a great work – 300 words a day

The moment Nehemiah became more than lists.

I thought of this story the other day and decided to share it again. +++ Q: What captivated you about the book of Nehemiah? The more I slowed down and looked at the text to see what was going on, the more excited I got about everything I had missed by skimming. Probably the first […]

by Jon Swanson

Revisiting “A Great Work”

I wrote a book last year about Nehemiah. It’s called A Great Work: A Conversation With Nehemiah For People (Who Want To Be) Doing Great Works. Some of you have seen it and have even read it. I am very grateful to you. I haven’t talked about it for awhile but I wanted to give […]

by Jon Swanson

Piling wood.

If we were to look at the Old Testament chronologically, in the order of the story it tells, Nehemiah would be one of the last two books. It may even be the last book, since Malachi, the last of the prophets, may have visited Jerusalem while Nehemiah was away for several years. So the very […]

by Jon Swanson

5 ways Nehemiah can help you succeed in your great work.

As I’m reviewing the year, I’m seeing how Nehemiah has been teaching me this year. Here are five of the lessons I’m learning. (These are all excerpts from “A Great Work.” Follow the link to order or review it.) Pray every day. “Are you saying,” I asked, “That every morning and every evening, your prayer […]

by Jon Swanson

Restoring vision: A non-profit leader’s story

First published February 18. This is one of several posts on Nehemiah this year. It didn’t make it into A Great Work. Nehemiah had a problem in the non-profit he was leading. He’d been called to the international office for a lengthy assignment. During Nehemiah’s tenure, the organization had experienced a resurgence in reputation and […]