Friday is for friends here at the WildOx Blog, and so today we turn the spot light on Pastor Carl Thomas, of Revival Blog fame. Yesterday we managed to connect via Skype and we spoke for over 45 minutes!! We just clicked immediately in that, “It feels like I’ve known you for years” way.

Carl recently planted The Mission, a Spirit-filled, multi-cultural church in Delray Beach, Florida, and is going for it!  We managed to share a little on what God is doing through our respective ministries:

• We shared a little on our personal histories and it is funny how we seem to be at the same place insofar as this is concerned.
• There are big differences in the respective cultures where we are working, and therefore our approaches to church planting may be different.
• We discussed the value of Networking and discussed how we can help each other in this regard
• We shared on Revival-related stuff - that stuff just lights my FIRE! ….as it does Carl’s I can tell you that much!
• We then prayed for each other and it was really cool - here we were, connecting via the miracle that is Skype, and praying and speaking words of life over each other!!!! Is that cool or what?
• Carl is going to start a Revival Podcast soon (C’mon!!!!) so stay tuned to this spot!

I came away amazed at the fact that we are both in very similar places ministry-wise, despite being thousands of miles away and working in very different settings. We agreed to keep in touch this way - Skype really offers an awesome opportunity to network, share with and learn from gifted and talented leaders and church planters.

If you are a Pastor or ministry leader, you should be doing this too.

What would you say if someone in your town was refused a seat on a bus because they were “too black”? What message would you be sending the world if your city refused university seats on the basis of the candidates being “too black”? How about jobs then? Would you be happy if businesses in your area refused to employ people on the basis of the colour of their skin?

Are you angry yet? You should be! Randy Bohlender writes a disturbing post regarding adoption agencies who refuse placing unborn on their books because of their ethnicity, their skin colour, and how that may have a detrimental effect on their profits. Speaking of am adoption agency in particular he writes:

When the woman arrived, they realized she was Puerto Rican and much darker skinned than they expected her to be. The owner of the agency suddenly decided that the child would be ‘too black’ to find a home for. The owner refused to allow the social worker to pay for the ultrasound that the girl needed - it didn’t seem like a good investment for the agency - and the girl left, probably more afraid of having her baby than she was when she walked in. She was denied assistance because of the color of her skin - something that would be illegal to do if it involved a bus seat or a hamburger, but is perfectly legal in the adoption world.

Are the unborn commodities now? Are they chatels to be disposed of and sacrificed to our bottom-line, our convenience, or our expediency? At best, this is racism - at worst it looks very very dark.

The challenge, however is for the church:

Friends, there has to be a better way. This should not happen in any city in America where a church exists. When a pregnant young woman chooses LIFE, she should find help, not resistance. It’s no wonder 4,000 babies are aborted every day in America - in the short term, we have made death an easier choice than LIFE.

My question is, what are YOU going to do about it?

Read the full post here.

• Attendance was good. There were some new faces in the crowd this morning. Mainly folks who were checking us out. They got whacked, so hopefully they’ll be back for some more FIRE. Overall there is a sense of excitement that is just growing among the people.
• There’s this 6 year old fire ball of a kid in our church that is really being touched by God! He’s our very own FIRE BOY. He has just written a song (!!!!!) that we will probably end up using in our worship sets!!!
• Worship was awesome this morning - You really felt that the meting was a “thin space” where Heaven and Earth were connecting. I believe that the atmosphere that is created through worship is a catalyst for this.
• I gave a message on the New Wine that God is pouring out, and what the proper response of our hearts should be.
• After celebrating the Lord’s Supper we then released everyone into a time of ministry and prayer for each other.
• What started off just like any other normal meeting just took off! At that point the meting exploded as people were going after this thing with a passion!
• I am just SO EXCITED about what is happening in church right now - this is nothing short of the first stirrings of a revolution that will totally transform our city! Indeed, we can settle for nothing less when faced with the Cross and what happened at Calvary two thousand years ago.

Some photos of the service follow:

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Friday is for friends here at the WildOx Blog.  We cast the spotlight on one of my favourite people on the planet, Pastor Kris Vallotton.  

I love Kris Vallotton. He must be one of my favourite people on the planet! I met him in 2005 in Bethel Church, Redding, California and the guy is so genuine! Pastor Kris is due in Madrid in December for a conference organized by my peeps at the Centro Cristiano Cuatro Vientos, and I am really anticipating awesome God-stuff breaking-out there.

