Secrets of Being Married 34 Years, Today!

A Look Back Through Our Marriage

Wow! Today Deb and I just celebrated our thirty-fourth wedding anniversary, going out to a local restaurant where we have spend several of those anniversary celebrations throughout our marriage, some in good times, some in difficult times, but thirty-four years is quite an accomplishment for all we have been through.

Thinking of the theme of these blogs and this web site, I realized that passions that make up the five fold have been a part of our marriage experience too! 

The excitement of birthing our marriage came thirty-four years ago with a wedding and honeymoon to Washington, D.C. for five days.  We have celebrated several births through our marriage: three special children, each birth has a special place in our memory.

The pastoral or shepherding passion came through parenting our children, walking through and working out their everyday lives, trying to direct them toward a personal relationship with Jesus Christ in their own lives. We have also parented/shepherd several groups of “young’ns” spiritually over the years too! I guess that parenting/pastoral/shepherding role has been imbedded in all of us!

The teacher mode sprung forth in me as I took on studying for a Master’s Degree in Biblical Studies, which I finished and received.  Several years of taking correspondence courses, and two years of studying, researching, and writing a thesis were the price for this accomplishment. This could not have been done without Deb’s constant encouragement to me through the project.

Prophetically, Deb went to a School for Prophets back in the seventies, and our thirst for the written word, the Bible, to become the Rhema Word, the living word, was activated when we received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, and has been developing and nurturing ever since as we continue to build our marriage relationship around our personal relationships with Jesus together.

Apostolically, seeing the big picture has been difficult because hindsight gives you that view much more readily than foresight called faith, but throughout our marriage, Jesus has been the cornerstone, and faith has been the ingredient that has allowed us to move forward.

Thirty-four years, and counting! God has been faithful.  We have sought Jesus as the center of our marriage through all these years.  Jesus has provided, healed, delivered, sustained, maintained, and come through whenever we needed Him in our marriage.  Often I have declared “God Moments” when we could not continue on without God’s intervention. He always has heard my cries, and has always answered, maybe not the way I would have wanted Him to, but He has! Wow! 34 years and counting.....

A Novel Idea: “Equip; Not Enable”

A Change In Mindset

 Ephesians 4 claims that the purpose of the five fold is to “equip the saints for the work of the service”.  Not equipping the staff, not even myself, but the saints at large!  We, as mature Christians in the Church, have to give up control and begin to teach others how to stand as Christians.  So often we “enable” fellow believers by doing everything for them; for example, we often…..

Do This................................rather than........................... Equip Them For This          .

Read the Bible to them...........................................Have them read the Bible themselves

Interpret the Bible through preaching ................Have the Holy Spirit reveal Truth through the Word

Read or recite written prayers................................Allow one to verbalize their personal faith to God

Have a Bible in the pew..........................................Disciplining one to bring along their Bible

Call the Pastor to lead one to the Lord.................Lead someone themselves into saving Grace

Call the Pastor if someone is sick......................... Lay hands on the sick & anoint them for healing

Call the Pastor to visit the sick...............................Personally visit the sick yourself

Send the needy to the Pastor................................Practice hospitality, make meals, reach out

Go on a missions trip...............................................Minister the same way to those in our own community

Good Sunday School Program..................................Raise ones children in a Godly home environment

Provide a good Youth Group......................................Bonding with ones adolescent during puberty

So we may have to rethink how “we can equip the saints for the work of the service”. It may take a new mindset on how to do it.  How can we equip one to share the evangelistic message, or be hospitable, or search the written word, the Bible, for themselves, or grow in their spirituality, or grow in leadership and oversight?  How do we free the believer in Jesus Christ to be all he can be in Jesus unless we free him, instruct him, and guide and equip him? Studying the passions and the point of view of the five fold may change our way of thinking, and when they do, teaching and equipping others may release them to grow in the Lord as only we can now imagine.

The Need for The Apostle

Seeing the Big Picture

The Smaller Image ... Only A Part of the PictureThe five fold is like five different points of view, seeing the same image, but from different perspectives. The evangelist just sees birth and birthing, the pastor/shepherd sees caring and nurturing, the teacher sees only the written Word of God and its application, the prophet sees only black and white spiritually in an intimate relationship and the living out of the Word, but the apostle sees the big picture.

Unfortunately for the apostle, who sees the big picture, he cannot do the big picture himself: he recognizes his need for the other four! Thus the need for the five fold if we wish to see the Body of Christ in unity being used in its full potential, in the fullness of Christ Jesus!

At school I use a program called Rasterbator for Windows, at home PosterRazor for Macs. These programs enlarges a picture, into 6 foot by 8 foot documents, by making pixels.  If you look up close at only one section, you cannot make out what the picture is, but if you walk 10 feet away, the pixels turn into recognized objects as you begin to see the big picture in clarity.

The Big Picture: The Church As A WholeThis is how it often is in the church with different perspectives in the body of Christ.  We only see in the light of the little cluster of church that we go to, or our denominational or influential group.  Very few have the ability to see the Big Picture, the Church of Jesus Christ in its entirety.

