Word and Spirit

I S S U E _ 1 2 / J U N E 2 0 1 7 _ J U LY 2 0 1 7

K AT H Y C A N N O N / E D S T E T Z E R / P R E S T O N U L M E R

The Graying of the Pulpit, Revisited Structured for Mission Curating a Winning Culture for Your Volunteer Leaders

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CONTENTS

8 If You Ask Me

Is Experiential Becoming the New Contemporary?

10 Get Set

Rescuing People, Rebuilding Lives, Restoring Dreams A Q&A with Bryan Sederwall

14 Like a Leader • Live: Creating Space for God • Think: The Tech-Wise Pastor • Read: Books Worth Highlighting, for You and Your Team • Listen: Enhancing Your Listening Experience with Podcasts and More • Tech: Apps and Tech That Add to Your Life

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24 Playbook • Build: Structured for Mission • Know: Are You an Interventionist Leader?

• Invest: Curating a Winning Culture for Your Volunteer Leaders

32 Perspectives

Video Teaching in a Multisite Model: Pros and Cons

34 Spirit: Why Power and Love Always Go Together Craig Keener observes that it is possible to embrace one aspect of the Spirit’s work while largely missing another. How do we account for this apparent incongruity?

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44 What God’s Word Does In Us and Through Us

Biblical illiteracy is epidemic. Mike Burnette asks: Are we reclaiming our responsibility to rightly divide the Word of God?

56 The Graying of the Pulpit, Revisited

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John Davidson notes that even with a record number of credential holders, the Assemblies of God is aging. Why?

64 Multipliers — Daring to Lead in New Directions

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• From Doubting to Believing

• How Established Churches Should Lead

• A Second Generation Church Planter Leading the Next Generation

70 Make It Count

8 Keys to Improving Teamwork

80 The Final Note

Americans Love the Bible —But Are They Reading It?

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MAGAZINE THE SHAPE OF LEADERSHIP

INFLUENCE MAGAZINE 1445 N. Boonville Avenue Springfield, MO 65802-1894 Influence magazine is published by Influence Resources.

Publisher: George O. Wood Executive Director, Influence Resources: Chris Railey Executive Editor: George Paul Wood Managing Editor: Rick Knoth Assistant Editor: Christina Quick Senior Editor: John Davidson Contributing Editor: Chris Colvin Designer: Steve Lopez Advertising Coordinator: Ron Kopczick CONTRIBUTORS: Stephen Blandino, Mike Burnette, Chris Colvin, Kathy Cannon, John Davidson, Craig Keener, Klen Kuruvilla, Chris Railey, Bryan Sederwall, Ed Stetzer, Gerry Stoltzfoos, Preston Ulmer, George Paul Wood, Jeremy Yancey, David Zayas SPECIAL THANKS: Alton Garrison, James Bradford, Douglas Clay, Gregory Mundis, Zollie Smith, Gary Rhoades, Tim Strathdee EDITORIAL: For info or queries, contact editor@influencemagazine.com.

ADVERTISING: Display rates available upon request. Contact advertising@influencemagazine.com. By accepting an advertisement, Influence does not endorse any advertiser or product. We reserve the right to reject advertisements not consistent with the magazine’s objectives.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: To subscribe, go to influencemagazine.com or call 1.855.642.2011. Individual one-year subscriptions are $15. Bulk one-year subscriptions are $10 per subscription, for a minimum of six or more. For additional subscription rates, contact subscribe@influencemagazine.com.

Please send all other feedback, requests, and questions to feedback@influencemagazine.com.

Copyright © 2017 by The General Council of the Assemblies of God, 1445 N. Boonville Ave., Springfield, MO 65802-1894. Permissions required for reprints. All rights reserved.

All materials published herein including, but not limited to articles, photographs, images, illustrations, are protected by copyright, and owned or controlled

by Influence magazine of The General Council of the Assemblies of God. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™ Influence magazine (ISSN: 2470-6795) is published six times a year, in December, February, April, June, August and October by Influence Resources (1445 N. Boonville Avenue, Springfield, MO 65802-1894, ©2017.

Periodicals postage paid at Springfield, Missouri, and at other mailing offices. Printed in the U.S.A. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Influence magazine: 1445 N. Boonville Avenue Springfield, MO 65802-1894 Website: influencemagazine.com Twitter: @theinfluencemag Facebook: facebook.com/theinfluencemag Instagram: @theinfluencemag

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IF YOU ASK ME

IS EXPERIENTIAL BECOMING THE NEW CONTEMPORARY? recently had the opportunity to spend time with one of the great leaders in the church world today, Craig Groeschel, founder and senior pastor of Life.

Church, the largest church in the U.S., with 26 locations in eight states. He made a comment about a church trend line that I can’t stop thinking about: “Contemporary is the new traditional.”

Essentially, he was saying that for years churches worked hard to move away from a traditional style of worship to adopt a more contemporary worship experience. This trend has been going on for more than 30 years, and many churches continue to look for ways to become less traditional and more contemporary.

The problem, however, is the contemporary church is becoming more and more outdated, the same way the traditional church has over the last three decades.

The danger now for church leaders is we are pouring time, energy and money into a style of worship that is already outdated in terms of reaching people in the emerging generation. Simply put, we can’t continue to adopt yesterday’s worship style to reach people in today’s culture. I share Pastor Craig’s concern. His corresponding theory is that “experiential” is the new contemporary, which is great news for us who are Pentecostal.

Emerging generations don’t want to sit and listen, they want to participate and experience, and this in many ways is the essence of Pentecostalism.

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We believe and expect people to encounter God, to experience the Holy Spirit, and to have a role or ministry in the body of Christ. As leaders, we should be careful not to create a performance culture to be relevant, when what this generation is hungry for is an encounter — an experience. That begs the question, what’s the difference between traditional, contemporary and experiential? While we can learn from the common elements of traditional and contemporary worship styles, an experiential worship experience has the following distinguishing characteristics: • Authenticity is a must • Participation is essential • Congruence is required • Application is practical • Response is expected • Leaders facilitate Pentecostals are well positioned to lead the way in creating experiential environments for people to encounter God and the fullness of His Spirit. We can maximize this opportunity by maintaining our commitment to both the Spirit of God and the Word of God, and by connecting the dots, in more meaningful ways, between the power of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, and the gifts of the Spirit.

As Pentecostal leaders, we must emphasize not only the encounter of the Holy Spirit, but the life lived in the Spirit following the encounter. It’s this key point that Dr. Craig Keener discusses in our first of two cover stories, “Spirit: Why Power and Love Always Go Together.” In our second cover story, Mike Burnette focuses on the importance of building a Word-centered church in, “Word: What God’s Word Does in Us and Through Us.” In our final feature, Dr. John Davidson discusses the key element of leadership and the need to foster the development of young leaders in “The Graying of the Pulpit, Revisited.” I pray these articles and others in this issue will encourage you as you demonstrate dynamic leadership in the world around you.

Chris Railey, D.Min., is the executive director of Influence Resources and the senior director of leadership and church development ministries for The General Council of the Assemblies of God, U.S.A.

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GET SET

4 Questions with Bryan Sederwall

RESCUING PEOPLE, REBUILDING LIVES, RESTORING DREAMS Raised as an AG preacher’s kid from a small town in Illinois, Bryan Sederwall now serves as the pastor and executive director of the Denver Dream Center, where he is building a faith community amidst addicts, gang members, ex-offenders and the homeless.

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Influence: What is the Denver Dream Center and how did it get started?

Bryan Sederwall: The Denver Dream Center was officially launched in 2014 with a vision to “Rescue People — Rebuild Lives — Restore Dreams.” My wife and I moved to Denver in 2007 and began a process of doing ministry and building relationships in the city.

What started with one relationship with a guy I met

children of incarcerated men, or grinding out hoops any place guys are hanging out. Trust takes a long time to establish, but once it’s created, it gives you credibility and a pathway into people’s lives.

How does an isolated and displaced population find a fit within the faith community?

I believe God creates each of us with a desire for relationship and community. Guys from gangs and those coming out of prison value community. The problem is we try to fit these displaced individuals into our programs and ministries rather than build relationships into their world.

The faith community should be a displaced person’s greatest support system — helping them find jobs and housing, providing care to their kids, wives, and girlfriends, and walking the journey with them as they transition back into society.

coming out of prison 10 years ago has now become a massive ministry wrapped around re-entry and work with ex-offenders. The DDC works with about 300 ex-offenders a month.

By reaching the kids, youth and families in Denver, we are helping to break the cycle of incarceration, addiction and homelessness. Our Adopt A Block programs are reaching thousands of kids and families through the largest and poorest housing projects in Denver.

Building trusting relationships with gang members and ex-offenders is not easy. How have you accomplished this?

Consistency has been the greatest value in building relationships with gang members and ex-offenders.

I’ve literally spent thousands of hours sitting in correctional facilities, going to court hearings, visiting gang members in the hospital after a shooting, checking on

Describe a model the faith community can create that will serve the homeless, addicts, gang members and ex-offenders.

Faith communities need to identity concerns in their cities and then establish a cause. In Denver, we saw a huge need to create a wrap-around support system for those re-entering society and to create solutions for kids and families to prevent further high-risk situations.

The greatest opportunity for the faith community is to connect with those already providing services and find ways to add support. Collaboration with these solution providers is key. Identify government programs and agencies, local nonprofits and organizations, businesses and partners, and other faithbased partners.

In Denver, we work closely with the mayor, the police chief, the deputy director of Parks and Recreation, and the staff of Denver Housing Authority. I have coffee or meetings with these key leaders monthly. We also work closely with Denver’s professional sports teams and athletes to run sports camps and clinics.

Faith communities need to develop relationships, be consistent and serve like crazy.

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LIVE

CREATING SPACE FOR GOD God will bless your work time when you prioritize your walk time.

KATHY CANNON

y calendar is more reliable than my brain. With all the craziness of life — marriage, five kids and ministry — I’ve discovered that unless it’s written down or typed in, it ain’t gonna happen.

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I block off time for sermon writing, basketball practices, lunch meetings, date days, worship nights, music lessons and team gatherings. I wake up early and fall into bed early. Every single thing that depends on me showing up or preparing in advance must be on that calendar.

Each and every item is important, often incredibly spiritual and sometimes even urgent. But given an honest evaluation, it easily becomes more about my work life than it was about my walk life.

“Pastors, you are paid to be the Christians you keep telling others to be.” The admonition from Pastor Charles Crabtree circled in my brain until the Holy Spirit urged me to be as intentional with my personal walk with the Lord as I was with my professional work for the Lord. The tools were there. The systems were in place. It was my priorities that needed to shift. Sure, I can get things done for Jesus. But am I becoming more like Him? God desires intentional relationship. For me, that depended on showing up, and preparing in advance. The two reasons I use a calendar to make life work became the same methods I use to grow in my walk.

First, I plan to show up. I create weekly blocks of time on my calendar for devotional reading, prayer and journal writing. I shut down or put away everything else to avoid distractions. Now that it’s on the calendar, I can be honest and tell someone, “I’m sorry; I have another appointment then.”

Protecting these times is a discipline, but my relationship with God requires me showing up to meet with Him. I cannot pour out to others unless I consistently refuel by spending time in the presence of God, and that doesn’t happen by accident. Since I’m not yet good at praying for hours, I started with 10, 20, then 30 minutes, and took that appointment as seriously as I took the meeting with a volunteer after it.

Second, I prepare in advance. With a little prep, it is easier than I thought to reclaim lost time in my days. A current personalgrowth read now resides in my car or on my iPad at all times, and when I find myself sitting and waiting, it’s there to pick up. Those previously wasted moments in a lobby or during a child’s music lesson become treasured times to read the next chapter instead of mindlessly scrolling through another social media feed.

With these shifts, my entire life has become more fruitful. God will bless your work time when you prioritize your walk time.

“Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit” John 15:5 (NLT).

Kathy Cannon is lead pastor at Sacred Church (Assemblies of God) in San Bruno, California.

THE TECH-WISE PASTOR Your smartphone is an indispensable tool.

Don’t let it become a needless distraction!

GEORGE P. WOOD

y smartphone is an indispensable tool. Personally, it wakes me in the morning, tracks my diet and exercise habits, and entertains me when I’m bored. Professionally, it facilitates constant contact with others, maintains my daily calendar, helps me get things done when I’m out of the office, and makes it easy to promote my ministry through social media.

Unfortunately, my smartphone is also a needless distraction. I check it constantly for fear of missing out on something important. I worry inordinately about how many likes, comments, or shares my social media posts have generated. And as I look at others’ social media, I become jealous of their seemingly perfect lives and ministries.

If we’re going to be tech-wise pastors in the Age of Information, we need to learn how to use this indispensable tool — not to mention a tablet or a laptop — without becoming needlessly distracted by it. Toward that end, I offer the following advice: First, the pastoral is the personal. As Jesus put it in John 10:3, “[The shepherd] calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” Technology and social media should serve personal relationships, not substitute for them. They should help us move individuals from isolation to relationship.

So, if you find yourself spending more time

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on Facebook than face-to-face, your smartphone has become a distraction.

Second, authenticity is essential. Life is hard. It makes us sad or mad as often as it makes us glad. And yet, as Donna Freitas points out in a recent book about college students and social media: “Because young people feel so pressured to post happy things on social media, most of what everyone sees on social media from their peers are happy things; as a result, they often feel inferior because they aren’t actually happy all the time.” She calls this dynamic “the happiness effect.”

Compare that to the apostle Paul, who wrote, “I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). Technology and social media should help us and those we lead become Christlike in all circumstances, good or bad. Our use of them should not promote feelings of inferiority or fear of missing out (FOMO) or jealousy in us or in others.

Third, change is hard. Andy Crouch points out that a primary characteristic of technology is that it’s “easy everywhere.” Have a problem? There’s an app for that, and it’s inexpensive and easy to use. Discipleship is not technology, however. It’s costly and difficult. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). There’s no app for cross-bearing.

None of this advice requires you or me to give up our smartphones and social media entirely, although dialing back your use of them is probably a good idea. Rather, the point of this advice is to help you make up your own mind about them so that these tools don’t become a distraction in your life or ministry.

George P. Wood is executive editor of Influence magazine.

