7 Women Business and Leadership Role Models From the Bible to Inspire Christian Women in Business

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Christian women today have many women mentors and role models from Bible days on which to base their business and leadership ventures. The qualities and characteristics of these women from long ago provide patterns for running successful enterprises as well as for being involved in government, legal matters, community organizing and even military operations. Most of these women were married and some functioned from their homes. The activities of these women are often not discussed, leaving some of the best means of motivation and encouragement for contemporary women unknown. This article presents a brief background along with the qualities and skills of only 7 top Bible women in business and leadership who have lessons to share for today.

1. Rahab: Joshua 2:1-22; 6:17-25. Rahab was a businesswoman who ran a lodging place and provided for her family members. Often misrepresented as a prostitute, there is no evidence of this in the Bible. She became known for her willingness to take great risks to negotiate with new people for the protection of herself and her family. Running a lodging facility meant being able to manage a staff of workers, keep clients happy and serve the needs of people from all backgrounds. It also meant being misunderstood by those who didn’t understand this nontraditional business role for women. The leadership qualities and skills of Rahab included being industrious and wise, having a business plan, management abilities and negotiation skills.

2. Lydia:Acts 16:14-15, 40. Lydia was a well-known businesswoman who dyed and sold purple cloth. Royalty and the wealthy wore purple cloth. That meant she had a high end target market. Her business had to provide a consistent, high-quality product to meet the standards and needs of a wealthy clientele. She also had employees, which means her company provided jobs for people in her community. Lydia was an entrepreneur who probably would have had a corporate structure. She displayed qualities and skills that included organization management and growth, employee training and development, and strong target market skills.

3. Priscilla:Acts 18:1-3; 24-28. Priscilla worked alongside of her husband, Aquila, as partners in a tent making business out of their home. She was first mentioned as the mentor to the great Apollo who she helped mentor to preach with more direction and authority. She also traveled extensively in the capacity of evangelist. Her qualities and skills were in working in harmony in a business partnership, managing a home-based business, business development and growth, multi-tasking, coordination, human relations, and mentoring skills.

4. Huldah:2 Kings 22:14-20: 2 Chronicles 34:22-28. Huldah was a prominent prophetess and married woman who was sought out by the King’s Advisors for counsel about spiritual matters. Huldah was known for being honest, highly intelligent and a scholar of the Scriptures. The qualities and skills she shares with contemporary Christian women include being a strategist, teacher, strong communicator, life-long learner and a leader who advised others and made hard decisions.

5. Phoebe:Romans 16:1-2. Phoebe was a preacher who worked closely with the Apostle Paul. She was sent by Paul to teach and preach the gospel to the new believers in Rome. Paul strongly urged the believers there to accept her preaching and to support her while in Rome. Phoebe understood the right time to approach others with new ideas and came with the proper introductions. She went to Rome as an evangelist and some believe as a deaconess. The qualities and skills presented by Phoebe are project manager, evangelist of new ideas, teacher, preacher, and collaborator.

6. Deborah:Judges 4 – 5. Deborah was the first woman to be a judge over a nation. She was willing to take on necessary hard tasks that others would not do. Through her leadership the laws of the land were understood and she promoted ethical behavior through the law. Deborah led the Israelite army into a victorious battle in a particularly difficult war situation when her General refused to ride into battle without her. Deborah was a powerful law-maker with qualities and skills as an Army Commander, leader of large groups, decision-maker, motivator, judge, and political official.

7. Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians, Acts 8:27. The Candaces were female rulers of in the African nation of Ethiopia (also known in ancient times as Kush). Unlike Queens of some other African Nations of that time, the Queens of Kush, who were independent rulers, known as Candaces, a distinctive title that existed for 500 years. One Candace received the information about spiritual matters from her treasurer who was baptized by the Apostle Philip during a long journey on state matters. She was receptive of new and better ideas to benefit those she represented. These powerful women had qualities and skills of being national political leaders, rulers, and warriors. They were decision-makers, negotiators and goal-oriented.

