Calling All Wartime Leaders by Mark W. Pfeifer
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Many of us have been fascinated with the story in Numbers 13. This is where Moses chose twelve leaders and sent them to spy out the Land of Canaan. When they returned, all the leaders agreed that it was a rich land.
Indeed, it was flowing with milk and honey!
But ten of the spies said it was impossible to take this land from its present inhibitors while only two of them said it could be done.
Here’s what’s interesting…
Every one of these spies were leaders. It says all were “heads of the children of Israel (V3).” And yet, when they came back from spying out the land, ten of them said the mission of invading, conquering and reaping the harvest could not be done. Only two, Joshua and Caleb, confidently said it could be done.
Why the difference?
Because not all leaders are the same!
The negative report given by the ten spies was not negative about the land – it was, indeed, a land flowing with milk and honey.
It was negative about themselves!
In Verse 33 there’s that famous line, “We were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
Why did they make that humiliating assessment of themselves?
What were they afraid of?
Why were they so convinced that death was certain?
Why didn’t they believe that they could overcome the enemy like Joshua and Caleb did?
What was in them that kept them from seeing that victory was at hand?
The answer may be found in this observation: Ten of the spies were good PEACETIME leaders but only two of the twelve were good WARTIME leaders.
To say it another way, they were good at shepherding God’s people on a journey through the wilderness, keeping them safe in the wilderness and well fed – but they were poor at leading a risky operation where people might get hurt.
Consider these differences in Peacetime Leaders and Wartime Leaders:
Peacetime Leader focus on the goal of safety • Wartime Leader focus the goal of achievement.
Peacetime Leaders make decisions hoping to mitigate loss • Wartime Leaders make decisions hoping to realize gain.
Peacetime Leaders create priorities based on what’s best for a journey • Wartime Leaders create priorities based on what’s best for victory.
Peacetime Leaders spend their time accumulating data from past pain • Wartime Leaders spend their time accumulating data from future dreams.
Peacetime Leaders obsess on what could go wrong • Wartime Leaders obsess on what could be gained.
Peacetime Leaders are gentle fathers • Wartime Leaders are great generals.
Peacetime Leaders are motivated by the size of the enemy • Wartime Leaders are motivated by the size of our God.
I don’t think Peacetime Leaders are bad. In fact, they are good and very necessary in certain seasons. When the people of God are making their way through the deserts, they are exactly what is needed.
Peacetime Leaders lead at a steady pace, considering children, old saints, and the infirmed. They care about people’s basic needs like food, community and shelter. They are loving and caring leaders who are genuinely concerned about their followers.
Peacetime Leaders are good, long-term leaders whose performances are perfect for peacetime. We need them in the church, government, school systems, local business, hospitals, etc. Whenever people require a stable environment suitable for sustained maturity and development, a Peacetime Leader is the best choice.
Neville Chamberlain, by all accounts, was a fine Prime Minister in the UK before 1939. He presided over an economic recovery after the Great Depression, instituted necessary infrastructure projects, created jobs, increased family housing, and passed legislation that kept workers safe in factories.
But when war broke out, the world needed Winston Churchill! The Peacetime Leader was thankfully replaced with a Wartime Leader whose strengths, values and perspectives were better suited for a different set of challenges.
We need to channel our inner Winston Churchill in this season. We need to be like Joshua and Caleb. It’s time to consider transitioning from a Peacetime Leader into a Wartime Leader. People are yearning for these kinds of leaders.
We need the kind of leaders who are willing to set their sights on the land, calculate risks, take on the critics, absorb the negativity, and lead people into a place they’ve never been before.
The fruit of the land will be harvested by a people prepared for war!
And they are crying out for Wartime Leaders.
We are coming out of a long season in our culture where nurturing people and keeping them safe has been the primary concern. Our battle cry has been, “We want to keep you safe” or “Safety is our main concern!”
We parent our kids around the ultimate virtue of safety rather than adventure. People now suffer anxiety when confronted with opportunities. Kids have largely been sheltered from encountering the challenges former generations took for granted.
Without experiencing the challenges of navigating unfamiliar spaces, kids never develop the mental and emotions toughness that is necessary to stand strong in turbulent times. They often lack the intestinal fortitude to courageously move forward unto an unknown future. These skills are necessary for any generation to take new ground and achieve more than the previous one.
Safety as a primary motivator can keep us alive on a predictable journey through the wilderness - but is inadequate to take us into a valuable land that is occupied by the enemy, full of fruit to be harvested!
Leaders who are more comfortable navigating familiar territory rather than risking their positions by leading people into an uncertain future, are assuring that their followers will die a slow death on a 40-year march in circles.
But when the people of God need to transition from a nomadic existence into a conquering army, a change of leadership is necessary. The same old motives and lack of imagination won’t due.
We need to transition into a Wartime Leader!
John Kelly has often said, “My greatest mistakes came when I acted like a father when I should have been a general or acted like a general when I should have been a father.”
Every leader reading this article has the capacity to be both. I’m convinced of that. Perhaps you’ve never considered the need to be both. Maybe you’ve settled on a single mode of leadership, formed in a season where safety was primary, and success was defined by what you didn’t lose rather than what you gained.
When considering the lay of the land in our nation today, we have the same opportunity presented to us as was presented to Israel when they spied out Canaan for the first time. This is why there is a clarion call going out across the nation for a company of Wartime Leaders to step forward.
✅ Sure, there are giants in the land.
✅ Sure, there are large armies and formidable walls.
✅ Sure, there are many challenges ahead of us.
Yes, there will be resistance. Many critical voices will come from Christians in other camps. You will make mistakes and receive criticism from people who are afraid to fight. The naysayers will voice their negative predictions from the start.
And yes, there will be casualties…
But there is fruit it the land! There is harvest waiting for us! The land is calling us forward! The harvest is shouting at us! That land is our destiny, and our inheritance!
We must transition from being leaders who see peace and safety as our main agendas into leaders who are ready to wage war and bring in the harvest!
We must determine in our hearts to be a Caleb and Joshua instead of a Shammua, Shaphat, Igal, Palti, Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Sethur, Nahbi, or Geuel.
All good men! All leaders among the people! All perfectly suited to lead people in familiar territory. All very successful at keeping people safe.
And all dead in the wilderness!
Don’t be one of them.
It’s time to transition into a Wartime Leader!
© 2025 Mark W. Pfeifer