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WINSOME PERSUASION Tim Muehlhoff & Richard C. Langer (IVP Academic)

America is increasingly a post-Christian nation. Consequently, Christian belief is becoming an unpopular minority report.

How can Christians influence the broader culture in such an environment? Rather than indulging in “combative public rhetoric,” Tim Muehlhoff and Richard C. Langer argue that Christians should follow the way of “winsome persuasion” and become a “counterpublic,” using “whatever means possible to influence the national narrative” even as they understand that “real change comes at the local level.” The authors conclude the book by applying their suggestions to LGBT issues.

BOOKS WORTH HIGHLIGHTING, FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM

By Influence Magazine

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12 WAYS YOUR PHONE IS CHANGING YOU Tony Reinke (Crossway)

“What is the best use of my smartphone in the flourishing of my life?” That’s the question Tony Reinke sets out to answer in this eye-opening book. Too often, he points out, we focus on the usefulness of smartphones but fail to see how using them changes us, not always for the better. Among other things, smartphones fuel our addiction to distraction, feed our craving for immediate approval, and facilitate our indulgence in secret vices. The answer is not ditching them entirely but rather “living smartphone smart.”

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THE TRIUNE GOD Fred Sanders (Zondervan)

Christians know that God is a Trinity: one God, three Persons — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. However, they struggle when asked to show where this doctrine can be found in Scripture.

In this book, Fred Sanders argues that “the manner of the Trinity’s revelation dictates the shape of the doctrine.”

He thus focuses on “biblical exposition and the doctrinal extrapolations drawn from it.” His book is an intermediatelevel text, perfect for readers who want to build on their introductory studies of the doctrine but wary of trying to tackle an advanced-level academic monograph.

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FOCUS ON PARENTING focusonthefamily.com/media/focus-on-parenting-podcast

Focus on Parenting is a twice-weekly podcast of Focus on the Family, which for 40 years has been America’s most trusted source of Christian advice for families. Hosted by John Fuller, each five- to 10-minute podcast features conversations with experts and offers “tried and true parenting advice to help your children thrive.” Recent topics include “Rethinking Your Parenting Strategies,” “Navigating Life’s Toughest Questions with Your Kids” and “Escaping the Comparison Trap.” By design, this podcast will “challenge and encourage you in being a better parent.”

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KIDMIN TALK kidology.org/podcast/

Kidmin Talk is a weekly podcast of Kidology, a parachurch ministry that aims to “equip and encourage those who minister to children.” Hosted by Karl Bastian, episodes are 20 to 40 minutes in length and address “the current buzz in the ‘kidmin’ world, looking at news, publications, resources, and topical conversation, both from Kidology as well as around the globe.” Recent topics include “Helping Kids Experience God,” “Creative Summer Outreach” and “Technology in Kidmin.”

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THE ORANGE LEADERS AUDIO BLOG orangeleadersaudioblog.libsyn.com/podcast

The Orange Leaders Audio Blog aims to help “family, youth and children’s leaders influence the faith and character of kids and teenagers.” Episodes feature conversations with well-known Christian leaders, run approximately five minutes in length, and drop every day, Monday through Friday.

Some episodes feature the “Orange” ministry model, but most address issues from a more general perspective. Recent episodes include “Consistency — the Key to Transforming Your Ministry,” “4 Ways to Help a Child through a Crisis” and “10 Practical Ways to Partner with Parents.”

Final Note: Check out the Influence Podcast, a collection of inspiring and challenging conversations, aimed at empowering the entire spectrum of church leadership. Episodes drop twice weekly and are hosted by Influence Executive Editor George P. Wood or Senior Editor John Davidson.

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Apps and tech that add to your life 1

BLUE LETTER BIBLE

Now you can experience Bible study on a whole new level. Blue Letter Bible is a comprehensive, web-based Bible study tool and app for pastors, teachers, and anyone desiring an in-depth study of God’s Word.

An easy-to-use, yet powerful Bible study tool, BLB makes reading and studying the Scriptures an intellectually rewarding experience.

BLB contains over 30 Bible versions in multiple languages, text and audio commentaries, Hebrew/Greek lexicons, concordances, dictionaries, encyclopedias, advanced word searches, and so much more.

The BLB app allows users to customize their study experience with color themes, variable speed auto scrolling, parallel views, highlighting, underlining, and note-taking options — all with Cloud back up.

Web-based tools are also numerous, including topical indexes, sermon outlines, maps, images, timelines, charts, video and audio collections, daily Bible reading plans, and much more. One of BLB’s most used tools is the Lexicon search, which gives users immediate access to the original Hebrew and Greek words, with corresponding pronunciation and English equivalents.

For more information, visit blueletterbible.org or the App Store or Google Play.

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Getting ready to take your first, short-term missions trip but don’t know the language of the country you are visiting? Do you pastor a bilingual church and need to brush up on your Spanish? Now you can learn a new language anytime, anywhere using Duolingo, a language app that’s extremely effective in teaching you to read, write, listen and speak another language. Duolingo is a convenient, portable, and fun way to get a selfpaced, easy, nonthreatening introduction to learning a new language.

Duolingo has 23 languages to choose from and boasts over 120 million users worldwide. An independent study found that spending just 34 hours on Duolingo is equivalent to a taking an entire semester language course at a local university. That’s an entire semester of knowledge you can fit into your breaks, commutes and moments waiting in line.

With Duolingo, you learn a language completely for free and have fun while doing it. For those who want an ad-free experience with the ability to download lessons for offline use, you can subscribe to Duolingo Plus for $10 a month.

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PLAYBOOK : BUILD

STRUCTURED FOR MISSION How Freedom Valley Worship Center is building a church planting network.

G E R R Y S T O LT Z F O O S

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knew God was at work when I started seeing potential church plants everywhere. Every empty building looked like a greatplace for a church to start.

Every crowd of people seemed “like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).

I saw possibilities for ministries that I knew I couldn’t bring into being on my own. God wanted to reach people, and He was willing to work through someone like me to do it. Slowly, I awakened to an unusual calling on my life — to help pastors start churches.

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Helping Helpers Many of the churches Freedom Valley launched were nestled in rural places, in towns most people have never heard of. We decided to help anyone who wanted to receive help.

Freedom Valley established three simple standards for new church start-ups: belief in the Word of God, submission to oversight and faith in abundance.

If someone had a heart for reaching spiritually lost people around them — and trusted God to build His kingdom through them — we wanted them be a part of our network.

Our share of the challenge was to provide fellowship, oversight, and, in some cases, financial management.

Investing Without Credit My mentor, Omar Beiler, has often said, “Imagine what we could do if we stopped caring who gets the credit.”

Other churches asked whether we could help them start a church. They wanted to know whether we were willing to assist without getting any credit for it and without claiming that church as our own. I told them we would, and I wrote an agreement guaranteeing it.

Quite a few churches took us up on that offer. Many of them chose never to join our fellowship network, but some did join.

Nurturing Relationships Each of our network churches choose which level of partnership they want with Freedom Valley. They may choose relational, partnership, parent affiliated or video church levels. Relational level congregations want to be in relationship with us, but they have outside governance.

Partnership churches want to associate as Freedom Valley congregations in another location; they enjoy common governance with Freedom Valley. Parent affiliated churches (PACs) are wholly owned and managed sites of Freedom Valley, and video sites streamline our preaching by video at their locations.

Each of the four levels includes the cumulative features of all the levels below it, which means level two operates as level one and level two, and level three operates as levels one, two and three.

Providing Organizational Support Freedom Valley manages finances for all network churches that wish us to do so. We also provide legal services for all churches at level two or above, and offer them

free privileges to borrow church property, such as vans, baptismal pools and sound equipment.

Weekly call-in meetings happen via video, with frequent guest appearances. Guests offer special insight and powerful instruction. Calls generally last an hour or more, as we fellowship, pray for each other and offer support for pastors.

Some of our network churches contribute 5 percent of weekly tithes to a common church planting fund to help more new churches get started, while another 5 percent goes to world missions. All churches share freely whatever God has shown them, including insights for reaching people.

Coaching and Supporting In addition, Freedom Valley offers Heart and Soul meetings four times a year. These events provide opportunities for pastors and leadership teams to gather, hear leadership principles, celebrate wins, and set goals for the period ahead.

We also started offering credentialing for pastors who could get more done if they carried an Assemblies of God credential card that said someone in the church believes in them and their ministry. Currently, more than 40 pastors carry a Freedom Valley license to preach the gospel, essentially a local church credential.

As of this writing, we have helped approximately 104 churches get started. But 104 churches will not change a nation. We are believing God for more than a thousand churches, and many more networks that will help get thousands more churches started after that.

Jesus promised, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). This divine building project continues to this day — and Christ invites every community, every congregation and every believer to join Him in following His redemptive blueprint.

Gerry Stoltzfoos is the lead pastor of Freedom Valley Worship Center (Assemblies of God) in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

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PLAYBOOK : KNOW

ARE YOU AN INTERVENTIONIST LEADER? Here are three things to consider when it’s time to be an interventionist.

ED STETZER

hurch leaders wear several hats. We all know this.

You pastor, pray, encourage, visit and more. It’s hard to even think of adding another hat. But sometimes you must take on the job of intervening, to get into a situation and to bring about change.

Why does such change matter? Because many churches are not engaging their communities, and change is the only option. For example, in our Transformational Church research, we found the majority of churches in America are plateaued or declining, have less than half the people serving in any way inside the church, and less than a quarter of the church is serving in the community.

In other words, there’s not a lot of transformation going on, and changing the culture of your church takes intentional action. This means that, at times, you must intervene as a pastor — to seek to change the status quo.

Intervening is perhaps one of the more difficult tasks. People won’t always like it, but you didn’t go into

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ministry to please everyone. (If you want everyone to like you, sell ice cream, don’t pastor.)

Intervening is often a challenge. As such, here are three things to consider when it’s time to be an interventionist.

An Interventionist Must Avoid Pandering to People Pandering sounds like a negative thing because it is a negative thing. Most often, someone who panders to another is basically enabling them to continue in their destructive behavior.

Interventionists don’t make pandering their focus.

Now, there are times when people need reassurance.

“Hey, I understand. I get it. We’ll be there. We’ll meet your needs. I know you’re hurt, and maybe you feel left out, so we’re here for you.”

But this should be rare, and never a relational pattern. Over the long haul, it isn’t healthy for the church or for you. Leaders, as we learn in Ephesians 4:11–12, are tasked with equipping the saints “for the work of

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PLAYBOOK : KNOW

An interventionist leader doesn’t exist to make others happy, but to make them fruitful. the ministry.” Pastors should be helping church members minister to their communities; pastors aren’t supposed to do all the ministry themselves!

Leaders who pander to whims will spend their lives doing for people what God has called those people to do themselves. That’s bad for everyone, and the mission of God gets hindered. You may get praised for your deed, but you are creating an unhealthy dependency.

An Interventionist Is Called to Provide While some may at times have unhealthy desires, there are plenty of legitimate needs. God put you in your role because you can equip others for ministry.

Enabling is not helpful, but true help is good. A wise leader knows what people actually need and connects them with it.

Providing is not about doing every little thing from every little call. You have to figure out what is an actual need and what is simply a want. The skill of providing is enhanced by developing real relationships with the people who will be calling you. Providing well is about knowing needs and limits, and connecting people to the solutions.

An interventionist provides what a church needs through well-exercised leadership, direction, information, exhortation and more.

An Interventionist Is Called to Provoke The King James Version uses the word “provoke” when it speaks of challenging the people of God “unto love and to good works” (Hebrews 10:24). A leader must occasionally stir up some believers to fulfill the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment.

Sometimes such provoking will bring a positive response. Other times it may make some people uncomfortable and even mad. As a leader, you should clothe your provoking with encouragement. It won’t always be seen as you dressed it, but do what you should anyway.

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Yes, it can be hard to provoke people, but if it were easy, we would not have so many plateaued or declining churches. Leaders will have to lovingly provoke a congregation at times. Leaders can provoke both from the pulpit, challenging the congregation to serve the needs of its community, and individually, encouraging specific persons to apply the truths of the gospel in particular situations that demand immediate attention.

An interventionist provokes when needed to get through the challenge.

Finding Your Leadership Place Each level of intervention has a place of comfort, which is just outside of complacency. Wisdom will help you move people from the dangerous place of comfort to the powerful place of discontent, taking them to a restless aspiration for improvement that ultimately helps advance the mission.

The danger is that over time we tend to lean toward one behavior. A wise interventionist finds balance.

Part of your job is to provide. Part of your job is to provoke. If you forget one or the other, you’ll lose your effectiveness.

Some pastors have a personality that is more like a chaplain, sensitively offering care to those who are hurting, but they don’t provide enough challenge to those they are serving. Another may have the aggressive personality of a prophet, able to speak truth, but struggling with pastoral care. Every leader, regardless of his or her personality type, should find a balance in their gifting and style to be effective.

God didn’t call you to babysit. God called you to lead people so that they can be on mission. Leaders should empower transformation, not enable complacency or dysfunction. And an interventionist leader doesn’t exist to make others happy, but to make them fruitful.

An interventionist provides and provokes so that people are faithful and fruitful in the church and beyond, laying up “treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20).

Ed Stetzer, Ph.D. is the Billy Graham chair of church, mission and evangelism at Wheaton (Illinois) College and serves as executive director of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism.

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PLAYBOOK : INVEST

CURATING A WINNING CULTURE FOR YOUR VOLUNTEER LEADERS Consider these practical next steps toward successfully investing in your volunteer leaders.

KLEN KURUVILLA

ministry’s organizational success is dependent on the success of its volunteer leaders.

An effective church must equip, empower and encourage leaders to influence their churches, workplaces and families.

Your investment in people exponentially multiplies your reach and impact for the kingdom of God. It may take months, or even years, for growth and development to become evident, but your volunteer leaders are worth your time. God gives them the gifts and abilities to help fulfill the church’s vision. As leaders, we must intentionally learn from those we serve. Great leaders recognize that the success of their volunteer leaders is the pulse of their churches.

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Consider some practical next steps toward successfully investing in your volunteer leaders.