Christian women in business have some fabulous role models from Bible women for doing business and being a leader in these contemporary times. The few examples given in this article only provide highlights to the types of activities women had as spiritual and church leaders. These women were ministers, servant leaders, organizers, motivators, and persuaders. They used effective communication skills, organized church events, meetings and services. Knowing their lessons can inspire women even in these modern times to reach higher goals.

Tire Pressure is Crucial For Auto Safety and Saving Gasoline

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Perhaps you have heard the great debate about tire pressure and how that alone could help Americans save 100s millions of gallons of fuel? In fact, it became part of the Presidential Campaign in 2008 when Senator Obama told Americans if you want to save fuel the first thing you ought to be doing is keeping your tires fully inflated. As funny as this might sound, he does make a good point, it is about the easiest and simplest thing you can do to save fuel.

So, you ask, how far along has tire pressure monitoring come recently? Well it is making significant strides in the transportation industries for a variety of reasons; reducing fuel costs, safety and insurance savings, regulations stemming from the Firestone Affair several years ago with regards to the Ford Explorer roll-over accidents. Now in the SUV market we see it has made significant headway into the operations manuals of all vehicles, mostly thanks to the lobbying from consumer groups.

The DOT has looked into these issues for passenger cars as well and the Tire Industry has had mixed emotions for several reasons, such as the need to decrease lawsuits and restore confidence in auto safety regulations. The DOT has often stating that the best thing to do is to educate consumers about tire pressure. Perhaps, Obama’s comments could be an extension of all these issues?

Is simply filling your tires going to solve the gasoline crisis?

No, but it is a start in improving auto safety and it will indeed, save fuel for those who realize they are wasting many gallons of gas each week on under inflated tires. On an average car the 4-tires are 12 lbs of pressure under inflated; maybe 6 on one time, 4 on another and 2 on another. Every tire that is under inflated increases the chance of an accident and it is a lot like flushing money down the toilet. Think on this.

How to Write Short Stories That Sell

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Almost every aspiring author writes with the expectation of eventually getting published. But to get published these days, a short story writer needs to jump past an almost insurmountable cascade of barriers – from the query letter stage to the submission stage, from literary agents to publishers, and then on to the general reading public, all in the hopes of one day selling your short story and earning an amount of money sufficient to pay down the mortgage.

Following are a number of handy tips for short fiction writers to keep in mind when seeking to make money by selling short stories:

EVERY STORY HAS A BEGINNING, A MIDDLE, AND AN END

This might seem like an elementary observation, yet many novice short story writers fail to plan their tales with a basic three-part structure. Where you begin the beginning of your story depends on what follows later in the middle and end parts. The key here is that you must integrate all three parts of your tale so that each part fits snugly like a puzzle piece with the others. Knowing where to begin depends on where your story is going, and knowing at what point to exactly end it depends on what has gone before. Too many beginners start far too early in their tale or end it far too late. So long as you don’t sacrifice the reader’s orientation as to what’s going on, the best strategy is to start as late as possible in your tale and get into the “meat” of it before your reader’s attention lags. And then end it as soon as your basic character, plot, and theme elements have truly played themselves out. Start late, leave early, engage, and don’t confuse. Serve those four goals in planning your three-part structure, and you’re on steady ground.

UNITE ALL YOUR STORY ELEMENTS

Most basic short stories contain elements of plot, character, theme, and setting. Novice short story writers have a habit of randomly dreaming up each element in isolation and then packing all of them together in a kind of forced marriage. The best strategy for your short story is first to settle on which of the elements is the primary driver of your short story. If it’s the plot, then make sure the characters, theme, and settings all work together in servicing that plot in the most engaging, sensible manner. If it’s character-driven, the plot, setting, and theme must all be chosen to highlight and reveal the kinds of character interactions you want to unveil. And so on with theme and setting. Okay, scratch that last element – you should avoid at all costs writing a short story that’s driven by setting, unless your aim is to write an engaging travelogue.