Seeing that Big Picture is truly the gifting of an Apostle.  For those who refute that apostles are not for today, I am sorry they do not recognize the need for men and women in the body of Christ who can see the Big Picture of the Body of Jesus Christ today that goes beyond the divisions tunnel vision has produced.

Five Fold Rooted In Tradition

“Swimming Egyptians Bring Closure”

As a child I remember singing “I have decided to follow Jesus… No turning back, No turning back.”  I also loved to listen to Keith Green’s So You Want To Go Back To Egypt on his early album.  Growing up as a Church kid, the idea of no turning back really didn’t have the impact on me as it did with those who had dabbled in the world before coming to Christ.

As I was reading my Bible this morning, the Passover story, it hit me how wise God’s wisdom really is.  Moses had been doing nothing but listen to Pharaoh’s harsh words due to a hard heart and constant complaining by the Israelites for the circumstances they now faced.  Israelites majored in whining, and they found their backs to the seas with the Egyptians charging their way with the purpose genocide. Then Moses raises his hands and the sea parts, winds blow, dry land appears, and the huge throng of Israelites crossed safely.  After their safety was secured, Moses drops his hands, the walls of water collapse, and all the Egyptians flunk their swimming tests. The results: dead Egyptian bodies floating a shore all along the coast as a testimony to God’s greatness.

Then it hit me: The collapsing walls of water were not only to swamp the Egyptians to their death, but they were to close off any way or path “back to Egypt”.  Physically, the break was complete.  Israel could not physically go back, so they had only one way to go: forward in spite it being only desert to the naked eye.  That is so how it is in our spiritual life.

What would be immortalized in the Jewish tradition was not their desire to return to Egypt as had been their attitude before crossing through the watery wall, but the glorious deeds of the Lord who prevented death’s sting by passing over their door and His delivery from the Egyptians.

As the book of Corinthians boast, “all things are new in Christ Jesus.” The Christian walk is not “rewalking” the past; it’s a total break from it.  It is always a forward walk in faith.

For Moses and his Israelite brothers and sisters, God had been his Salvation, the evangelistic spirit. Now they would witness God as their pastor, shepherd, provider, leading them by faith, feeding them miraculous manna daily in a way they had not previously experienced. They would be given the Law on Mount Sinai, as God through Moses would teach them God’s principles, commandments, and statutes. Israel would experience one of their own, Moses, have am intimate prophetic experience to the point Moses would glow with the glory of the Lord radiating from him. Finally they would experience God’s faithfulness as He would lead an entire nation to the land He had promised. 

God showed His salvation, His maintenance and provision, His instruction of His Word, His commandments, His statutes, His intimacy with mankind, and His oversight of the big picture, doing what he had promised to the patriarchs hundreds of years later.  If God provided this to the Israelites, why would He not do it to His people today? The five-fold is rooted in the history of His people, and needs to be released in the present to His people today.

Wine and Wineskins

“Something Just Doesn’t Feel Right”

What do you do when something just doesn’t feel right?  Especially when you tend to do “all the right things”, but you don't see the fruit. When I was twenty-one, right out of college, I headed the youth ministry at my home church, emphasizing evangelism. I did all the right things, said and taught the right things, and did the right programs, but something was missing. Something just didn’t feel right.  I thought I was doing all the right things. Not seeing fruit I desired, I started a spiritual journey that led me to face Jesus not just as my Savior, but also as my Lord.  There I was faced with the reality of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, which I accepted, and it changed my life, taking me in a totally different direction that has produced fruit.

Here I am today, a Christian for almost 50 years, and I again sense in my spirit that something just doesn’t feel right.  I love the church, been raised in the church; the church has been the center of my social life and spiritual life.  I’ve raised my family in the church.  I have invested my time, efforts, focus, and money in the church, and the church has done the same for me, yet here I am fifty years after my spiritual birth in Jesus questioning the structure of the American church, the institutionalizing of the American church, the direction of the American church, even how the American church does church (whatever that means?).

Today I heard a 55 yr. old man share how he was challenged by the statement, “If money was not to play in it, what would you want to be doing with your life?” His answer was, “Not what I am doing now,” so he was willing to retire to begin his spiritual journey. It has led him to Metro Ministries in New York for four months as an “intern” helping with an inner-city busing children’s ministry.  He comes back home to our church which is about to “release” their children’s ministry staff personnel due to budget restrains even though she has been on staff longer than anyone else at the church. Somehow, I sensed that even with his “internship”, this guy seemed not to “fit” into our local church and their structure, staff, or direction.  We have had several youth go to Bible colleges, or short and long term mission’s projects, etc., yet come back home, only to feel a “misfit” into the current puzzle of our local church. Don’t get me wrong’ I am not criticizing the local church, but questioning why people serious about God who move out in faith don’t “fit in” when they return to their local congregations which they have learned to love.  Why do they feel alienated and often rejected?

