Guided by Grace

Guided by Grace

By Paul Chappell

• One reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail, not his tongue.

• Greatness for God requires greatness with God.

• The key for any pastor is that he learns to control his schedule, disallowing his schedule to control him.

• We cannot become an emotional hermit and still serve God’s people.

• Example of David – pg 96-97 (look at it)

• We know that Biblical separation does not avoid contact with the world, only conformity to it.

• We must be out in the world without conforming to the world.

• Biblical separation is turning away from sin and toward Christ.

• People would rather see a sermon than hear a sermon any day.

• Biblical vision is clear, compassionate and courageous

• Every day Christopher Colombus wrote in a personal journal. Some of those entries are only four words – “Today we sailed on.” We too will experience many days during the course of our spiritual journey when all we can record is “Today I sailed on”. Be encouraged – siling on is better than turning around. The implementation of spiritual vision is an act of obedience to God’s Word, and sometimes that means we must stay the course without seeing visible results. This is the nature of vision. William Carey, recognized as the father of modern missions, called it plodding.

• The man of God prays to God, gets Biblical vision from God and stands up to proclaim the Word of God.

• It is only as we develop others around us that we permanently succeed in the ministry.

• A local pastor who believes that his only responsibility is to teach the Bible has not captured the full understanding of his calling.

• Most Christians realize the mission of the church is to evangelize the world with the Gospel of Christ, but a definite strategy of accomplishing this goal is often not clearly implemented.

• The word influence is derived from the Latin word for influenza or what we commonly refer to today as the flu. How is the flu contracted? It is passed from person to person through one-on-one contact. Influence passes from person to person in a similar way—unseen.

• Although recognizing leaders is an important first step in developing them, I is incomplete without mentoring. It is vital that those who are currently in leadership of the local church spend time with and mentor the future ministry leaders.

• Fellowship with purpose – the activities we have should not just be for any reason, but have a purpose.

• However, mentoring is not an end in itself. The process must proceed to the next step which is equipping.

• It seems we don’t mind mentoring and equipping, but we struggle to share the ministry with others. Unfortunately, if people are not allowed the opportunity to share in the real ministry, they are hindered in exercising a leadership role, and the entire organization is stifled. Maturity doesn’t come with age. It comes with acceptance of responsibility.

• The two basic reasons we do not delegate are: insecurity (lack of spiritual growth) and Disorganization

• The process of delegation can be outlined in the following way:

• Remember to mentor and teach before delegation.
• Give clearly identifiable duties for the given task.
• Verbalize confidence in the person to whom you delegate.
• Give him authority to get the job done.
• Establish budget limits if applicable.
• Allow him room to fail and learn from his mistakes.
• Set predetermined checkpoints fro evaluation.
• Praise him and give him credit for a job well done.

• The process of leadership development

• Saturated in prayer
• Mentoring
• Equipping
• Delegating
• Evaluating
• Multiplying

• In the Epistles of Paul, John, James and Peter, they are full of names of believers mentioned who made a difference by laboring together – None of these men stood alone in the ministry.

• Learning is change

• A critical spirit equals ministry suicide.

• Building a team requires time and commitment. It involves building relationships with the members of the team. Many church leaders get so caught up in administration and paperwork that they forget to invest in the lives of their people.

• Learn to enjoy teamwork. After all, anything worth doing is worth doing together.

• Fellowship is a tool in the continuing process of an equipping ministry. We are not going to develop a team without fellowship. We may not think we have time to take out staff to a ball game or invite them to our homes, but we don’t have time not to. We need to redeem the time, and that includes building relationships.

• The common, ordinary, one-gift Christians are the very backbone of the church. We have our great evangelists, our large congregations led by dynamic leaders and our wealthy brethren who are able to finance great works. But if the work of the Lord is to be done and if the Gospel is to be taken to the lost, then it will be accomplished by ordinary Christians.

• Christian pollster George Barna has reported in a number of surveys that three-fourths of the church growth in our day is growth from transfer of memberships from one church to another. North American pastors need to be reminded that the ministry is not about paper work—it is about people work.