SHOW, DON’T TELL

Too many amateur writers make the mistake of summarizing a key character reaction or series of events when greater emotional impact demands that a character reaction or event be dramatized. In other words, play them out as full scenes for greater effect. But of course, the key here is to employ this strategy only for unveiling those key character reactions or events that play a crucial role in the unfolding of your (unified) story elements. All of which brings us to…

CUT! CUT! CUT! (AND CUT SOME MORE…)

If any word, sentence, paragraph, piece of dialogue, or setting and action description does not advance your primary chosen story element(s), then cut, cut, cut them out! Do we really need to read extended descriptions about leaf texture, shoe brands, and the way the sun casts its rays on one’s coffee table in a scene where you’re advancing the plot or building toward a key character interaction?

Extraneous random descriptions will expose you as a card-carrying novice writer whose short story submission will go straight into a literary agent’s slush pile. Don’t be fooled by all those classic short stories that are filled with wonderfully descriptive asides about leaf texture and sun-cast highlights. In all likelihood, you’re not Charles Dickens or Steinbeck or Chekhov. You’re writing in an age of low attention spans, and you’re not working to be paid by word length. If you can cut out any and all portions of your short story that do not advance all or most of your story elements (and remember, setting should always be the servant to the other three story elements), then cut, cut, cut them out!

START STRONG

The sad fact is that the vast, vast majority of readers will make their decision about the quality of your short story inside of one paragraph (two, tops). So, put all the blood, sweat, and tears you can muster into crafting those first two paragraphs that will keep them reading on. In an age where time is money, don’t assume that there are masses of readers, literary agents, and publishers willing to stick with you for ten or fifteen more pages as you slowly build your short story to make its grand case. By the time your short story hits its stride after a mundane beginning, your only audience will likely be a chorus of chirping crickets.

DON’T COURT A DEATH BY TYPO

There is a reason why publishers are still in business, even in this age of so-called “self-publishing.” The fact is, readers depend on professionals to ensure that well-edited novels and short stories make it on to the book store shelves. That’s where literary agents, editors, and publishers come in. Yet novice writers often make the fatal error of assuming that literary agents and publishers will overlook short story submissions littered with typos, bad grammar, and poor spelling – so long as the gatekeepers are blown away by the writer’s great storytelling ability (embodied in those story elements mentioned above). But again, in an age where time is money, the gatekeepers employ the rule of thumb that typos are the mark of a sloppy craftsman. No matter how great your short story truly is, you will court a death by typo if you attempt to sell your short story with a poorly edited submission.

CHOOSE AN INTERESTING SUBJECT

If you’re reading this far into the article, chances are you’re truly looking for helpful tips to write short stories that sell. Writing short stories for self-expression is nice therapy, so long as you’re sane enough to realize that probably only a very limited audience is interested in reading a short story about the joys of fly-fishing among elderly villagers in Latvia. On the other hand, writing about pistol-packing, death-dealing mamas is not exactly guaranteed to spark reader interest, either. The key is to be interesting and different at the same time. Having your character take out a gun and blow someone away is not all that interesting or different. You need not always fall back on the Dead Body Strategy For Engaging Reader Interest.

The key to picking an interesting subject is to find an organically satisfying and engaging unity of all your story elements – a combination of plot, character, theme and setting that comes off as fresh and exciting at the same time. The interest will come from the manner in which you weave these story elements together.

Coming back to the joys of fly-fishing among elderly villagers in Latvia, you might very well pull this one off if it is a backdrop for a plot with an unexpected turn – one that unveils fresh character interactions while highlighting a theme that, say, provides us a new thematic perspective on, say, our common mortality fears. Not sure how the Latvian part fits in, though. But that, perhaps, is a lesson for another day.