Are You Overextended in Ministry? Then Train Your Replacement

It's too common for ministers to become overextended. Too many horror stories of pastor's families going without their father have been repeated over the years by countless family members. There's a reason that the term "Preacher's Kid" has a stigma to it.

Additionally, there's a reason that there is abundant council to ministers who "burn out". Some even suffer various emotional a physical breakdowns. How often do you see your pastor obligatorily attending every event in the church or even feeling the need to lead every event in the church? Do you have events so large at your church that some staff members or other ministers stay up to all hours at the church, even for weeks before the event, in preparation?

This pattern doesn't just go for pastors or other staff members. Most churches can identify perhaps 20% of their congregation who do perhaps 80% of the volunteer work in the church. When someone is identified as an achiever of sorts, they are asked to do the work. It's easy to seek out those who are known to accomplish a lot of work in order to enlist their efforts in the newest endeavors. These people too often burn out as well. The all-too-common counsel for them is that they need to learn to say "no".

Some people have trouble saying "no" because they believe that the work won't get done if they don't do it themselves. The problem with this is that it indicates a deep-seated distrust of other people. Often this trust is not unfounded. That is, there have been times when they enlisted the help of someone else who failed them. So they gave up trusting other people. These super-ministers have all the experience to best accomplish the task because they have learned from their failures and know how it's supposed to be done so that there is no failure. The problem is that they don't see any success beyond anyone else's failure.

If you do the ministry of ten people, then you have taken the responsibility to minister away from nine other Christians. Is it not a better ministry to disciple others to do the excess minstry you have on your plate?

And in order to do this, you have to allow others the opportunity to fail so that they learn the same way you did.

Mentoring the Next Generation of Christian Leaders

This is the eighth and last post of a series on Godly Leadership.

In my last article I talked about people who have the lower gifts although all must desire the higher gifts. But what happens when one desires the higher gifts and might have the potential to have those gifts?

Discipleship is part of the great commission. Discipleship is not simply giving people theological information. Discipleship involves teaching people how to apply the scriptures. But it goes even beyond that. One can have all the knowledge and experience to apply truth, but not have the desire for God. Discipleship focuses on imparting that desire and how to fuel the desire with knowledge and application of the scriptural truths.

As I discussed in the last article, everyone in the Body of Christ has gifts given by the Spirit to minister within the Body. While each is to be a leader in his or her own right with regard to the gifts each has been given, there must be some leadership to help them plug in where they are needed in the Body. I have had highly trained, well-gifted, full-time ministers tell me that they wished they had some of my gifts. Yet none has yet to call on these gifts from me. If they see a need for my gifts in the Body of Christ, they should ask me to use the gifts I have in the way that they would use them if they had them. We should envy no one their gifts, but call on those people who have the gifts we need to help us as we minister in the Body of Christ. Call this “mentorship on the go”. It’s the ministry we give to each other on momentary basis by helping each other to grow in ministry by seeking the gifts in each other that God has provided for our fellowship.

John Piper addressed this briefly. Look at this video. Starting at about the 3:00 mark, he discusses something that we don’t generally think about:



What I see too often follows this pattern. Someone has a gift and has the desire to use that gift but doesn’t have an outlet that is apparent for use of that gift. There is no opportunity. These people are typically frustrated in ministry and can become defeated. So when they express their defeatedness, the typical response is to acknowledge that the person has a gift to use. This is not helpful because that’s the source of their defeat. They are unable to use their gift.

Piper talked specifically about prayer, but it applies to all aspects of the use of any gift. For example, one may say, “I don’t think I’m good enough to teach.” This really means, “I think I can teach and I have learned much that I desire to share with others, but I don’t get the idea that I’m really needed among a sea of other teachers, or other people don’t really seem to want to learn anything from me.” A typical response may be, “You are a very intelligent man. I wish I could understand things as well as you do.” The intent may be to encourage, but it still doesn’t change the fact that that person is unable to use his gift. In fact acknowledging a gift that is not being used in this way as such is almost like saying, “I want to have your gift to use it for myself, but I don’t want you to use your gift to minister to me.”

Therefore, not mentoring can be an issue of pride for many leaders. Some leaders may feel threatened by others in their congregation who want to grow in ministry. Some leaders may simply not have the time. But at some point the idea of taking on too much ministry can be a matter of pride. This is where a minister thinks that he is the only one capable of doing all that needs to be done instead of building up others, mentoring them, to do join in the work, and trusting God even in the differences in their gifts to accomplish His purposes through different people.

In any case, with regard to using the particular gifts we have been given, or developing especially the greater gifts, mentors are necessary. It is my firm belief that Christian leaders need to mentor the next generation of Christian leaders. Perhaps this is where the wisdom comes that allows people to know how to make particular decisions or determine particular direction with only general principles. I wouldn’t know because I’ve never had anyone mentor me after this fashion, but I highly suspect that this is true.