He has written an incredible article on becoming an apostolic people that resonates so much with what God is laying on my heart lately!

Extending the Kingdom is more than just a humanitarian effort. Healings, deliverances, and supernatural encounters are called “signs” because they point to the fact that a hand has pierced the veil of a superior kingdom and displayed the wonders of His world. Miracles are simply the natural laws of Heavens world being superimposed over an inferior, earthly ecosystem.

This stuff just plain excites me! It makes my day! Go read the whole article on his website (link). He also shares on the benefit of hearing prophesies spoken over other people because like that you then have the opportunity of relating to that person and seeing that person as God sees him/her. If this is true then the implications of this are huge! It means that as an apostolic (sent) people, we need to shift the basis of all of our relationships (and all of our relating with people, institutions, organizations and Governments, whether they are nice or mean, dirty or clean) from what we think of them to what God thinks of them and sees in them. WOW. This is making my head spin so much that I think I’ll just sign-off for now and mull this over for the next few hours. You should too.

“Ten steps to a new you!” “Be transformed by the power of positive thinking!” “You can if you think you can!” Heard this all before somewhere? The self-help industry is a multi-billionaire one. I know, I contributed a fair amount of greenbacks to help make it so, purchasing the latest self-help books, manuals and programs. This industry plays on an inner sense that everyone has that they were born to be great, and that there must be more to life than this. To a certain degree the core message “you can be great” is healthy because I believe that you were born to be glorious. The method espoused is what I take issue with.

Lately I am being possessed by a thought. What if the answer does not lie within me? What if everything that I need, and everything that I desire for my life is wrapped-up in an event that happened two thousand years ago when a young man was butchered, crushed, and left to die, nailed onto a piece of wood? This may sound extreme to some, foolish to others, but I am getting to realise that far from being extreme, my comment above actually risks falling far short of what was accomplished on that remarkable day.

With the passage of time, we often lose perspective, and with a loss of perspective we often lose meaning. The Cross of Calvary was the place where salvation was purchased - sins were atoned for, and a way back to the Father was forged - and thankfully so. It was also the place where much more than this was achieved.

Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. -Hebrews 7:25

Salvation here is the Greek word “Sozo” and it means much more than just the salvation of your soul, in the technical biblical sense.

Sozo:
1. to save a suffering one (from perishing);
2. to make well,
3. heal, restore to health;
4. to make whole;
5. to deliver.

Salvation was bought at the Cross, and this salvation includes the technical biblical sense, as well as also including saving from suffering, total healing and restoration, and making complete and delivering from all evil. In short, Sozo means salvation, healing and deliverance. Not only can Jesus “sozo” (save, heal and deliver and restore) you, He does it “to the uttermost”, completely, perfectly, utterly. Are you seeing your healing being purchased at that Cross? Are you seeing your wholeness being purchased at that Cross? - physical wholeness, emotional wholeness, and spiritual wholeness?

I’m done with the self-help deal. I think I’m gonna go for the Sozo-help deal. Last time I checked I didn’t see me capable of helping me because if me had been able to help me, then me would never have been in a mess to start off with. I looked at an event that happened two-thousand years ago however, and I saw a man who took a Cross that I might take a Crown, he took a beating that I might take health, He bore ridicule that I might hear a “well done”, he was crushed and bruised that I might be rescued and recovered, and I saw that the punishment of my peace was upon Him.

Truly, there is only one step to a new you - look upon Jesus today, and on that Cross you will find a utter transformation deeper and more complete than any self-help could ever get you.

This evening the pastors of seven churches in Gibraltar met for a discussion with Dr Derek Copley of the European Evangelical Alliance to explore various issues related with the setting up of an evangelical alliance of Gibraltar. The meeting went really well and we have decided to go ahead with the formation of this. Initially five churches will set this up as founding members, and the other two will join subsequently when they go through the formality/protocol of consulting their leadership councils and/or denominational representatives. This is a huge step forward for the Gospel here in Gibraltar as the evangelical movement has never had one unified and recognized voice either in society nor in Government. We hope to raise the profile of evangelicalism in both these spheres.

