Moses protested again, "Look, they won't believe me! They won't do what I tell them. They'll just say 'The Lord never appeared to you.'" Then the Lord asked him, "What do you have there in your hand?"
Exodus 4:1—2

Before the movie The Prince of Egypt was released, I was invited to preview the film for DreamWorks Studios. It was a thrill to be a part of this project, but on top of the excitement of the moment, God spoke to me during that animated film on the life of Moses. It happened during Moses' encounter with the burning bush, when he was arguing with the Lord about why he couldn't lead God's people out of Egypt. Moses felt utterly unqualified to lead anyone out of anywhere. After a couple of rounds of debate, God won by asking Moses a simple question: "What is in your hand?" Moses was holding a shepherd's staff, something he had been using for forty years as he herded sheep in the desert.

When God calls us into leadership, he usually starts with familiar tools, giving us a ministry ...