Dear pastors and ministry leaders:
[caption id="attachment_5219" align="alignright" width="184"] Greg and Susan Williams[/caption]
As I travel in my responsibilities as Director of Church Administration and Development and GCI Vice President, I'm blessed to spend time with GCI leaders and members throughout the world. We truly are an international family, and that is something to celebrate! I recently had the pleasure of visiting our GCI family in the Philippines and Mexico. Let me share some of what I experienced.
GCI Philippines
GCI's congregations in the Philippines, scattered throughout that nation's 7,641 islands, are served by a wonderful group of pastors, pastoral teams and ministry leaders who volunteer to serve (only two of... Read the article
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Dear pastors and ministry leaders:
We each have unique "wiring" (personality). One of the personality assessments I've taken identifies me as a "socializing director" with a "pioneer voice." That means I tend to attract people, though I like winning even more. Being wired that way, I tend to work long hours and push others to do likewise. Thus to shut down normal operations to go on retreat with part of the GCI-USA Church Administration and Development (CAD) team for three days was outside the norm for me. Yet that is what I did. Near the end of April a group of CAD leaders (including the U.S. Regional Pastors) retreated to a cabin in the Smoky Mountains.
In the military, to retreat is to “move back or withdraw” as a tactic of... Read the article
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Dear pastors and ministry leaders:
One of the most frustrating things in any job is not having clear job expectations. I experienced that frustration during 15 years serving as a lead pastor---at times it felt like a 24/7 job that was not only a bit unclear, but never finished. Do I hear an “amen” echoing from the Atlantic to the Pacific?
In Church Administration and Development (CAD), we work to provide pastors with clear ministry expectations, then equip them to meet them. With those goals in mind, this issue of Equipper addresses the renewal of the pastoral priorities that are essential in our work as under-shepherds in the ministry of the great Shepherd, Jesus Christ.
[caption id="attachment_4172" align="aligncenter"... 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]
When it comes to renewal (the GCI-USA theme for 2017), knowledge of God (theology) is both our point of beginning and guiding light on the journey. This is true whether the topic is the renewal of our leadership (the theme for the February Equipper), or the renewal of our theological vision---the theme for this issue, featuring articles from Joseph Tkach and Gary Deddo launching a new series of articles titled Clarifying Our Theological Vision. In this series, we'll be clarifying (and refining) some of the key terms and concepts we use to communicate the incarnational Trinitarian theology that has been... 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]
LifeWay Resources President Thom Rainer is pretty good at predicting trends in the North American church. He's been analyzing those trends for years, and recently shared his take on what lies ahead in an article titled "The Top Ten Major Trends for 2017." I've reproduced his list below (with minor edits) and then provided comments concerning how these trends might impact us in GCI. I encourage you to discuss these with your leaders as you consider together how they might impact the various ministries in your congregation.
[caption id="attachment_3316" align="aligncenter" width="496"] Used with "Leadership... Read the article
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Dear fellow pastors and leaders,
Our theme this issue is congregational leadership. Though a large topic, it's vital to our ongoing journey of renewal. The old adage is generally true: "As go the leaders, so goes the church." By definition, leaders are influencers, thus who they are as people and how they exert their influence, have a significant impact on their congregations, for good or for ill. In GCI, we highly value our pastors and other leaders, and this issue is devoted to equipping them for their high calling. In this letter, I focus on a particularly important aspect of congregational leadership, summarized by the phrase team-based and pastor-led.
[caption id="attachment_21" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Greg and Susan... Read the article
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Dear Pastors and Ministry Leaders,
Happy New Year! I pray that the year ahead will be for you one of joy and fruitfulness in Christ.
[caption id="attachment_21" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Greg and Susan Williams[/caption]
As I noted in last month's Equipper, "Renewal" will continue to be our guiding theme in 2017. For us to travel that Spirit-led journey together, it's vital that we make some mutual commitments. There are several I could mention (and we'll explore more of them as the year unfolds), but in this issue of Equipper, we focus on our commitments to prayer, to providing one another with high support and high challenge, and to discipling our children. In this issue, we also introduce a new feature, which provides... Read the article
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Dear minister of Christ,
I hope you enjoyed the theme of Renewal at our 2016 US Regional Conferences. We heard inspiring accounts of how the Holy Spirit is renewing us---opening minds and hearts to become more missional in thought and action. It's thrilling to see him transforming us into congregations willing to go "outside the walls" to gather others to the community of the church.
[caption id="attachment_21" align="aligncenter" width="202"] Greg and Susan Williams[/caption]
In his Theology of Renewal presentation at the conferences, Dr. Gary Deddo reminded us that our Triune God is a God of renewal---he has been from the beginning when, "out of nothing" (ex nihilo), he created all things. His work of renewal, which is "making... Read the article
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Dear fellow ministers of Christ,
[caption id="attachment_21" align="alignright" width="150"] Greg and Susan Williams[/caption]
In my many travels with Delta Air Lines I often read Delta's Sky magazine (typically doing the crossword puzzle first in an attempt to exercise my mind!). On a recent flight, a particular article caught my attention. It highlighted the movie Born to Be Blue, in which actor Ethan Hawke portrays fabled blues trumpeter Chet Baker. Hawke is quoted as saying that Baker's biggest struggle after a drug dealer knocked out his teeth was “to play and to play great again.” Noting the movie's primary goal in telling Baker's story, Hawke made this comment (emphasis added):
Some biographies paint [Baker] as the... 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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