How A 52-Day Wall Rebuild Teaches Project Management That Works

What if the most effective project plan you’ll ever follow began with prayer, clarity, and courage? We walk through Nehemiah’s 52-day rebuild as a living blueprint for modern leadership, translating Scripture into eight practical principles that help you start right, build momentum, and finish well. This isn’t theory-for-theory’s sake; it’s a field guide for owners, managers, and team leads who want to deliver real results while honoring God and serving people.

We begin with assessment over impulse—how fasting, reflection, and honest scoping prevent expensive false starts. From there, we show how to secure stakeholder buy-in with specific asks, measurable outcomes, and ongoing trust-building. You’ll hear how personal inspection sharpens scope, why a compelling “why” rallies teams, and how to assign roles by strengths so every contributor adds maximum value. We get practical with execution tools like schedules, visible milestones, and short stand-ups that keep the critical path moving without burnout.

Opposition and uncertainty are part of the work, so we break down risk management that actually works: identify threats, rate likelihood and impact, and pre-plan responses with cross-training and buffers. Just as vital, we press into morale and fairness—because exploited or exhausted teams quietly stall progress. Nehemiah reset justice, restored unity, and sustained pace; you can, too. Finally, we cover clean handover, public celebration, and lessons learned so the win lasts and the next project starts stronger.

If you’re ready to lead with conviction and competence—sword in one hand, schedule in the other—this episode equips you to assess, plan, mobilize, execute, and close with integrity. Subscribe, share with a leader who needs encouragement, and leave a review with the one principle you’ll apply this week.

Chapters

• 0:00 Mission Of Christian Business Concepts
• 1:33 Community Shoutouts And Listener Growth
• 2:45 Why Project Management Matters Spiritually
• 3:46 Principle 1: Assessment And Initiation
• 7:57 Principle 2: Securing Stakeholder Buy-In
• 11:17 Principle 3: Personal Inspection And Scope
• 14:31 Principle 4: Casting Vision And Mobilizing Teams
• 18:24 Principle 5: Execution And Resource Allocation
• 22:22 Principle 6: Risk Management And Contingencies
• 25:20 Principle 7: Morale And Work-Life Balance
• 27:06 Principle 8: Completion, Handover, Celebration
• 29:02 Prayer, Closing, And Next Steps

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the Christian Business Concepts with your host, Harold Milby. Christian Business Concepts is dedicated to guiding companies and business owners and becoming effective, efficient, and successful through God's Word and godly principles. Now here's your host, Harold Milby.