I experienced the same thing forty years ago, going to Jesus Rallies in the 70’s & 80’s and early Creation Festivals, attending Conferences after Conferences for three decades, spending six weeks during the summer at a Christian Community seeking God’s direction, and going to Parksburg Presbyterian Church for Saturday evenings for spirit lead Prayer and Praise sessions, only to feel alienated when returning to my home church where I wanted so desperately to “give back”.  Something just never seemed right, never the right fit.  Even today I have “earned” a Master’s Degree in Biblical studies at the advice of a pastor so that “doors would be open form me,” yet no door has been opened for over a decade since I have not gone into “full time ministry” as a profession, but opted to remain as a public school teacher for almost forty years. Have I missed the mark?

The Church has desperately duirng the last couple decades tried to contain the “revival spirit” within its own structures, but history proves that isn’t the way it works.  “New wine will break through old wineskins; new wine needs new wineskins.”  But what does the new wineskin look like in 2010 for the next decade? When I sense that something just doesn’t feel right, that is probably my sense that God is up to something different and new.  Am I willing to stop what I am doing (which isn’t producing much fruit anyhow) and begin to stop, look, and listen to the Holy Spirit for guidance as to what is the next step personally for me and corporately for the Church?

I question my studies on the five-fold ministry as passions and points of view rather than offices because they make sense to me, but do not “fit” into today’s church structures. Apparently today’s church structures aren’t the wineskins that will be open to take in this new wine, and if they did, they would see their current structures (cast or vats) erupt and break, spilling out this new wine. So my prayer today is “Lord, show me the necessary wineskins to pour this new wine into so that it will produce fruit for your Glory and your kingdom.”

Five Fold In Each Of Us

Watering The Seed

If we are to have “the fullness of Christ”, and Jesus is in us, then, I guess, each believer has each of the five fold within themselves.  Every Christian should be trained to lead the lost into the saving grace of Jesus Christ, the evangelistic spirit.  Each Christian has that shepherding, caring gift within themselves, often evident in parenting.  Each believer has the ability to allow the Holy Spirit to teach them truth through the Word, the Bible, the teacher.  Each Christian should desire an intimate relationship, the prophetic, and every believer has the ability to see the body of Christ, the Church. In essence, we have a little of all five of the passions of the five fold already in us if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and invited His Spirit into our hearts.

As a believer, we should experience each on of them at different times in our walk or journey with Jesus.  They are like seeds in us.  Some we will water and feed, marveling at their growth. Others we will allow to lay dormant if we choose or use sparingly.  Those seeds we water and feed eventually become our passions, those things that drive us.

Personally I have led several people to the Lord’s saving grace.  My wife and I have parented/shepherd three different groups of people who call us ma & pa or Momma and Poppa B.  I have spoken prophetic words over people, and I have had the honor of seeing the big picture of the Church because of my many different experiences with each expression of the five fold.  But teaching has been my passion, professionally and spiritually, and I have worked hard on preparing myself to teach.  Teaching is not only what I do, but what drives me.  I can’t help myself. Even in these blogs I teach, but I have had to recognize that I have done the other four giftings too.

How do you water and feed these seeds.  Through development, that step by step journey or walk of faith, believing for those things not yet seen or evident; believing for the lost to be found, the sheep to be shepherd, those new to the Word to be grounded in the Word, people not only believing Jesus but intimately knowing him, and those believing for the unity of the Body of Christ. Faith is the key to this spiritual journey.

So stop and think about the times you have manifested some of these traits. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal your next step in this spiritual journey. Then strive to water and feed those giftings that will develop into passions.  Again the five fold is not about offices or titles, it is about developing passions for Jesus.

Let’s water and feed our seeds.

Lay Witness Lesson Learned

Five Fold Already Exists

Check Out History of Lay Witness Mission through Aldtersgate Renewal ServicesI believe the five fold ministry already exists in our Churches today. When I was a Lay Witness Mission Coordinator, through the board of evangelism in the United Methodist Church, I was amazed to see these five different passions, visions, point of view raise their heads when given an avenue to express themselves in almost all the churches where I participated in different denominations.

Friday night during the first session of the weekend, small groups we asked, “What would you like to see happen to your church these weekend, and what would you like to see happen to yourself.  Before they would talk about their personal life, they would share their vision or passion for their local church or the church’s faults.  Some would express that their particular church should reach out to new people (evangelistic mindset), others wanted it to be more service oriented like starting a food bank (pastoral mindset), some else would express the need for more young people to come, a rebirth of the church (evangelistic mindset), another would chime in the need tor solid teaching in the Sunday School curriculum (teaching mindset), the topic for the need for a vibrant spiritual growth and life would always arise (prophetic mindset), and someone would be concerned about the life of the church as a whole with its components needed a recharge (apostolic mindset).  The mindsets were all there, crying out with the need to either be encouraged, recognized, developed, or released. To the personal question about what each person expected for themselves, a generic answer usually ensued of “getting closer to God” (Which is a major objective of the five fold ministry).

