Germany (Diepholz): 2010, Day 8
Some years ago when the Lord told me He needed “B-Track” speakers to go to the smaller venues, and encourage pastors/leaders who don’t normally get encouragement, I happily gave myself to the idea. In fact, years and years ago when I was first involved in Foursquare Germany, I was viewed with a measure of criticism and suspicion by some US missions leaders—primarily because I did NOT visit (or speak at) the larger “works” usually visited by US pastors. Was I doing my own thing, they wondered. Did I have a personal agenda at odds with official policy?
The instance when those concerns were voiced to me most particularly was after a trip in the late 1980’s when I intentionally opted to spend time with a small church, rather than put in an appearance at one of the bigger churches frequented by US missionaries and mission teams. How ironic that the pastors of that tiny church, Tino and Vera, were at the seminar for pastors these many, many years later.
The fact, therefore, that we didn’t have many pastors/leaders at this regional training event did not discourage me in the least. On the contrary, as I reminded these pastors, the more your church grows the fewer and fewer people you should pastor personally. The real goal of ministry is NOT to minister to as many people as possible—but to minister through as many people as possible. I believe that extra ministry/training poured into a few men and women will, in the long run, multiply into more ministry to more people than if I gave lots of extra training to large groups of people. It’s counter-intuitive, but it is what I believe.
Interestingly, we spent a good chunk of the morning on one Bible story that had been on my heart to share. I presented thoughts based on the scripture, then asked for their impressions, questions and observations. It was quickly apparent that this text held many prophetic answers for the specific situations several pastors were facing in their churches. Because I didn’t have a teaching agenda, with an exact “sermon” to fit each time slot of the day, we were able to mine the riches of the text and allow the leaders to apply those truths today.
As is almost always the case, leaders’ questions eventually come around to asking about how to get more people to volunteer for the work of church. As always, I tried to connect Jesus’ greatest desire for His people (being discipled) with our greatest need as leaders (getting volunteers). I believe there is a direct correlation between how much and how well we disciple—and how many people engage significantly in the work of the ministry. I have never encountered leaders who actively, personally discipled their followers but who lacked volunteers. Or, putting it another way, I have never spoken with leaders who lacked volunteers, who also claimed to be good disciplers.
Late in the afternoon, before I went back to the hotel to be with Pamela, I spent time with Ulrich and Monika, talking about all the challenges they face moving into a much larger facility and growing a larger congregation. Ulrich told me that many years ago, after he just returned to the Lord from a 10-year detour, God used my manuscript on church-planting (“Delta Recourse”) to inspire him to consider pastoring—a calling he had resolutely refused for years.
We had a delightful talk, along with Jan, and after a couple hours Ulrich thanked me for confirming and firming many new thoughts for his leadership. He is, as Jan put it, making a huge change in his paradigm about leadership.
When I returned to the hotel, I saw that poor Pamela had suffered greatly from her latest malady—a terrible eye infection. The infection had spread to her upper cheek and the whole area under her left eye, causing the skin to swell out like a giant blister. What do we do? How do we handle yet another physical setback? We never know the answer to such questions, so we just stay the course—and pray. Lorrel, our doctor daughter insisted that Pamela send her a photo of her eye, so she could check it out and have an ophthalmologist friend of hers confirm that it was not something needing immediate emergency attention. We believe, now, that it is somehow related to her current sinus infection (malady #5)…
