Part 2

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work,
and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.
--Antoine de Saint Exupery

    One of my primary goals is to raise our district’s consciousness of vital Kingdom issues and move away from repeating programs that do not meet needs.  There are too many Assemblies of God congregations across South Carolina led by good, sincere men of God who have little or no awareness of either purpose or plan.   Gene Wood, in his book Leading Turnaround Churches argues, “A pastor [or superintendent] determined to bring about new life to his ministry must, however, be willing to change.  Either the church [district] must change its pastor [superintendent] or the pastor [superintendent] must change.” (23)

    I have often asked congregations, when asked to preach in various churches, “How many of you would like to be busier than you already are?”  Needless to say, I have yet to see a hand raised.  I would be the last to criticize our congregations or their pastors for not being busy.  Being busy is not what I am concerned about.  I am concerned about whether or not they are making any significant impact on their communities.  Gene Wood reminds us, “The purpose of the mower is to harvest grass.  The purpose of the church is to harvest people.” (25).

    Shortly before I became superintendent, as a local pastor, my burden for church planting led me to plant one church and substantially assist in the planting of another in the area.  I was convinced then that new churches resulted in more souls being saved.   When I became superintendent, I carried that idea about church planting with me.  One of my first goals was to employ, at the earliest possible time, a fulltime home missions director/church planter.  That goal was realized almost four years later when the presbytery board appointed the district’s first fulltime Home Missions Director, Rev. Terry Carter. 

    It didn’t take many months, however, for us to realize that one person, even if full time, could not, single handedly meet the spiritual, administrative, and relational needs of approximately thirty-five home missions pastors, not to mention the many other pastors of smaller churches.  On top of all this we were scarcely addressing the need of launching a serious church planting effort.  In an aggressive attempt to overcome our obvious short handedness and assertively solve our problem, we added a gifted layman to our home missions team.  Richard Taylor’s past experience with real estate, business management, and evangelism prepared him to make a significant contribution to our effort.  However, even by adding an additional full time staff person, it became obvious that our pastors’ need for support, care, and nurturing were still not being fully met.  Both Terry and Richard were being stretched to the maximum in their endeavor to minister to the needs of the pastors under their care.  While in many respects they were doing a remarkable job, the massive problem remained.  But of this one thing I was quite certain: To reach our possible potential something had to change—either our organization or our expectations.  It was obvious that this hands-on approach (I will use the term chaplain approach) wasn’t working.  Duplicating a faulty strategy never produces anything but negative results.  Remember the definition of insanity?  The task remained too much for two individuals or even three or four, even if they tried to tackle the problem fulltime. 

A NEW DIRECTION 

    The initial opportunity to begin applying my newly learned principles of change came about as a result of the Terry Carter’s retirement.  As I mentioned earlier I immediately recognized that it was time to develop a new strategy.  The chaplain approach was simply not working.

    It was here that God, once again, directed my steps.  He led me to a former acquaintance, Patrick Fiore.  Pat knew of my involvement in the Rutland Cohort and had become very interested in what God was saying to me about transforming my district.  A major ministry contributor in our district was retiring, and I needed some good advice.  I called Pat to ask him for counsel, prayer, and if he knew anyone he could recommend taking over where Terry was leaving off.  To make a long story short, Pat and his wife Susan felt directed by the Holy Spirit to move to South Carolina to help facilitate this district transformation process. 

    Our emphasis shifted from hiring district staff providing chaplain care for our smaller-church pastors (regardless of whether they are district affiliated or General Council affiliated) to that of recruiting, training and empowering multiple leaders and ministers throughout the district to address this crucial and necessary ministry.  Instead of paying one or two district personnel to try to handle this undertaking it is my goal to train between thirty-five and fifty volunteers to accomplish this essential task.  The concept of simply having a District Home Missions Director has now become a thing of the past.  We must expand the current district approach for Home Missions from the one or two hired staff model we started with to include a battalion of pastors and laypersons within our district.  We must move from a maintenance mindset to a missional mindset where all our pastors and laity begin to see themselves as missionaries as well as ministers.  I want to put a quarantine sign on “business as usual” thinking and begin to develop and train pastors and laity to reflect aggressively about reproducing themselves through discipleship and planting new churches. 