Often the pastoral/shepherding passion revealed itself through small group coffees Saturday mornings, or shut in visitations in the afternoon, or hosting visiting missioners in ones home. 

Saturday night’s small group requested each individual draw a “spiritual map” of their journey in faith that would depict where they were in relationship with Jesus.  If someone did not have a relationship, the leaders of the group could lead them into the kingdom of God for evangelism was the emphasis of the weekend. The small group would then go into the church’s sanctuary, which was low lit, with quiet music or total silence, and could sit in the pew and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to them. There was not set agenda for this part of the evening allowing the most powerful moment of the weekend to occur as the Holy Spirit, being freed of the influence of man, would begin to minister to each person’s uniqueness, their heart’s desires, their passions, their prayer requests, their personal lives that proved life changing.  Often I would see the passion, and vision of each of the five fold be rebirthed during these times of personal confrontation between individual man and the Holy Spirit.

I felt the most challenged committee formed for the weekend was the “follow up” committee, because they felt the need to have something in place to keep the Spirit of the weekend alive and continual. Because the Lay Witness Mission is a program, they would try to instill other programs, hoping that they would be life sustaining.  Actually this committee, unknowingly, was being assigned the task of “equipping the saints for the work of the service” (Eph. 4), but none knew how to do that or felt they possessed the power in the local church structure to initiate and develop it.  This is where most of our churches are today!  Who should lead this charge of developing and equipping?  How should it be done? Are there programs out there to do it?  Is a “discipleship” program enough? We will look at these questions in our next blog.

Five Fold Revisited

Blessing and Blessed

Barry and Sandy Falkenstine - see http://www.healinghouse.org/Falkenstines.htmWe had a pleasant surprise at the church I attend this Sunday.  The pastoring couple who lead our church through the ‘80’s and 90’s visited.  They were the ones who taught our congregation to listen to the voice of God, be stretched in the Spirit, and introduced us to the prophetic movement.  Sandy was a gifted teacher but motivated through a strong prophetic gifting.  Her husband, Barry was also a teacher but exercised an apostolic slant seeing over the congregation while placing things in order.  During their tenure it was an educational experience for me seeing the prophetic working a long side of the apostolic.  Often they clashed, but most times they augmented each other.

Today our current pastor, Steve, gave an excellent foundational sermon on who Jesus is. Upon the conclusion of the service Sandy, the prophetess, got up and confirmed the spiritual significance of the teacher’s Word.  I thought, “How fortunate is the teacher in having a prophet to confirm his word,” adding to its significance.

Steve then invited Barry to give a closing benediction or blessing.  There stood the man who oversaw this congregation for a decade and a half, who was willing to give up his congregation upon the leading of the Spirit, and now over looked what the Holy Spirit had been doing over the last decade since his departure and blessed it.  It was a touching moment for Barry, Steve, and the congregation as a whole.

Although there is an evangelistic and pasturing/shepherding presence in this church, it still lacks the strength of someone with, vision, purpose, and point of view of these two passions in this body, but, I believe, that will come as God continues to develop the five fold among God’s people in this congregation.  It was a day of enlightenment and encour

Five Fold Interdisciplinary Team

What Is It?

I believe that the five fold ministry must be a team ministry, not individual ministries trying to make up a team.  It is five different points of view, five different passions, five different people (apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher, evangelist) who are to work together to equip the saints for the works of “service” in Christ-like unity.  It cannot be five different individuals with five different agendas, for the results of this relationship will surely bring disaster and hurt to the Body of Christ.   I truly believe that this paradigm may be the wave of the future for the Church, a totally different mind set, but there are several things that must occur in order for this team to ever be united or effective.  I will mention them here, but go into more detail on these points in future blogs.

In order to teach, develop, and establish the principle of “service” rather than control, each of the five fold must learn to “serve” one another as well as being “served” by the others.  This will develop a system of accountability never seen before by the Church. Because of their different passions and points of view, they can bring accountability to one who may stray from their own passion and minister to them through love and service to free them in Christ.

Each member of the five fold team will have to face a different mind set of the cross.  John 3:16 defines their personal relationship vertically with the Godhead while I John 3:16 defines their personal relationships horizontally with one another. Jesus laid his life down for us (John 3:16); are we willing to lay down our life for our brethren (I John 3:16).  What does it actually mean to “lay down our life for our brethren”?  We will look at this key principle in more depth in future blogs too.

Each member individually as well as the team will have to always seek “the heart of the Father” in all matters, listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and be obedient to what they have seen and heard.  This modeled by Jesus himself produced effective ministry. That model must again be instilled in the Church.  This will be the process of how the team will lead through service.  They will have to teach and exhibit forgiveness in its purest form, which will take away the blame game and divisiveness and division that currently exists in the Body of Christ.

Can there be actually unity in the Body of Christ?  Yes! But, I believe, it will take a radical different mind set towards ministry based on the priesthood of believers, the freeing, equipping, and releasing of each believer in Jesus Christ, not just the professional leadership as been the history of the Church over the last century. The Groom, Jesus Christ, is getting ready to return for His Bride, the Church, that is to be without “spot or wrinkle”.  I believe that this five fold model may be an instrument to bring unity, maturity, and Christ-likeness back into the Church.

