This post may contain affiliate links. If you decide to make a purchase through these links, I earn a small commission at no cost to you. I do not promote anything I do not believe in or stand behind.
A leadership lesson from my walnut tree plantation. Actually, in my post, I will share several leadership lessons that God taught me while I began working at my walnut tree plantation.
A leadership lesson from my grandfather
One of my grandfathers was a farmer who raised cattle and who worked his land. And as you can imagine, back then, in Romania, people did not have tractors or the sorts of modern technology that farmers can access today. It was all hard hand labor.
However, my grandfather was a firm believer in God and in His Son, Jesus, the Messiah. Every time he went out in the field to work, he first got down on his knees and prayed to God. He blessed God for His grace, for giving him a piece of land to work, and for giving him strength and good health to work his land.
It was all well until the Communists came one day and confiscated all his property (that is another story). Nevertheless, I was impacted by my grandfather’s faithfulness in blessing God, acknowledging God’s existence and Presence, as well as his hard-working attitude. My grandfather began all his projects together with God.
A blessing from God
A few years ago, the Lord blessed my wife and I with a beautiful piece of land near a Romanian-German village (Charlottenburg) – fifty minutes drive from my city Timisoara. After we gained possession of the land, I asked God what I was supposed to do with it. Especially, as I knew little about agriculture (even though I’ve spent much of my childhood working the land, with my grandparents). The first impression I got was from Matthew 25:14-30—the parable of the talents. I felt God telling me I need to make the most of my piece of land. And the Lord also reminded me of my grandfather’s habit of praying and asking God’s wisdom about what to do with his land.
The Lord reminded me also that every project needs to be His project. The first thing I did was to surrender myself and my desire to do something with my land. It reminded me of Proverbs 16:3 (TLV)
Commit whatever you do to Adonai, and your plans will succeed.
A vision
After surrendering my plans into God’s hands, I continued to pray for God’s ideas, wisdom and vision to know what to do next. I had many good ideas about what I could do with my land, but I wanted to make sure I had something more than only good ideas.
The thing that caught my attention was a walnut orchard, and I began asking around and searching the internet. I realized a walnut plantation was something suitable for my soil and the climate of Romania, and it could be a sufficently profitable project. The thing that convinced me to plant walnut trees was the longevity of the trees. I have always been interested in long-term projects and not get-rich quick schemes.
The more I prayed and thought about it, the more I felt this was what I was supposed to do. I could picture a walnut tree plantation on my piece of land. At the same time, I continued to gather information and knowledge about what it would mean to run a walnut tree plantation, and I could found out where I could sell the products.
The key idea I am presenting is this: Begin with the end in mind – I had a vision. I had an idea and a plan on how to make my idea came alive. I made a plan with all the steps I needed to make in order to have a productive plantation. And I counted the cost to see if I could afford it (this is where I made a few mistakes).
A leadership lesson from God
Many don’t know, but I am also in the process of planting a Church, not only a walnut plantation. And while I was preparing to work at the walnut orchard, I sensed the Lord speaking to me about the Church plant as well. I felt God telling me that the lessons I will learn from my walnut plantation will be precious for my Church plant project—and the Lord showed me many similarities between the two of them.
For the Church plant, I began with the same thing—with a God-given vision. I had the end goal in mind before I began working with God at the Church plant. I also did much research together with prayer and fasting to learn what it means to plant an urban Church (I am still learning).
Moreover, what I have in common with my grand-fathers is that one of them was a Church planter too, not only a farmer. A few of my forefathers were Church planters and ministers working in God’s field, and for God’s glory!
Preparing the land
Because my piece of land is near a forest, I had to first built a fence around the land (because of the many wild boars, deer, etc.). My land needed good protection from the animals of the forest as well as from local farmers domestic animals. It was hard work, but it was worth the trouble because now I see the benefits of having my land fenced.
At the same time, I had to clean the land from all the weeds and small bush trees that grew on my land and then I had to till the ground. I saw how dependent I was on God for rain, as a few times I could not work the land because it was too dry to work. Again, this was difficult work, but after I finished, I felt the satisfaction every farmer has when he works his land.
I believe this is what God does with His children—He fences them or protects them from the enemy and He works in their hearts by removing the thorny weeds that grow within them. I found out really soon that pulling out weeds is something I need to do again and again—it will never stop. That’s another leadership lesson: leadership requires hard work.
Preparing for planting
The next thing was to dig the holes for the future trees—for two hundred trees. Again, it was hard work. I had to take measurements and think about where and how I wanted them planted. Moreover, I had to put fertilizer at the bottom of every hole before I planted the trees.
