[caption id="attachment_340" align="alignright" width="167"] Teach children how they should live, and they will remember it all their lives. (Proverbs 22:6)[/caption]
Days are getting shorter and the air crisper---both unmistakable signs of the fall season. And if you have stepped foot into any retail store lately, or checked out upcoming movies at the theater, you can’t miss the fact that Halloween is upon us, with all its ghoulish imagery and assorted costumes. In fact, U.S. consumers will spend approximately $8 billion on this popular holiday.
At Halloween, small (and sometimes not so small) children are excited to dress up in their favorite superhero or princess costumes as they set off into neighborhoods in search of heaps of... Read the article
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This month, instead of a written sermon summary, we're posting a video of a teaching that would make a great sermon. It's a "Reading Between the Lines" presentation from Speak Life, a ministry in the U.K. Titled "Safe and Sound," it addresses the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
On YouTube at https://youtu.be/8Z-9eoXOsbE Read the article
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Dear pastors and ministry leaders:
[caption id="attachment_21" align="alignright" width="150"] Greg and Susan Williams[/caption]
October is Clergy Appreciation Month, and though I appreciate our pastors every month of the year, this month I want to send out a special Thank you! to them all. I love these men and women, and I deeply appreciate their labor of love in the Lord.
Let's prepare for 2017
Now that we've entered the 4th quarter of 2016 (can you believe it?), it's time to prepare for 2017. I’m sure you'll soon be holding budget meetings with your finance committee, and planning/vision meetings with your leadership team. As you do, please consider how, in 2017, you'll invest in the development of your congregation's... Read the article
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As we participate with Christ in developing leaders in our congregations, it's important that we give attention to their character, calling and competencies---all centered on Christ. In his article, A New Paradigm, Malcolm Webber points out how Jesus went about developing leaders in all three areas:
He appointed twelve – designating them apostles – that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. (Mark 3:14-15)
Jesus' leadership development methods involved providing four transformational elements:
Spiritual. A relationship with God (with himself and the Father)
Relational. Relationships with a mature leader (himself), and others (the disciples)
... Read the article
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Below are links to the seven articles in the October issue of Equipper, which focuses on developing leaders in GCI congregations. Enjoy! — Ted Johnston, editor
From Greg: Invest in the development of your leaders
Greg Williams urges pastors and ministry leaders to plan now to invest in the development of established and new congregational leaders in 2017.
Mentoring young leaders
Michael Rasmussen draws from his experience in discussing ways to mentor young (emerging) leaders.
Developing a new pastor: It began with a question
PD Kurts tells the story of how he helped a young leader hear God's call to pastoral ministry.
Using ministry descriptions in developing your ministry leaders
Heber Ticas shares how he uses... Read the article
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Heber Ticas, GCI's national coordinator of Church Multiplication Ministries, offers advice on using ministry (job) descriptions in developing the ministry leaders within your congregation.
[caption id="attachment_1960" align="alignright" width="150"] Heber and Xochilt Ticas[/caption]
As Greg mentions in his letter this month, a "best practice" in developing each ministry leader in your congregation is to utilize a "Ministry Description" (or call it a "Job Description") that outlines their responsibilities in a way that integrates what they are doing into the missional flow of your church.
As Greg recommends, you as lead pastor should sit down on a regular basis with each ministry leader and review the agreed-upon Ministry... Read the article
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Regional pastor Paul David (PD) Kurts tells the story of his experience in developing a new, young pastor.
Some of the most important things in life begin with a question, like, “Are we there yet?” “Who shot J.R.?” “How many licks to the center of a tootsie pop?” Kidding aside, questions do have great power, and asking them at the right time can lead to focused action. Jesus frequently moved people to action with questions. You'll remember when he asked Peter, “Who do you say I am?” You know the story.
One of the most impactful questions I've ever asked came about several years ago while flying to a GCI conference in Chicago with a young man named Dennis who was serving in ministry in the church I was pastoring.... Read the article
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Regional pastor Michael Rasmussen draws from his personal experience to share an effective approach for developing young leaders.
[caption id="attachment_1958" align="alignright" width="150"] Mike and Juli Rasmussen[/caption]
I remember when I first started pastoring. I had a deep desire to help mentor the next generation of young leaders. Many people had invested in my life when I was young, and I wanted to do the same for other young people coming up.
So I sat down with the leaders of my congregation to discuss a plan. After laying out (from my perspective) a vision and strategy for mentoring, training and releasing young people into ministry within our congregation, I was shocked by some of the responses. Almost half of my... Read the article
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