The Point of View of An Apostle

Seeing The Big Picture

The topic of apostolic leadership has had its controversies in the Church.  Apostles are not Sr. Pastors who claimed to become bishops, then prophets, then Apostles because people follow them. Apostles are not Sr. Pastors to the greater church.  Apostles are not like dinosaurs, who are extinct, as some theologians claim, who were no longer needed when the written Word, today’s Bible, was cannonized. Then what are they?

I would like to add to the controversy by sharing a different perspective of what an apostle is. I believe the five fold ministry of the Church is about “passion” and “point of view”, not of office.  It is about what drives a believer in Jesus Christ and how he sees things.  The evangelist is driven to save the lost; he/she is not driven to shepherd or care for the new sheep, nor teach them, or instill prophetically intimacy in them. The apostle may at one time functioned like an evangelist or pastor/shepherd or teacher or prophet, but their passion is for the Church as a whole. Their point of view or vision is seeing the Big Picture. 

Because of this unique vision and point of view, the apostle can empathize with each of the other four passions or points of view because he/she cannot do all of them by themselves.  The apostle needs the other four in order to function properly.  If he/she tries to do it all, he/she will burn out and be no use to the Body of Christ.

One of the functions of an apostle is to prepare the Bride, the Church, for the Groom’s coming, the return of Jesus Christ.  He is to come for a Church that is without spot and wrinkle.  I can testify of the many spots and wrinkles that I have even created, might as well other believers. I believe that the prophet and apostle together will be the “spot” and “wrinkle” removers in the Church in order to prepare the Bride, the Church, by seeing the Big Picture.

Another function of the apostle is to equip the saints for the work of the service.  He alone cannot do it, so he needs to use his evangelistic skills, his pastoral skills, his teaching skills, and his prophetic skills to teach, develop, and establish the believers in Christ to do the work of “service”.

“Without vision the people perish,” and the Church so drastically needs believers among themselves who have the vision to see the Big Picture and strive to equip God’s people to fulfill it.  That is the point of view of the Apostle.

Peter And The Five Fold

 

Experiencing/Example Of All Five

Evangelist: Peter before Pentecost denies Jesus in the temple fulfilling personal prophecy Jesus proclaimed over him. This new transformed Peter now returns to the temple and boldly preached the evangelistic message. Acts 4 records his evangelistic dissertation. Result, 3000 join the ranks of believers.

Shepherd/pastor: In the twenty-first chapter of John this same Peter who denied Jesus three times faces a resurrected Jesus who asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Upon Peter’s confirmation of his love, Jesus replies then, “Feed my sheep.”  Shepherding became so overwhelming that one of the first delegation of responsibilities from the Apostles to other believers is recorded in Acts 6.  The Apostles elect seven men “filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom” to become the Church’s first official shepherds/pastors.

Teacher: Stick your foot in your mouth Peter, now after Pentecost, speaks with authority in the temple teaching about Jesus’ mission to earth and the implications of that event as recorded in Acts 2.  Untrained academically, without any higher educational degree, a fisherman by trade, Peter amazes the leaders in the temple because he teaches with authority.  The results: The Apostles Teaching.  The same principles taught by Peter in Acts 2 in front of the Sanhedrin are the same principles taught by Stephen in Acts 7 before his being stoned to death.

Prophet:  Peter just wanted to be a good Apostle and pray, but while praying he has a prophetic experience as recorded in Acts 10. He has a spiritual vision of sheets, pigs, unclean creatures dropping out of heaven and realizes the message of the vision, what was once unclean is now clean. This vision tested his obedience to go to the house of Cornelius, a non-Jew to proclaim the message of Jesus. The results: Breaking down the barrier between Jew and Gentile allowing all to be saved, come into the kingdom of God, and setting up the Church’s first battle recorded in Acts 15 at a council in Jerusalem, where in UNITY the Church settles the issue for all centuries.

Apostle:  Peter goes from being a brash, bumbling, big mouth, bull headed, believer in Jesus, to a man who is granted the vision of seeing the birth of the Church as a whole and its implications.  He is to proclaim the gospel, to nurture the new Church, to desire a more intimate relationship with the resurrected Jesus, and is granted the vision to see the Big Picture.  He becomes the point man of the Church in Jerusalem with the other eleven as in unity they lead this new Church in physical and spiritual growth, through joys and persecution, needs to fulfillment, pressing on in vision. The book of Acts records the “acts of the apostles”.  After Pentecost Peter and the other eleven were forced to put their faith into “Acts”-tion.

The Five Fold Point Of View

It Is Just The Way You See It!  

I truly believe that the five fold is basically passion and point of view.  When you are passionate, that passion drives you.  I was passionate to get a room in my house built from scratch to finished project. Because of that the dry walling and sanding, the tedious cutting in for painting, etc. were not so bad.  I was driven to get it done the best of my ability.