Equip Your Leaders Identify and define the win. As leaders, it is up to us to stake out the boundaries of the playground. When we clearly identify and define the win, we’re starting with the end result in mind. Begin by flushing out the answers to questions like, “What are we trying to achieve? Why do we do what we do?”

Clearly defining goals opens the door for volunteers to win in the categories that matter most.

Separate the committed from the committee.

Create a leadership pipeline to help you identify the unique character, strengths, capabilities and capacity of your current team. A lot of people want to help, but the degree of their character, capacity and commitment can vary. So, it is important to have an objective approach to developing volunteer leaders. Start a system now for identifying, developing and training leaders within your church or organization.

Empower Your Leaders Give away decision making. The degree to which you delegate decisions to your key volunteers indicates the level of trust you have in your volunteer leadership.

Of course, you can’t casually entrust every volunteer with the responsibility of making important decisions, but ask yourself, How many decisions a day am I making that others in my volunteer leadership team can

“This book delivers practical solutions to difficult challenges.” be making on my behalf? Decision making builds confidence in your volunteer leaders and increases their ownership, creativity and innovation.

Be available. Your volunteer leaders want to know that you care for them and that what they do matters to you on a personal level. Give them your time and attention, and you’ll be surprised how long they’ll be willing to serve.

Expect and inspect. It’s important to manage a healthy tension between excellence and development.

Excellence demands innovation, but integrity demands people development. If we are to release leaders to do Kingdom business, we must provide clear expectations and consistent guidance.

Encourage Your Leaders Make spiritual deposits. If you had to check the balances on the spiritual bank accounts of your volunteer leaders, what would you find? Every interaction is an opportunity to make a spiritual deposit for discipleship. Jesus never had a job description for His followers. Instead, He had a come-follow-me approach and regularly made spiritual deposits into their lives.

A great practical way to do this is by spending time praying with (together) and for (personally) your volunteers.

Compensate well. Cultivate a value for gratitude by acknowledging the talents, gifts and time of your volunteers. Consider handwriting thankyou notes, hosting dinner nights, and providing special perks and discounts for events and products at your church.

Celebrate and communicate your volunteers’ accomplishments, and let people know that what they’re doing has immense value to the mission of your organization. Share stories, and acknowledge your volunteers weekly, monthly and annually. Authenticity matters. Don’t forget the power of simply looking someone in the eye and expressing your gratitude for that person’s contribution.

Let’s advance the mission of the kingdom of God and help others — especially your volunteer leaders — succeed.

Klen Kuruvilla is associate pastor at 7 City Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

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PERSPECTIVES

Video Teaching in a Multisite A growing number of churches employ video as a means of teaching. Sixty percent of new churches last year were parent affiliated, meaning they had some connection with an established church.

Many times that connection is maintained by broadcasting the established church’s weekend sermons to satellite campuses. The percentage of

churches using video continues to increase as the costs of production and streaming decrease.

But just like any technology, there are challenges and concerns. If you’re considering planting a parent affiliated church, this may be the first decision you have to make. Will you use video as a teaching method, or empower the parent affiliated

MULTISITE VIDEO TEACHING: PRO f you are expanding your own church’s ministry footprint by launching multiple campuses, you must consider video teaching.

Video teaching promotes consistency and competency across all your campuses and staff.

Employing a video teaching model means that the message is consistent week in and week out.

Any members or attendees who have left the home church to plant a satellite campus are accustomed to a certain level of preaching from the lead pastor. By offering a video venue, you continue to replicate that model for them. They get exactly what they expect.

But even more than setting expectations, multisite video teaching allows you to continue to drive a consistent mission. It’s very easy for each campus to start to develop its own identity, and that’s good. But individualism should never sacrifice the overarching vision of the organization. Video teaching allows the central team to drive the single vision of the whole church week after week.

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A consistent message also unifies your campuses into one church. One reason parent affiliated churches are so successful is the connection they feel with the home church. If every member of the church, no matter which venue they attend, is receiving the same message each week, it only strengthens the connection between all attenders.

A video teaching model also promotes competency. When launching a multisite venture, you need a leader who can oversee multiple ministries and interact with people regularly. By providing video teaching, you release the campus pastor to focus on what he or she

does best in their level of highest competency without the demand of communicating a compelling sermon each week.

A campus pastor who doesn’t preach is still a pastor. He or she will be overseeing staff, engaging with families, and making sure visitors are connected each week.

They are also the first line of care to their campuses, performing weddings and funerals, and making hospital visitations. Without the demands of sermon prep, they are free to be as competent as they can be in their roles.

Meanwhile, video teaching allows a church’s lead pastor to be the best communicator he or she can be. They are laser-focused each week on providing the best message to as many people, confident that each campus’ core needs are being met by competent support staff. Video-driven churches have the opportunity to be some of the strongest churches because they focus on excellence, putting the right people in the right roles at the right time.

ONE ONE ISSUE. ISSUE. TWO TWO PERSPECTIVES. PERSPECTIVES.

Model: Pros and Cons church pastor as the lead communicator? Often, experience is the only way to know what is right or wrong for your congregation.

In this Perspectives, we offer two contrasting opinions on the topic. One perspective looks at the ways a video campus is actually helpful in advancing the mission and vision of the central

church, while also allowing each staff member of the video campus to be used in the best possible way. While another perspective looks at some inherent flaws in the video campus system. We hope that seeing the two issues side by side will help you navigate the question in your own setting.

MULTISITE VIDEO TEACHING: CON ecent figures show that 65 percent of young people attending church would rather hear a message in person than watch that same message on a video screen.

Anyone watching a video message can just as easily stay home or connect to Wi-Fi while on vacation or out of town. While a video venue may provide a convenience for some, it creates the perception that a person doesn’t have to be in church to be part of the community.

Another great reason to choose live teaching or preaching over video messages is the technological challenges involved. In order to launch a video venue, there is generally a huge up-front cost. Thousands of dollars are dedicated to the latest video displays, high-definition monitors, receivers, and satellite and internet connections for broadcasting the sermon. And a church that is dependent on a sermon being sent from a separate

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site is bound to run into technological problems from time to time. How can you guarantee the quality of the feed throughout the message? How many times will the feed lock up or go down all together? What happens if you have a video feed but no audio?

What do you do if the hardware fails or needs repair during the service?

And if you lose power, a live preacher can continue preaching, but a video can’t keep playing.

But the biggest concern in the use of video teaching is the role of the senior pastor. It is customary for

a churchgoer to consider the lead communicator their personal minister. Each week they glean the Word of God from him or her. The spiritual insights they get shouldn’t end on Sunday morning once the video feed ends. Who will churchgoers contact if they have serious questions about the message or want prayer for a specific topic brought up? By relying on video teaching, you eliminate one of the main functions of the senior pastor, to care for each member of his or her flock.

Many consider video teaching the wave of the future.

But does the past have more to teach us still?

Before we move on from tradition into a different era, we should step back and take a hard look at the role of the shepherd. While culture promises to connect, but leaves us isolated, church should be a place where everyone feels like they belong.

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FEATURE

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WHY POWER and

LOVE ALWAYS

GO TOGETHER IT IS POSSIBLE TO EMBRACE ONE ASPECT OF THE SPIRIT’S WORK WHILE LARGELY MISSING ANOTHER. HOW DO WE ACCOUNT FOR THIS APPARENT INCONGRUITY? CRAIG KEENER

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FEATURE

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he earliest Pentecostals began as people yearning for holiness and praying for power to evangelize the world in their generation.

This twin passion for what we could call purity and power, condition and mission, or fruit and fullness, remains central in us being the agents for God that we must be for our generation.

Yet we all know some Christians who are weak in one area or the other. In our schools, workplaces and communities, Christians from a range of backgrounds regularly encourage one another and work together to share our faith. In these settings, we often meet people who are not baptized in the Spirit in the Pentecostal sense, who nevertheless display the fruit of the Spirit.

Moreover, most of us Pentecostals have also known some ornery Pentecostals.

How do we account for this apparent incongruity?

While sensitivity to the Spirit in one area of our lives should, and often does, spill over into other areas, it is possible to embrace one aspect of the Spirit’s work while largely missing another. Fullness and fruitfulness are two different ways that God’s Spirit works in us. Baptism in the Spirit in the Book of Acts is about power for mission, but the Spirit also transforms us into Christ’s image.

As a young Christian, I often did not feel “spiritual” unless I had prophesied or led someone to Christ that day. I soon discovered, however, that in Scripture love is a greater sign of spiritual maturity than giftedness.

At the same time, God gifts us with power to serve in divinely effective ways those we love.

The Fullness of the Spirit The Pentecostal movement began with Christians yearning for holiness and praying for power to evangelize the world in their generation. They prayed for “missionary tongues” so that language learning would not slow down the Great Commission. Although God occasionally did grant missionary tongues, most of our forebears rapidly discovered that the primary purpose of tongues was for prayer. Within a couple of years, almost all of them abandoned the idea of missionary tongues.

Their first instincts about the connection with mission were not completely wrong, however. Missiologists today speak of global Pentecostalism 36

I had to discover that God does not ask us to depend on our own strength. He invites us to depend on His gift.

— including charismatics, now together numbering half a billion people after a century of growth — as the fastest growing movement in the history of Christianity. One of the reasons we have grown so rapidly is the same reason the Early Church grew in Acts: power for mission.

Power for Mission Power for mission is so important that the pivotal scene that ties together Luke’s two-volume work, Luke and Acts, hinges on it (Luke 24:44–53; Acts 1:2– 11). Here Jesus passes on His prophetic mission, “all that Jesus began to do and to teach” (Acts 1:1). In Acts 2, the risen and exalted Lord baptizes His Church in the same Holy Spirit who anointed Him for His own mission (Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38).

Likewise, power for mission is so important that Jesus forbids His disciples from beginning this mission until they are clothed with “power from on high” (Luke 24:49). This language evokes Isaiah’s promise of the Spirit: “the Spirit … from on high” (Isaiah 32:15).

The prophets depicted God pouring out His Spirit

like water when He restores His people (Isaiah 44:3; Ezekiel 36:25–27; 39:29). Indeed, Isaiah promised that God would put His Spirit on His people and make them witnesses for Him to the ends of the earth (Isaiah 43:10–12; 44:8; 49:6) — the same way that Jesus commissions His witnesses in Acts.

The Spirit’s power for ministry includes signs and wonders. Luke most often associates power with healing (Luke 5:17; 6:19; 8:46; 9:1; Acts 3:12; 4:7; 6:8; 10:38) and deliverance (Luke 4:36; 9:1; Acts 10:38). The word usually translated “miracles,” in fact, means something like “works of power” (Luke 10:13; 19:37; Acts 2:22; 8:13; 19:11). We do not all have identical gifts, but we can pray and trust God to attest the gospel (not us) with signs (Acts 4:29–30; 14:3).

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FEATURE

Proofs of Mission God offered three signs on the Day of Pentecost: wind, fire and tongues (Acts 2:2–4). Of these, the sign of tongues (Acts 2:4) is the most important for Luke. Although wind (during the West Timor revival in Indonesia) and fire (during the revival at Pandita Ramabai’s orphanage in India) accompanied some revivals even during the 20th century, they are not repeated in Acts. By contrast, Luke explicitly repeats tongues on two more occasions when the Spirit falls (Acts 10:46; 19:6). Praise in tongues also provides the catalyst for Peter’s sermon (Acts 2:6,11–12), because Peter recognizes this praise as prophetically inspired speech (Acts 2:16–18).

Why is Luke so interested in emphasizing tongues?

Because tongues serve to evidence and explicate the nature of receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Although John the Baptist probably envisioned multiple ways in which the Spirit would work (Luke 3:16), Acts focuses on a particular aspect of the Spirit’s work, as Luke tells us plainly in Acts 1:8. The Spirit empowers us to speak God’s message across all cultural boundaries. What greater sign could the Lord have given us at Pentecost about our mission than this: He inspired us to worship Him in other people’s languages?

Peter’s audience at Pentecost even offers a foreshadowing of that mission. Luke lists the nations present (Acts 2:9–11), basically updating the first list of nations in Genesis 10. But Genesis 10 continues into Genesis 11, where God came down to scatter languages at Babel. In Acts 2, God also multiplies languages — but this time as a foretaste of the church’s multicultural mission and future.

Promise for All Believers The promise of the Spirit’s power was not just for the Eleven and those with them (Luke 24:33,49). They were the first witnesses, but the promise is for all of us (Acts 2:38–39) and for the same purpose those first witnesses modeled: to proclaim Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.

Quoting Joel 2, Peter explains to the crowd that tongues indicate prophetic empowerment (Acts 2:16–18). God is pouring out the Spirit on all flesh — crossing all human boundaries. Both men and 38

women, young and old, will prophesy and have other prophetic experiences, such as dreams and visions.

To make sure no one misses the point, Peter caps off verse 18 by reiterating Joel’s point once more: “and they will prophesy.”

A mind framed around the flesh will not achieve God’s standard of purity. What we need instead is a mind informed by God’s Spirit.

Prophetic power should be the church’s new normal. In the Old Testament, God empowered prophets like Deborah, Samuel and Elijah. When Elijah ascended to heaven, his successor, Elisha, received a double portion of his spirit and carried on his ministry (2 Kings 2:9–15). Similarly, in Acts, the risen Lord ascends to heaven and pours out His Spirit on those who will now carry on His ministry.

But whereas the Spirit empowered only a few prophets in the Old Testament, now He empowers all of us to hear Him and speak for Him (Acts 2:38–39). Like the prophets of old, this power may assume different forms for each of us. Not everybody in Acts was a fullscale “prophet” (Acts 13:1; 21:9–10), but everybody can share the good news of Christ, the Spirit-empowered word of the Lord (Acts 8:4; 11:19–20; 12:24).

Praying for Power When I was ministering in Indonesia, a dream showed me the most important lesson I had learned from writing my four-volume, 4,500-page Acts commentary: Prayer often precedes the outpouring of the Spirit.

Sometimes in Acts, God grants the Spirit without prior prayer — God is, after all, sovereign. But most often in Acts, the Spirit falls after times of prayer. Luke is the one gospel to tell us that the Spirit came on Jesus at His baptism while He was praying (Luke 3:21–22).