In the photo you can see Dr. Copley seated on the bottom row - on the top row from left to right: Pastor Michael Mifsud (Bethel Christian Fellowship); Pastor Paco Baldachino (Evangelical Church of Gibraltar); Rev. Fidel Patron (Gibraltar Methodist Church); Pastor Sergio Revelli (The Cityline Church); Pastor Michael Aguilera (Newlife Church); Yours truly (Living Waters). Missing from the photo is Pastor Jose (Iglesia Evangelica Filadelfia) who had to leave prematurely for a meeting.

• Attendance was way up this Sunday. I was not able to get a head count but that was certainly the impression that I got from where I was. I suspected that come September, attendance was going to climb.
• For worship we only had Jaydan this week but he had his new baby with him!!!!! That new keyboard really takes sound to the next level at Living Waters!!! He had his old keyboard with him too and the combination really made it seem as if there were several musicians playing at the same time.
• Worship was militant man! I get the impression that in recent weeks we have been breaking new ground in worship. There is a discernible shift that takes place when God’s people go to war by worshipping the God who is great and greatly to be praised.
• I gave an exhortation on the atonement, and how the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross has bought us every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ – You can read/download my teaching notes here.
• Fatima as translating for me today into Spanish. Man, she is such a gift and provision for me on Sundays. I really feel blessed and sense the anointing flowing really well when she translates.
• I really feel that we need to reproduce her. We could do with a team of translators!!!
• I am now officially teaching in English every week now – we translate into Spanish. It works better for us this way from a Missional perspective. Gibraltar’s youth needs to be reached in English – this is not a political thing, it is a reality that we are addressing.
• After the talk we did something completely risky, innovative and new – we had a time of open prophetic worship where Jaydan moved in spontaneous song for a while and we prayed, prophesied, sung, danced and generally went for it!  I think that it went well for being the first time doing this. I think that the people did not have a grid to compare this to so they were a little bit unsure as to what they were supposed to do – if that makes any sense.
• I really feel like we are entering a time where we will move in greater expressions of innovation and creativity in our expression of worship – this will include the arts, and to this end today we had a local artist that has been coming to our fellowship recently set up his easel and just flowed prophetically during worship. I encouraged him to pursue this thing because I see a lot of potential in this expression.
• We had a testimony of a bro getting promotion at work this week and how this confirmed the teaching of this week with regards to trusting the Lord for Divine Justice.

Randy Bohlender of Stuff I Think fame has been at it again….he has messed with my head.  His message has really become a ‘mess’-age and now I am all undone…..all because he writes about the heart of an 11 year old….that actually lived out the gospel when he “stopped for the one”, and actually made a difference in the life of a homeless man.  Go over to this man’s blog and read ‘The Burrito Prayer Movement” where Randy marries the concepts of going for a deeper life with God, with social activism:

As long as I can remember, there’s been a disconnect between doing and praying. Churches had a tendency to lean hard one way or the other - activism or intercession. In connecting with a body of believers, you chose between addressing social ills or committing to going deep with God. It never occurred to us that addressing social ills might mean going deep with God or vice versa. We didn’t consider that to try to do one while ignoring the other was to be far less than Jesus told us to be.

WOW….a convicting read people….you have been warned.  Truly, small acts, done with great love, can change are changing,  the world.

I am no expert on politics in the US. Don’t get me wrong, I watch CNN, I read up on the candidates, and I am well aware that as America goes, so follows the world, in many areas of life.  Lately I have been following both candidates via the miracle of CNN and satellite TV, and I am quite amused about the whole elections “show”, and how the McCain/Palin ticket has stolen the thunder of the Democrats (Obama who?).

In Europe politics tends to be much darker than in the US - there seems to be a general pessimism here among the people that no matter who is elected, all politicians want to do is line their own pockets, or revel in the sense of power that the job gives them. There may be a sense of truth in that but I think Europe needs to discover the sense of public service, patriotism and pride in serving your country that the US has.

I read somewhere that every Presidential election since Roosevelt’s win over Hoover has gone to the candidate who strikes people as the sort of guy they’d rather meet for a cup of coffee or just to hang-out with.

I do not know if this has been scientifically proven but It would certainly seem to be the case in recent elections:

Clinton v. Bush (Snr)
Clinton v. Dole
GWB v Gore
GWB v Kerry

So, let’s apply this test to the current US candidates shall we? I shall ONLY be considering this test, and NOT the candidate’s strengths, weaknesses, positions and aptitude for the coveted CEO of the world job.