The beauty of the five fold is “vision” and “Point of View”. The way one perceives his world and his place in it is his passion and point of view. It is no different for the five fold. Let’s briefly look at these “points of view”:

The evangelist is driven by the desire to see birth and rebirth, taking the lost (those not knowing Jesus) to becoming found (finding Jesus as their Savior). General Booth of the Salvation Army is an excellent example. Winning the lost became all consuming to him, thus he founded an army to proclaim salvation to the lost. Unfortunately, when the lost is found, a new birth or rebirth proclaimed, nurturing their growth is not the evangelist’s top priority, for he/she is ready to move on and win yet more for Jesus.

The pastor/shepherd is driven to care for the sheep. Shepherds nurture, feed, and care for their sheep, which becomes a tedious task, for they teach a believer how to make their new found faith into a lifestyle. A pastor’s vision is to hear the words of Matthew 25:35-36: “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you invited me in, needing clothes and you clothed me, sick and you looked after me, in prison and you came to visit me.”

A teacher’s passion is to validate the Word of God, the written Word, the Logos Word, into the lives of every believer.  They want to validate the believer’s walk with the Word.  The teacher wants to validate this new found faith and lifestyle through the Logos Word, making it a Rhema, or living Word. John 1 says the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The teacher wants that word, now in Spirit, that dwells in each believer to teach that believer the truth and fulfillment of the Logos Word through faith.  Study the scriptures is powerful, but dangerous, for if it is done without the Holy Spirit, believers can become Pharisees, those who knew the Word in Jesus’ time, but opposed the truth and spirit of his teachings.

     If a prophet had his/her way, they would spend all day in worship, in reading their Bible, in intercession and prayer, in intimacy with God the Father, His Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.  Adam and Eve lost their intimacy with God when they sinned, but Jesus’ death and resurrection restored the intimacy lost through sin. Sin has been conquered, death defeated.  A prophet is trying to make up for lost time. Their drive, their passion, their point of view is to be intimate with Jesus. Nothing else matters to them.

An apostle has experienced the pain of seeing the lost and the passion to win them to Christ, has experienced the over whelming passion to feed the sheep physically and spiritually to have them walk the walk in their lifestyle, has experienced the power of teaching with authority the Word of God, has experienced that intimacy with his/her God through Jesus, but unfortunately can not to all of them himself unless he wants to get burned out, which happens to many a man of God who takes on more than he can handle. An apostle’s point of view, his vision, his sight is seeing the Big Picture, the Church as a whole.  Since he cannot do it all himself, he is commissioned to encourage others who have the other four passions and “prepares God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph. 4)  His job is to “see over” the Big Picture, not “oversee” it, for that is the Holy Spirit’s job, and to prepare God’s people for the works of service.

     The five fold is five distinctly different points of view that can divide the Church if not led by the Holy Spirit, or be the very tool to unify it.

Is Church A Safe Place?

Let It Be A Training Ground

As a Lay Witness Coordinator, I use to tell God’s people that the altar is a safe place.  I truly believe that!  You and God together cannot go wrong!  I ask though, “Is today’s church a safe place”?

As family, my children learned how to grow in the safety of their family and their home.  Toddlers walked into end tables when learning how to “walk”.  They often made mistakes while learning valuable lessons under the tutorage of loving parents, but is that how the family of God works in our churches?

As church people we shoot our wounded rather than offer healing, which is what the Gospel is all about.  We condemn our brethren rather than offer grace, which again is what the Gospel is all about.  We bring conflict, disagreement, and division amongst each other rather than peace and unity, which is what, supposedly, the church is all about.

Why not allow God’s people to do God’s work rather than the clergy, the paid staff?  And why not equip them so they can do it right?  Then why not release them with the church’s blessing to be free to do the work without tight controls allowing the Holy Spirit to be their guide?  Can’t we trust God’s Holy Spirit?

Is the church a safe place for believers to grow?  Can those not “up front” on the platform be free to minister during a service? To lay hands on others? To prophesy to people? To give monetary gifts secretly to help people in need? To teach or preach if gifted? And if they make mistakes along the way, is the church going to “pastor”, “nurture”, “shepherd” them?  A shepherd will stop what he is doing for one lost sheep, one sick sheep, one wondering sheep, not shoot the sheep and have lamb-chops instead.

What would it be like if a visitor had no idea who the “Sr. Pastor” is when visiting a church because everyone else is ministering out of their passion, gifting, and point of view?  Body ministry from the Body of Christ to the Body of Christ would make an awesome service, and prepare those ministering for training to do it outside the confines of our church buildings in our daily lives, but today’s church is reluctant to allow that mentality because what would happen is something went wrong? Or someone makes a mistake? Control is the best way to prevent error and mistakes, and that is what today’s church opts for instead.  I would like to challenge the church’s leadership to allow their sheep the freedom to make mistakes in order to learn. We do it in almost every other aspect of life, but we could do it in a safe environment of a loving church family in the safe confines of our church buildings.

