GlocalNet

I was asked the same question last week by a young pastor, I’m asked frequently - “How do you stay fresh and make it over the long haul?”  It’s a critical question.  A pastor named John Bisagnio was once told he should make a list of people he was friends with in seminary and by the time he was 50 there wouldn’t be near as many in the ministry.  He did it, and the story goes there were only 5 left.  That’s not God’s will for our life. 

There are so many models of ministry, the changing world, different life and ministry stages ministry, and ups and downs, but the call is a staying force - fruit that remains.  The challenge is to finish strong.  I like to challenge church planters not to be church starters but church finishers - that’s what God expects.  That’s the whole point of hearing God say to his children upon arrival, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  There are some things that every pastor and church leader does to stay focused:  read current books (and old ones), listen to successful people in the ministry, go to conferences, etc. or the mechanics of ministry if you will.  I’m astounded at how few really have a powerful daily worship & prayer life.  That’s my answer to the young pastor - daily spend time in prayer worshipping God. 

When I was starting out in ministry and I’d be asked to speak at conferences to tell what we were doing, that was the highlight.  Even more so now, I’m asked to speak and explain issues of globalization, faith, engagement, etc.  But I’ve got to tell you, nothing excites me as much as when doors open to not tell past stories, but to be in the middle of an active story of how God is working.  That is God’s will for your life.  Your entire life, he wants to move and work, connect and use you for his glory.  I’m convinced one of the reasons we don’t worry about the Holy Spirit that much or debate him more than experience him - is that we have a plan for our life and don’t need to live in the moment.  If you live in the moment, as a child of God, you must have the Holy Spirit to guide you, recognize opportunities, respond properly, see the open doors and walk through them.  How can you have that without daily being on your face before God?  How can you hear the man from Macedonia if you haven’t been in prayer, where your life is clean, your mind is open, your feet are ready? 

As those doors of opportunity open, you’re going to learn and grow and change.  I was reading a paper about John Mott and it said that as he began to engage the world, not only did his faith grow, but his mind grew, his life grew, and his impact also grew.  He wrote a lot about prayer and the key to staying focused on Christ.  Never forget this, the greatest change in your life isn’t going to come from reading books and acquiring information - the greatest change will come from living in the moment, being obedient, and the learning that will take place from being there. 

I was in a meeting at a University speaking on a global issue and there were also some academics explaining how people learn.  As I listened to them, I told them, they were right on (like they needed affirmation from me!) but there was one crucial step that pushed you into the zone of exponential learning.  One guy said he never thought of that and asked who I read, how I came up with that.  I told him about an experience I had that brought me to that point.  Here’s the thing, people have varying levels of intelligence as followers of Jesus, we are not judged for how smart we are, but how obedient we are and how can we be obedient beyond doing this and that, if we don’t hear God’s voice? 

Prayer and worship also calms me.  I can be really upset and frustrated and uncertain about something.  I can get on my knees, in the Word, pour my heart out - and though I may not have an answer, I experience the presence of Christ and an assurance that he is with me and will guide me.  All people - Christian and non-Christian alike are hungry for this, a sense of God’s presence and a deep spirituality.  We as Jesus followers must reclaim what God is saying and doing as we meditate and reflect on him.  Courage matters - without the strengthening of the Spirit, none of us will make it. 

By the Way, Terry Virgo’s book, The Spirit Filled Church is out - buy it!