Jesus mentored the twelve. Paul was mentored by Ananias and the disciples in Damascus. Paul mentored Timothy. Paul instructed Timothy to mentor others in his church (2 Tim 2:2). Mentoring is a Biblical pattern and I suggest it is vital to a church to raise up new generations of Christian leadership through intentional mentoring.


And with that ends this series on godly leadership.

Don’t Waste Your Mediocrity

This is Part seven of a series on Godly Leadership.

You may be wondering what a teaching on mediocrity has to do in a set of teaching on leadership. While it’s true that there are mediocre leaders, one would wonder why all such teaching wouldn’t be geared toward making leaders great. While we should want leaders to be great, and we should want to be great leaders, we should understand that most of us will never be great leaders no matter how mature we become in the faith. Maturity in the faith and great leadership abilities are not synonymous.

Look at 1 Corinthians 12. Throughout the text we see that different people have been gifted for different things. Some have gifts that appear more honorable than others (1 Cor 12:21ff). For a reason not all the gifts are the same, or of the same honor or strength. God intends the Body to have equity, but we all know that that’s not the way it pans out. Imagine the most worthless person in your congregation. There is the person who has the medical condition or bad attitude and can’t seemingly contribute positively. Now think of the leader in your church you admire the most. God intends for you to care for each of these the same (1 Cor 12:25). But you don’t, do you? None of us does like we should. And yet here is Paul’s clear teaching on it that we conveniently ignore.

Does God know that we ignore this? Yes. In fact He had Paul acknowledge that our perceptions are skewed (1 Cor: 12:23). The point is that we each have gifts, but some are greater than others. Paul also mentioned this in verse 31:

But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. (1 Corinthians 12:31 ESV)

Notice what we are to do here in this verse. We are to desire the higher gifts. The higher gifts, like prophecy, edify the church more than the lower gifts, like speaking in tongues. But will all be gifted with prophecy? Decidedly not. So here we see that the Bible tells us to do something that will never come to fruition: all of us are to desire something that most of us will never receive. I don’t know if it’s more depressing to do this or to realize that most Christians don’t do this.

If you really do this, then what must you think when you won’t ever have the higher gifts that you are commanded to desire? You know that you can’t not desire it. You know that even though you may never have the gifts that you desire, you are supposed to be cared for as though you did, for the lower gift that you have is Biblically just as important. You also know by experience that you will not be considered by people who possess higher gifts to be as important as they are. Those who have more humility may give some lip service to your ostensible importance, but you also know that they likely don’t know what it’s like to not have a higher gift. And when it comes to honoring people, you know that you can do nothing that anyone considers particularly important. It can hurt.

And it doesn’t apply only to when you have no skills. You can have many skills, but no opportunities. I have a pretty broad skill set. However, there’s little opportunity to use most of my skills and virtually no opportunity to use some of my more exotic skills because ministry strategies tend to mainstream the more abundant gifts. As I hinted in my last article, God has not provided for me to use many of my gifts. Therefore, I am relegated to mediocrity in the use of my gifts. I function as one with lower gifts.

But it’s this mediocrity on which I focus. God can do anything and he can use me greatly in the future. All I have are the likelihoods to plan on and it’s likely that I will take untapped skills to the grave. When I see people who are either not able to use the gifts that God has given them or have not been encouraged to grow in their ministry I ache for them. I see in them the potential to serve God in a mighty way and I wish I could help them somehow to grow in this.

What I notice is that people who are mediocre will either tend to seem overly content, not desiring the greater gifts, or will desire the greater gifts. For those who tend to be content the message they are given is to get up and do something. But that doesn’t address their over-contentment. For those who desire the greater gifts, the message is most often platitudes that are meant to encourage them to try.

What I don’t see as a message to these is a call to desire the higher gifts. But I do see a low value placed on those who have lower gifts. That is, they receive no honor for their seemingly unimportant gifts but rather are implicitly expected to honor those who have higher gifts. The message should be that while we may desire the higher gifts, it is important that people have lesser gifts, and those people are indeed important to the Body of Christ.

Next lesson: Mentoring the Next Generation of Christian Leaders

Theological Tension on Ministerial Leadership

This is Part six of a series on Godly Leadership.

I love Theological Tension. Theological Tension is when the Bible teaches two things which appear to contradict one another. The reason I love it is because God uses it to focus our thoughts on what is important and to give us a guide to change our thinking. Examples of Theological Tension, particularly for Westerners, includes questions like the following:

“How can God be sovereign and still create man with free will?”

“How can we pray to God and ask Him things so as to influence God when God is immutable (unchangeable)?”