• Barrack Obama has got the sexy factor, man. I mean the dude is REALLY charismatic. That goes a long way in the “cup of coffee test”. The guy connects with the average Joe sitting in front of the TV screen. I mean, he is Bill Clinton, in chocolate, less the sax.
• John McCain is not so charismatic - He looks like a grandfather figure - but man, the guy is a war hero! C’mon! In terms of connecting with the average Joe, he cannot beat Obama on the screen, but he performs really well in debates and town hall meetings.
• McCain would probably entertain me for hours with war stories and all of his experiences
• Obama strikes me (a total outsider) as the guy who would research me in order to know my likes and dislikes and then just talk about all the things he thinks I would want to talk about just because that would put him in my good books.
• McCain looks as if he is the real deal - what you see is what you get, he has gone through hell, has come back to tell the story, and he is not going to put up with your bull excrement.

I think that all in all I would probably want to have coffee with McCain in any event, if only for the quality and wealth of conversation to be had with him.   There you have it then folks - my predictions come November is that McCain will win the elction, only because I would prefer him in my house, over Obama, in order to have a coffee and a chat with.

Friday is for friends here at wildoxgib.com. This is a new feature here. Every Friday I hope to give a shout-out to a friend, or a cool blog etc. Let’s see how it goes.

Today, I want to give a huge shout-out to my friend, mentor, hero, and all-round super-amazing minister-hot-shot Pastor Steve Doerter. This guy has been a HUGE influence in my life, and continues to be an inspiration. Whilst he doesn’t travel much these days (ahem, ahem, pssst, pssst, Steve……..when are you flying over the big pond?) he used to visit Spain yearly and has really sown into a good bunch of young people over the years. I was one of them.

For some years now he has been pastoring Grace Community Church in Cashiers, a small mountain community in North Carolina. There is a huge transformation going on within their church that is impacting their community. This is really exciting for me, not least because I long to see “smallish” and “unknown” churches being used mightily and having impact. I suspect that Grace Community Church will not remain a “small” church for much longer - rumour has it that God is on the move there….and they have the testimonies to back this statement up.

Incidentally, Pastor Steve just celebrated his birthday but don’t tell him that I said so OK? Just keep this between you and me.

Anyway, these guys have just had their website redesigned (awesome job Steve!) and as part of that deal they now have a Podcast!!!!! Now we are talking baby!!!!

So, if you want some AWESOME iPod fuel…..load this baby onto it! Alternatively, open iTunes go to the store and search for “Steve Doerter” and then click “subscribe”.

You will thank me for it.

It was not meant to be this way! I had a fire burning within me, a dream of impacting my city with the message and power of Jesus Christ! In my mind, and in my heart, all systems were go. My internal dialogue went something like this, “You just wait and see….It is going to be great…People’s lives are going to be changed…… my church plant is going to flourish……..I may even have a bit of a ministry on the side, speaking at other churches, ministries and organizations”.

So off I went and planted a church and began having meetings, organizing studies, helping people with their problems, inviting special speakers arranging for outings and generally doing everything that is expected of a young aspiring pastor to the best of my ability. The problem is I was dying. My dream had one glaring omission, an omission that I was going to pay dearly for. You see, I had failed to take into account, and prepare for the fact, that my dream would be lived out in a context. My immediate context was the following:-

• I had a lovely family of a wife and (then) two young boys that needed me.
• I was working a full-time job.
• My organization required me to obtain some professional qualifications - this was actually something that was shoved on me and I had not really planned on having to obtain a degree.
• I planted this church as a HUGE leap of faith, starting from ZERO. I actually did not know that it was critical to PLAN for the church plant, to get busy in the background, putting things and systems into place, before all the lights are on you and the curtain goes up. I would do a lot of background preparation should I have to do this in this way again.
• At that time we were a handful of people meeting in a home with no agenda, no music skills for worship leading, nothing much other than open bibles and hearts full of faith - -this may sound very spiritual and ideal, except that we had a goal of setting up a church and had no idea how to go about it. Translation: I had to do it all. It is a miracle we are still here.

