Biblical Project Management

Re-Building the Wall Around Jerusalem

Kenrick H. Burgess

• Publisher: Elm Hill
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781595559913
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

This book is about biblical project management, principles, tools, techniques, and practices used by Nehemiah, a cupbearer to the King of the Persian Empire in the re-building of the wall around Jerusalem and its revitalization. It can be used as a manual for project recovery by project sponsors, owners, leaders, project managers and teams managing projects.

The book has three parts:

Part One deals with the characteristics and definitions of a project and biblical project management, the roles of a project manager, and the importance of stewardship in project management. There is also a brief overview of the Bible, its inspired writers, its impact, legal, financial, and project management systems.

Part Two examines Nehemiah's project recovery management methodology, and his incredible use of advanced project management tools and techniques are demonstrated by referring to the approaches that he used to re-build the wall and achieve spiritual revival in Jerusalem.

The reader will learn:

• about Jerusalem in the time of Nehemiah
• how to prepare a project background and project definition report
• how to make successful interventions and to present the case for the recovery of a project to owners, sponsors, politicians and public officials
• how to conduct a detailed assessment of a troubled project
• how to do project reviews and document the variances in the scope of works, objectives, milestones, resources, quality, risks and expected deliverables, and to decide on the way forward
• about the capabilities required by the project manager to rescue projects such as courage; leadership; project management skills; technical competencies; project knowledge and understanding; wisdom; solving disputes; assessing the actual scope of works required; and evaluating the cultural, political, economic, social, environmental, and technical issues
• what to include in a final assessment report
• how to prepare the work breakdown structure, precedence network diagram; milestone plan, responsibility matrix, project organization, risk management plan
• how to develop the fifteen plans necessary for construction and control planning
• teamwork strategies, networking, project oversight, monitoring, tracking, construction management, stakeholders' management and analyses, reasons why projects fail, the role of a project champion, and critical success factors for rescuing troubled projects
• Nehemiah's project recovery management methodology
• how to revitalize and bring spiritual revival to a city
• how to conduct an ex-post evaluation of a project, and
• how to dedicate a project.

Part Three discusses a) the significance-driven project manager; b) leadership; c) the significance of the walls, towers and gates around Jerusalem; d) how to follow the footsteps of Nehemiah, and e) power tools and power required for project managers.

CHAPTER ONE Biblical Project Management

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”¹

2 Timothy 3:16–17, KJV

1.0 Introduction

1.01 Biblical Projects: Divinely Recorded

Six projects are recorded in the Bible in which God (Elohim) defined, designed, implemented, and dedicated. Two of the projects were “design-build” and in four of the projects, God was the Architect, and He appointed earthly project managers, teams, and builders to implement the projects. The six projects are: a) The creation of heaven and earth (design-build),² b) The design and construction of the Ark,³ c) The design, construction, and outfitting of the Tabernacle of Moses in the wilderness,⁴ d) The Tabernacle of David,⁵ e) design and construction of the Temple of Solomon,⁶ and f) The New Jerusalem—city of God (design-build).⁷ Here is a glimpse of how four of these projects were generated:

In the beginning, God (Elohim) created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.⁸

“And God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and outside with pitch and this is how you shall make it.’”⁹

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them according to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.’”¹⁰

The prophet Nathan said to David, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: it shall come to pass when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.”¹¹ David the king then stood up and told the congregation: “And He said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build My house and My courts. Take heed now; for the Lord hath chosen thee to build a house for the sanctuary: And David said to Solomon, his son, be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the Lord God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.¹²

1.02 Biblical Project Management: Divinely Revealed

The six divine projects reveal how God (Elohim) not only conceived the concept of a project and created the first project but how He demystified project management and taught teamwork, architecture, scheduling, engineering; design management, project management; construction management; the project cycle; project financing; cost management; procurement; scheduling; quality management; management of stakeholders; project integration; risk management; scope management; work breakdown structures; project planning, project implementation and control, and more. God then gave us the Bible which includes within its pages the entire body of knowledge for project management with its tools, techniques, methodologies, principles, and best practices for managing projects.