Too often debates over these questions end up focusing on what is not important. When we finally figure out what we really do know versus what God is silent on and figure out what is truly important, then the Theological Tension disappears. There is no contradiction, for example, between God’s sovereignty and man’s free will.
Any perceived contradiction in scripture is due to our flawed thinking.

Given that, I find some Theological Tension in considering the Bible’s teaching on Leadership. This means that my thinking is flawed. I just haven’t figured out how yet. To be sure, it’s not a direct teaching found in the Bible, but in the storehouse of general Biblical principles that could be applied to leadership. The apparent contradiction is the absence of teaching on how to make particular decisions based on general principles.

Let me give a few examples:

We know that we must preach. Proclamation of the truth is how the truth is propagated, according to Paul. Jesus did it. Peter did it. Paul did it. Paul instructed the churches to do it. How does any preacher know what to preach at any given time? Unless he has a direct word from God, how can he be certain that he is preaching particularly what God really wants him to preach? How can he be certain that God even wants him in the pulpit?

Someone may answer: “God didn’t give us particulars because He wants us to use our minds.”

Me: “But on what basis are you certain that your mind is generating an accurate conclusion toward the discernment of a particular?”

Someone: “That’s the freedom we have in Christ.”

Me: “What verse is that?”

Someone: “There’s not a verse. It’s just that as long as we don’t go against what actually is in the Bible, we’re free to use the gift that God has given us to choose what we think might benefit the congregation.”

Me: “Granted that what you say sounds reasonable. But since it’s not given in scripture how can you be so certain of yourself?”

Someone: “Didn’t I read where you successfully chaired an Evangelism Committee? Tell me how you knew to start the outreaches that you did.”

Me: “It was a shot in the dark. Seriously. I had no confidence that anything positive would come of it or that I was doing the right thing. How can I pretend to have some certitude about something particular that I cannot know is particularly right from scripture?”

Someone: “Well, you just have to trust the Holy Spirit.”

Me: “How does that work toward a particular decision without some direct information from Him like Paul got when he went to Macedonia?”

Someone: “He directs your desires. As long as that desire doesn’t contradict scripture, then you should be fine.”

Me: ”Should?”

Someone: “You know what I mean. So is there anything that you really want to do to serve God?”

Me: “Whatever He wants me to do. I’m available.”
[Back to square one!]

This is how most of my imaginary debates go in this area. It always ends with a general desire to do in particular whatever God wants me to do. Once again, I know that my thinking is flawed in there somewhere.

To be honest, there have been many particular things that I have desired to do. For example, a great outreach ministry would be to take eight gifted vocalists capable of striking up a variety of Christian a cappella music (sans instruments), performing short skits, giving their testimonies, and presenting the gospel. They would be able to walk into a neighborhood or park, start singing, draw a crowd, proclaim the gospel, counsel any who profess Christ, and leave without any permits or set-up time. I have had countless ideas like this one. However, they all require getting other people involved. No one I’ve ever told of this idea is particularly interested. So I must conclude that either my ideas are not of God or I’m going about it all wrong.

Consider this: if it is of God, He will provide what I need to accomplish it. Do I need a mentor to teach me how to accomplish this? God has not provided one. Do I need other people who are interested? God has not provided them. Do I just need to come up with the idea and let others who can lead take it and run with it? I’d gladly do that, but God has not provided those either. Do I need some other way of thinking? God has not provided that yet.

So, If God does not provide what is needed to accomplish what I want to do in His name then I must conclude that God does not want me to do this thing.

So, I’m still back to square one on this… except for one point: This thinking agrees nicely with something I noticed in 1 Corinthians 12. But that’s my next article: Don’t Waste Your Mediocrity

Leadership and Submission

This is Part five of a series on Godly Leadership.

Understanding that (1) Leaders are not perfect and (2) Leaders are assigned by the authority of God, we must be in submission to God’s leaders – to a reasonable extent.

We have a problem in the Western Church. We are fixated on what has been called the three B’s of the Western Church. These are:

1. Budgets



2. Buildings



3. Butts in the pews.

We tend to place way too much importance on these things. They give us a false sense of importance. Indeed, in the Southern Baptist Convention, we tend to elect presidents on factors similar to these three B’s. Whoever has the biggest is considered prime for inclusion in the running.

Budgets: God has blessed with money, so what can we spend it on to make ourselves look like we are doing the right things for God?

Buildings: New building projects give us something to sell to congregations, and potential members, and make us look like we have a growing church.

Butts in the pews: One reason too many churches don’t do church discipline is because we vie to have churches filled with people. Too many churches are content to allow non-Christians on the rolls for this reason. They may not think of it in this way, but having lax membership qualifications invariably lets in more people who do not have true faith in God.