SPEAKER_01: 0:17

Welcome everyone to this week's Christian Business Concepts Podcast. I'm your host, Harold Milby, and each week we explore very important management and business techniques and biblical principles that will help us find true godly success. And uh and that's in everything that we do. I believe that it'll affect every area of your life, just not business, uh, or not just business. So I believe that God wants not just Christian-owned businesses, but He wants Christian-run businesses in our world today. As uh Christian business owners and Christian business leaders, we have really unique opportunities in having really great impacts on those who uh work with us, who we manage, or that we're around. We have an opportunity to really impact the kingdom in a positive way as a Christian-run business. So whether you're an owner or a manager or a leader, uh, you're going to be able to apply these principles found in God's word that help your business, help your department or your organization, and help to impact uh that business and organization as well as the people for God's glory. So that's that's the important part, you know. And now each week I do ask that that our listeners uh share uh this podcast with other people, four or five other people that you think it would help, and uh post the link to this podcast on your uh LinkedIn and Facebook pages. That would be a tremendous help to us here at CBC as we try to get the word out. And uh many of you do that every week to help us grow CBC, and we couldn't be doing that without you. So I really appreciate your efforts and and I ask uh all of you uh, you know, to try to help us uh in those efforts. Thank you so much. Now, this week I want to reach out and give a big shout out to Perth and uh in Western Australia for having so many downloads the last few weeks. I hope this podcast is a blessing to you and to all of you who listen on a regular weekly basis. Thank you for letting CBC be a part of your growth plan for your life. If you don't have a growth plan, then you need to develop one. But if you have and you include us, we're we're so humbled by that. Thank you so much for having us be a part of that. Now, uh today, this week, I I want to talk a little bit about project management. Now we're I I don't want to get too much in the weeds here, but but some of it is important. And I want to talk to you uh and use the example of Nehemiah in the book of Nehemiah, which is which you know is in the Old Testament, but it it's a great example and a very timeless case study uh in project management. You know, Nehemiah, he was a cupbearer to the Persian king at that time. And uh so you know it was just this time that God took this this cupbearer, Nehemiah, and he transformed this broken or heartbroken exile really into this visionary leader who rebuilt Jerusalem walls and and put up the gates, and he did it in just 52 days, which back then would have been a feat uh to accomplish. And I want to share with you eight key project management principles from Nehemiah's story, primarily from Nehemiah chapters one through six. And uh, you know, we're gonna map them to the to the modern frameworks like um um a PMBOK, which is Project Management Body of Knowledge. If if you don't know about that, that's the big organization or a big uh uh a big product for uh what most project management or companies that have project management teams, it's kind of what they go by, this product management body of knowledge. And um, each principle that we're gonna talk about today is gonna have a biblical foundation and uh and it's gonna be a project management application and then some business leadership insights. So we're gonna do that today. Uh so what are, you know, what are some of the things that we want to accomplish? Well, we want to help you to and equip you uh to be leaders, to lead some really nice big, large projects, even little projects, it doesn't matter. But we want to give you these biblical, these biblical principles and wisdom. And we want to help develop teams that glorify God through these disciplined execution uh principles. And uh we want to inspire resilience in the in in your workplace uh as you're dealing with your quote-unquote walls, like Nehemiah did. Uh maybe it's market shifts or team conflicts, whatever it may be. So that's kind of our goal here today. That's what we want to do. So let's talk about the first principle. Well, the first principle is assessment. Assessment. And Nehemiah, when you look and read into Nehemiah, and because of our time, we're not going to be able to go through all the scriptures. I'm going to let you do that. But in Nehemiah chapter 1, verses 1 through 11, Nehemiah hears about Jerusalem's broken walls. Now he's in exile there. You know, he's from he's from Jerusalem. And uh these these broken walls, they're just a symbol of vulnerability and disgrace. So instead of rushing into action, he just begins to weep, he begins to fast, he begins to pray, and he does this for about four months. He begins confessing sin, he begins seeking God's favor. Uh he begins envisioning uh this restoration. So he he assesses the problem very deeply before he even approaches the king. Um and so we we need to understand that in the PMBOC, uh, it talks about the initiation phase, and that's what this is. Um, you know, and that guide, that PMBOK guide, it's it's it's a foundational resource uh from the project management institute that outlines the principles, practices, and standards for effective project manager. I just want you to know what that is. Um you know, and that includes conducting stakeholder analysis and creating, you know, a high-level plan. And Nehemiah's prayer is like a SWAT analysis. You know, during that time, he's he's trying to figure out the strengths, the weaknesses, the opportunities, and the threats. That's a SWAT analysis. And uh he was trying to identify the root causes, you know, what happened uh at in the aftermath uh when the city was taken. And he tries to align that with God's divine promises to restore Israel. Uh, you know, and so he he first he makes this assessment. He makes this assessment. He doesn't jump right into it. And a lot of times we make the biggest mistakes in a project or trying to develop something, whatever it may be, we'll call it project management. But