The disciples spent several days in concerted prayer before the Spirit fell at Pentecost (Acts 1:13–14; 2:1).

It was after prayer for renewed boldness and signs

that the Spirit fell on believers again in Acts 4:29–31.

Peter and John prayed for the Samaritan believers to receive the Spirit (Acts 8:15). Saul and Cornelius had been praying before they were filled with the Spirit (Acts 9:11; 10:2–4,31).

The One whose promises are absolutely trustworthy assures us that if we seek the gift of the Spirit in prayer, He will not turn us away (Luke 11:13). May His promise stir us to pray in faith for more revivals of His Spirit among His people today.

Prayer invites us not only to fullness, but also to fruitfulness (Acts 2:42,46). Peter’s preaching converted thousands (Acts 2:41), but Pentecost was

not just about power for preaching. Conversions to Christ continued after Pentecost (Acts 2:47) because of the radical way Jesus’ followers were living. They prayed together, ate together and learned God’s Word together (Acts 2:42,46). When some faced challenges and hard times, others even shared their possessions (Acts 2:44–45), a characteristic also of the next revival (Acts 4:32–37).

The Spirit empowers God’s people to evangelize.

Yet the Spirit also comes to make us the body of Christ, a family who loves and serves one another. In Paul’s language, the Spirit not only gifts us to minister, but also produces fruit in us.

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FEATURE

The Fruit of the Spirit Early Pentecostals sought both purity and power. I experienced the power without seeking it or knowing what it was. Two days after my conversion from unchurched atheism, God gave me other tongues in which to praise Him, before I knew what speaking in tongues was.

Fruit, however, did not come so easily. Often in my own life, the harder I tried to be holy in my own strength, the further I felt from God. Like many before me, I had to discover that God does not ask us to depend on our own strength. He invites us to depend on His gift.

The way to overcome temptations is to focus on and follow the way of the Spirit.

Not Legalism God has consecrated us to himself; that is what it means to be saints, or His holy people (Romans 1:7).

Holiness has to do with loving God more than anything else. Although some well-intended quests for holiness in history have degenerated into legalism, rules don’t make us holy.

In Galatians 5:16–24, Paul contrasts the life of the Spirit with the way of the flesh, that is, the best (and worst) that human beings can do in our own strength.

The awful “works” of the flesh climax Paul’s earlier theme about human attempts at righteous “works” related to the Law, works undertaken without the Spirit (Galatians 2:16; 3:2, 5:19). Paul even directly contrasts life in the Spirit with being under the Law (Galatians 5:18,23).

The law of Moses could mandate refraining from lying or committing adultery, but it could not keep people from wanting to lie or commit adultery. Yet God had promised a time when He would write His laws on His people’s hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). God promised, “I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezekiel 36:27).

Paul declares that those who walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16) will live so honorably that the Law would not condemn them: “Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:23).

Galatians as His people by a sign far greater than external circumcision. Old Testament prophets had promised the gift of the Spirit to God’s people at the time of their restoration (Isaiah 44:3). This is the gift that the Galatians have received (Galatians 3:2). This end-time reality makes mere fleshly symbols of the covenant superfluous.

Some Jewish teachers thought that only the most righteous, perhaps one person in a generation, could merit the Holy Spirit. But Paul responds that the Spirit is a gift to all who trust in Christ. Those other teachers warned that only by circumcision could the Galatians become children of Abraham and of God. Paul retorts that the experience of the Spirit is the real proof that we are Abraham’s children and heirs of the promise (Galatians 3:14).

In fact, the Spirit of God’s own Son has made us God’s children, moving us to cry out, “Abba” (Galatians 4:6). “Abba” means something like, “Papa.” Until Jesus, others only rarely compared God with an Abba, and never in prayer. But Jesus’ Spirit within us gives us the same relationship as God’s children that Jesus has. (For the full and non-stop access to God that the Spirit gives us in Jesus, one may compare also John 14:16–17,23; 16:12–15.)

A Legacy for All Believers Some stringent teachers were insisting that the Galatians could join the people of God only by circumcision, the biblical sign of the covenant. Paul responds by pointing out that God has already confirmed the

The Image of Christ Like Luke, Paul believes that every ministry must be Spirit-energized, including Paul’s own (Romans 15:19; 1 Corinthians 12:4,7–11; 2 Corinthians 3:6–18).

But Paul’s focus in these Galatians passages is on

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how God’s Spirit within us makes our character look more and more like God’s, conforming us to the image of Christ. Paul is writing about our relationship with God, not power for mission.

Nevertheless, Paul is not suggesting that we necessarily embrace all the work of the Spirit at conversion. Not only did we receive the Spirit through faith (Galatians 3:2), but in the same way, God continues to supply the Spirit and perform miracles among us (Galatians 3:5). Paul does not rule out one or more subsequent experiences of the Spirit; he suggests a continued refreshing and daily dependence on the life of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16–25).

The fruit of the Spirit is the fruit of God’s character percolating and growing within us. What should we expect the Spirit’s character to look like? The Father, Son and Spirit are three persons of the one triune God, so we can expect that divine character to look like Jesus.

The Spirit celebrates God and others with joy.

The Spirit cultivates peace with our neighbors. The Spirit makes us patient with others’ faults, generous and thoughtful, gentle and self-controlled (Galatians 5:22–23). In short, the Spirit grows virtues in us that make us feel and act toward others more like the way God feels and acts toward us.

The most conspicuous fruit, though, is the one that Paul lists first. Paul summons us not to walk by the written code of ancient Israel, but by the “law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). We fulfill this law, Paul says, by carrying each other’s burdens, as Christ bore ours (Galatians 1:4; 2:20; 3:13). In fact, Jesus’ own teaching summarizes the heart of what the Law was really meant to teach us: loving others as ourselves (Matthew 22:39–40). In Galatians 5:14, Paul shows that this commandment fulfills the Law. Love, therefore, is not just any fruit of the Spirit. It is the chief characteristic of His work in us. Feeling love is marvelous, but love is more than a feeling; it is the way we treat others even before we feel it. The context in Galatians also shows us what love does not look like. Love does not look like fighting each other (Galatians 5:15). It does not look like bragging, envying or competing with each other (Galatians 5:26). It means helping up those who fall without looking down on them (Galatians 6:1–2).

New Life Is Christ Living in Us Walking by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16) involves walking the path the Spirit leads us upon — a path not subject to the Law (Galatians 5:18). What does Paul mean by being “led by the Spirit”? God led His people through the wilderness in connection with the Spirit (Isaiah 63:14). God’s Spirit leads us in His will in other ways (Psalm 143:10).

In the context of Galatians 5:18, however, the Spirit especially leads us in how we behave. We have something greater than merely a law or an informed conscience urging right and prohibiting wrong. We have a personal Guide who shows us how to meet anger with gentleness, hatred with love, and bitterness with patience (Galatians 5:22–23).

In Galatians 5:25, Paul continues this image of walking and being led by the Spirit. Here we are “guided by” (NRSV) or “keep in step with” (NIV, ESV) the Spirit.

Given how Paul uses the same word elsewhere, we might translate it as, “Put your feet where you find the footprints of the Spirit.” In 5:25, Paul exhorts us to keep in step with the Spirit; in 5:16, he guarantees that, insofar as we do walk by the Spirit, we will not fulfill desires that are opposed to God. Bodily desires serve a purpose. Without reproductive urges, the human race would die out. But our minds should be wise enough to control our desires and keep them within appropriate boundaries. When Paul says, “You shall not covet” (Romans 7:7), he is condensing Exodus 20:17. That verse tells us not to desire what is wrong for us to desire — namely, what rightly belongs to somebody else.

Unfortunately, this is sometimes easier said than done. Philosophers believed that trained reasoning could subdue passion; rabbis expected the knowledge of God’s Law to empower them against wrong desire.

By contrast, Paul points out that such solutions often just draw more attention to temptation, bringing defeat (Romans 7:7–25). A mind framed around the flesh will not achieve God’s standard of purity. What we need instead is a mind informed by God’s Spirit (Romans 8:5–8).

When by faith we invite the Spirit’s purposes to compete against the flesh’s purposes, God’s powerful Spirit will win (Galatians 5:16–17). That mean the way to overcome temptations of the flesh is not to struggle 41

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with them; such struggling just keeps our focus on the flesh. The way to overcome temptations is to focus on and follow the way of the Spirit.

The works of the flesh end up in sin (Galatians 5:19– 21). By contrast, when we walk by the Spirit, we bear the fruit of the Spirit — fruit that springs up because of God’s heart in our hearts. It is not our work; it is God’s work in us, and we give Him the credit for it. As we trust and depend on God’s Spirit, sometimes we may marvel at how different we are from what we once were.

Fullness and Fruitfulness as a Foretaste of the Future Both power and purity, fullness and fruitfulness, are ultimately a foretaste of our coming life with Jesus forever. Before His ascension, Jesus promises His disciples the Kingdom (Acts 1:3) and the Spirit (Acts 1:4–5). In Scripture, the Spirit accompanies the restoration of God’s people (Ezekiel 37:1–14; Joel 2:28 to 3:1). Most Jewish people did not expect the Spirit’s full work until the end times. In Acts 1:6, Jesus’ disciples ask Him the obvious question: “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

For Jesus’ followers, however, that time has begun, in what we can call the already/not yet of the Kingdom. The Messiah will come again to raise the dead and consummate His kingdom. Yet He already came once, rose from the dead, and is exalted as King. Jesus, therefore, now bestows His Spirit as a foretaste of that promised coming age.

The wind and fire at Pentecost (Acts 2:2–3) demonstrated that a piece of God’s end-time kingdom was breaking into history. When God revealed His presence in biblical theophanies, this often included stormy wind and fire. Scripture also depicted the Spirit’s end-time resurrection power as wind (Ezekiel 37:1–14) and often spoke of end-time fire (Isaiah 66:15–16; Luke 3:9,16–17).

Peter understood that the outpouring of the prophetic Spirit at Pentecost signaled “the last days” (Acts 2:17). Since it was already the last days back then, we are obviously still in those days — the era of the Spirit, prophecy and salvation. God did not pour out the Spirit and then pour the Spirit back again.

Likewise, the fruit of the Spirit points to the coming age. Paul suggests we cultivate that fruit by sowing 42

to the Spirit, a foretaste of the harvest of eternal life (Galatians 6:8). By the Spirit, we have already begun to experience that life; God placed some of heaven inside us.

Paul repeatedly speaks of our experience of the Spirit as a foretaste of the future world (Galatians 5:5), the “firstfruits” (Romans 8:23) and seal or deposit of our future inheritance (2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Ephesians 1:13–14). Eyes and ears have not grasped what God has prepared for those who love Him, but the Spirit gives us a foretaste (1 Corinthians 2:9–10). The writer of Hebrews associates the Spirit with tasting the powers of the coming age (Hebrews 6:4–5).

What that means is the world should be able to look at the Church and see a foretaste of heaven. If the world cannot see something of the Kingdom’s vanguard by looking at the Church, we are living short of our birthright in Christ.

Both/And God has promised the baptism in the Holy Spirit as power to cross all barriers with His gospel. He also cultivates in us the fruit of His character as we regularly acknowledge our dependence on His Spirit. Like the early Pentecostals, may we crave both holiness and power for mission.

I experienced empowerment for ministry as an unexpected gift. Eventually, I had to learn that transformation, too, grows in us as God’s gracious gift. Holiness and power for mission are not the same. Yet they have the same Source. We cannot earn either one. Our Creator and Savior bids us to depend on Him for both.

Craig S. Keener is F.M. and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary in Willmore, Kentucky.

Unleash the unlimited potential of the

HOLY SPIRIT In Power for Life, Jeff Leake unpacks complex biblical concepts about the Holy Spirit in simple, easy-to-follow terms.

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JEFF LEAKE has served as the lead pastor of a multi-campus church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the past twenty-four years. He is the author of several books, including Praying with Confidence.

Visit JeffLeakePowerForLife.com for more information.

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WHAT GOD’S

WORD DOES IN US and

THROUGH US

BIBLICAL ILLITERACY IS EPIDEMIC. ARE WE RECLAIMING OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO RIGHTLY DIVIDE THE WORD OF GOD? MIKE BURNETTE

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D

rew and Marina are a great young couple who reached out to me for a meeting soon after their engagement. I assumed they wanted to begin their premarital counseling and start preparations for their upcoming wedding. In our first meeting, they each took a deep breath, and, with excitement and anxiety in their voices, asked if I would marry them the following Sunday. They had recently become engaged, and had an original wedding date for much later in the year. However, something created a sense of urgency for them to move forward with their marriage.

As we continued our discussion, they shared how they met and how long they had been together and told me the story of their engagement. Then we talked about the sudden decision to marry. They were deeply in love, and had decided to move in together prior to their marriage. Their families told them not to, but did not press too hard, realizing that most young couples live together before marriage, even though they felt it was wrong.

I asked what motivated this sudden decision for marriage. The conversation immediately shifted to a discussion about the Bible. As they were hearing it preached at LifePoint Church, and reading it in their own study time together, God had been convicting them. Now they were wrestling with their desire to honor the Lord and honor His Word. We discussed God’s plan for marriage and for sex in the context of marriage, and talked about the apostle Paul’s admonition in 1 Corinthians 7:9 that it is better to marry than to burn in uncontrolled passion.

So, just a few days later, in front of a packed auditorium at the end of our final service, I invited Drew and Marina to the platform, and we all wept and applauded the Lord as this young couple married in front of their church. Their beautiful wedding was a powerful testimony of what it means to “read the Bible, and do what it says.” (See photo at right.)

What would it look like for our churches to be so full of the Word of God that people altered their whole lives (their budgets, their time management, their relationships, their devotions) to honor it? What would it look like if, instead of just saying the Bible is our authority for faith (what we believe) and for conduct (how we live), we applied that statement in every 46

Most Christians don’t read the Bible, don’t remember the Bible, don’t memorize the Bible, and don’t live according to the Bible. detail of our lives? What would it look if we, as Pentecostals, passionately pursued the fullness of both the Word of God and the Spirit of God? I fully endorse our commitment to our Holy Spirit theology, and I would add that being full of the Spirit and full of the Word of God are mutually beneficial.

