Israel wanted a king.  We read in 1 Samuel 8 where they demanded one, and God gave them Saul.  If you’re thinking of taking on a new role or position, here are four realities that may help:

Your role may be new but God’s activity is not.

New leaders come into a work of God that is already in progress.

As much as the people wanted a political ruler, God knew the presence of a king would shift their dependence away from God and onto that king.  That’s exactly what happened.  While Saul was timid at first, he got used to the power and the reverence his position granted to him.

Position can be intoxicating for new leaders, and humility can be quickly replaced by pride. But spiritual leaders demonstrate and encourage others toward a desperate dependence on God and a zealous passion to join His activity.

Your role may be exciting but the needs are big.

Samuel’s kids were a mess, which left a leadership vacuum in Israel.  The people didn’t think right about God and therefore did not do right in God’s sight.  And all that created problems.

As a new leader, you enter a ministry or organization that has problems.  And those problems have created disappointment and maybe even despair among the people.   So they need leadership, but they really need your servant leadership.  They need you to listen, to seek to understand, and then to lead them with courage and good judgment.

Saul was appointed to help, but ultimately he created more problems than he inherited.  That’s always the result when leaders forget they are appointed to solve problems and serve people.

Your role may be spiritual but you will fight carnality.

Israel had big trouble because the people were big trouble.  The problems they experienced were not created in thin air.  They were the result of bad decisions and carnal patterns of behavior.

As a new leader, you have been called to lead other sinners…people who may be caught in sin or who have been influenced by the sin of others.  Your role is a spiritual one.  This is Kingdom work.  Darkness hates the light, which means leadership is always spiritual leadership.

The church leader Paul wrote, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 4:12).

King Saul thought his job was political or perhaps military in nature.  He had some success there, but the forces of darkness defeated him and jeopardized an entire people.

New leaders who operate in the flesh or according to natural resources will miss God’s activity, experience personal defeat, and lead the people into failure.

Your role may be celebrated but not everyone will be happy.

When Saul was inaugurated as king, many celebrated.  But “certain worthless men” silently despised him (1 Samuel 10:27).  Many people will applaud you as the new leader, but opposition will exist, even in silence.

Saul grew to love the accolades of men, but his grandson Solomon later wrote, “The fear of man is a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted” (Proverbs 29:25).

Leaders learn to deeply love people they serve, but the goal is not to produce happy people but to build a holy people.  And that requires a tenacious trust in a Holy God.

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Our heroes are ordinary people who exercised extraordinary faith.  But when it’s our turn to trust God for something beyond ourselves, we often balk.  Here are 4 very logical reasons (excuses) not to trust God:

I can’t.

This was Moses’ first excuse when God called him to lead Israel from Egyptian bondage.  He asked, “Who am I, that I should go…”—Exodus 3:11. He could have said, “I’m just not qualified.  I’m just a shepherd now.  What do I know about rescuing millions of people?”  That seems like a responsible objection, right?  After all, Moses never led people, just sheep.  He simply did not have the credentials.  God should know better than to tap an out-of-touch, sketchy past, aging shepherd for such a big job.  So I can be sure God will not ask me to do something I am not qualified to do.

I’m afraid.

Moses left Egypt 40 years earlier in fear.  Why would he go back now?  What if his own people rejected him?  What if Pharaoh didn’t appreciate his new zeal for leadership?  These threats were real.  Moses’ life was vulnerable to attack.  So I should pay attention when I’m threatened.  Safety first, right?  I’m sure I read somewhere in the Bible that the safest place to be is in the will of God.  So God would never lead me into danger.  He would never ask me to put my life in harms way.  God never expects me to put my family or my fortune at risk.

People are against me.

Life was calm for Moses-the-shepherd.  Then God spoke to him and called him to a great task of rescuing Israel.  That sounded great…except that a rescue means the people holding the captives don’t want to let them go.  It may even mean the captives like captivity more than they should.  So before I get too excited about doing something great for God, I always consider the opinions of others first.  Maybe I should take a vote or do a survey just to be sure God is really calling me.  Opposition from others may reveal this “great work” is really not from God after all.

I might fail.

Moses was a successful shepherd in Midian.  He had the trust of his family and his peers.  But the prospect of convincing Pharaoh to allow him take the entire nation of Israel on a wilderness adventure didn’t seem very promising.  So before I leave my successful job or lifestyle to pursue the will of God, I make sure God has promised success.  God is a winner, so failure is not an option.  Besides, if I fail I make God look bad and I look like a real fool…and my reputation in the community is important to my witness.  So I never attempt anything that could possibly fail.  When God is in it, success is a sure thing.