I thought about every person having a specific place in God’s Kingdom, just like the trees in my orchard. I spread my trees all over the land and similarly I see how God places His children all over His Kingdom, all over the earth because He has a plan and a job for every one. We do not have the same job and specific mission in God’s Kingdom, because we are unique. (Of course there are general principles too.) Even so, we have a unique cluster of gifts. We come from different backgrounds and God leads us to do different things in His Kingdom.
Planting the trees
Finally, it came the day when I planted my trees (first I had to buy and transport the trees to my land). A group of friends came to help me and in a matter of hours, we finished. Then we had to put a piece of wood, like a stick, next to every tree and we tied the tree to the stick because we wanted our trees to grow up straight (we call this piece of wood a tutor). And we also had to trim and adjust every tree and cut some of them short. On the cut, we applied a sort of medicine, to protect the tree from disease.
Not only that, but immediately after we planted the tree, we had to water them. And that was, again, hard work, as we had to bring a tractor with a water cistern to do the job. However, without the proper quantity of water, the trees will not develop roots and they will dry up. The trees are very sensitive when they are young.
It reminded me of the tree planted near streams of water in Psalm 1:3 (TLV)
He will be like a planted tree over streams of water, producing its fruit during its season. Its leaf never droops—but in all he does, he succeeds.
A leadership lesson
I felt God telling me that every tree on my land is unique. And that my job as a pastor in His Kingdom will be to treat each person uniquely. Moreover, I felt God telling me that I need to ’water’ my congregation with His Word and with many prayers if I want to see people bringing forth fruit, because this glorifies Him (John 15:8). And just like watering my trees is hard work, ’watering’ the people in my congregation will also be hard work.
Another thing that I’ve learned is that if I want to see my people grow and develop, they will need someone to be near them and give them support, just like my trees needed a wooden tutor. Every believer needs to model his/her life after Jesus. And every new believer needs someone more mature than them to help them grow.
The work continues
In Romania (and Europe), we’ve just been through a drought season and I had to drill a water well. I went weekly to water my trees and inspect them. I cannot make my trees grow, but I can prevent them from not growing. And I believe this is my job as a pastor as well. I cannot produce growth in my congregation and ministry, but I can make sure nothing hinders the growth.
I believe my ministry as a Church leader is looking at the people God placed under my care. And in a loving and humble way to help them get rid of anything that stops their growing and producing fruit that honors Jesus. And just as I inspect my trees for diseases, I need to keep an eye on the people and see if any sin or spiritual disease prevents them from walking with God.
It is hard work. Especially in the seasons of spiritual drought we live in. And I know I cannot do this without the help of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, just like I had a team when I planted the walnut orchard, I also am part of a team that helps me lead the Bible School I lead and the congregation we planted, by God’s grace.
A leadership lesson that will follow me
Yes, right now we are a small congregation and ministry, but God does not despise the day of small beginnings (Zech 4:10). God is the owner of both my walnut plantation and my ministry—I am only His administrator and by His grace I will be a faithful steward, if I remain in Yeshua/Jesus until the end of my life (that’s my plan and struggle).
Several months after I finished planting my walnut orchard, I noticed that some trees did not grow—instead, they had dried out. I don’t know why, but I plan to replace them because I want my plantation to be fully productive. I think God does the same thing with those who do not grow but who actually dry up (John 15:6).
Who would have thought that one can learn things about discipleship and Church planting from a walnut tree plantation? God is creative in the means He uses to teach His children.
If you are in a similar situation, I want you to be encouraged. Whatever God’s vision is for you, remain faithful. Pray for guidance, and make a plan on your knees together with God. Only God’s plans work. Only what is born of the Holy Spirit will glorify God and will make an eternal impact.
I hope my leadership lesson or lessons will help you.
Do you agree?
Let me know if there is anything special going on in your life or if you want prayer! Share this post with your friends and don’t forget to leave a comment.
If you plan on writing a book or if you know of someone who wants to write a book-check this link from Self Publishing School! (affiliate link)
P.S. Whenever you use the links and the banners on my blog to buy something on Amazon USA, or you use other affiliate links on my blog, I receive a small commission at no cost to you. I do not promote anything I do not believe in or stand behind.
I am a blogger, writer, pastor, Director of Zion Romania Bible School, husband to Olguta, a father and, most importantly, a child of God. I also completed my studies at the King’s University where I earned a B.A. in Theology with a concentration in Messianic Jewish Studies. I love Israel and I love the ‘Jewishness’ of the Bible.
Leave a Reply