The thing is that these things are looked at in the Western culture as being vitally important to a church fellowship. I served on the church council in the last church I was in. (It is roughly equivalent to the deacon board of most Baptist churches.) The Finance Committee had more members on it than the Social Ministry and Evangelism Committees combined. Sadly, the congregation in general couldn’t tell the difference between evangelism and social ministry. I was selected to chair the Evangelism Committee and met with the one other person who showed up for the initial meeting of my chairmanship. By the end of my chairmanship, I had several people involved in evangelistic outreaches. I had created the church’s first welcome center, small as it was, with brochures for visitors, and created a regular fellowship time where people could learn of evangelistic outreaches to get involved with. After I left, it all but disintegrated. More important to people were the three B’s. Today, due to this fixation as well as some problems with that particular denomination, the church is all but dead. There are virtually no more youth or even young adults.

I was a leader in that church for a short time, but most of the other leaders were there long before me and many are still there leading a dead church. In their prime, those leaders were the wealthiest in the church. They assumed that the budget they created with their large contributions gave them the right to claim leadership over all things in the church. They set aside hundreds of thousands for improving the pipe organ, renovating the Fellowship Hall and Kitchen, renovating the old Scout Hut into a new meeting room. The most of a budget that I could muster from them for the Evangelism Committee was about fifteen hundred dollars one year.

I suspect that it is a similar case for many dead or dying churches.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33 ESV)

What things will be added? According to the context, material things will be added. Don’t be fooled, however. Some may be tempted to say that our final goal is the material things.

But I’ve already said that I’m not goal oriented. The process is to seek the Kingdom of God and not worry about material things. That’s what’s important here. The passage acknowledges that we need material things. But their proper place is secondary to the process of seeking the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is permanent. Material things are perishable as are most of our considerations regarding Budgets, Buildings and Butts in the pews.

So what are we to do when our leaders lead us to consider the three B’s first? As long as they remain faithful to God, submit to them.

Now it can be argued that pursuing the three B’s is not being faithful to God. Humbly submit your concerns to the leadership and follow their lead. They have been placed in authority over you as all imperfect leaders are. But where they lead you to go against the important things of God, you must be first obedient to God. This is the primary reason I’m not at my former church anymore.

So, understanding that leaders aren’t perfect, but that their authority comes from God, and we are called to be in submission to the authorities that govern us, willingly submit to them and do not try to usurp their authority.

Trying to usurp authority engenders distrust. Submitting to authority engenders trust and your leaders will be more inclined to lend you their ear and consider your plea to a more faithful leadership.

Next article: Theological Tension on Ministerial Leadership

Leadership and Authority

This is Part four of a series on Godly Leadership.

In the last article I pointed out how our motives are flawed. Even the best of us suffer, to some degree, the struggle of desiring our purposes where they do not match God’s. Even when we follow God’s purpose toward the decision to make some action, that action is still polluted with sinful motives (Romans 7:15ff).

Every sin has at its root the desire to usurp the authority of God. This often plays out in the covering of expenditures. Wealth to the wealthy is not generally an end in itself, but the means to gain power. In every way, we like to have some measure of freedom to do what we want, especially where we might influence others.

Now, this influence is handy when it comes to organizing a fellowship of believers. As long as there is considerable humility behind influence, then any sinful desire to control other people can be nullified. Manipulation becomes encouragement with a couple of factors: One is transparency in leadership. The other is willing submission to a leader. Manipulation builds distrust and resentment as one person tears down another. Encouragement builds trust and fellowship as leaders build up the people who follow them in faith to God. But the tools of manipulation and encouragement are the same.

Therefore, leaders may be both manipulative and encouraging at the same time.

There is a difference between manipulation and encouragement as I use those terms here. Manipulation is when a leader seeks to influence people to some degree against their will otherwise. This grows out of a lack of trust in that others won’t do what the leader wants them to do. Therefore, manipulation uses various psychological and sociological tools in order to control the information available to people so that they will make the decisions to act according to your purposes. Governments all over the world do this. Even here in the United States, the popular media controls the information it dispenses according to its particular political bent. The ever mysterious mentalists use subliminal cues to manipulate people for entertaining effect. Criminal interrogators use similar techniques for manipulating suspects to willingly give up information they may have. Children who do not receive the emotional care they need often end up manipulating in an effort to get the attention they need. Militant atheists often accuse religious leaders of using religious trappings and truth claims to manipulate their followers. Manipulation can be overt or insidiously deceptive.

When we often think of encouragement, we might think of nice things we say to someone to positively nudge them in a helpful direction, whether to boost their self esteem or make them think about some area of work or ministry that they should think about doing more of. The definition of encouragement I use here is a little broader than this. Even this level of encouragement is a bit of transparent manipulation. Everything we say to someone else changes them a little bit. If a leader appears to be confident and clear in the direction he gives followers, then they are encouraged to follow him. So encouragement may mean giving hard directions with a certain confident demeanor that might put some followers off initially. But if the bulk of people follow gladly, then malcontented followers will generally learn to do the same for a time.