I’ve used all of these excuses and more.  Please share  your own by clicking on the “Comment” button below.

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Leadership can be an incubator for corruption.  Positions of power test the most trusted, proven leader.

But we know that corruption is never a big deal, at least not at first.  Instead, it begins in the small, unseen places.  More specifically, it begins with a distorted view of ourselves.  Often a leader looks for his identity in the dangerous places of approval, power, and even entitlement.

In Paul’s opening sentence to the Romans, he identified himself in three ways that every leader or influencer should embrace with all our might.  These three attitudes reveal that after many years of successful ministry Paul still had a realistic, yet confident, view of himself that positioned him for lasting Kingdom impact.

The goals of others are more important than our own.

Paul called himself a “bond slave.”  That is a person who gives himself to the needs and interests of others with a practical disregard for his own personal priorities.  As much as we in ministry use this word, we practice it far too seldom.  Many of our followers are unconvinced we believe in them more than we believe in ourselves.  As much as they may love us and appreciate our efforts, they have stopped expecting this approach from us.

The servant-leader is becoming an endangered species and is being gradually replaced with the savior-leader.  This is the leader who believes he alone possesses the abilities, answers, and authority to captain the ship.  This leader-centered approach feeds our egos, discounts the insights of others, and releases team members from the responsibility to partner in the process.   And it is one small beginning to big time corruption.

The calling of God is a privilege to fulfill not a right to impose.

Paul said he was “called as an apostle.”  He still knew that God had invited him into this amazing Gospel enterprise.  Godly leaders never lose their sense of awe as an invited guest into the holy place of church leadership.  Never is it a simple vocation.  Never is it a mere profession.  Vocations and professions are driven by rights, policies, and org charts.  Structure is important, but if we are not careful spiritual leadership quickly turns into a position rather than a privilege.

The call of God is not merely a sanctified term we use to validate our job.  It is a reality for every credible leader.  We are not in service because God needs us to help Him out of a tight, or because our skill set meets the needs on the job description.  We are objects of God’s gracious initiative, which He took to demonstrate His glory.  Corruption will surely grow from a heart that believes anything else.

The appointment of God precisely positions us for greatest Gospel influence.

The term “set apart” refers to a specific assignment for a specific purpose.  God does not issue a generic call to ministry.  He has set each one apart for a very specific purpose to serve in a specific place at a specific time.  God was providential to raise up Esther for “such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).  He was providential to orchestrate Zaccheus’ encounter with the Lord Jesus.  And He is still providential in our appointment to service.

God’s providential activity does not call us to passivity, but it does call us to humble dependence on Him.  Paul’s downwardly mobile ministry assignments landed him in a dungeon prison.  And while he was captive, the Gospel was unleashed through him beyond all boundaries.

Grabbing for new rungs on the leadership ladder has caused many leaders to lose their grip and fall in a corrupt pursuit of more.  Man plans his way, but God directs His steps (Proverbs 16:9).

Corruption is never a big deal at first.  But whenever we normalize a distorted view of ourselves, high cost corruption is sure to follow.

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Whoever you are, you are not enough.  Whatever skills you have, they are not enough.  Whatever your personality, education, or natural abilities may be, they are not enough.  We never accomplish the purposes of God alone.

With a little help from Jethro, Moses figured that out (See Exodus 18).  Nehemiah knew it.  Even Jesus invited other people to share His ministry.

But for us to share ministry, we must shift our thinking in at least 5 ways.  Here they are:

We shift from authority to empowerment.

Who’s in charge is important, but it’s not the best question.  Instead the leader asks, “How can I empower people to accomplish the mission?”  Egos are put to death and team members are given permission to do what they were made to do.

We shift from delegation to responsibility.

We are comfortable giving people a little rope to accomplish tasks we don’t want to do.  But sharing ministry means we allow other people to share the responsibility—to own their job by doing it their way.  J. Oswald Sanders suggests that conceit is the biggest barrier to this shift in thinking.  Our way is not the only way to accomplish the mission.

We shift from centralization to liberation.

Sharing ministry means that we liberate our people.  We refuse to be the gateway for every decision.  We train, we communicate, we invest, we disciple and then we release our people to lead.

We shift from informing to involving.

Leaders are great at making announcements, and we mistakenly think communicating data or even ideas creates buy in from our people.  But shared ministry engages others in a collaborative process that creates better decisions than we could produce alone.  And those better decisions produce genuine enthusiasm for the mission.

We shift from suspicion to trust.

