You See Bones, I See an Army (cont,)

Continuing with the chapter called Courage to Change by Floyd McClung, this section is titled, Leaders Need Friends Too.

Having numerous people in your life can actually prevent the development of significant friendships.  Jesus preached to the crowds, but he built his friendships with a few close associates.  He knew the difference between a follower and a friend.  And we must as well.

We can and should build friendships with those we disciple.  Every effective leader invests in the lives of a few people at a time.  In-depth personal discipleship takes the sting out of the lonely leader syndrome and creates a culture of friendship and community in our church.  Genuine personal discipleship involves friendship.  You can't invest yourself in someone's life without becoming friends.  Paul said, "We loved you so much that we gave you not only God's Good News but our own lives, too."

There are times when I have to say no to a coworker.  When that happens, I sometimes must take off my friend hat and speak firmly about what I believe is right for everyone involved.  That kind of talk is a test for friends and coworkers, but talking truth with each other is absolutely essential if we are to grow together as real friends and healthy coworkers.

Is this too difficult to do?  Not for Jesus, and not for us either if we are willing to grow in the skill and honesty it requires.

Apostolic Teams and Their Role

Elders in a simple church serve to equip and disciple the members of the church, or network of churches, they serve.  Apostolic teams focus on pioneering among those who have not yet heard the good news, moving throughout a network of churches.  Apostolic teams give oversight to pioneering movements.  They cultivate and uphold a set of core values that empower such a movement.  Local church elders care for the flock under their charge; an apostolic team does the same thing but also cultivates a church-planting culture of faith and vision for those who have never heard the good news.

Apostolic teams are focused.  They are not satisfied with just overseeing the affairs of a local church.  They burn with a desire to plant churches and reach those outside the influence of the gospel, especially those who have never heard of God's love in Christ.  Apostolic teams are not apostolic because the team members are prophets or apostles.  They are apostolic because they have a vision to plant churches where the gospel has not yet been proclaimed.  You can be an apostle by gifting and fail to fulfill the purpose of your gift.  Apostles are pioneers by calling, but they start new churches to fulfill their calling.

I have a very simple way of defining apostolic teams:  they do what apostles did in the book of Acts.  They preach the gospel, make disciples for Christ, plant churches, and appoint and coach elders of local churches.  They believe God for the impossible and pull down Satan's strongholds.  They suffer and sacrifice for what they believe in.  In short, they win, gather, and multiply disciples and churches for Jesus, especially where people are unchurched and unreached.

You can talk about being apostolic until you're blue in the face, but if you don't plant and reproduce churches, you're not apostolic.  If you worship and fast together to hear God's plans and strategies for the lost, and then lay hands on those God' appoints to be sent out, you have the beginnings of an apostolic team.

Death Benefits:  The Price of Leading a Dry-Bones Army

We are called to die.  Not just once to sin, but as a way of life.  By dying to our rights, we find life.  That means dying to our opinions, dying to the right to be understood, the right to be represented, the right to be loved, the right to be treated justly, and all of our other rights.  Very few leaders understand this truth.  They strive to find their role, their ministry, how they fit on the team, and so on.  It is sad to watch men and women strive to keep what they have to give up anyway if they are to be part of God's mission.  Jim Elliot wrote in his journal, "He is no fool who gives that which he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose."

That was the end of chapter three.  I love that quote by Jim Elliot.  Greg has been teaching the concept of dying to oneself to some of our leaders.  He's teaching what it truly means to be a shepherd.  We are blessed to have a humble, teachable team, but as mentioned above, sometimes there are those who have a grandiose dream of a high position in a church.  Perhaps their dream includes sitting behind a large desk, having people come to them crying with problems, having the perfect thing to say, and being the hero.  Maybe they see themselves preaching or leading worship to large crowds of people who adore them.  Perhaps a big salary and car are part of the picture.   It's a beautiful daydream, isn't it?  But the reality of serving God is often much different. 

Greg told the story Sunday of going to Nicaragua near Honduras to visit an old man who was a shut in and had recently stopped talking.  This man had planted many churches in his lifetime and led many to Christ.  But now, he was discouraged.  He would write, "Where have all the brothers gone?"  Meaning, "Why isn't anyone visiting me in my old age, I've impacted so many lives, where are they?  Have they forgotten me?"
In order to visit him, Greg took an ambulance ride for over 6 hours over horrible roads to get to the edge of a river.  There, he found out, he had to get in a canoe and travel up the Cocoa River for 2 days.  With him where a team of men from Argentina, and other countries, to visit this man.  When they finally arrived at his house, he was sitting in his chair, unable to walk or talk, but able to motion.  He was happy to see he had visitors.  This team of men laid hands on him and prayed for his healing before going to bed in a house across the road.

The next morning the team heard commotion from the old man's house.  They ran across the road.  His wife couldn't find him.  He wasn't in bed.  They finally found him in another room, praying to God for his visitors.  He could walk and talk!  All this to say, that sometimes we have to put aside our agendas and die to our comforts and go outside ourselves to minister to others.  Six hours in a cramped ambulance with seven other men, three days in a canoe.  But look at the joy it brought that man, a servant of God himself, in his last days.  This is what we're called to do.  Hospital visits in the middle of the night, consoling grieving and counseling feuding families, confronting sin, taking hits to our character and responding with grace, believing God for the impossible, hugging the homeless and praying for the lost.  I'm sure my eyes haven't even begun to scratch the surface of what God has in store for us, but I try to keep my heart prepared for the unexpected.  It's not about us.  It's about giving God all the glory he so abundantly deserves.  We are His servants, He owes us nothing.  We are to seek Him and obey.  Plain and simple.

Hve a blessed overcast day.