But it’s this matter of confidence that I have issues with. As someone who is not gifted with natural leadership abilities, I imagine that people might tell me (and some have) that I need to have more confidence. My issue with confidence is what confidence actually is. The word has its root in Latin and comes to us through French influences: “con fide” literally means “with faith”. To pursue confidence, one must define the object of our confidence. If we place confidence in ourselves, then we have entered a most un-Christianlike place. To have confidence in myself is to assume a power that belongs to God. Rather, our confidence must be in God.

Too often, I’ve noticed that the confidence that many leaders exhibit is a false confidence in the weight of their own opinion. I’ve seen salesmen make promises they didn’t know if they could actually keep and make them with such apparent certitude that they were believable enough to make a sale. I’ve also noticed that this is useful for accomplishing goals.

If I fail in leadership, it’s that I know how uncertain things really are and I’m simply too honest to pretend otherwise. I have all confidence in the promises of God, but I know that my motives are never fully pure. I also know that the motives of people I depend on are never fully pure. So I can’t confidently make promises I can’t keep. I can’t be cock sure that my opinions are right.

Additionally, I know how to manipulate people. I also have a strong distaste for it. If I fail in leadership, it’s because I intentionally err on the side of not manipulating enough. I know that I can push proverbial buttons and pull emotional strings and make things happen. I choose not to do so. If God wants me to lead, He will send followers motivated by the Holy Spirit or an appointment to lead by someone in authority. (And I would silently question their wisdom in asking me to lead anything.)

But I am on rare occasion asked to lead. And when the time comes, I generally lead well because I have no authority other than what is given to me. I have heard others talk about how they are “take charge” kind of people. That begs the question: From whom do they take it? There are certainly times when no one is in charge. However, sometimes people “take charge” when someone else is already in charge. In a Christian setting, I believe this to be a violation of Paul’s admonition to be in subjection to governing authorities (Romans 13:1). God has already placed someone in charge and judging them to be weak in leadership is judging God’s appointment of them. God is the One from Whom comes the authority to lead.

And that is the tie that binds the rambling nature of this article together: God perfectly appoints imperfect leaders to accomplish His purposes.

Next article: Leadership and Submission

The Role of the Holy Spirit – Desiring God

This is Part three of a series on Godly Leadership.

[7] For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. [8] Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. [9] You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (Romans 8:7-9 ESV)

[14] For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. [15] For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:14-15 ESV)

Studying Romans 8 we learn much about our relationship with the Holy Spirit. Aside from what I discussed in the last article, here we can see that those who do not have the Holy Spirit are hostile toward God. Those who have the Holy Spirit have a desire for the things of God as His children.

On the surface this looks like a simple teaching. I’ve pointed it out and you may say, “Yeah. I knew that. No biggie. What’s next?” But we need to dwell on this a little bit.

Do you know anyone who makes decisions with fleshly motives? We must understand that our motives are never completely pure as long as we live in this world of sin and death (Romans 8:10). If our motives were pure, then we would not need the Holy Spirit to guide us and intercede for us when we don’t know how to pray (Romans 8:26). People who don’t have the Holy Spirit may desire to do good things, but any reason they have for this necessarily excludes any desire for God. That’s the best case scenario. But people who have the Holy Spirit will have a transcendent desire for God and be duly motivated by a joy for satisfying Him although they may occasionally fail at pursuing this desire.

In the last article I pointed out a discrepancy between Christians knowing from the Holy Spirit that the Bible is accurate and sufficient and it being difficult for Christians to discern between the activity of the Holy Spirit and their own flawed desires and emotions. The balance lies in the weakness of our motives.

First, we might understand that the canon of scripture is certain. However, none of us fully appreciates the magnitude of God’s communication to us through His written accounts in the canon of scripture. It is a matter of doubt that some who claim to be Christian do not believe that the very source of our information about Christ, the Bible, is very certain.

Roman Catholics, for example, are one such group. While I have no doubt that there are Christians in their number, I doubt that there are many. Why? Because they hold the source of their faith in question as authoritatively lesser than those who are in position over them. While we need to be subject to our governing authorities, they cannot controvert that which secures their authority without bringing their authority into question. They place sinful men over what God has established as His authoritative word. That’s a minor example. Sadly, there are more that are far worse.

Second, the reason we as Christians have difficulty discerning the difference between the Holy Spirit and last night’s lasagna (as it affects our bowels enough to give way to a visceral spiritualism) is, first, because our motives are mixed and, second, because the Bible doesn’t indicate how precisely God will communicate to us directly.