The Bible is also the foundation of the legal and other systems necessary for managing projects. For example, the Bible introduces us to immigration law;¹³ taxation laws;¹⁴ military laws;¹⁵ laws about domestic relations;¹⁶ laws about property;¹⁷ criminal laws;¹⁸ legal procedure,¹⁹ and more. Jesus addressed the marketplace and its operations such as 1) hostile takeovers;²⁰ 2) return on investments;²¹ 3) futures markets;²² 4) farming;²³ 5) family-owned businesses;²⁴ 6) management;²⁵ 7) observation and research;²⁶ 8) return on investments;²⁷ 9) misuse of money and bankruptcy;²⁸ 10) the advantage of leverage;²⁹ 11) venture capital in high-risk situations;³⁰ (Silvoson 2002, 41); women in business and networking.³¹ Maxwell identified twenty-one laws of leadership from the Bible that would enlarge and enrich any leader (Maxwell 2007, 1603–1608). The Bible contains hundreds of lessons on teamwork. Project managers everywhere should embrace and deliberate on the leadership laws, teamwork and project management in the Bible. There is no doubt that project management originated from the God of the Bible—the God of heaven.

1.1 The Bible

The Bible is the Book of books and the most copied book of antiquity. It was completed approximately 2,000 years ago. Its contents have never been found to be inaccurate. It was written over a period of approximately 1,600 years from 1490 BC to AD 100. The Bible is known as the Book of God and is divided into two categories: the Old Testament and the New Testament. It consists of sixty-six (66) separate books: thirty-nine (39) books in the Old Testament and twenty-seven (27) books in the New Testament. It contains 1,189 chapters and 31,173 verses.

1.1.1 The Old Testament

The thirty-nine (39) books in the English Old Testament are arranged in a threefold division:

1) Division 1: “The Law,” “Torah,” or “The Law of Moses” consists of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

2) Division 2: The Prophets consists of two subdivisions:

1. Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, 1^st and 2^nd Samuel, and 1^st and 2^nd Kings.

2. The Latter Prophets which has two subdivisions:

a. Main Section: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel; and

b. Minor Section: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

3) Division 3: The Writings has three subdivisions:

1. The Poetical Books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs.

2. The Scrolls: Ruth, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, and Esther, and

3. Prophetic Historical: Daniel, 1st and 2nd Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah.

(Willmington 1984, 802)

1.1.2 The New Testament

The twenty-seven (27) books in the New Testament have six general divisions. These are:

1. The Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The first three Gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the “Synoptic Gospels.”

2. Historical Book: Acts of the Apostles

3. Epistles to Churches: Romans, 1 and II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and II Thessalonians;

4. Epistles to Individuals: 1 and II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and

5. General Epistles: Hebrews, James, I and II Peter, I, II, and III John.

6. Prophecy: Revelation is the last book of the New Testament

1.1.3 The Writers

The sixty-six (66) separate books were written by about forty different writers: Job, a wealthy farmer; an Egyptian prince called Moses; Joshua, a military general; Samuel, a priest; Daniel, a prime minister; Ezra, a scribe; Nehemiah, a cupbearer; prophets called Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah; a man called Paul who was taught in Jewish Law; a herdsman called Amos; a tax collector called Matthew; a housewife called Ruth; three fishermen called Peter, James, and John; a physician called Luke; and Mark, an evangelist. Parts of the Bible were written in: the deserts on Mt. Sinai, Arabia, Egypt, Palestine, the schools of the prophets at Bethel and Jericho, the palace of Shushan in Persia, in Corinth, in Ephesus, in Caesarea, and the dungeons of Rome. Parts were also written in Babylon and on the Isle of Patmos. The biblical writings were composed on three different continents Africa, Asia, and Europe, and in three different languages Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Everything recorded between the opening pages of the book of Genesis and the closing pages of Revelation was divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit. (Willmington 1984, 810–811)

1.1.4 The Impact

The Bible was the first book ever put to the printing press. The man who was accredited with printing it is Johannes Gutenberg. The method of printing was the moveable type. Using this technique, Gutenberg’s forty-two-line Bible was published in 1455 as an edition of 210 copies (Samworth, Holmgren, and Kinniburgh 2003, 14). The Bible has liberated minds and hearts throughout history. The events recorded in this inspired book have generated more great works of art than any other subject matter in the history of the world. It is a vast and unique treasury of source material for the historian: as a history textbook, it is unsurpa...