Three years went by too quickly and things looked as if they were slowly but surely headed the right way. We had somebody leading worship, Sunday services were inspiring, we had a few cool testimonies of God showing up in power and doing the stuff that only he can do. Little did I know that I was suffering from a deadly disease, a disease that would require the skills of a master surgeon to correct. In 2006 I hit a wall. I was so busy that my family life was suffering; in church I was just going through the motions, and I often dreamed of leaving the ministry and settling down to a nice quiet life of pursuing my passion for books and reading. Some call this burnout.

The last two years have seen me on a road to healing and wholeness. Although I cannot say that I have arrived at my desired destination, I can say that I have learnt quite a bit about staying healthy as a leader.

The first milestone on my road to recovery came when I realized that God wants me in this race for the long haul. By stretching out the vision for my life to a long-term one, the main question then shifted from one of performance, to one of sustainability, “How can I run this race in order to finish well”?

These, my friend, are some of the answers that I have stumbled upon:

Rhythm:
In our modern urban environments we live in an always-on, always-connected and always-productive world, and we have lost sight of a sense of rhythm that is seen in nature.

This is still appreciated in more agrarian societies. There is day and then there is night. You work hard during the day and then rest during the night. There are seasons when a certain kind of crop is being grown, and then there are seasons when this particular crop sits inside a bag of seed, in a storeroom somewhere….doing nothing. There are cycles of ploughing, sowing, watering, weeding, harvesting, and then slash and burning the left-over stubble before starting all over again. Farmers used to allow for the land to rest and replenish in between these harvesting cycles – unfortunately, market forces have plagued western agriculture to such an extent that the always-productive malaise has caused an over-taxing of the land, with resulting soil nutrient depletion and its ramifications….but that is another story altogether.

Mother Theresa used to minster in the streets of Calcutta every morning, but at noon she had given strict orders that the work had to stop and that they had to return for times of prayer in order to maintain their spiritual vitality. Many criticized her for doing this when there was so much desperate need staring her at the face, but she gave top priority to staying healthy spiritually and I have come to understand and even appreciate the importance of this. Mother Theresa understood rhythm.

For me at the moment rhythm translates into honouring what the bible calls “keeping the Sabbath”. I am trying to this by taking one day a week and setting it aside for resting, hanging-out with friends and family, stopping to smell the roses, and basically enjoy and appreciate this awesome life that the Creator has given me.

I am learning to recover a sense of rhythm.

Slowing down:
I find it a constant struggle to slow down and take care of myself when I am always faced with the tyranny of the urgent. For this, I am learning from cultures that some may consider “third world” and I see that in their “under-developed” state they have retained something very valuable. A recent comment by a Moroccan friend of a missionary that I know highlights this point nicely:

“You westerners have the watch…….but we have the time”.

People in agrarian societies work very hard, but they are hardly ever in a hurry. They get things done, but at a pace that is in harmony with nature’s cycles, seasons and rhythms. We, however, live at an outrageous pace, and at the end of it all we have bad fruit to show for all of our busy-ness. I am learning to slow down. I am learning that if Mary had to wait for nine months for the saviour Jesus to show up, the world can wait a little whilst I take care of myself in order to remain healthy. I am not much use to anyone otherwise.

I am learning to slow down.

The power of nothing:
We celebrate results. We want to impress people with our achievements and successes. In part, this is healthy for we were born to be great. The context of success, though, is equally important. We tend to associate success with a mentality that values ever-increasing widgets exiting a production line, and items crossed from a to-do list, rather than a mentality that celebrates full stops and parentheses. It is in the stillness, silence, solitude and surrender of the Chrysalis that the caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly. In that place where “nothing” is happening, a deep transformation is taking place. This change does not require the sweat of the brow, it does not come with much labour nor is it conditional on much “doing”. In this place of rest and quietness a new nature is blossoming and will come forth into its fullness.

“Nothing” for me translates into having a raw trust that I am in the “Chrysalis” of the Father’s Love. In surrendering to that place and enjoying God through times of silence, stillness and solitude (…..no agenda……no great works…..nothing…….just me….and Him) a deep transformation is taking place, and a new nature is blossoming and will come forth into its fullness.

I am learning to love this place of “nothing”.

In my recovery from burnout I am being challenged to shift from an attitude that celebrates getting things done, to an attitude that celebrates “nothing”. The lives of many now depend on this, and I would not have it any other way.