Words to Live By The apostle Paul instructed Timothy about the value of Scripture in the lives of believers. In 2 Timothy 3:16–17, Paul wrote, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

In 2 Timothy 4:2, Paul said, “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage — with great patience and careful instruction.”

As Assemblies of God ministers, we believe that God divinely inspired the Bible. We accept Scripture as the inerrant, infallible and the authoritative rule for faith (what we believe) and conduct (how we live). While we have a powerful testimony of the Spirit’s work in our lives and ministries, we also believe that God gives us the Bible to teach, instruct, correct and train people to live godly lives. We know to pursue the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in our churches and ministries. I believe we must equally prioritize bibliocentric preaching and ministry in our churches, discipling people to follow God’s Word.

I received Christ as Savior on Halloween 1997 and began attending a Pentecostal church the following Sunday. As a brand-new Christian, I had the privilege of sitting under a couple of pastors who highly value 47

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the Bible as the primary rule for faith and practice.

The lead pastors, Barry and Ann Burns, were (and still are) a great pair of Bible teachers, who gave careful attention to the exegesis of Scripture, and preached in a way that compelled listeners toward a changed life and obedience to Christ.

Pastor Greg Harper, my youth pastor, discipled and mentored me as a young Christian, and would consistently push me to be a student of the Word. He taught me to have a daily quiet time, and said that our manual for living is what is in the Bible. I remember asking him for some sort of pamphlet, or CliffsNotes of the to-do list. He kept pushing me to the Bible and taught me the phrase: “Read your Bible, and do what it says.�

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As the Bible enriches us personally, it will inform us missionally.

I thank the Lord for a strong Bible foundation in my formative years as a Christian. That Bible focus continued under Pastor Barry Culberson, the first pastor who hired me in Knoxville, Tenn. He also is an incredible Bible preacher and teacher, pushing people to trust the promises of the Word, to live a life of obedience to the Bible, and to seek the Scriptures for how to live and how to believe.

I share that backstory because a focus on the Bible has been so instrumental in my own spiritual

formation, and is such a focus in the church I now pastor. We believe that the Bible is true and powerful, that the Bible is the authoritative rule for belief and for living, and we push our people to be Biblecentered people. We adopted Pastor Greg’s saying at LifePoint Church, and we use it often: “Read your Bible, do what it says.”

Bible Illiteracy Epidemic I’m currently in my third year of doctoral studies at Asbury Theological Seminary, focusing on preaching and pastoral leadership. As part of this degree, I will write my dissertation exploring the value and benefits of expository preaching through entire books of the Bible. My hope is to explore the practice of expository

book preaching as a significant means of overall church discipleship, increased bibliocentric living among our congregants, a deepened love for Jesus and His will, and a primary means of helping our people with their understanding of the metanarrative of the redemptive story of the whole Bible.

I would like to suggest that the primary tension within the Church does not arise from style disagreements, an age or gender gap, or even where we land on certain theological emphases. I would suggest that our main issue is that most Christians don’t read the Bible, don’t remember the Bible, don’t memorize the Bible, and don’t live according to the Bible. Biblical illiteracy is the epidemic in our churches. All other problems are the trickle-down result. Bad theology, bad practices, unbiblical living, racism, sexism and more are the natural result of Bible ignorance. People will not live by what they don’t know.

The Church must reclaim its responsibility to preach, teach, exegete and rightly divide the Word of God. Perhaps you’re thinking that this is happening already, but we all know of church leaders who reference an occasional Bible text while preaching trendy topics and self-help messages that promote human advice more than God’s Word. I am not one for castigating fellow preachers, but I do believe we have a higher prophetic responsibility as pastors and preachers than to give tips on how to have “your best life now,” and the pulpit demands a stronger prophetic witness.

Some have called the local church the hope of the world. Ephesians 3:10 tells us that “through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known.” I would add that our job as preachers is to expose the power of God and the will of God through the lens of the Word of God to change the world, which God sent His Son to save.

I hope to persuade leaders toward stronger biblical preaching, specifically exegetical (or expository) preaching — and even more specifically, toward expository preaching through whole books of the Bible as a means of transforming local churches. As ministers, we should have a personal conviction on the truth of the Bible. We must follow that conviction with preaching the Bible as if it is true enough to transform the people God gives us to lead.

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Preachers Lead the Way We must lead the way in our congregations with a conviction about the Bible and a commitment to the Bible. We preach and minister out of an overflow of what God is doing in us personally and privately. So, we must first have an active Bible devotional life. As we grow in our understanding of the Bible and our commitment to Scripture, we will become better equipped to teach, instruct, rebuke and exhort from the Word of God. Especially if you are the primary communicator in your church, you will establish God’s vision for your ministry best of all from the Word of God. In fact, our mission comes from the Word of God. We are to be a people about God’s mission — the Great Commission to reach people far from God. Always be a student of the Word. Read more commentaries, read more books on preaching, and listen to great preachers to continue developing as a minister of God’s Word.

As the Bible enriches us personally, it will inform us missionally. It will also become the basis for visionary and prophetic preaching. Christ’s mission prevails as we grow as students of the Word. Doug Oss, former professor of biblical theology and New Testament interpretation at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, Missouri, taught his students that preaching is leadership. That is, the pulpit is the primary place of leadership in the local church. We can better lead our churches as we grow in the Word.

Deepening our love for God’s Word makes us better at leading vision, preaching theology, and exposing the heart and will of God for our churches.

Why Preach Books of the Bible?

I consistently marvel at two responses when I preach through entire books of the Bible.

First, I always see numerical growth when I preach long series through books. The first time I did that, it was a 20-week series through the Book of Hebrews. I preached it during a summer, thinking that summertime is a great time to preach through an entire book because it is a time of stagnant growth and plateaued numbers — a time to disciple the home folk in preparation for a surge in the fall. To my surprise, the church grew throughout the entire summer, and people enthusiastically invited their friends to this series.

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PLANT SEEDS

IN THE LIVES OF THOSE AROUND YOU Explore the importance of sharing Jesus’ message and becoming the gospelcentered, Spirit-empowered, and personally responsible Christian God desires!

Heath Adamson is the senior director of the Assemblies of God Youth Ministries. With a growing global platform, he also chairs the World Assemblies of God Fellowship NextGen Commission and co-chairs Empowered 21’s Next Gen Youth-leaders Network.

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We all know of church leaders who reference an occasional Bible text while preaching trendy topics and self-help messages that promote human advice more than God’s Word.

Second, I see spiritual growth. More and more people bring their Bibles and notebooks for note taking.

There is an obvious hunger to see the deeper meanings of a whole book in the Bible, and to remember the teaching. There is a consistent “aha” moment for many of the people. Without fail, every week I hear someone respond with some variation of, “I never knew the Bible said that.”

That spark happens when the Word becomes alive in people’s hearts and minds. The writer of Hebrews describes it well: “For the word of God is alive and active” (Hebrews 4:12).

Those are just two of the great reasons we should preach whole books. In fact, those are real outcomes of preaching books of the Bible. In addition, this is how we help people learn to study the Bible. This type of preaching highlights the value of the Bible, making it the central component of a sermon, not just a topic or a general idea.

Also, when you preach entire books, you reveal different layers from the heart of God toward us. You start within a framework from a specific location in the Bible. You show what God was trying to accomplish within a scene from history, with certain people, in specific ways. As you pull back the lens, you begin to reveal what is true of God for all time based on the realities in the passage that are consistent with His nature. Pull back even more, and it becomes apparent how this fits into the greater scheme of God’s work in redemptive history, as all the layers come together in a homily that fits into the real time and space of the listening audience.

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Bible Preaching Directs Itself Often, the trend in preaching is to create a calendar that follows certain themes every month based on what’s happening at that time of year, such as relationships in February, a back-to-school series in the fall, vision at the beginning of the year, etc. While short topical series may be appropriate a couple times throughout the year, our people are starving to know God’s Word. Without it, they are living lives that are spiraling out of God’s will. Short topical series provide a small bandage over the gushing wound of the deeper issue that people don’t know God’s Word.

As we preach whole books or larger passages of Scripture, the text directs itself for the series and always lands in a way that speaks just what the Lord wants to say to His Church. In January 2016, I began a long series through the Book of John. I knew this series would take 75 to 80 weeks to complete. I mapped out the series as best I could, going passage by passage through the entire gospel letter. It was interesting to see how well God’s Word fit into what was happening in our culture, the seasons of the calendar, etc. In fact, Easter 2016 was the Sunday I preached the story from John 5 of Jesus looking for the man at the pool of Bethesda, asking if he wanted healing and calling him to “rise” and receive his healing (verse 8, KJV).

That Sunday, I preached to a packed-out church, “Even if you are not looking for Jesus today, Jesus is here looking for you! He is here to ask if you would like to have eternal life, eternal healing. If you are in need, like this man who had been waiting on others to provide his healing, only Jesus is here to provide you with eternal life. And Jesus is calling us to rise and walk with Him from here forward.”

Talk about a great Resurrection Sunday message: “Rise!” Many people responded to the invitation to accept Christ, as it “just so happened” that we were in John 5 that Sunday.

Interestingly, after a year of preaching through John, we began 2017 in John 14, and spent the first three months of the year going through John 14 to 17. The overwhelming theme of these four chapters is a call to “come away” with Jesus to become more like Him and identify with His Word and His Spirit.

These few chapters spoke so well to us as a church preparing to move into a brand-new building. In fact,

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for Easter 2017, we “happened” to land in Chapters 19 and 20, John’s telling of the Passion narrative.

It seems to me that the Word of God is very capable to direct us, probably better than our own planning, sermon writing retreats or clever calendar ideas. I do not mean to speak against those, but I prefer Bible preaching over the other. With Bible illiteracy so prevalent, let’s not spend our precious moments of preaching with topics that make people feel or seem better. Let’s defer to an elevation of the Word of God, and a prioritization of that in our preaching.

His Word Never Fails If we are going to be a part of the Great Commission of Jesus, to make disciples (students of and followers of Jesus), we must remain committed to bold proclamation of God’s Word. In Acts 2, we see that the early Christians were devoted to prayer, fellowship, generosity, sharing meals and the apostles’ teachings (the apostles knew to teach what Jesus taught, and these messages became known as the words of Scripture).

I am convinced that more focus on the Word of God will produce more fruit from the Spirit of God and more miracles from the hand of God. Jesus said in John 15:7–8, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

This was a promise to the twelve disciples, and it is also true for our congregations as they are disciples of Jesus. Look again at the promise: If we are abiding and dwelling in Christ, and if Christ’s Word abides and dwells in us, God will answer our prayers (hand of God), and we will bear much fruit (evidence of a life full of the Spirit). This is the reality of abiding in Jesus and the Word abiding in us! We become more like Jesus. We pray like Jesus. We resemble the work and the essence of God. As a result of dwelling in Christ and the Word dwelling in us, sin takes a back door to the fruit of the Spirit — and our lives bring God glory.

As leaders, we have limited time with God’s people, and I believe every moment is precious, even sacred.

On average, you will spend 40 to 50 minutes per week in front of your congregation. Instead of being trendy by telling a great joke, treat that time as a sacred obligation from the Lord.

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Preach the Word of God with boldness; lead people to surrender fully to God’s will and God’s Word. Study and prepare, and come ready to capitalize on this precious time so you can give your best in delivering God’s Word. Then watch as it becomes alive and active in individual lives, transforming people from death to life, and bringing them to new life in Jesus.

Mike Burnette is the lead pastor at LifePoint Church in Clarksville, Tenn., where he lives with his wife, Stephanie, and four daughters.

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The Graying of the Pulpit, Revisited EVEN WITH A RECORD NUMBER OF CREDENTIAL HOLDERS, THE ASSEMBLIES OF GOD IS AGING. WHY? JOHN DAVIDSON

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n the year 2000, Maurice Lednicky, then president of Central Bible College in Springfield, Missouri, wrote an article for the campus newsletter, The Bulletin, that captured my attention. I was only 21 at the time, but I’ll never forget it. One reason it left such an indelible imprint on my mind was the statistics he shared about the aging population of Assemblies of God ministers. Another was the catchy title: “The Graying of the Pulpit.”

Something about that title struck me as interesting and ominous. At the same time, I was full of hope, because I was so young. How could the Fellowship’s ministers be aging so much when so many young people like me were joining its ranks? In reality, when I was ordained two years later, I was one of only 10 ordained Assemblies of God ministers under 24 in the U.S. When Lednicky first wrote his alarming article in 2000, 29 percent of ordained ministers were 65 or older, and only 2 percent were under 30. Today, 37 percent of ordained ministers are 65 or older, and another 13 percent are between the ages of 60 and 64. So half of all ordained AG ministers are 60 or older. Only 1 percent of them are under 30. In 2000, the average age of ordained AG ministers was 55; now it is 60. And in case you’re wondering about the licensed and certified minister categories, their average age is increasing at a similar pace.

Since 2010, the AG has added an average of 427 net new ministers each year, factoring in those who pass away or resign and the relatively small number who are dismissed. Even with a record number of credential holders at the end of each of the last several years, we’re aging. But why?

Has God stopped calling young people to ministry? I don’t believe so. That’s not His way. Scripture and history show that God has consistently called young men and women to serve Him. So, either those He’s called have stopped responding, or their response to His call is taking place outside of the Assemblies of God. In either case, the following factors may explain our lack of younger ministers.

A Waning Respect for the Ministry There was a day when clergy were among the most respected professions. Today, according to a recent 58

Barna report, only 25 percent of people say they highly respect pastors. On the other end of the spectrum, 25 percent say they highly disrespect pastors.

While it’s hard to say exactly what led to this distrust and disrespect, I’d like to suggest it stems, at least in part, from the fact that people do not like the disunity and the increasingly hostile rhetoric they see and hear from pastors in the pulpit, and more prominently, on social media.

The Drive for Success During my years in higher education, I sat with multiple families whose teenagers were considering a college ministry major and heard the parents say, “You’re too smart to go into ministry,” or “You have too much potential to be a pastor.”

I’ve counseled some of these same students as they made hard decisions to pursue a ministry call instead of following a career their parents wanted for them.