God has directly communicated with me twice in my life. He didn’t controvert any of His word and His messages were to me. I don’t often mention them because what He told me was not intended to edify the Church and His words are not generally fruitful for anything but self-promotion. But I mention it here because I knew beyond any doubt that God was speaking directly to me. Before, I might have thought that God would want to use me as a prophet or something and want me to tell people something in general. Looking back, such thoughts were motivated in part by a desire to be known as a great man of God. Now, I realize how foolish I am and I’m careful to make any pronouncements from God’s word with the fear that I might get it wrong and lead someone astray and also to qualify uncertain musings as those of my own that might be wrong.

Therefore, I’m wary of any who claim to have some word from the Lord that is not taken from scripture. I know how impure motives can generate false prophecy.

What I mostly want to take from this is that the Holy Spirit gives us the great motive which is a desire for God and to see His glory truly revealed, but that we will still harbor self-serving motives that will interfere with making wise decisions in leadership.

Next article: Leadership and Authority

The Role of the Holy Spirit – Cessationism vs. Continuationism

This is Part two of a series on Godly Leadership.

I have often been counseled to “walk in the power of the Holy Spirit”. This is good counsel in general, but it needs much in the way of clarification. And sadly, the clarification either doesn’t come or is very, very vague.

A very encouraging passage is from Paul’s letter to the Romans:

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:11 ESV)

While this particular verse seems to only be talking soteriologically (about our salvation) the passage that it comes from is also ministerial. In other words, it doesn’t merely say that we are alive because the Holy Spirit has made us alive, but that we have a meaningful life because of the work of the Holy Spirit. Of note:
We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9). We are led by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14). The Holy Spirit is not simply a general spirit of goodness that we have in our hearts as I have heard some say, but He is the Spirit of God separate from our spirit (Romans 8:16). The walk of our life is not merely characterized by, but is centrally a matter of co-suffering with Christ (Romans 8:17) and that we are not immune from the groaning of all creation as we wait for the hope of the return of Christ which brings the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23). The Holy Spirit helps us in this weakness (Romans 8:26). All things happen according to the will of God and work together for good (vv 27, 28) because we are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:29, 30). So is all this merely soteriological? Go back up to verse 5 (Romans 8:5) to see that we “live according to the Spirit”. Then go to 1 Corinthians 11 and see how the Holy Spirit provides for our ministry as a Body.

The question remains as to how we perceive the particulars of the leading of the Holy Spirit. This is the heart of Christian epistemology. Two schools of thought define the spectrum among conservative Christians: Cessationism and Continuationism. I’m not sold completely on either school of thought for various reasons. I’ll make some observations and summarize each one.

First, we already know, as I have pointed out, that as believers we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and have His guidance. The Holy Spirit leads us into all truth (John 16:13). How the Holy Spirit does this is what is in question:

Cessationism is the belief that the miraculous acts performed by virtue of the Holy Spirit have ceased. The money verse for this belief is:

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” (2 Timothy 3:16 ESV)

The understanding is that no more scripture is being written, therefore there is no more need for signs and wonders to mark extra-biblical authority. Many cessationists do not deny that miracles can still happen, but that no act or special message from God outside the Bible can be reliably attributed to God through the Holy Spirit.

There are indeed false prophets who claim to speak on God’s behalf. There are people who “feel led” to do certain things and attribute these feelings to the Holy Spirit. However, there is no way for others to determine if such a feeling was given by God or last night’s lasagna. In fact, too many people seem to think that a flutter in your gizzard means that God is telling you something. Some, in hopes that God is giving them the gift of prophecy, claim certain things as prophetic that are clearly not.

But does this discount such things? Could there be a difference between a prophetic word that should be scripture and a prophetic word that God does not intend to be scripture?

Continuationists, in this vein, believe that miracles have not ceased. Not only that, that we are given divine gifts as such to mark, not scripture as such, but the fellowship of the Body of Christ. The money passage for this view is 1 Corinthians 12 (or even Acts 2 for Pentecostals in particular). In this verse, we learn that some have been given the gift of tongues and others have been given the gift of prophecy. While cessationists claim that these should only be interpreted in a merely natural sense (preachers and translators), continuationists understand Spiritual gifts as anything but natural.

Setting these aside for the moment, let’s look at the facts.

1. Given the history of the Bible and the unanimous acceptance of the canon of scripture by the early churches even before the Council of Nicea demonstrated such agreement, we must understand that the canon is closed. That is to say that we have a known standard by which we can judge things to be true.


2. This standard is confirmed in the lives of true believers by the Holy Spirit.


3. The Holy Spirit gives us gifts to use in the context of other believers for the proclamation of the truth of Christ.


4. The Holy Spirit is, by definition, supernatural.


5. It is too often difficult for most Christians to discern the difference between the activity of the Holy Spirit and our own flawed desires and emotions.

Given #2 and #5, we may have a problem as individuals, especially where it comes to leadership. I plan to address this problem in the following articles.

Next article: The Role of the Holy Spirit – Desiring God

Being a Godly Follower

This is Part one of a series on Godly Leadership.