Isolated and insecure leaders communicate distrust in others.  This lone ranger approach keeps people at a distance and rarely permits constructive input.  Sharing ministry, however, invites team members to speak into our lives and creates an environment of mutual trust and respect.

What other shifts have you had to make in order to share ministry?  Click the Comment button below.

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We have all asked that question.  Maybe you don’t have a lot of education.  Perhaps you live in the middle of nowhere.  Perhaps you have a big-time failure in your history.  Or maybe no one ever believed in you.

No Average Joe Series

Joseph must have asked that question dozens of times as he was sold as slave, falsely accused of a crime, and eventually forgotten in a dungeon prison.  For many years, Joseph had every reason to wonder, “Can God use me?”

But then we read,

So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, you shall do”—Genesis 41:55.

After all the dreams, disappointments, and detours, Joseph’s moment had come.  When the people cried out, Pharaoh trusted him to meet the need.

If you wonder if God can ever use you:

Watch the time.

When the seven years of plenty…came to an end (Genesis 41:53).  This is 20 years after his brothers sold Joseph to slave traders!  But at this moment, Egypt was hungry and Joseph had food.  We may think God is delayed, but His timing gives us opportunities we can never manufacture.

Think ahead.

Egypt experienced the famine Joseph had predicted.  When everyone else was living large during seven years of plenty, Joseph worked a plan to store up grain for the future.  It was no one else job to think like that.  It was his, and for seven years he prepared himself.  God just seems to use people who are prepared more than He uses anyone else.

Die first.

Joseph became the provider for a nation.  He was literally the go-to guy.  But for 13 years before that he was dead.  He was dead to his father, to his brothers, to Potipher, and to the butler and baker.  Jesus said, “…unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit”—John 12:24.  Being used by God will cost you, so just die now…die to your selfish ambition, die to your personal opinions, die to your need to be right.  Fruitfulness is always fatal.

Expect more.

Joseph stored grain for Egypt, but ultimately people from all over the world came for help.  His influence and impact was greater than he ever imagined.  Can God use you?  That’s a very small question for the God of the universe.  Our personal experiences, failures, and situation never limit God.  We can always expect Him to do more.

Joseph points us to Jesus who was rejected, died, was buried and yet rose from the grave to rescue us from certain death.  Jesus is our Provison.  And when we are “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), and when we abide in Him (John 15), He bears fruit in us and uses us beyond our biggest dreams.

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Some are family.  Some are friends.  Some are people in whom we have invested our lives.  And although they were attracted to the Gospel, they quit on Jesus.  Although they sincerely appreciated His claims, they walk away from the faith.

How does that happen?  Why would someone who “tasted of the heavenly gift” (Hebrews 6:4) abandon the perfections of Christ?

When Jesus was on earth, many of the people who followed Him for a time ultimately abandoned Him (John 6:66).  Perhaps His claims were too radical.  Perhaps the road was too difficult.  Perhaps the repentance He required was too severe.  Perhaps the cost was simply too high.

Paul gives us some insight and warning when he wrote to Timothy,

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars, seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron—1 Timothy 4:1-2.

Here’s what we know about people who quit on Jesus:

Quitters are everywhere.

When Paul used the term “in later times” he was using a literary device implying the future is now.  It was then and there is now the threat of apostasy that modern believers should never discount.

Quitters are non-specific.

Paul used the phrase “the faith” to describe what the people were leaving.  Jesus was very clear about who He is and how He provided forgiveness, justification, redemption, and final glorification for those who trust in Him.  He called it a “narrow way.” Any attempt to widen it surely fails (Matthew 7:13-14).

Quitters are open-minded.

The enemy and his demons actively deceive unbelievers, but that does not remove a person’s culpability for “paying attention” to these efforts.  In order to stay open-minded, many people fatally feed their minds and nurture their hearts with misleading influences.

Quitters are deceived.

While people are responsible, the enemy is powerful and persistent.  These deceitful spirits are agents of Satan himself.  They are people whose conscience has been branded with the lies of the enemy, and they are effective in promoting their doctrines.

Paul understood the real threat of his day.  From prison and in his final attempts to disciple his friend, he reminded Timothy the danger of apostasy was imminent and encouraged him to give himself to “sound doctrine” (1 Timothy 4:6).  And his warning is just as relevant today.

What can we do about quitters?

• We personally embrace and saturate ourselves with God’s Word.
• We advance the trustworthiness of the Bible.
• We nourish others with Bible doctrine.
• We depend on the light of God’s Word to push back darkness.

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Many people have big dreams, but God has not called us to a fairy tale.  Instead, the work God does in our lives is often accomplished in the “land of affliction.”  That’s what Joseph called it.