a lot of times we make that mistake as we see what needs to be done and we immediately want to jump right into it. And I can tell you, the times that I have jumped into something too fast is where we had the biggest mistakes, where we made our our had our biggest failures. We didn't take the time to really do a really good assessment. So when we when we look at at some of these uh some of these things that we're talking about today, we we look at about some of the uh uh time, you know, you want to spend about 5% of the time making an assessment uh of what the issue is. You want to define it, you want to know what it is, and then you want to spend about 25% planning. You know, you want to build that roadmap. And then you want to spend about 50% actually executing, in other words, doing the work. And then you want to spend about 15% of your time monitoring and controlling, just make sure you stay on track. And then you want to spend 5% on the back end. Uh we'll call that the closing, finalization. You spend about 5% there, and what you want to do is you want to learn. Uh, you want to grow and you want to learn. So that kind of gives you a breakdown of what you want to do. But uh, you know, he Nehemiah conducted an audit. That's what he did. He gathered data uh on the broken walls. Um, and and maybe in your case, you're you're looking at outdated processes or outdated equipment or low morale. Uh so you know, you may want to use tools like some kind of survey or a Gantt chart. You can use a Gantt chart. Gantt charts are great. Uh so you can use a Gantt chart. Uh, you want to then uh you got to build your team. You gotta build your team, and we'll we'll talk about that here in just a second. Um and then and then what you want to do is you want to craft a really good one-page project statement. Uh you want to have the date by which you want it to be done. You you want to have the people involved. Um, you know, in Nehemiah chapter two, verse 17, Nehemiah, he started with his vision and he told the people, he said, Let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so no longer will we be in disgrace. So he he he started with this vision. Um you know, so I think that's what you have to look at. Now that's that's that's principle number one. Uh number two, you want to you want to begin to then secure some buy-in uh from decision makers. Okay. Uh again, Nehemiah chapter two, verses one through eight, he approached the king with confidence. Remember, he'd been praying and fasting for four months, asking for God's favor. And so he goes to the king. The king notices, he said, Nehemiah, why why why do you look so depressed and discouraged? You know, so Nehemiah took that opportunity to share this information with the king. And uh he did it with confidence. And he he actually requested letters of credit uh from the king. He he requested letters to get timber. He requested letters to make sure he had safe passage. And uh so he was able to get that all because of the four months that he had spent in fasting and prayer and uh uh uh you know preparing himself uh before he could prepare other people. And that's the one thing I do understand is you have to prepare yourself. You can't give out until you put in uh into your own life. So, you know, he began to plan those resources. Um, you know, he got those stakeholders involved, he identified who the influencers were, um, he began to manage the expectations. Uh Nehemiah used emotional intelligent intelligence really to kind of read the king's mood. Um, you know, so I think I think that's important. And remember that buy-in, buy-in is a subscription, not a transaction. You've got to get people to want to go along because buy-in starts where egos ends. Because you it's not about your ego. Uh, you know, it doesn't start with your ego. The ego's got to be left at the doorstep. You know, buy-in isn't sold, it's caught. So you have to have this vision. If you're gonna get people to buy in, you've got to have this vision. So the first thing that you have to do is you've got to list the executives, investors, maybe regulators, employees, management people, whoever they may be, uh to check out in your mind to know what kind of influence and power they have. And then you've got to prepare a pitch. And this is like a five-minute pitch that talks about the return on investment, what the risk may be, uh, those types of things, right? And then you've got to request specifics uh bodily. You know, what are the timelines? What are the budgets? What are the resources? Like, you know, Nehemiah had a timber quota. So so make sure that you understand that. And then make sure you follow up from time to time. You leave somebody a note. Hey, great job on this project so far. Really appreciate all your help of what you're doing. And and uh so you you want to do that from time to time. That that's really important. So let's go to principle number three. So principle number three uh says uh this it's about personal inspection and and realistic uh scoping. We'll call it scoping, okay? Um so you know, upon arrival, Nehemiah he rides the walls, the perimeter of the walls, but he does it at night. He does it silently. He's assessing the damage without alarming other people. That's important. I I think you think about that for a minute. He did that at night and he did it on purpose because he didn't want to alarm everybody. He just wanted first to assess it himself. So he he scopes the full extent before he begins building a team. Because if you don't know what the project is going to entail, you won't have the right team members. You've got to have the right team members. Okay. So it it really helps him kick this thing off right. Uh, and it avoids any kind of premature panic that people may have. So you need to kind of schedule a, we'll call it a night ride, like he did, and you walk your project's front lines, right? You kind of look at that project personally, you look at it quietly. Maybe it's the factory floor you're walking, or out in the warehouse, or maybe a res a remote team Zoom uh meeting to maybe look for some gaps. Uh, and then you want to document. You want to document everything that you see, that you recognize. Um, you want to use uh SMART goals, you know, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound. And uh, and and