But we don’t!  I plead to you, the church, to take the challenge, the plunge, and allow those in your Body to grow, make mistakes, but do it in the safety of a loving family in a safe place, the church.  If we cultivate that atmosphere, maybe we will actually begin to equip the “saints”, the common believers, for the work of the service.

Freeing God’s People

Allowing God's People To Minister

The church that I am currently attending has gone to a three “service” format on Sundays of 1) An Intercessory Prayer Time; 2) A Teaching time on basic doctrines; 3) and a Standard Church Service.

The first service has been a time of intercessory prayer, and praying for one another.  Last Sunday people were allowed to share personal testimonies of answered prayer, which were awesome.  One lady shared about praying for her loved ones that did not know the Lord.  I am sitting there thinking, “This woman has an evangelist’s heart”; church activate it!  Another woman, a massage therapist, shared of getting a new job with a doctor who approved that she could pray for patients while laying hands on them.  I am thinking, “Wow, a healer using the power of laying on of hands; church activate it! Another lady shared how the Lord has met her husband and her provisions by having a landlord who was actually dropping their rent.  The Emcee for the morning then said the session was over and dismissed everyone.

I sat there and pondered, “What would have happen if this occurred during the regular worship service when most of the congregation meet, the worship leader led, and the pastor preached?  What would happen if we allowed the lady with the evangelistic spirit to release that spirit on the congregation, inviting those who did not know the Lord to respond by coming forward to her, and she would personally lead them to the Lord. What would happen if we allowed the lady to release her hands and actually lay them on the sick that morning?  What would happen if the lady and her husband had people come forward, and they minister to them to break through spiritual barriers and pray for freedom in the realm of finances?

Why must the Church insist on having an ordained, clergy, evangelist to give an evangelistic sermon instead of releasing God’s people to minister?  Why must the Church have only the clergy lay hands on the laity, and not the laity on each other?  Why must people with financial crisis go to professional Christian Counseling Services, when their brethren can help out?  Is it not the Church’s job to equip the saints for the work of the service (Eph. 4) rather than just leadership doing it?

If common people, the laity, see other common people empowered with an uncommon, supernatural power of the Holy Spirit working in them, would they not want the same for themselves? Let’s begin to free God’s people, equip them, and allow them to be free to use what we have equipped them with?

Purpose of the 5 Points Of View: Part III

Church: Grow Up

Teaching 8^th grade student’s gives one an unique prospective on life.  8^th graders, 13 year olds, are elementary students caught in bodies that are growing up.  Their maturity has to catch up to their physical growth or they bring consternation to parents, those they influence, and themselves.

I ask them, “What does it mean to ‘grow up’?”

“Be responsible,” is their reply.

So to a Church that is divided, fights among itself, shoots its wounded rather than heals, known for division rather than unity and oneness, what word does Ephesians 4 have for it?

               GROW UP!  BE RESPONSIBLE!

The Church, like those 13 year-old adolescents has grown in size, but not in maturity. This has brought consternation with the world it is to effect and win as well as its very own being. It too needs to show responsibility in bringing unity to “grow up” in Jesus.  How is that to be done?  Through the five different passions or points of view working together to bring unity and the full measure of Jesus Christ.  As we continue these blogs, I will propose two scriptures and their effect as a keystone to bring this unity: John 3:16 & I John 3:16

Purpose of the 5 Points Of View: Part II

The Need For Such Vision

Why do we need five different passions and points of view in the body of Christ as shown in Ephesians 4? Simple, to get different perspectives to bring together the big picture of what the Body of Christ, the Church, will be and do. What is their purpose together:

• to prepare God’s people for works of service
• to build up the body of Christ
• to reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God
• to become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Why?

• so we will no longer be infants,
• tossed back and forth by the waves
• blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.

So what are we, the Church to do?

• speak the truth in love,
•  and GROW UP
• into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 

“From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

Purpose of the 5 Points Of View: Part I

Ephesians 4:11-16

“It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.

Instead speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.  From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

Why We Need Ephesians 4

Equipping

I know of a current congregation that is losing its current pastor after growing under his leadership and becoming quite attached to his teaching style, vision, and leadership. In a recent question answer forum he instructed the congregation the procedures that would lie ahead as they seek a new pastor when he leaves.

One person asked, “Since there are other teachers in the congregation, could they fill the pulpits some Sundays.”

“I never thought of that,” was his reply. “That would be awesome. Can some one do it next week?”

During his term as Senior Pastor, he apparently did not equip the saints for the “work of the service” as for developing teachers since that was his strong suit. His in-house teachers never got to preach when he was there, why would it be awesome to let them do it now?  I am sure the next pastor will want his pulpit back.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if the saints were equipped and “doing the work of the service” and the new pastor would wonder what his role is when he arrived!  Churches offer “Discipleship” courses, but I hardly know of any that truly equip their saints to become evangelists, teachers, shepherds, prophets, or apostles for the life of the local congregation. Leadership should work themselves out of a job, not create vacuums so they are needed and “outsiders” must come in to fulfill them.  