Much is made of godly leadership. Often this is because many pastors, Bible teachers and other ministers are gifted in leadership and teach what they know.

The concept is that each of us has some set of spiritual gifts and abilities to offer and we are to be leaders in our use of them for the edification of the Body of Christ. Generally, some mention of marks of a good leader is given including spiritual marks as well as marks of a natural leader. For example, one Christian leadership course gives the following information:

Natural qualities of a leader:

1. A spirit of initiative


2. Willingness to take risks


3. Sense of responsibility

Desired qualities of a leader:

1. Personal authenticity


2. Generosity


3. Personal accountability for actions

Given that a Christian leader combines natural qualities of a leader with Christian virtues, the Christian virtues that contribute to Christian leadership are:

1. A living faith


2. Hope


3. Love


4. Humility

This is a good list. However, while all spiritually mature Christians should exhibit these types of qualities, not always will that mean that they will make great decisions or that others will be inclined to trust their decisions. As such, not every Christian is gifted with good leadership abilities. I count myself as one who is not gifted with leadership. I don’t seem to have the ability to pull volunteers together in cooperation toward the achievement of some goal. Partially that’s because I’m process oriented, not goal oriented. That is, goals are nice, but I’m always asking what happens after the goal is achieved. My focus is on planning for continuity rather than ending the game. My fellow Westerners appreciate goal oriented leadership rather than process oriented leadership. Therefore, I cannot be used to lead them because they will not follow.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. (1 Corinthians 9:24 ESV)

This passage would seem to indicate that being goal oriented is scriptural. However, the context is that Paul is talking about the purpose for his actions, not actually accomplishing the end of any particular race or goal.

It may be argued that even a process must be broken up into smaller goals that need to be accomplished. However, this fails to miss the full import of the process. The goal in the process is never to accomplish a series of smaller goals. The goal in the process is to continue after a certain manner. Smaller goals are never that which is to be particularly accomplished but they are merely benchmarks along the way.

The endless accomplishment of goals is to be focused on performance. The continuity of purpose is to live in submission to the One who gives purpose.

I have often heard it said that in order to be a good leader one must also be a good follower. I must add to this that we must all strive to be good followers, but that leadership must not be our goal. I say that as a process oriented person. The good process is to live in submission to God. Even Christ lived among us and lives today in submission to the Father. How much more should we be in submission to Him? If we happen to be raised up as a leader, then we will have the heart of Christ in leadership and will exalt Him as our supreme leader, the King of the Kingdom of Heaven of which we are citizens.

Leaders do not think of themselves first. They think of God first. When Moses was confronted by sin against God at Mt. Sinai, he struck the Israelites with a just punishment and thousands died. When Moses himself faced attack by his brother, Aaron, and sister, Miriam, he did nothing in his own defense. God came and defended Moses outside of any action Moses took. When God was slandered by the Philistine giant, Goliath, David took up sling and stone and stood boldly in His defense. When king Saul, God’s anointed, was disrespected David struck those who did so with death. When David was personally attacked by Saul and by his son, Absalom, David fled raising no hand against them. Paul judged Christians with due harshness who blatantly sinned against God. But he suffered severe physical abuse for preaching the gospel without seeking retribution for his suffering. This is the testimony of leadership in the pages of scripture.

Next article: The Role of the Holy Spirit – Cessationism vs. Continuationism

Godly Leadership Series - Introduction

I’m not naturally gifted in leadership. For all my gifts, leadership is not one of them. Nevertheless, as one called to be the leader of my family, I have found it necessary to study godly leadership so I can do the best I can for them in the name of Christ.

This has not been an easy endeavor.

First, I was in the Marines and naturally promoted into the ranks of non-commissioned officers. As such I was effective as a leader when men had to do what I told them. I didn’t have to convince them except that typically when they saw that my directions yielded results, they had no problems following. That was a matter of demonstrating substance. Now, as a civilian, I typically must elicit the cooperation of others since there is no disciplined mandate for them to follow me. Too often I’m challenged by potential followers on the basis of preference rather than substance. Most people think preference is important. There’s always more than one way to accomplish something and when I have had the opportunity to lead, I’ve been doubted when I leave matters of preference up to others while I dictate matters of substance. At work, I have the privilege of determining the substance of a schedule while my boss implements it. So my part of the plant leadership is one of substance while my boss handles it by matters of preference (often dictated to him from corporate leadership).

Second, there are still some things that frustrate my understanding in the area of leadership and there has been spillover of this frustration into other areas of ministry. Particularly, doing ministry involves some measure of leadership in the utilization of gifts that one has been given.
This struggle involves some insights that might be helpful in the way that we encourage each other in ministry. The next several posts are a series that investigates Christian leadership and the way that we go about making decisions that honor and glorify our Lord.