No Average Joe Series

When Pharaoh promoted Joseph (Genesis 41), he also gave Joseph a wife named Asenath.  She was the daughter of a priest named Potiphera (ironic huh?).  And after a few years, they had two children.  These two children were reminders of God’s faithfulness to Joseph during tough times.

So he named his first-born son, Manasseh, because God made him forget all his trouble and all his father’s household.  Then he named the second child, Ephraim, because God made him fruitful in the land of his affliction.

Forgetful and fruitful.  Those may be the two biggest words for every Jesus-follower who wants to leverage personal influence for Kingdom impact.  Here’s why:

Difficulties do not define us.

The boy’s name was Manasseh, not Amnesia.  Joseph did not lose consciousness of the suffering his brothers’ actions inflicted on him.  But he refused to be enslaved by offenses of others.  God gave him the grace to move forward even when others pushed him backward.  Leaders of influence do that.

Bad times do not prevent good things.

We often attempt to increase our influence by pursuing an ideal environment.   But imperfect circumstances are never barriers to God’s perfect work in our lives.  God gave Joseph “Ephraim”—great success in troubled places.  And “Ephraim” still marks the lives of those who trust God with their trouble.

Old problems do not extinguish new problems.

We never climb above challenges.  Joseph had these two kids right before seven years of famine began.  His past victories did not earn him a pass.  Instead, the scars on his life strengthened him for future struggles.  Jesus followers do not retire or retreat to lick their wounds or complain about old injuries.  But they do reposition themselves by using personal loss for the benefit of others.

God did not make Joseph forgetful and fruitful despite his hardships.  God made Joseph forgetful and fruitful in his hardships.  And from those two big words a nation prospered and God’s people were preserved.

Ideal does not exist.  We may prefer easy street, but no leader prospers in utopia.  Instead the strain of pain allows God to produce greatness in us.  Problems do not penalize us.  They only promote us when God makes us forgetful and fruitful in the land of affliction.

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The circumstances are all very unique, but the details really do not matter anymore.  Small churches, large churches, urban churches, suburban churches, rural churches, famous churches, obscure churches, and churches from all denominations have had to face the sudden loss of their senior pastor or key staff member.  And too often the sudden separation is caused by a personal failure of the pastor.

When a church leader falls and he must leave his post, there are resources now available to help him and his family experience healing and restoration.  It’s not always been that way, but thankfully organizations exist to help displaced pastors find their way back to health and usefulness.

Fallen pastors need help, but First Aid is for the church.  If the church is the Bride of Christ, then how is she to respond to the failure of her most trusted leaders?  When there is an unexpected vacancy in key leadership, the church family is left with big issues to address.  Who is going to lead?  What is the next step?  What should the people know or not know?  And the list goes on.

Then there are emotional and spiritual needs that often blind us.  People begin asking questions like, “How could this happen?” “Who knew and when?” “How long has this been happening?” “Were there warning signs we missed?” How these questions and others are answered makes a world of difference and can mean success or failure in the short term.  And ultimately how leaders respond to these questions will affect the long-term DNA of the church.

Behind all of these questions and concerns is the feeling of betrayal.  Loyal supporters are hurt.  Skeptics are validated.  Employees are angry.  Children are confused.  The church family becomes quickly fractured by conflicting emotions based on known facts as well as unclear and incomplete information.  Everything the leader has said is now under scrutiny that did not exist before.  His motives and judgment are now suspicious.  The sense of betrayal is real and not easily consoled.

This situation may be a cliché, but this is new ground for many churches.  These are unfamiliar and unexpected leadership challenges.  But  healing and health are closer than we think.  God gives grace.  He shows us how to forgive.  He raises up new leaders for the new challenge.  And despite the real changes that are now taking place, a better future is possible.  But it requires action.

While losing a pastor can be discouraging and even shocking, spiritual leaders do not allow the circumstances to paralyze or distract them from the work.  Actually, leaders thrive on challenges.  They see a problem and quickly plan how to solve the problem.  They cast a vision and take clear action steps toward that vision.  While the problems associated with a sudden separation are real, so are the solutions.

So First Aid was written to provide personal encouragement and practical wisdom to help churches respond to the sudden separation between pastor and people.  Good decisions now produce immediate help and long-term healing.

If your church has recently faced a sudden separation, First Aid is a resource that can help.  Order your copy here.

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Every church and organization constantly looks for leaders and never finds enough.  But finding leaders always happens on purpose.

Here are simple priorities that will help you find the leaders you’re looking for:

Pray for leaders.