Blogging

This post is only going to appeal to hardcore nerds out there so feel free to skip is if your concept of keeping up with the times is to have a cellphone.

After having sported the minimalistic “all white” theme for my blog for some time now, I have redesigned the blog using a wordpress theme called Revolution. I am slowly learning how to edit all the different sections of the site so please be patient with me.

This theme actually gives me a whole lot of lattitude to play with so I can start to plan stuff that I have been holding-off on this site for lack of “umph”. I really want to start exploring with the use of audio and video, maybe having a video podcast and audio interviews etc. It’s the digital generation we should be pursuing, stupid!

Anyways just bear with me and you should be seeing some interesting stuff appear shortly on the blog.

Although in hindsight I could have handled this situation with a little bit more wisdom (I was young back then, impulsive, and even had hair!) the discussions that ensued from this situation gave for some creative views of how this team perceived that “ministry” should be done. In order to address the fact that people were coming to me with all their counseling needs, they suggested that the whole team of 5 leaders got involved in each and every case. Regardless of the fact that this was a blatant disregard for the person seeking counseling (a person seeking counseling needs to meet with a counsellor he or she feels safe with, and where trust has been established), they probably felt that in this way their lack of relationship with the people within that church would not be highlighted as my apparent “popularity” had been doing. Their offer of help was not an offer of help at all.

Ezra’s day in the bible saw a movement to restore broken walls and burnt waste places. People returned to Israel from a long captivity in Babylon and immediately got bus rebuilding the ruined city. This reconstruction is a symbolic picture of mending broken hearts and shattered lives, and guess what, you have a part to play in this. God’s purposes are always in restoration and redemption, and all of His children have been given the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18), and all have an important part to play.

In Ezra 4:1 we see that their adversaries heard that this rebuilding was going on, and immediately the first tactic of these adversaries was to offer assistance. Like the situation in my old church, this offer of help was not an offer of help at all. Often our worst hindrances come disguised as an offer of assistance. People who really do not want you to succeed will come alongside and say, “excuse me, can I help you”?!?!?! There is a sub-text at play here. This “can I help you?” really reads as follows:-

1. Who do you think you are?
2. What do you think you are doing?
3. Why you? Why not me?

This “assistance” is really an indirect challenge that operates at three levels:

1. It challenges your sense of identity - Who do think you are?
2. In order challenge your calling and sense of purpose - Why you? Why not me?
3. In order to thwart your mission - What do you think your are doing?

In my totally-dysfunctional-leadership-team-issue the challenge I received was a challenge to my validity as a pastor. I suspect you have received similar challenges.

After all is said and done, I have one thing to say to you: Dude, nail your identity, and do not let your calling and purpose be polluted by the input of both good intentions or otherwise. Wise counsel is good, and should be sought, but never at the expense of your calling, purpose, and mission.

• Attendance was up - summer must be coming to an end
• Worship really broke some new ground this morning - One comment / compliment I received from a visitor from the UK was that for a small group such as ours, the sound that comes out of this place in worship really makes you feel as if there are more people worshipping there than in her church which is 5 times larger!!! - Only one explanation for this…..Heaven must be joining-in!!!
• I gave a short exhortation on what often keeps us from being used in Kingdom building and restoration - Three of the most frequent hindrances being a distorted sense of your true identity, discouragement from others , and accusations.
• We then released everyone into a time of ministry and prayer for each other, speaking words of encouragement, edification and comfort over each others’ lives - I was just BLOWN AWAY seeing the people get in on this thing - This is certainly something that we feel led to do more often at Living Waters!
• I am SO ENCOURAGED ! ! ! ! !
• Still feeling that “Holy Hangover” ! ! ! !

I was involved in a church leadership team some years back that stood at a bit of a crossroads. For years the leadership team had consisted of two main pastor-elders that had planted that church and faithfully led it for years. The problem was that this particular church was at a plateau. Growth was static and in order to take the church to the next level they needed to get some dynamism into the church - enter the young guns. At the time, three young pastor-elders, including yours truly, were set into the leadership team and this gave the church the boost that it needed. Years later the church still has much of that dynamism still there. I read somewhere that mature vintage wine is treated to a few drops of new wine now and again because the vintage wine is “excited” by the addition of the new wine and develops a better taste. This happened in the church that I was a part of, and this leads me nicely to my next point.

