Note to Budding Ministers: Do What You Do
June 25th, 2008 by Carl Thomas.I am a couple months into planting a ministry. We have not had our formal launch yet because we have failed to secure a permanant location. However, this has been a great opportunity for me and my little band of wandering revivalists. Unlike other fast start, jump the gun, have money will preach, national blog ministry – non-existant local ministry planters, I have the opportunity to find my groove. I read all the big name church plant books. I got spammed by their email newsletters offering me their latest products that will fulfill all my church plant fantacies for the low low price. And all it did was cause me to veer from the call.
I tried their system. I found myself being the rah rah cheerleader. I might have even used the term “stinkin” or “jacked” for effect. All it did was dry me up. I looked into the crowd and saw people starving for answers to the issues of life. I reached back into the church plant playbook and all I found was hype and promises. Promises that if people hung out at the new cool church their life would change.
Note to church planters – Church does not save. Jesus saves. Messages on financial freedon, how to have better sex, patriatism, and everthing else that passes for a message these days is a diversion. You are not called to be the church’s version of a carnival barker. You have a calling that has no equal outside the Church. You have been intrusted with the Gospel. And that alone has the power to save. The world has nothing that comes close to that.
Since I had been part of a failed church plant in the past I thought this was the way to success. I was wrong. All I was achieving was misery and confusion. I began to hate preaching. I would rack my brain to come up with a message. There was no prophetic flow. People were coming but I was not seeing lives changed. I was trying to be the pastor I thought I was supposed to be.
Then I gave up. God spoke a clear word to me about my call to revival ( I will write more on that next week hopefully). I got rid of my nonfitting pastor armor and walked in the armor God had given me and the fruit began to follow.
I will never be on a podcast with Perry Noble or Mark Batterson. Rick Warren will not be writing a forward to my books. But I am happy doing what I am called to do. I preach the Gospel of the present Kingdom of God. I preach Chirst in you the hope of Glory. I preach greater works than these. I preach repent and be baptized and you will receive the Holy Ghost. I call down fire and I challenge people to preach to their area of influence. In return, I see people radically saved, baptized, and baptized in the Holy Ghost. For me, there is nothing better.
That’s what I do. And I am doing it. And I am happy.
What do you do? If you don’t know, find out. Then do what you do.
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Do you see me jumping up and down, shouting, AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!!
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[...] Carl wrote an excellent post on church planting God’s way. [...]
Amen! I can’t believe the grief you got about the NC meeting. By the way, you might be the first person to comment on my blog who had a gravatar other than me.
Keep up the good work!
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Tnat was amazing! That may well be the most inspiring thing I have seen you write. All we have is the word God gives us. Paul went out audaciously, and changed the world with nothing but it. For those that know God will back up his word, that is enough, for those that don’t… grab the megaphone and start the bark, “Hurry, hurry, hurry! Step right up…”
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Baptize us in the Holy Spirit, Baptize us in Fire!!!!!
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Inspiring indeed! It has taken me years to realize I was trying to minister in someone else’s worship leader armor. Now that I’ve taken that clunky stuff off, I’m feeling rather vulnerable…
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@SLW – This is but the beginning. I am telling you, I have found my groove.
Ley – Amen
Jungle’s Wife – It’s in that place of risk that miracles happen.
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Carl, what an awesome post. You know, Jesus lived with his little band of revivalists for three years and then shook the entire world, and is still shaking it, out of that little band of followers.
I, too, am planting in NM. I look at the big ministries and I think, is that really what I want? To have the machine and never have real contact with my people?
I admire Bill Johnson. One of the things he is doing that is awesome is BeenUp2. He is so interactive with his massive extended family through that medium.
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I once heard church growth conferences described as (pardon the bluntness) “ministry pornography”- i.e. airbrushed pictures of unattainable perfection that preachers lust after. Just as a real man of God will prefer and choose marriage to and love for a real woman of God over the phoniness of porn, a called man who loves Jesus will choose to use his gifts in ministry with real people, including the struggles and failures, over plastic programs and man made systems. Reality is better.
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Wow, amen and amen on this one! Sometimes when we get so focused on the ministry machine we forget what it is supposed to be all about–real people following a real God in real community. Part of being real is being you, like you said.
This is part of what has drawn me to simple church expressions (house church/organic church a la Mozambique/Heidi Baker). I think people may have an easier time being themselves in an environment like that without all the “churchy” baggage. Plus there’s a lot more for the ‘laymen’ to do (can you say every member minsitry/priesthood of believers?)
I’m looking forward to the day when simple church and revival fully merge–we’ll go viral then, baby!
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