In some cases, choosing vocational ministry meant the parents would not support the student financially. And these were Christian parents who attend church every week. A drive for success as defined by our culture could cause parents and potential young ministers to steer toward professions with more lucrative outcomes.

Fewer Invitations for Young People to Respond to the Call to Ministry It is concerning that I rarely hear pastors give opportunities for individuals to respond to the call to ministry. Less emphasis on vocational ministry may result from the assumption that, if God wants individuals to be ministers, He will make that call clear to them.

It could also be that a broader understanding of all God’s people as ministers has lessened the urgency for those called to vocational ministry. After all, if I can be a minister in the marketplace and make more money, why would I commit to vocational ministry?

Lack of Emphasis on AG Higher Education for Ministry Formation Many young people who feel called to ministry do not sense a need to prepare for ministry in an Assemblies of God college or university.

No doubt, the rising cost of private education is

Scripture and history show that God has consistently called young men and women to serve Him. So, either those He’s called have stopped responding, or their response to His call is taking place outside of the Assemblies of God.

a factor, but so is a lack of understanding concerning the importance of theological education for the formation of ministers. Many who feel called to ministry are convinced they would be better off having a marketable degree to fall back on if ministry does not work out. But the greater risk is a minister who is unprepared due to inadequate ministry training.

Failure to Hand off the Baton to the Next Generation Transitions in the pulpit are not just from one person to another, but from one generation to another. It is possible that young ministers simply resort to giving their lives to other purposes because no one will give them a chance to lead in ministry. Too often, pastors preach that the church will be here long after they leave, but operate as though it will end with their retirement.

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An experienced minister can feel nervous when handing off the baton to a younger, less experienced leader, and may desire to wait until the perfect replacement comes along. But the handoff must be made, because there’s no one else coming.

To be clear, the increasing average age of ordained AG ministers is not the problem. It is a symptom of a problem, or many problems, some of which I have already mentioned. These issues should be a major cause of concern for anyone who cares about the future of ministry and the local church, particularly within the Assemblies of God. What if fewer and fewer young people join the ranks of vocational ministers in the AG? The Fellowship may experience challenges such as these: • An inability to fill pulpits vacated by retiring pastors.

• A lack of individuals who are willing to engage in entrepreneurial work, such as church planting and missions.

• A void of youthful energy in our local churches, eventually resulting in an increase of the average age of those attending our churches.

• A knowledge gap created by older ministers’ inability to transfer their wealth of life and ministry knowledge to the next generation of leaders.

But before concern gives way to panic, consider another statistic. Even while the average age of an AG ordained minister is 60, 54 percent of AG adherents are under age 35. So, the AG is both old and young — old in ministers, but young in adherents. Frankly, I cannot explain why, but it means at least two things.

First, it is impressive and positive that the age of our adherents is not following the age of our ministers, which one would naturally expect. Second, these statistics show in the next decade, the AG will experience the largest leadership transition in its history as its oldest senior leaders retire. The good news is that the pool of future ministers in the AG is larger than at any point in our history. What must we do to ensure the readiness of the church’s future leaders? I offer the following possible solutions.

Readiness of Future Leaders 1. Be a spiritual parent. Ministers must take seriously their individual responsibility to serve as 60

spiritual fathers and mothers to the next generation. Paul said, “Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:15).

Guides and teachers are necessary, but they do not reproduce. Fathers and mothers reproduce. The church needs spiritual parents who prophetically call out the greatness in young people with ministry gifts and then walk with them, resourcing and encouraging them as if they are the only hope for our future.

Pastors must do this because no one else will.

On a positive note, our abundance of aging ministers means we now have the greatest storehouse of ministry wisdom and experience that has ever been available to the younger generation of church leaders. Older leaders must own their role as sages in our movement and intentionally deposit their knowledge in their spiritual children.

2. Make ministry attractive. Young people may feel a call to ministry, but if what they see when they watch their pastor is misery, dysfunction and disunity, they will have no desire to be a part of it.

Pastors should take every opportunity to celebrate the privilege of being a minister and talk more openly about the joys than the difficulties. Moreover, pastors can make ministry attractive to young people by making the church a place to enjoy, not endure. It should be our goal to live the kind of life in front of future ministers that will make them want to do what we do and be who we are.

3. Create moments that matter. Pastors can create individual and corporate spiritual moments that will serve as markers for the next generation. Pull a young person aside one-on-one to say you see God’s hand on him or her. Challenge people to use their God-given ministry gifts. Take time regularly in corporate gatherings to pray with anyone who feels a call to ministry.

Celebrate the call to vocational ministry as unique and important, and find ways to engage the congregation in commissioning young people who feel called to ministry. These moments will serve as reminders of God’s call, just as Paul told Timothy to remember his commissioning when the elders laid hands on him (1 Timothy 4:14).

We cannot take for granted that young men and women will automatically want to give their lives to ministry in the Assemblies of God.

4. Lead effective internships and apprenticeships. Jesus and Paul trained their followers through apprenticing, and we have much to learn from their example. First, bring young people who are called to ministry alongside you in your daily work and ministry to experience what you do. Take them with you on hospital visitations, and let them listen in on important ministry and leadership conversations. Invite your mentees to sit in on a board meeting.

Second, delegate authority to young people so they feel some of the spiritual weight of ministry. Let them teach a class or lead a small group. Ask them to organize an outreach or lead a new project. Always follow these opportunities by debriefing with the mentees so you can help them learn from the experience.

5. Encourage young people to attend an AG college or university. Spiritual parents love their kids, but they also know that eventually those young people need to leave the nest and live their own lives.

Direct spiritual children who feel called to ministry toward an Assemblies of God college or university

where they can receive excellent training to do that which God has called them.

My research shows that church planters who attended an AG college and pursued a ministry-related major have significantly higher ministry outcomes in nearly every category than did their peers who did not. If ministry in an AG church is one’s calling, the best preparation will be at an AG institution of higher learning.

6. Partner with an AG college or university.

Our endorsed colleges and universities are a gift to the AG as the administration, faculty and staff come alongside the church to train its next generation of ministers. At the same time, an increasing number of pastors are attempting to engage in the educational space.

Churches err when they go to either of two extremes: fully delegating the preparation of ministers to the schools on the one hand, or trying to do the job of the schools fully on the other hand. Instead, pastors desiring to make their church a training ground for future ministers should seek to come into 61

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partnership with an AG-endorsed college to provide students with a quality education and practical ministry experience. The church and the school both have a role to play in ministerial formation, and the strength of the future church depends on the strategic and collaborative contributions of both.

7. Hire AG college and university graduates.

The church must find a way to make room for young ministry graduates from AG schools. In some cases, that means intentionally hiring AG school graduates who have invested time and resources to get the very best ministry training. In other cases, it may mean investing in a young graduate who is raising funds to plant a church, become a missionary or start another missional-entrepreneurial endeavor.

8. Give opportunity to Chi Alpha students and alumni. Thousands of godly young men and women are graduating from university campuses all over the country. Their degree tracks in marketplace disciplines range from business to education to engineering and everything in between. They have also been discipled and taught how to disciple through the ministry of Chi Alpha. And God is calling many of them to give their lives and careers to ministry and missions.

If you live in a college town, build relationships with the Chi Alpha ministry near you and invest in students with a call to ministry. Give them opportunity to leverage their skills and knowledge for the kingdom of God in and through your ministry.

9. Hire and promote women ministers. The AG has always recognized and validated the contribution of women ministers, and rightfully so. But if the movement is to thrive in the 21st century as it did in the 20th, we must not only be correct in our theology concerning women in ministry, but also in our practice.

Women represent the fastest-growing demographic of new credential holders in the AG, and yet, they are still underrepresented in our church’s ministry positions, especially in senior leadership. Pastors must work to encourage and elevate women God has called to ministry, and pastors must open for women doors to ministry that have previously been closed.

In Conclusion My work with ministers-in-training over the last several years gives me great hope in the future of the 62

Women represent the fastest-growing demographic of new credential holders in the AG, and yet, they are still underrepresented in our church’s ministry positions, especially in senior leadership.

Church. Our teens and 20-somethings are some of the most motivated, creative and missional individuals the AG has ever seen. I believe our best days are ahead, but we cannot take for granted that young men and women will automatically want to give their lives to ministry in the Assemblies of God. Those of us who serve in the roles of spiritual parents and grandparents must give young people a reason to stay in the family.

When Maurice Lednicky wrote about the graying of the pulpit, he sounded an alarm that still rings for us 17 years later. It forces us to ask how we as ministers will reproduce ourselves in the younger generation.

God is calling them. Now it is the personal responsibility of every minister to encourage, develop and release those who respond to His call.

John Davidson, Ph.D. is director of discovery and development at the Assemblies of God National Leadership and Resource Center in Springfield, Missouri.

AS ONE WITH

AUTHORITY ISRAEL TOUR APRIL 10–20, 2018

EXPLORING BIBLICAL LEADERSHIP DR. CHRIS RAILEY SENIOR DIRECTOR

CHURCH MULTIPLICATION NETWORK

SCOTT WILSON SENIOR PASTOR

THE OAKS FELLOWSHIP

To see the complete itinerary and program highlights, visit the Web site below.

Visit HolyLandsStudies.org/AsOnewithAuthority Register soon as space is limited.

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DARING TO LEAD IN NEW DIRECTIONS How three brave leaders are forging a new path forward for others to follow. hether your church is young or old, well established, just starting out, in the middle of a thriving metropolis, or out in the middle of nowhere, influential leadership can lead to multiplication when you lean into your unique vision.

In this issue of Influence, we highlight three Assemblies of God multipliers who have found that God was already at work in their communities and decided to join Him in it. Their tireless leadership is now forging a path for others to follow.

Preston Ulmer felt the call to church planting in one of the most unchurched areas of the country — Denver. His own testimony makes him uniquely prepared for the task. What began as a “Doubter’s Club,” where people of any background can ask questions of faith, has grown into The Doubters Church, a place where seekers, agnostics and atheists are invited to experience an unchanging God who isn’t afraid of uncertainty.

When Jeremy Yancey became lead pastor of Timber Creek Church in Lufkin, Texas, two years before its 90th birthday, he knew the challenge would be big. But a rural environment didn’t stop this thriving church from multiplying its influence. Plans are underway to launch a second campus in September in Nacogdoches. As a church ages, Pastor Yancey thinks it should not only grow but become more agile and fertile. A long history should create a firm foundation from which to

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multiply, and Pastor Yancey is clearly seeing that take place.

Pastor David Zayas is superintendent of the Southern Latin District. He is a second-generation church planter and now leads a new generation of pioneers.

When it comes to Hispanic language churches, many times a new faith community is started when godly men and women recognize an absence of one in their city. Now, Pastor Zayas is tapping into the passion and potential of these ministers to forge an intentional partnership with the Church Multiplication Network and continue their already incredible growth.

As you read more about these multipliers in the pages that follow, may you be daring, as they have been, to lead in new directions.

Chris Colvin is a contributing editor to Influence magazine and specializes in sermon research for pastors and churches. He lives in Springfield, Missouri, with his wife and two children.

FROM DOUBTING TO BELIEVING A Q&A WITH PRESTON ULMER

Preston Ulmer is lead pastor of The Doubters Church and co-founder/facilitator of The Doubter’s Club in Denver. He is uniquely attracting skeptics, agnostics, and atheists, inviting them to experience an unchanging God who isn’t afraid of uncertainty.

Influence: You speak about God writing a story of hope and redemption for the world. Where does the story of The Doubters Church begin?

Preston Ulmer: What seemed to be a coincidence turned out to be the start of the church. When searching for a neighborhood to plant in, I asked a random coffee shop owner what type of church he would go to.

Immediately he told me he was an atheist, but that he would go to a church that allows questions to be asked and isn’t judgmental. Well, that’s exactly what our team intended to do.

A few months later, he agreed to host something I wanted to start and call “Doubter’s Club.” It’s a place where people can bring their uncertainties to an unchanging God. The Doubter’s Club was really the launch of our church. Some of those attenders joined our launch team, and others came to faith. And from there, we started holding regular worship services.

How does your own story connect with The Doubters Church?

My own story is much like the many stories we hear at the The Doubter’s Club. I believe the kingdom of God is especially gracious to those who are perplexed with questions, but still seeking. When I was in college, serious doubts about my faith drove me into depression and anxiety. After having a season of doubt and leaving the faith personally, I found someone willing to disciple me, patiently helping me reconstruct my faith.

Through the seeking and doubt, I returned to the faith and found God to be an unchanging God who I could

commit to even in the face of uncertainty.

One of your values is partnering with what God is already doing. What did you find God already doing in your community?

We noticed that families were uniting around neighborhood block parties, and people were constantly gathering around local businesses on Tennyson Street.

We also observed values God approves of, such as community, justice and love. We joined in with those already in the neighborhood, hosting movie nights and other events to bring families together. But really it’s just about opening dialogue with someone who may think differently than us, but who shares some of the same values as us.

What are a couple of things that have been key to your launch and growth so far?

Constant coaching in every stage has been foundational to our launch and growth. Without that, I’m not sure we would have survived through those initial steps. I would advise anyone planting a church to find someone who is familiar with the scars and troubles you will incur along the way.

Too many times church planters focus on church names, logos, websites or staff positions before anyone has ever joined their team or come into God’s kingdom.

Instead, give your time to building relationships within your team and especially in your community. And of course, the most important relationship is with Jesus.

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HOW ESTABLISHED CHURCHES SHOULD LEAD A Q & A W I T H J E R E M Y YA N C E Y

Jeremy Yancey is lead pastor of Timber Creek Church in Lufkin, Texas. This church just celebrated its 90th year and is preparing to launch a second campus in September in rural Nacogdoches.

Influence: What was your driving vision for the church when you became pastor?

Jeremy Yancey: Two years ago when I accepted the position, I spent two days alone with God in a retreat setting. Part of that time was reading through the Book of Genesis. When I got to the story of Sarah, I realized that Timber Creek shared her story. She was 90 years old when she had her first child, just two years older than our church was at that time.

God showed me that the longer we’ve been around, the more active we should be. As the church grows older, it has to be focused on growing younger. A big part of that involves the church reproducing itself.

What is unique about Timber Creek Church that other multisite churches don’t share?