I have been thinking lately about what it takes to leave a legacy in your chosen area of competence, and how to have a vision that caters for what happens when you hand-over the reigns to someone else. Many times in life we are more concerned about how well we do a job, and what success will bring us, than about what happens when we leave the scene. In my old church, the leadership there was not thinking of succession as such, but one older generation did raise up a newer generation of leaders, and the changes were all for the better. In the not-for-profit world this issue is even more pronounced, as someone’s involvement in an organization may stem solely from a deep rooted personal need to serve, and dynamics such as succession planning are only motivated and stimulated at an ideological level, rather than by any profit maximization considerations.

I have developed my own theory for leaving a legacy - call it the “Gray Hair test”, if you will. The premise of this theory is that the ratio of gray hairs to non-gray hairs on your noggin reflects the ratio of the time that you should spend on mentoring and reproducing yourself rather than actually doing the work, or actually being involved in “ministry” (to use a good old fashioned churchy word). Look in the mirror mister - are you sporting a good set of silver up there? If so, you should be all about raising a future generation of leaders where your ceiling becomes their floor, and they take your mission to the next level. Now if you are bald like me, the above may not apply.

If this theory is true, then consider this a model time-line for “ministry”:

1. Childhood to 30 years: These are the formative years where you get rooted and grounded in the motivations behind your mission, and also get competent enough to fulfill it in an excellent way.
2. 30 to 50 years: These are the performing years, where the actual job is done and the mission is advanced during your tenure.
3. 50 to 70 years: These are the mentoring years (Reference the gray-hair test), where you take young aspiring leaders under your wing and nurture and mentor them in order to reproduce yourself in them.
4. 70 years and over : These are the legacy years. During this season in your life you’d better get real busy and write as many books as you can, recording your legacy for as many generations to come as possible. During these years you are a mentor to mentors, a pastor to pastors, and a much needed source of wisdom, guidance and inspiration.

So there you have it - the Gray-hair test - a rough-and-ready measure of what you should be doing with your life. What does mirror, mirror on the wall tell you sir?

1. I arrived late this morning and the worship service had already begun without me
2. The reason for this delay was that God as downloading stuff right up to 11:00am regarding certain transitions that we as a church have to undergo in order to recover a missional focus.
3. Worship was FREAKIN’ AWESOME!!! In fact, worship broke me. It really undid me. Mad me realize that Father loves me SO MUCH, that should I stumble or fall, I am CAUGHT in HIS GRACE!!!! That realization compels me to want to please Him more and more! There is an anointing and a presence during our worships times that is just medicinal!! I honestly believe that we are fast approaching a time when anything can breakout in our services just because of the glory present during worship. Can it be any other way?
4. Jaydan then shared an OFF-THE-HOOK-TESTIMONY!!!!! - He had been teaching his 6-year old nephew Daniel how to play “Glory, Glory, Glory” on the keyboard at his place. After a while his nephew gets the hang of it and then spends over ONE AND A HALF HOURS just praising and singing GLORY!!!!!! C’mon!!! People, I think we have a little fire starter in our hands.. But there is more!
5. Jaydan pulls him away from the keyboard at 11:00pm and tucks this little one to bed - Daniel says that he is still singing in his mind!
6. Jaydan then hears this massive choir singing Glory! Glory! Glory! - He thought that he must be hearing things until Daniel says, “I can hear the angels singing!” !!!!!!!!!! C’mon!!! Freaking off-the-hook!!!!!!
7. Brian shared another testimony of how he was led to pray for a lady in a supermarket in Spain that had just been diagnosed with cancer, and was able to authoritatively command healing right there in the aisle!!! We look forward to hearing from her with an amazing testimony soon.
8. Ladies and gentlemen, supermarkets are now considered a legitimate ministry area!
9. This lady was not expecting this “Special Offer” when she went bargain hunting that day - She was not the one seeking, she was the one being sought, by the precious love of Father. I am just amazed by the love that God is placing in or people - they are starting to step out in public places in order to pray for people!!!
10. In between testimonies, I managed to share a few words ( ) on the Holy Spirit as Helper, and Friends, and the difference between moving in realm sof power and realms of authority.
11. When we move in power, God is initiating a wave of supernatural activity that we are responding to - we “ride the wave”
12. When we move in authority, we are stepping out in the authority of a son of God and a wave of supernatural activity is created by us! - we “initiate the wave”
13. Derek shared on the two heart realities of working FOR God’s favour versus working FROM God’s favour.
14. After the message I shared on some sessions that we will be having during September where we will be casting some vision and charting a future course for the church.
15. Many changes need to happen if we want to have a more missional focus
16. In order to manage these changes I propose to have a Transitional Leadership team set in place in the very near future with a clear mandate to help bring about that change during a time frame of 1 to 2 years.
17. During that mandate, there will be extensive profiling and gift-assessments of everyone to assess what areas of church service are most suitable for them.
18. After this mandate expires then those on the leadership team will be either confirmed, or step aside on order to set in place a permanent leadership team.
19. Please be in prayer for this.