you want to be able to do that. So he kind of looked at this like, you know, if we can rebuild the wall in 52 days, if we could do 10% of the wall every week, uh, you know, he's he's kind of trying to develop this. What whatever, whatever this, these numbers are, right? So it's kind of like this construction firm, you know, they were facing a lot of delays uh in in this building that they were building. And so the leaders on site, they did an audit and they uncovered some supply issues. They dealt with those issues and then they accelerated the completion uh of that building now by 20%. So now they were behind, but because of identifying these issues, uh they were able to accelerate the completion by 20%. So these are the things that you have to look at that you have to try to do uh when you do this personal inspection, you know, when you're doing the scoping. And now the other principle, number four, is you've got to come past come uh cast a compelling vision so that you can mobilize the teams. Uh so you know, Nehemiah chapter two, verses 17 through 20, he says this because he shares this assessment. He says, You see the trouble, we and I and Jerusalem, that it lies in ruins and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace. So, you know, he he had this vision. Here's what the problem is, and look at the end result. The end result is that we're no longer gonna be in disgrace because the people at that time were very discouraged, very depressed. He goes on to say, uh, he says, come, let us rebuild. The God of heaven will give us success. So they all were thinking about look, they're not gonna let this happen. We're gonna have people that's gonna try to stop us. But he gives them the why here. He gives them the why. And that's the compelling part of a vision for a project is the why. The why needs to be compelling. He sold the why. And then he he let families own part and uh certain parts, certain sections. He let families own that, basically. You know, uh Habakkuk 2 and 2 says, and the Lord answered me, write the vision, make it plain on tablets so he may run who reads it. So again, it's a compelling vision, something that they can see. It needs to be a written statement, okay? And uh so then you can begin to form your core team. You can begin to communicate. Um, you know, his his speech, Nehemiah's speech, really rallied people. It boosted morale. It was like a like a kickoff meeting, uh, you know, almost for a project. So, you know, you have to do that. You you, you know, and maybe you want to host like a kickoff, um, you know, and then you can begin to assign the roles that people need. Uh, I think that that's really incredibly important. And and let me share you share some things about teams. Uh, just a few things that I want to share with you about teams. Um one is investing in teams compounds over time. So when you invest in a team, it it has a compounding effect. Uh also, interaction fuels action. So now, what I'm talking about here, I'm talking about communication. When you're doing a project and you're in the middle of a project, it is so incredibly important that you talk, that you communicate with your team members and let them know what's going on. And that's going to fuel action. And remember this: all players have a place where they add the most value. So you need to determine where will that team member will add the most value and then put them there. So that's important. And then realize this about teams. As the challenge escalates, the need for teamwork elevates. So, in other words, the more challenging it is, the more important it is for teamwork. And teamwork needs to go to another level. Uh, next, the team fails to reach its potential when it fails to pay the price. So if you've got team members that aren't willing to pay the price, then you've got the wrong team member on the team. Because you'll fail when they begin to not pay the price. And then winning teams have players that make things happen. And that's why they're great players, is because they help you get things done. So remember that about teams, you know, when you are trying to build a team. So let's look at principle number five. Uh be focused on the execution and then the resource allocation. That's what Nehemiah did in chapter three of the book of Nehemiah. Uh, so he had teams working section by section from the sheep gate to the dung gate. He had nobles, he had priests, goldsmiths, uh, all contributing in a very unique way and what they could do with their strengths. Nobody was idle, everybody was on it. And uh so you've got to direct the work in your project. I would use, I would use schedules. I would, I would do some kind of a, use some kind of a resource that can help you with that, but but you've got to have schedules of when this needs to be done by this point, this needs to be done by this point. You know, uh Nehemiah had a very sectional approach, uh, you know, kind of like a critical path method, CPM is what they call it. Uh, but uh, you know, prioritizing a lot of the high impact segments, you know, you want to do that. And then you have some modular delivery uh that you have to deal with there too. Uh, but think about it, you know, he had about 42 teams. He had 10 gates uh that he had to replace. Uh there were zero idle time. Goldsmiths, priests, merchants, everybody contributed. So what you want to do is you can do a Gantt chart. You know, you could do a Gantt with a 52, like he would have done if he'd had a Gantt chart back then. It'd been a 52-day timeline, assigning the gates and then the milestones to all the teams. And a Gantt chart is just a project management tool named after its inventor, Henry Gantt. Uh, and it just uses horizontal bars really to represent a project schedule. But you can develop that on a spreadsheet or you can buy one online inexpensively, and and I think it it's just uh again a spreadsheet. Uh, but you want to monitor stuff every day. You want to make sure you're on track, you're on target, and that's why Gantt chart really helps. But you can do it just a regular calendar and and blow up a calendar, put it on a wall, and you can do it that way too. And then have some weekly stand-up meetings, you know, that's where you just kind of gather everybody around right before everybody starts for the day and just, you know, ask