Lufkin is a community of 35,000 people, but Timber Creek has a large reach. Plenty of church planters are ready to launch in large metropolitan areas, but you don’t have a long line of ministers wanting to start out in smaller, rural towns. But people in small town America feel they’re as much a part of the world around them as those in big cities. And God is as interested in the souls of Nacogdoches as He is Dallas. These areas are fertile for church growth.

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How did you present your vision of a multisite church to an established congregation?

Getting the vision off the ground takes a lot of hard work. And much of that is repeating the vision over and over again. Over-communicating on the front end is much better than trying to explain the vision after the fact. I spent many nights and weekends repeating the vision to our people. But in the end, I knew they were all in.

We have plenty of room to expand and grow in our present location. And we have attenders who are willing to drive 30 to 40 miles each week to be a part of this church. The problem with this is their unchurched friends aren’t as willing to make the trip just to try us out. If they can’t come to the church, we want to take the church to them.

A big part of our vision goes beyond the walls of our church. Our first satellite campus will launch in September, but by Easter 2018 we expect to have three more locations, whether it’s an active prison ministry, college outreach or presence in an assisted living home.

What advice would you give a pastor who wants to do something similar to Timber Creek Church but may be thinking, “We can’t do that”?

If you think you can’t, then I’m sure you’re right. But I think you’re underestimating what humble, yet powerful leadership can do. The Lord will not plant a vision in your heart without surrounding you with the people who can make it happen.

challenesitpodues in an urban area, and how have you overcome that?

I planted in a community that was predominately single young adults from the ages of 24–29. I believe millennials are amazing, but reaching them presents its own set of challenges. They’re very passionate about things and that passion can be deceiving, leading them to make emotional decisions as well as a lack of commitment. Attempting to build a church in a community that doesn’t necessarily place a high value on regular church attendance can be difficult. I’ve overcome the challenges by shifting my perspective, my approach, and how I measure the “wins.”

Explain how your church’s values lead to discipleship and growth.

I quickly realized that most of our growth would not come from a Sunday morning experience. Traditional models that may have worked 10 years ago or in a suburban context were not working for us. I stopped attempting to grow the church from the outside in, and began to grow from the inside out. Knowing that the average church attendance is once every three weeks and sometimes once every four weeks, I realized that it wasn’t fair to count Sunday attendance as the major win. I began to change our focus to how many new people we are serving, how many new people are tithing, and how many

get printed and promoted, so it’s easy to think hat wht you do doesn’t matter or have value. That’s a lie. What you do matters, and you’re making a difference in the lives of people. Anything of worth and value takes time to build.

What are some ways that anybody can be involved in urban ministry?

As an urban church planter, I know there has always been a need for high-caliber leaders with a vision. It can be difficult to find high-level leaders who are willing to work for free, as many of us must in the beginning, due to the nature of planting in an urban context. Find a planter in your area, and give yourself to serving whole-heartedly.

It will be frustrating at times, but it will be one of the most rewarding things you ever do.

Alberto Bello is the lead pastor of The Gathering LA in North Hollywood, California.

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A SECOND GENERATION CHURCH PLANTER LEADING THE NEXT GENERATION avid Zayas not only faithfully leads his own congregation, he also spearheads church planting as superintendent of the Southern Latin District. The district is only three years old and spans boundaries from Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia up to the Carolinas along the East Coast. Pastor Zayas is just now beginning official efforts in the district to focus on church planting, though it’s been a passion of his for a long time.

Pastor Zayas moved to Georgia from Syracuse, New York, in 1997. It was in Marietta, Georgia, that he began serving at Iglesia Misionera Asambleas de Dios, first as a youth pastor and then teaching at the church’s Bible institute. His wife served as children’s pastor.

During that time, he felt the call to step out on his own and plant a new church, Iglesia Fuente De Vida Asamblea de Dios in Woodstock, Georgia. “Ten years later and we’re still here, the church is still growing, and we’re confident God has us where He wants us,” Pastor Zayas says.

Pastor Zayas is no stranger to church planting. His parents moved from Buffalo, New York, to Syracuse when he was young. When they couldn’t find a Hispanic church they liked, Pastor Zayas’ father started his own. That makes him a second generation church planter.

Now he’s raising a new generation of church planters in the Southern Latin District. The first years have been focused on putting a structure in place. “We’ve been laying a foundation,” Pastor Zayas says. “I felt a burning in my heart to be intentional about church planting.

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“Part of my district has been using a church multiplication model that asks pastors to identify potential church planting candidates who are then brought in for a day workshop called ‘Sembrando Iglesias Saludables’ (Planting Healthy Churches).” These programs are crucial to helping Hispanic pastors get off on the right foot.

They incorporate training materials that have been translated into Spanish, but they also identify culturally unique aspects of Hispanic church planting and how to apply them. “Some things are universal, but other things are not,” Pastor Zayas reminds us.

With a new focus on church planting comes new challenges. Finances are at the top of the list. Pastor Zayas is challenging churches in his district to give monthly to a central fund to help pay for the rent of new churches and even provide salary assistance to new church planters.

Another challenge is finding settled Hispanic communities in cities where church planters are ministering.

“Some of our adherents are very mobile, taking on seasonal jobs that don’t allow them to stay long in one place,” Pastor Zayas adds. Also, there is a real fear among some that they or their relatives may be deported, which can prevent deep roots from setting in.

But these challenges have not deterred Pastor Zayas and the pastors he leads. The district has shown real growth, adding new churches to its fellowship every year. And the future is bright thanks to the passion and intentionality that comes with the Holy Spirit’s leading.

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AN EIGHT-WEEK STUDY FOR LEADERSHIP TEAMS

Week after week, you invest time and energy into making every Sunday count. But you also have to think about staff meetings, board meetings, and meetings with key volunteers and other church leaders.

Juggling so many meetings can seem overwhelming, especially as you think about developing the leaders around you. Effective leaders are continually looking for great leadership content they can use to develop and mentor other leaders. Make It Count is a great, little tool to help you accomplish just that.

Each Make It Count lesson is easily adaptable for individual or group discussion, allowing for personal application and reflection among your ministry leaders and lead volunteers. The lessons are useful as devotionals in board and staff meetings and in 70

departmental meetings with your lead volunteers.

Studying and growing together is key to building strong and healthy relationships with your team members, and it is a necessary component to building growing, flourishing churches. These lessons can help you make each moment count as you lead and develop the leaders around you.

The following eight, easy-to-use lessons on improving teamwork are written by Stephen Blandino, lead pastor of 7 City Church in Fort Worth, Texas (7citychurch.com). He planted 7 City Church in 2012 in a thriving cultural arts district near downtown Fort Worth. Stephen blogs regularly at stephenblandino. com and is the author of several books, including Do Good Works and Creating Your Church’s Culture.

8 KEYS TO IMPROVING TEAMWORK STEPHEN BLANDINO

eamwork is a non-negotiable key to effective leadership. George Barna observed, “A team always outperforms an individual. The more you are able to bring together leaders whose skills and training build upon what the others bring, the greater the ultimate outcome of their cooperative effort.”

The value of teamwork is evident throughout Scripture.

Whether it was Nehemiah leading the Israelites to rebuild the wall, or Moses organizing a team of leaders to meet the needs of the people, Scripture is full of examples of teamwork producing remarkable results.

One of these teamwork stories provides eight important lessons — the Tower of Babel. While the story of the Tower of Babel certainly doesn’t end well, you cannot deny the eight teamwork lessons hidden in these nine verses. And you cannot deny how a crucial missing ingredient led to its ultimate demise.

In the following lessons, we’re going to explore this Old Testament story, and mine eight lessons we can apply to our teams today. We’ll discover the value of a common vision, community, clear roles, correct tools, communication, cooperation, commitment and correct motives.

Each one plays an essential role in developing a strong, cohesive, fully engaged team.

Whether your team consists of your staff, your board or a ministry department, imagine the impact you could have by activating the essential keys to teamwork. Through careful reflection, practical insights, and ideas and helpful application exercises, I’ll guide you through eight ways to improve teamwork in your ministry environment.

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Editor’s Note We are pleased to make available the Make It Count Discussion Guide in a downloadable PDF, available through the “Downloads” button on Influencemagazine.com.

Each lesson in the Make It Count Discussion Guide is partitioned into a Leaders’ page and a Team Member’s page. The Leaders’ page corresponds exactly to the material in the print issue of the magazine.

Print multiple copies of the Discussion Guide for all your ministry leaders and the team members they lead in your church or organization.

Key words and concepts are underlined in each lesson on the leaders’ page. These underlined words and concepts correspond to the blanks spaces found on the team member lesson page. Team members can fill in the blanks as you progress through the lesson material.

We trust these lessons will help you make each moment count as you lead and develop the leaders around you.

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8 KEYS TO IMPROVING TEAMWORK

Common Vision

Assess: What specific role does vision play in a healthy team?

Insights and Ideas eamwork is essential in any sport, company or church. Without teamwork, we place a T lid on the capacity of the organization, department or ministry we lead. The old saying really is true — “teamwork makes the dream work.”

As the story of the Tower of Babel unfolds, a foundational key to teamwork emerges: a common vision. Genesis 11:4 says, “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens. … ’” The vision for the Tower of Babel certainly didn’t arise from God-honoring motives (we’ll explore that in another lesson). However, you cannot deny an important teamwork insight in the story: vision is a unifier. Vision directs the team’s energy, effort and focus toward a single goal that matters most.

A common vision represents the better tomorrow you see in your mind’s eye today.

Vision takes the mundane and infuses it with meaning. As author and pastor Andy Stanley observed, “Too many times the routines of life begin to feel like shoveling dirt. But take those same routines, those same responsibilities, and view them through the lens of vision and everything looks different. Vision brings your world into focus. Vision brings order to chaos. A clear vision enables you to see everything differently.”

The first key to building a strong team is to ensure the church’s vision is clear and shared.

A clear vision brings understanding. A shared vision brings buy-in. Both are critical.

Every staff member, board member, team leader and ministry volunteer needs to know the church’s vision. The vision is the compelling why that motivates what volunteers do.

When the greeting team is welcoming guests and the kids’ ministry team is helping parents and children, they need to know why they do what they do. They’re not just opening doors or changing diapers. They’re helping the church fulfill a greater vision.

Every handshake, every smile, every conversation, every note played, every car parked, every cup of coffee poured … all of it is an important part of seeing a vision fulfilled. It’s our vision that unites our hearts together. Without a clear vision, we feel like we’re doing the equivalent of shoveling dirt.

Reflect and Discuss 1. What is the vision of our church?

2. How does our vision motivate you to serve with excellence?

3. A vision must be clear and shared. On a scale from 1 to 10, how clear and shared is our church’s vision among our teams?

Apply Living out the vision of the church is crucial, but again, the vision must be clear and shared.

Without clarity or buy-in, our teams will start to feel as though they’re doing nothing more than shoveling dirt. Develop a plan to improve the clarity of your church’s vision, and to increase buy-in to the vision among your team members. Make sure your plan is practical and simple. As each team in the church aligns itself with the church’s vision, meaning will replace the mundane.

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8 KEYS TO IMPROVING TEAMWORK

Community

Team Review: Describe your plan to increase buy-in to the church’s vision within your team.

Assess: On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you rank the sense of community that exists within your team?

Insights and Ideas enesis 11:1–2 opens the story of the Tower of Babel with these words: “Now the whole G world had one common language and a common speech. As the people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.”

Two insights stand out in this passage. First, they spoke the same language. Second, they settled together in one place. Both of these insights reveal another ingredient in teamwork: community. The best teams are more than groups of people working on a task or functioning in an organizational silo. The most effective teams are like a community. A sense of belonging emerges as they speak and settle together.

According to psychologist Ed Diener, “The happiest people have high-quality social relationships.”

Harvard University social psychologist Dr. David McClelland calls these social relationships a “reference group.” McClelland says a person’s reference group determines as much as 95 percent of his or her success or failure in life.

Research by the Gallup organization found that employees with the highest level of engagement have a close friend at work.

Community really is critical among teams, and teams can experience community at three levels: the hand level, head level and heart level. The hand level of community is shallow, consisting of nothing more than handshakes, smiles, and small talk about the weather. The head level of community engages in meaningful discussions, so long as we’re not too vulnerable. The heart level is the deepest expression of community. It’s where team members care deeply about one another.

The human soul longs for relationships, community and belonging. As leaders, we have the opportunity to cultivate this community within our teams. Community not only bonds a team together, it also impacts the team’s performance.

Author and pastor Rob Ketterling observed, “Our relational circle has an effect on the direction and speed of our lives.”

Have you ever stopped to consider that a sense of community among your team members might positively impact the direction and speed of your team?

Reflect and Discuss 1. How would you describe the sense of community we experience as a team: hand level, head level or heart level? Can you give an example?

2. What can we do to move our team to the heart level of community?

3. How can we increase a sense of community within and among the teams we lead?

Apply Community is an important part of teamwork. While it certainly has an emotional side to it, there are practical steps you can take to cultivate genuine community, too. Because relationships are at the core of community, spending time together is essential. Take a few minutes to identify one thing you will do in the next 30 days to improve relationships within your team. Highly relational activities, environments that foster good conversation, and special times of prayer can help your team move toward the heart level of community.

What will you do to take your first step in the next 30 days?

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8 KEYS TO IMPROVING TEAMWORK

Clear Roles

Team Review: What activity or strategy did you plan last week to improve relationships among your team?

Assess: What roles do you currently need to fill on your team Insights and Ideas fter the people settled on a plain in the land of Babylonia, Genesis 11:3 says, “They said A to each other, ‘Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.’”

Each member of this team had a clear role. Some of them made bricks. Others put the bricks in place. Still others were part of the transit system to get the bricks from the oven to the tower.

For a team to function effectively, each team member needs a clear role, and each role needs to connect to the fulfillment of the vision. This essential ingredient to effective teamwork is illustrated well in the story of Charlie Plumb.

On May 19, 1967, Plumb’s F-4 Phantom Jet was shot down over Vietnam. Plumb parachuted into Vietnam, was captured, and spent six years in a POW camp where he repeatedly suffered torture. It was Plumb’s faith in God and belief in his country that gave him the inner strength to survive.