If the next pastor isn’t a “teaching” pastor, but a true “shepherd” or an “evangelist”, will the congregation be disappointed? Often local congregational visions are those of the pastor. Emphasis and focus of ministry change with the change of a pastor.

Wouldn’t it be neat if a congregation had their own evangelist, pastor/shepherd, teacher, prophet and pastor from among their own who were birthed, nurtured, and developed by their elders.  We work hard as parents to “equip” our children with what they need to face life as adults.  Why should the leadership of the church not “equip” their “children of God” to face the future?

We need new mindsets of what we are doing as leaders.  "Reproduction" is not just birthing! Are we equipping others to replace us, and then are willing to step back or be sent out when they mature?  We need to think about that!

Nurturing: The Question Of “Control”

Fort Lauderdale Five

In light of my last blog, an example of “overseeing” versus “control” came over the question of pastoring/shepherding in the 1970’s with the Fort Lauderdale Five.  In light of some of the chaos and messiness of the charismatic movement, five leaders decided to bond together to help bring discipline and accountability.  The idea at its inception sounded like a good idea.

Emphasizing small groups, the five lead a movement labeled “the Discipleship Movement”.  Here leaders shepherd or mentored those under their care, but eventually that entailed marriages, relationships, and personal decisions. Because of the tight control of leaderships, many were hurt and scared.

I believe there needs to be accountability, but to what extent? Although I parented three children, one of my sons looked for a spiritual mentor when he reached his 20’s.  He wanted someone who would “see over” his spiritual growth, give advice, care, and love, but not “parent” him.  Shepherding is not “parenting” where you are disciplining a child or juvenile, but it is an “art” of “nurturing”.  It is a gifting, a passion, a point of view, a person whose drive is to aid the development of a believer towards being Christ-like.

A person in his twenties is no longer a teenage, thus the “youth group” hype approach no longer proves relevant nor effective. Being in your 20’s means you are now establishing “your own” morals, goals, career, and faith.  You are no longer a product of your parent’s faith upbringing.  Often in your 20’s and 30’s you set your own path, thus you need someone to “see over” your journey, your decisions, your struggles.  We will see that everyone of the five fold gifting are for the “seeing over” of people at different levels to equip them for the work of the service. 

As a public school teacher for almost 39 years, I have had the opportunity to “see over” 3,500 students in my life, not controlling their lives, but developing and nurturing them in their reading and writing skills. In a pastoral/shepherding sense, the Church needs to learn to develop and nurture (equip) the saints in the work of the service without “controlling” them.

“Micro-management” is one of the most damaging and unproductive forms of management or administration.  The C.E.O., Sr. Pastor, boss, etc. does not have to be involved in everything to “control” it to be the way he wants it to be done, but needs to give those under his leadership freedom as he “sees over” what they do.  Micromanagers don’t develop or nurture, they enforce.

My concern about the next “revival” or “movement” that the Church faces is that the Church may again try to “control” what the Holy Spirit is doing either through micro-management, opposition, or through persecution. Have we learned from history?

Nurturing: The Question Of “Control”

"Control" vs. "Seeing Over"

 Usually the first thing the Church tries to do is “control” the new movement. After decades of extreme “control” causing the Dark Ages, the Spirit of God was penetrating the darkness with its Light. When the Reformation Age burst forth, the Church opposed it and tried to control it. When prayer and praise small groups flourished in the ‘70’s, the church tried to control it. When experiencing the prophetic and apostolic movements, I have seen strong leadership use control. Control can stop the “weirdness” of a movement, but it also quenches the Holy Spirit’s control.  We try to control the situation rather than letting God do it.  The Bible warns to “quench not the Holy Spirit”, yet how is order to be maintained.

As we look at each of the five fold, evangelist, pastor/shepherd, teacher, prophet, and apostle, we will feel this tension between newness, creativity, messiness, and freedom versus order and control. 

On the day of Pentecost, the day the Church received the power of the Rhema Word, the active living word, that paralleled the truths of the Logos Word, the written Word, it came in an unexpectant form:  Tongues of fire, foreign languages spoken by people who knew not what they were saying, and the accusation that these believers were drunk at mid-day.  It happened in an upper room, not in the Temple itself, among common folk, not among the Pharisees and Sadducees and leaders of the Sanhedrin, and the established religion of the time tried to “control” it arresting the apostles, warning them and beating them, later sending Saul to persecute them, etc.

One of the concepts we will have to understand is how “overseers” are to “see-over” their sphere of influence, not control it.  The question will always be, “Who is in control?”  Is the Holy Spirit in control? If so, then as a Church, as a personal believer in Jesus Christ, let’s not oppose it. Why do we want to take the “control” away from God?  Can we trust God’s precious Holy Spirit?  If we can trust the Holy Spirit, then why do we work so hard to take His control away for the sake of our agenda, to bring the situation back to what we think is normal, acceptable?