We are not talent scouts.  Jesus said to pray to the Lord of the harvest for workers (Matthew 9:38).  Only God can raise up servant-leaders.  Seek Him before you seek anyone else.

Invest in people.

Love people no matter who they are or what skills they appear to have.  Until you know someone you really have no idea what God is doing in their life.

Intentionally enlist potential leaders.

Many leaders stand out.  You can spot them a mile away.  Other potential leaders need encouragement.  But no matter who they are or how they are wired, you must ask them to join you.

Model servant-leadership.

Don’t expect potential leaders to read your mind.  People do what people see.  So show them how to serve.

Equip leaders.

Much is caught, but much is also taught.  Take time to sit down and communicate.  Share key principles.  Speak into their lives.  And provide specific nuts-and-bolt information and insight about their role.

Share leadership.

Delegation is a great thing, but the fastest way to defeat a new leader is to abandon them as soon as they begin serving.  Walk with them.  Give them rope, but hold the rope.

Empower leaders.

Once you have clarified their role, equipped them, and walked with them for a while, then let the leader do their job.  Bless them.  Cheer them on.  And then watch them grow.

Encourage leaders.

Now it gets tough.  After all you have done to train up this leader, you will soon discover that she has a mind of her own.  Leaders often don’t do things the way we did them.  Avoid micro managing, get out of the way, and let them lead.

Release leaders.

We do not find leaders so that we can keep them.  We catch and we release.  Leaders are tough to find, but they are really tough to let go.  But you have to do it.  The mission is too big to be selfish with our best people.

How are you finding and developing leaders in your church?  Comment below.

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“God really doesn’t send people to hell.”

“The Bible never specifically mentions the Trinity; therefore, the Trinity must be a Christian fiction.”

“Jesus can’t be the only way to heaven.”

“Since God created everything and is in charge of everything, He must have created evil too.”

“Polygamy is in the Bible, so polygamy must be okay.”

“Jesus is the Prince of Peace, so war is never right.”

“If God knows everything, prayer is really unnecessary.”

Ever heard statements like these? We all have. And all of us who read the Bible have struggled from time to time to make sense of difficult issues. In a good faith effort to find answers, we often create more problems than we were trying to solve.

This may help:

But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God—2 Peter 1:20-21.

We all read the Bible with lenses that bend us toward certain conclusions. That’s why Peter reminded us that we don’t get to decide what the Bible means. Bible interpretation begins with God. The Holy Spirit moved men at a particular time to write specific words that have a specific meaning for a specific purpose.

So how do we know what the Bible really means? And how do we avoid imposing our particular opinions or convictions on the Bible?

It’s not always easy, but here are clear principles (new lenses) for Bible interpretation that will lead us to God-centered conclusions:

Discover the historical setting of the text.
The author did not write in a vacuum. He was surrounded by customs, geography, political realities, and a historical context that illumine the truths he recorded.

Understand the language and grammar.
Nouns, verbs, direct objects, prepositions, and other parts of speech were vital tools the Holy Spirit used to communicate through these authors. God did not write His Word in unknown languages. He used the common vernacular of the day to record timeless truths.

Interpret the text literally…according to its literature.
Poetic material is approached differently than prophetic texts, for example. The sun doesn’t rise and has never risen. But the weatherman still predicts the time of sunrise and sundown every day of the week. Even these highly educated scientists use unscientific language to communicate truth. The Bible uses various styles of literature to drive home the message.

Consider the context of the passage.
The entire Bible sits like an inverted triangle on top of the single Bible verse you are reading. More specifically, the verse is surrounded by a chapter and that chapter is in the context of a Bible book. And every book has a central truth, and the verse or passage you are reading is consistent with that central truth. Taking the text out of its context is sure to distort the meaning and ultimately the application.

Pursue the plain meaning of the text.
Sometimes when people read the Bible, they want to look beyond the actual words in order to have a mystical experience that is disconnected from the revealed Word of God. They look for a sign or a code or an analogy that can confirm their spirituality. Don’t try that. God’s Word is inspired and profitable just the way it is.

Interpret Scripture with Scripture.
This goes back to the context issue, but the lenses through which we understand God’s Word is the Word of God. Rationalistic, philosophical, humanistic systems only distort our thinking and corrupt our efforts of biblical interpretation. We understand the Bible in light of the biblical revelation. Although we may not always understand, the Bible never contradicts itself. It is true everywhere it speaks and needs no defense.

Someone has said that Christianity is only one generation from extinction. We have a faith to keep, and that faith is advanced when we put on these new lenses that help us understand the Bible more clearly and apply it more powerfully.

I’d love your feedback. How do these lenses help you to stay true to God’s Word?

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