with all first responders and especially those who respond to natural and man caused disasters. This I found out includes our military responders as well.

"Surviving in a world gone bonkers."

"Leadership is a responsibility that every law enforcement officer must understand and accept. It is essential if our society expects to provide nourishment to liberty and freedom. Leadership requires that Integrity, Courage, Determination, Loyalty, Knowledge and Experience be combined in a person in order to transform them into a real leader. If properly guided, their leadership then becomes the seed of national honor; and that my friend and brother..., that is something we desperately need more of in our churches and in our nation today."

                                                                                                          Officer Ray Fairman APD... "1973"
 

So, here I go into a probably useless and definitely unnecessary battle again. I get calls every now and then from someone that wants to tell me that what ever term I am using to refer to our "members" as has subsequently, and usually long after we began our existence,  been purchased by them and we can't use the term anymore without paying them a fee. If there is a First Baptist Church in your town and in their town I think these folks would like their attorney to contact your attorney and discuss the renaming of one of them.

Sorry folks, but when someone calls me and tells me to stop using the term Christian because they hold the copyright on that term it will only mean to me that the Anti-Christ now has a lawyer. Our ever expanding number of brothers and sisters who have been encouraged by God's movement among our ranks, has been around only a split-second of eternity but that split-second started about the summer of 1987. Our "fellowship" continues to grow without ever meeting formally. We don't have conventions or sell things. We don't solicit donations and except for the spiritual accountability or Bible study we might start to do in our own local small groups (Some with names and affiliations and some with out) all we try to do is share our God given gifts and experiences and hold each other Biblically accountable in our daily activities and that's it. The work I and other Chaplains do for Our Lord and Savior is judged by Him and not by mortals, and He and only He keeps track of His loyal membership.

Therefore, I would like reiterate that this ministry is not a formal congregational operation. We are a loose knit body of Christians linked solely by our foreign and domestic uniformed service against evil as well as by our faith in the body and blood of  Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We believe in expressing our Honor, our Valor and Faith in Our God, Our Country and Our Respective agency or branch of service. Therefore I want to rededicate this site to the development of such qualities as are deemed beneficial to the growth of honest and responsible leadership.

For more history keep reading.