Years later, as Plumb was eating at a restaurant with his wife, a man walked up to him and said, “You’re Plumb. You flew jet fighters in Vietnam.”

Plumb affirmed his identity as the man continued: “It was fighter squadron 14 on the Kitty Hawk. You were shot down. You parachuted into enemy hands. You spent six years as a prisoner of war.”

The man seemed to know an awful lot, but Plumb didn’t know who he was. Plumb finally asked him, “How in the world did you know that?”

The man looked at Plumb and said, “I packed your parachute.”

Plumb was dumbfounded. He looked at the man and said, “I must tell you, I’ve said a lot of prayers of thanks for your nimble fingers, but I didn’t realize I’d have the opportunity of saying thanks in person.”

Plumb probably didn’t think he’d ever need his parachute, but when the situation required it, Plumb had what he needed because somebody had faithfully executed his role. Every role serves an important purpose on a team. It’s our job as leaders to ensure the responsibilities of each role are clear, and to connect those roles to the vision of the church.

Reflect and Discuss 1. Where is there confusion among our team members regarding roles and responsibilities?

2. What should a role description include for each member of the teams we lead?

3. Are there any roles on our team that are difficult to connect to our vision? How can we bring greater clarity?

Apply Some members of your team may feel as though all they do is pack parachutes that nobody will ever see or use. Other members may be unclear about what exactly you are asking them to do.

As leaders, we need to clarify roles and responsibilities and connect the contribution of each team member to the church’s vision. This week, create (or revise) your team members’ role descriptions to ensure they are clear, concise and connected to the vision. Then set a time to meet individually with team members to review their roles and answer any questions they may have.

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Correct Tools

Team Review: What did you learn as you revised your team members’ role descriptions?

Assess: How well equipped are your team members to fulfill the roles you’ve assigned to them?

Insights and Ideas aking bricks to build the Tower of Babel required the right tools. Genesis 11:3 says, M “They said to each other, ‘Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.’ They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.”

Two of the tools (and there were many more) for fulfilling the task were bricks and tar.

Without these essential tools of the trade, there would have been no progress.

Every team member has a specific set of responsibilities that requires the fourth lesson of teamwork — correct tools. Those tools may be hardware, software, technology, curriculum, instruments, equipment, budgets or a hundred other items. Without the right tools, two things will happen.

First, teams will experience decreased efficiency. Work becomes harder, takes longer, costs more and suffers in quality. When teams don’t have the tools to execute the responsibilities assigned to them, the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the team suffers.

Second, teams will experience increased frustration. Internal frustration swells and team morale diminishes when you give members tasks without tools. You may not be able to give your teams the very best equipment, the highest quality technology, or the budget they dream of, but what can you do? I always ask my team to give me options. Option A may not be possible, but option B or C may be in reach.

As a leader, get in the habit of asking yourself, What can I do to help my team do what they do? Anything you can do to make their jobs easier, more efficient, or more productive will provide a boost in morale. It will communicate that you notice their needs and care about what they do Reflect and Discuss 1. What frustrations or inefficiencies are the teams we lead currently experiencing?

2. What tools do our staff members need (option A, B or C) to lead and function with a greater level of effectiveness?

3. What tools do our teams need to do their jobs more effectively?

4. Which of these tools would provide the greatest or most immediate boost in team morale?

Apply The best way to find out which tools your team needs most is to ask. Put together a survey, or sit down with a few members of your team and explain your desire to equip them with the tools they need to succeed. In that discussion, ask them three questions: • What tools or resources do you need most in order to do your job effectively?

• What causes the most frustration among the members of your team?

• If you could have one thing to take the quality or efficiency of your work to the next level — or to decrease frustration among your team members — what would it be?

These simple questions will open your eyes and help you gauge the needs and morale of your team. It’s amazing how simple tweaks, or basic resourcing, can make a big difference.

Above all, it communicates that you care.

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Communication Team Review: What did you discover after meeting (or surveying) your team about the tools they need to succeed? What is your plan to provide those tools or resources?

Assess: In what areas do you struggle to communicate with clarity?

Insights and Ideas hroughout the story of the Tower of Babel, we see the extraordinary value and imporT tance of our next teamwork ingredient: communication. Genesis 11:1 says, “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.”

All of us are smart enough to know that speaking the same language does not equate to good communication. It’s obviously helpful, but just because we share the same language doesn’t mean we share the same message. Good communication within a team has three characteristics.

1. Good communication clarifies. Communication is what allowed the people building the Tower of Babel to clarify their vision and rally around their cause.

2. Good communication unifies. Even the Lord said, “The people are united, and they all speak the same language” (Genesis 11:6, NLT). Again, the power of communication is not speaking the same language, but understanding the same message. If we all interpret what’s being said differently, we’ll go a hundred different directions.

3. Good communication magnifies. The Lord said, “After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them!” (Genesis 11:6, NLT). Good communication is like a momentum multiplier. It magnifies and multiplies the efforts of the team.

Perhaps you can point to a time when your team (or a team you served with) experienced the benefits of communication that was clarified, unified and magnified. Imagine the renewed energy your existing team would experience with this type of communication.

There’s one more insight to consider: Communication also has an unspoken side to it. The legendary management expert Peter Drucker once said, “The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.”

Paying attention to body language and unspoken cues is essential. What’s not being said is just as important as what is being said.

We can all point to communication gaps in our lives and leadership and among our teams.

We’ve all experienced the frustrations that happen when communication is unclear, disjointed or incomplete. But for a team to maximize its potential, good communication must be everybody’s responsibility. Without healthy communication, it really doesn’t matter whether we have a message.

Reflect and Discuss 1. Can you share an example of how communication on a team clarified, unified or magnified?

2. What communication systems are missing (or broken) in our church or organization?

3. What frustrations would be eliminated if we implemented or improved these communication systems?

4. What are the biggest communication gaps that exist on the teams you lead? How can you close those gaps?

Apply Do a communication audit of your teams this week. How does communication need to improve? How do you personally need to exhibit better listening skills and communication skills? What are three things you can do quickly to build a healthier communication culture? Come prepared to share your insights at our next meeting.

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Cooperation

Team Review: What strategies did you come up with last week to improve communication among your team members?

Assess: What does it look like to exhibit a spirit of cooperation?

Insights and Ideas here was an “us” factor in the building of the Tower of Babel. The people said, “Come, T let’s make bricks” (Genesis 11:3). It doesn’t say, “Let me make bricks,” or “You should make bricks,” or “Making bricks is a good idea.” “Us” was at the heart of the sixth teamwork key: cooperation.

Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress.

Working together is success.”

For any team to thrive, there must be a spirit of cooperation. Without it, the team will disintegrate in three ways.

First, without cooperation, a church will adopt an inward mentality. Rather than focusing on the mission God has called them to fulfill in the community, the members of the church will become distracted when there is internal strife.

Second, without cooperation a team will adopt a silo mentality. An “us” vs. “them” mindset forms as turf wars develop between departments. Eventually, jealousy and bickering emerge as people fight for more resources without seeing the bigger picture.

Third, without cooperation an individual adopts a disengagement mentality. Rather than feeling energized by the work they do, they simply disengage. They drift into doing the least amount of work because they’re not convinced that what they do matters or is appreciated.

Cooperation begins with servant leadership. Author John Dickson observes that in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, the word “humble” means “low,” as in “low to the ground.” Used in a negative way, these terms mean “to be put low,” that is, “to be humiliated.” It implies being conquered or put to shame (which was the dominant use of the word in Jesus’ day).

But Dickson notes that when used in a positive way, it means “to lower yourself” or “to be humble.” When Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, He wasn’t being humiliated. He was making a noble choice to redirect His power to the benefit of His disciples. Dickson defines humility as, “The noble choice to forgo your status, deploy your resources or use your influence for the good of others before yourself.”

Developing a spirit of cooperation begins with us — the leaders — modeling servant-leadership. If we’re unwilling to cooperate (by listening, learning, seeking counsel, acknowledging others, serving our teams and protecting unity), we’ll only reinforce unhealthy mentalities that create division and dysfunction.

Reflect and Discuss 1. How have you seen the three mentalities play out in our church — or another church or organization where you have served? What were the ramifications of these mentalities?

2. What are practical ways we, as leaders, can model cooperation?

3. How have we allowed silos to form between our departments? What do we need to do to break down those silos between our staff members and between our volunteers?

Apply Commit to one another as a staff (or leadership team) to protect unity, cooperate, and stay focused on the vision. Furthermore, communicate this week with the teams you lead about the value another team (led by another leader) is bringing to our church or organization.

Model a spirit of cooperation by celebrating them publicly.

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Commitment

Team Review: What did you do this week to communicate to your team the value that another team (led by another leader) brings to your church or organization?

Assess: Who is the most committed volunteer on one of the teams you lead? What difference does that person’s commitment level make?

Insights and Ideas he seventh teamwork ingredient the people at the Tower of Babel modeled was comT mitment. They were so committed that they ultimately got God’s attention. God said, “After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them!” (Genesis 11:6, NLT).

Notice that God said, “After this … .” In other words, after they finish the tower. God acknowledged that they would not only complete the tower, but they would go on to do even bigger things. That’s the kind of commitment these people exhibited. Obviously, they failed, but not until God stepped in.

Commitment can take the church further than ever imagined, or it can hold the church back from reaching its God-given potential. True, God-honoring commitment reveals itself in the three E’s: effort, excellence and energy.

Effort is all about how hard we work, how many hours we work, and how focused we stay on the task at hand. It’s choosing to exhibit commitment with a strong work ethic. Colossians 3:23 says, “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people” (NLT).

Excellence is about the quality of the work we provide. It’s being committed to deliver the best work every day, and doing so with a posture of continual improvement. Walt Disney World demonstrates a commitment to excellence by paying attention to details. For example, in an effort to keep the parks clean, Disney determined how far a guest would walk with a piece of trash in hand before finally pitching it. As a result, you’ll find a trash can every 27 feet at Disney World. That’s a commitment to excellence.

Energy is all about attitude. It’s living out the other two E’s — effort and excellence — without complaining, griping, or draining the energy of others. John Maxwell said, “When our attitudes out distance our abilities, even the impossible becomes possible.”

Everybody has to own his or her commitment to commitment. As Abraham Lincoln once said, “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other thing.”

As leaders, our commitment sets the standard for the people we lead. Is it a commitment worth multiplying?

Reflect and Discuss 1. Which of the three E’s of commitment — effort, excellence, or energy — is the easiest for you to exhibit, and which is the hardest? Why? 2. Which of the three E’s of commitment is strongest on our team (or a team that you lead)?

Which is the weakest?

3. How would the three E’s change our culture if we all choose to embrace them and live them?

Apply Schedule a time to teach the three E’s of commitment — effort, excellence or energy — to your team. Then have your team come up with ways to improve in the three E’s. This will create buy-in and improve overall commitment. Most importantly, be sure you model the three E’s for your team.

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Correct Motives Team Review: When have you scheduled to teach your team the three E’s of commitment?

Assess: Why are the right motives so important in ministry?

Insights and Ideas orrect motives are the final ingredient in effective teamwork. This was the missing C piece at the Tower of Babel. The people’s motives for building the tower were selfcentered and arrogant. Genesis 11:4 says, “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.’”

Impure motives will debilitate any team or ministry effort. A friend once told me, “Pride builds monuments, but humility builds ministry.”

James, the brother of Jesus, said, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble” (James 4:6). A good cause with a wrong motive equals a fight with God. Because the people’s motives (and cause) were wrong, God chose to disrupt their efforts.

He removed one of the ingredients necessary for effective teamwork: communication. Genesis 11:7–9 says, “‘Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.’ So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel — because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.”

Motives matter. Regardless of our work ethic, or the fruit of our labor, without the right motives, we’re wasting our time. God weighs the heart. King Nebuchadnezzar learned this lesson the hard way. Despite a warning from Daniel after interpreting the king’s dream, Nebuchadnezzar looked out across the city and said, “Look at this great city of Babylon! By my own mighty power, I have built this beautiful city as my royal residence to display my majestic splendor” (Daniel 4:30, NLT). While the words were still in his mouth, God’s judgment came, Nebuchadnezzar was driven from his kingdom, and he lived like a wild animal for the next seven years.

You can only break the cycle of pride when you see God for who He is, and you for who you’re not. R.C. Sproul observed, “The grand difference between a human being and a supreme being is precisely this: Apart from God, I cannot exist. Apart from me, God does exist. God does not need me in order for Him to be; I do need God in order for me to be.”

Reflect and Discuss 1. How can pride undermine our lives and our teams?

2. What safeguards can we put in place to live (and build teams) with a posture of humility?

3. Are there any impure motives we need to repent of as a team?

Apply Spend some time in prayer as a team. During this prayer time, ask the Lord to search your hearts (individually and corporately). Acknowledge any unrepentant sin, or any motives that are displeasing to the Lord. Then commit to use your devotional time for the next week to study what Scripture has to say about pride, humility and motives. Discuss your observations at your next meeting.

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THE FINAL NOTE

mericans love their Bibles, but oddly don’t read them much, notwithstanding their high regard for the Bible overall. Almost 9 out of 10 U.S. households (87%) own a Bible. In fact, according to American Bible Society, the average American household owns three Bibles. Yet with all these Bibles, more than half of all Americans (53%) have read little to none of the sacred Scriptures.

In a new study from Nashville-based LifeWay Research, biblical illiteracy appears to be on the rise.

“Most Americans don’t know first-hand the overall story of the Bible — because they rarely pick it up,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research. “Even among worship attendees, less than half read the Bible daily.”

One in 5 Americans has read through the Bible at least once. This includes 11 percent who’ve read the entire Bible once, and 9 percent who’ve read it through multiple times.

Another 12 percent say they have read almost all the Bible, while 15 percent have read at least half.

Among Christians, Protestants (36%) are more likely to read the Bible every day than Catholics (17%).

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Americans Love the Bible — But Are They Reading It? HOW MUCH OF THE BIBLE HAVE YOU READ PERSONALLY?

9%

10%

All of it more than once

1 1%

All of it

12%

Almost a ll of it

None of it

13%

Only a fe w sentenc es

15%

At least half of it

30%

Several passag or storie es s

Source: LifeWayResearch.com

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