questions. You know, how did we advance? What did we get done yesterday? Uh so, you know, you have to look at that. And and Nehemiah knew that there was opposition. It came early. Opposition came early. And so Nehemiah's move was he had 50% of the people that were building, and the other 50% of the people were stood guard. And that way it kept a real good standard, a real strong pace. But he also had trumpet signals. Uh, it talks about that he had trumpeters that would give a certain sound uh to let them know what was happening uh so that they could protect themselves. And uh so, you know, he he did that. He had like an MVP, you know, per gate uh that was in charge of that. So, you know, those are the things that are important when you're at this uh at this particular junction here when you're talking about execution and allocating all your of your resources. And uh and then principle number six, you need to make sure that you look at your risk. You you need to practice some good risk management and have some contingency planning. You know, like I said, his opposition came early. You know, Nehemiah uh 2 and 10 says, when Sanbalat the the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites. You know, so those two they they mocked him, they threatened him. But, you know, Nehemiah just prayed, and then he posted guards and he armed the workers. At that point, instead of having 50-50, he had uh, you know, the uh it says in Nehemiah, it said that that, you know, you with your one hand you're building, with the other hand, you're holding a sword. And uh so we just don't stop, we keep going. But everybody's gonna be ready to protect, everybody's gotta be ready to defend. And so project management is that way, is that you have to look for risks. You have to look for things that could come up that you're not, that you didn't see coming, and have some contingency plans for that. So you've got to identify what those threats are. Uh, you've got to have some responses, you've got to try to mitigate it, transfer it to another department. What however you have to do it, but you have to be looking for risk uh as you do this. So you need to brainstorm sometimes with your team about what kind of risk there could be. Uh maybe it's competitors coming and taking your customers or um, you know, whatever it could be, but you want to rate on a scale of one to ten what the likelihood is and what the impact could be. Uh, and then you want to build in some redundancies. You know, you want to cross-train some teams, you want to budget a little extra for, you know, for the for the risk management for things that may pop up. Uh, you may have a supply chain crisis or whatever. And then let's look at principle number seven, and that's where you want to maintain morale and work-life balance. You know, uh, Nehemiah in chapter five, the workers begin to complain because of hunger, because of debt. Um, and Nehemiah confronts it. You know, they were being exploited. And so he commanded that the debts be forgiven, and he begins to share meals with them and he restores unity again. So that's important to maintain morale and work-life balance during any project because a lot of times you're working extra, extra hard. Uh, so you want to make sure you do that. So make sure you audit everybody's welfare, make sure that you're taking some surveys from time to time and checking on the workload, checking on the pay, and do what you can to adjust just like Nehemiah did when he relieved the debt. Uh, and so that's important. And then uh principle number eight, as we get ready to finish up here, principle number eight is the completion, the completion. So in Nehemiah chapter six uh through seven, first part of seven, and then even chapter twelve, twenty-seven through for forty-three, the walls are finished in fifty-two days, despite all the plots, Nehemiah then dedicates the walls and the and the gates, he appoints gatekeepers and registers people, basically secures their future. And so, you know, when you get to this point, you you want to look at what lessons did you learn? Who are you handing the project over now that it's completed? Who gets that? And then celebrate the win. Celebrate it. Have a great time of celebration of this. You know, Proverbs 1 5 says, Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands, obtain guidance, learn from what the project taught you and some of the things that took place. So you you you plan that out. Make sure you dedicate the project, do it in public. Make sure people see it. They can all celebrate with you, celebrate your team, and that this came about and you got this project done. So Nehemiah's project wasn't just bricks. It was his was kingdom work. I mean, he restored a city, he restored a people, restored a purpose. And as Christian leaders, we need to apply these principles that we talked about today to be successful in some of your toughest and most challenging projects, no matter how large or small they are. So, Lord, we come before you today, Lord, and we just thank you for sharing with us so many great principles on project management, Lord, through your word and through the life of Nehemiah. Lord, we thank you for that. Lord, help us to look at projects that are before us with your eyes as we look at all of these principles. Lord, help us to be successful in every uh each and every project, Lord, that we tackle. And Lord, we ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen and amen. Well, thank you for downloading and listening to this week's Christian Business Concepts Podcast. You know, we have about 160 uh on the podcast, so you can go back and look at some other episodes that maybe you haven't heard and that may be very encouraging to you. But today I pray that this one encouraged you. I pray that it enlightened you, and I pray that it empowered you to tackle the next project that you have with confidence. Well, that looks like that's all the time we have for today. So until next time, remember Jesus is Lord and He wants you blessed.

SPEAKER_00: 29:05

Thank you for tuning in to this week's Christian Business Concepts Podcast. Go to Christian Business Concepts.com for more information and resources. Be sure to check on another podcast that will help you take your business and your personal life to your whole level of success.