This is what I want to give myself to….this is what I want my epitaph to read:

To laugh often and love much…
To find the best in others;
To give oneself;
To leaving the world a little bit better…
To know even one life has breathed easier
Because you have lived
– This is to have succeeded
(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

• There were a few new faces in the crowd - I love it when we have visitors
• Made some neat connections with a couple of these visitors - I have this feeling that we will remain in touch and bless each other for the long term
• Great worship! - Jaydan and Angel ROCKED the HOUSE! FUEGO!!! Psycoloco!
• Had Fatima translating!!! This is so awesome because we had English-only and Spanish-only people in the “crowd” - Don’t know what I would have done without her!
• Taught from Heb 4:12 on rediscovering the Bible as LIVING and POWERFUL and SHARP
• Shared on Lectio Divina and the practise of reading the bible meditatively and contemplatively and what this means for our transformation
• Cool ministry time after the message
• Managed to pray for my little hero Caleb!!!! We are believing great things for him!
• Our intercession team is slowly taking shape!!!! This is one key strategic ministry for me and for this church!
• Really grateful for those who come every week and give of their time and energy to set things up, take things down, translate, lead worship and so on. This church is being built with guys and gals like you!
• Really pumped about what God is setting us up for!
• Having a 2-hour “nap” on Sunday afternoon really recharges my batteries
• Re-connected with some Spanish friends from Germany in the evening - God has them on a journey and it was awesome hearing where they are at, and where they are going.

VALUING THE VOICE OF GOD

Every time God speaks to us there is a transfer of Kingdom realities into our hearts, and life is created. Learning to recognize the things that work to draw us away from the voice of God is a huge step in maturity. Sin and temptation are the easy things to spot. What is more difficult to see are the good things that God brings into our lives that can distract us from His voice when they take on the wrong place of priority. As has often been stated, “good is the enemy of best.”

Sometimes the thing that has the greatest power to draw me away from God’s voice is the principle learned in the last lesson I faced. It creates a momentum that can lead me to wrong assumptions about the will of God for my life. Principles are important, but they have the potential to replace the voice of God if we are careless.

God brings many things into our lives to establish a solidarity and focus within us to the voice of the Lord so that the other issues He adds to our lives actually bring momentum and grace to our ability to hear God. We see that even the wilderness was God’s design for establishing such focus in the lives of the people of Israel.

Deuteronomy 8:1-2
“Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers. And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”

The Lord tested the hearts of the children of Israel during the time they wandered in the wilderness for those 40 years. Yet the wilderness actually can be a place of extreme bounty. But to really benefit from it, we have to realize that our blessings don’t come through natural means. All the blessings come from God’s direction–God’s voice. If we don’t go through the wilderness to learn dependency on God for direction and His supernatural intervention, we are much more likely to take credit for the bounty of the Promised Land once we get there. There will also be a much greater tendency to “wander” out without the discipline and focus gained through testing. Training in the sustaining power of God’s life-giving word recalibrates our value system and our ability to discern. When we come into a land where natural things work to our favor, we still have deeply ingrained in our hearts the realization that God is the source of it all.

The Lord brings the trials of the wilderness into our lives, not to derail us from hearing, but instead to establish our resolve to hear His voice. It is possible to walk in a wilderness with abundance and joy as you extract the nutrients provided through supernatural dependence coming forth with the full benefit of being recalibrated to hear the life-giving voice of God.

Source: http://www.bjm.org/newsletter/200808/index.html

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