    To accomplishing this goal the cross hairs of our new district sights are now set on Leadership and Ministry Development.  Bill Easum, in his book Leadership on the OtherSide, is emphatic when he said, “The emerging world needs leaders of leaders not leaders and followers (24).  In his book Church Next: Quantum Changes in How We Do Ministry, Eddie Gibbs says:

 Just as it takes a disciple to make a disciple, so it takes a leader to mentor leaders.  Herein lies a problem…namely that pastors and potential leaders in the various ministries of the church are not, as a rule, mentored by individuals with leadership gifts.  Professors may be leaders in the world of ideas, but they do not have experience leading a high-risk enterprise, which requires attracting talented and committee people… (115)

    Pat Fiore’s primary responsibility will be to use his leadership gifts to help us attract and train as many district pastors, ministry leaders, and lay leaders as possible in order to help them discover and succeed at what God has specifically called and gifted them to do. 

    That raises other questions.  Exactly what on earth is God’s purpose for the church?  Has the church remained true to Jesus’ original mission or has the church, over the years, redefined the original design of the church and its mission in order to reflect its own goals and desires?  If Jesus’ original plan had the potential to transform the world through the power of the gospel, shouldn’t today’s church have the same potential?

    The impact of Christ’s birth literally divided human history into past and future.  His coming to earth was eternally designed to alter the course of human history.  His purpose was to create, if you will, an opportunity for every person in every generation to personally know, experience, and participate in a new future…God’s new future.   

     God’s specific objective in sending Christ into the world was to break Satan’s diabolical hold over mankind.  He successfully accomplished this through Christ’s death and resurrection.

Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It's not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you're already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin. If it's an initiation ritual you're after, you've already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ. When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ's Cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets (Colossians 2:11-15 MSG).

    Verse fifteen in the Contemporary English Version reads: “There Christ defeated all powers and forces. He let the whole world see them being led away as prisoners when he celebrated his victory.”   This metaphor depicts a victorious conqueror plundering his foes.  Christ completely subdued His (and our) enemies through His death and resurrection and offers, to those who would follow Him, an opportunity to experience His liberating power in their lives. 

I want you to know about the great and mighty power that God has for us followers. It is the same wonderful power he used when he raised Christ from death and let him sit at his right hand in heaven. From there Christ rules over all forces, authorities, powers, and rulers. He rules over all beings in this world and will rule in the future world as well (Ephesians 1:19-21 CEV). 

    Paul reminds us “We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world” (Ephesians 6:12 CEV).  Through Christ’s death and resurrection we are no longer helpless slaves predisposed to sin and powerless before hostile spiritual forces. 

    According to N. T. Wright, in his book The Challenge of Jesus the reality of the resurrection meant “the Scriptures had been fulfilled, that the Kingdom of God had arrived, that the new [day] had broken in to the midst of the present age, [and] had dawned upon a surprised and unready world” (142).  “Now these things happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come” (1 Corinthians 10:11 ASV my emphasis).  A loving, gracious, and merciful God literally brings eternal redemption into the present through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.  As Gordon D. Fee, in his book Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God describes it, “…already begun but not yet finished” (6).  In the Scriptures God says, "When the time came, I listened to you, and when you needed help, I came to save you." That time has come. This is the day for you to be saved” (2 Corinthians 6:2 CEV).  Every day, until God says, “it is over,” is an opportunity for those who are estranged from Him, because of sin and rebelliousness, to be rescued.  Here in a nutshell is the purpose of God: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9 KJV my emphasis). 

    Redemption has been, is, and always will be the church’s great over riding purpose!  “And when Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17 ASV my emphasis).  

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God  (John 3:16-18 KJV my emphasis).

    Another question is how did God plan to fulfill his purpose?  I personally think it had to do with God’s nature and the high value he places on community.  In the Scriptures God is revealed as a personal, relational being.  The church, void of God’s presence, is not what the Scriptures portray as a spiritual community.  YourDictionary.com defines community as “a. A group of people who are living in the same locality and under the same government.  b. A group of people having common interests. c. A group viewed as forming a distinct segment of society. d. Similarity of identity: sharing, participation, and fellowship” (“Community”).  Every Assemblies of God congregation in South Carolina should become a community in unity by deciding to be a community of grace. 

    I will continue my thoughts on community in a couple of weeks.  To comment on any part of this article, please scroll down.