The assumptions that I make in this series are that potential leaders are already Christians, that they are relatively mature in their faith, and that they are generally conservative in their theology (high view of scripture).

The links here can be used as an index:

1. Being a Godly Follower


2. The Role of the Holy Spirit – Cessationism vs. Continuationism


3. The Role of the Holy Spirit – Desiring God


4. Leadership and Authority


5. Leadership and Submission


6. Theological Tension on Ministerial Leadership


7. Don’t Waste Your Mediocrity


8. Mentoring the next Generation of Christian Leaders

True Leadership

It occurs to me that the people widely regarded as leaders have two things in common. First, they tout the strongest opinions. Second, they have a charisma that inspires others to confidence in their decisions.

People are often confused about opinions. A belief that holds something as true for everyone is not an opinion. For example, there are those whom I tell that "Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father but by Him" who would balk by saying, "Everyone is entitled to their opinion." It's not an opinion, it's a theological doctrine that I may believe whether I prefer to believe or not. If I go diving in shark-infested water, I may believe that my life is in danger. I don't want to believe that my life is in danger, and my belief may be warranted or not. However, my belief that something is true is not opinion. Rather, opinion is preferential. For example, someone may ask, "Do you like the red or the blue better?" If I answer with either one, I have given my opinion.

People who voice opinions the loudest are seen as those with great leadership potential. If a cat needs to be skinned, the goal is to skin the cat. There may be 10 different ways to skin the proverbial cat. Two people approach the cat to be skinned and one person starts to skin it. The other person asserts, "That's no way to skin a cat. You must skin a cat this way!" And then proceeds to skin it some other way. The first person follows the second with the understanding that it doesn't matter how you skin the cat; only that the cat is skinned; and an argument with the bull-headed one is counterproductive. The second person is seen as the leader for no other reason that he had a stronger opinion.

I use "charisma" for lack of a better term. More technically, you would think that this was the spirit of a person. However, while it speaks of the perception of a person by others, it elicits in others a certain confidence. I offer a true story devoid of detail for illustrating this:

In an early meeting planning something one person said, "We should do ABC because XYZ." The other people in the meeting summarily ignored him.

Later in the same meeting, another member spoke up and said, "We should do ABC because XYZ."

The other members turned to him and said, "See. This is why you should be the leader of our group."

If asked, I doubt anyone would realize that they ignored the first man's decisive statement. What was the difference between the two men? One said it first, but the second found himself favored. The difference isn't in the information I gave. In fact the only difference in the actual account that I could tell is in the charisma of the men. In this case, the charisma boils down to a person's mannerisms. If you say "confidence", then that confidence must be communicated behaviorally. If you say, "manner of speech", then you are referring to behavior. If you say, "the look in his eye", you are talking about behavior.

As someone skilled in acting, I know that these are behaviors and can be effected. However, one who does this is disingenuous. I know because I've done this as a leader of men in the Marine Corps. I did it because it was necessary to be a leader in a time of war. In the Body of Christ, leadership should be much different. In physical combat we fight with the sword and wield it with the strength of our bodies. In spiritual combat, we wield truth. However, we set aside our strength for God to use His strength in us.

Why do we follow the patterns of leadership established by the world and fail to recognize the patterns of leadership established by God. The kind of leadership carried out not from a position that appears powerful, but one of ultimate power carried out in One dying on a cross. Worldly power would have exhibited itself in the issuing of a command to 12 legions of angels awaiting to free the One from having to die and issue judgment on an unredeemed world.

True leadership did not exercise the power available and withheld that command.

The angels stood silent. The power of the death of the One was evident as a storm brewed, an earthquake disturbed the Passover, the veil was torn and dead men awoke and walked about town. No longer did the charisma of His behavior draw the crowds to His teaching. He drew only scorn to His lifeless body.

The One hung limp.

The True Leader did not escape death. He went through it..He defeated it yet not by power, but by His relationship with the Father as the Creator and bought the people who would follow Him with His own sacrifice.

Who do you look to for leadership?

Human Leadership in a Fallen World

What I’ve noticed about human leadership is that we all function with limited knowledge. Human leadership is when one draws conclusions from ignorance and bullies, guilts or persuades others to do what one has determined needs to be done. All this stuff about “vision” and “purpose” are platitudes that serve to help the leader convince himself and his subordinates that there is a higher reason for their actions.

Except… where leaders operate under the authority of another.

And no human leaders are truly autonomous.

We are all subject to higher authority. The CEO of a corporation has a board to answer to. The board has stockholders. The owner of a private company has government regulations. A leader at the very least is held sway by the lives of his subjects. If they die, he is no longer their leader. In any case, we are all ultimately subject to our Creator. We are either dominated by our propensity to sin and are filled by demonic influence as limited by God or we are filled by God’s Holy Spirit.

That said: God works through fallen human leaders despite our stubborn ignorance.