Pastoral Leadership

The first revival meeting I ever preached was in Rock Island, Illinois, back in the early 1970s. The church already had another evangelist coming to preach to their adults, but wanted someone to hold a children’s crusade in conjunction with that revival. I gladly accepted.

Pride is the number one reason that Christians quit serving the Lord, and it is the number one reason that spiritual leaders fall out of the ministry. Pride can produce an angry spirit, immorality, secret sin, marital strife, excessive debt, and a host of other “surface reasons” that people stop serving the Lord.

Where have all of the orchards gone? I tell you, we have destroyed them! You and I are responsible. The fruit trees have been hewn down and destroyed, and we are suffering from malnutrition as a result.

Servant leaders who encourage and equip others to share in ministry multiply their impact, and they multiply the effectiveness of the ministry itself. Actually, this is what discipleship is all about.

I anticipate every fall season as the fullest harvest time of the year for reaching souls. The fall is when our church has our annual Open House Sunday, and it is also when we have our annual time of training for new soulwinners. All in all, it’s a fruitfully busy time of ministry—if we are prepared for it.

This summer I had the opportunity to visit the valleys of Piedmont, Italy—home to the Waldensians for centuries.>I was humbled as I saw the rough benches around the hewn stone podium where the barba would teach from the center.

With election season coming up, it is important to note what ministry leaders can and can’t do during an election.

We are all familiar with the contemporary church. I know there are those who think that we, old-fashioned Fundamentalists who preach against it, are merely jealous of its success. They think we are high-bound traditionalists who are unwilling to change and unable to keep up with the times.

I believe there are times when the leadership and direction of Bible-believing pastors is desperately needed in our flocks and for our country. And I believe we are in the midst of such a time.

I believe the best advice I could give one who has answered the call from God to plant a church is three-fold: 1) Communicate with your pastor; 2) Listen to your pastor’s advice; and, 3) Don’t leave until your pastor believes you are ready. As difficult as this may be to understand, our pastors know us better than we do.

A growing church is always in transition. From building programs to classroom changes to staff adjustments to schedule flexes to responsibility changes to added ministries, a growing church must constantly prepare for the transitions that come with growth.

There is a tremendous attack against standards today. Those who have standards are called legalists. Even some of our fundamental brethren are telling us that we cannot forbid any behavior among our people unless it is expressly forbidden in Scripture.

In order to most effectively serve the Lord and His church, a church staff must have certain qualities. The following are ten characteristics I emphasize to our staff so that we may continue to grow in the work of the Lord:

The sheriff and outlaw stand at opposite ends of a dusty street, hands twitching with energy and deadly calm. Doors slam with locals rushing for cover, and curtains part for faces watching what’s to come. The sun glares straight overhead, but every store sign reads ‘CLOSED’ for this morose holiday.

One dictionary definition of religion is “the ritual observance of faith.” It is perhaps this connotation that is most often in our minds when we use the word religion. We may think of the repetition of certain prayers or a formal and liturgical service or some other form and order.

If it is reasonable to expect both the mother and the father to be present at the birth of their child, why should not the local New Testament church be able to witness and attend the birth of a brand new church birthed by their own local church?

Leadership is never static. It requires intentional personal growth. Below are five quick thoughts I shared during our recent Spiritual Leadership Conference on steps to personal growth as a leader:

One of the most maligned words in the current religious glossary is the term fundamentalism. The term is misused often. Dictionary definitions of fundamentalism acknowledge its original use in reference to what they call “a twentieth century movement in Protestantism” which emphasized “the literal interpretation of the Bible.”

In First Corinthians, the Apostle Paul exhorts the Corinthian church to be laborers together: “For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building” (1 Corinthians 3:9). There are many things the first century church had right, but there are many things they did not have right.

The highest model of leadership is cloaked in the lowest forms of humility. Specifically, servant leadership was set and demonstrated by Christ Himself when He left Heaven’s glory and “took upon him the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7).