WISE, INTENTIONAL
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
TITUS EMAIL
Volume 2, Number 8 – August, 2008
We are back from Africa and it was an extremely productive time in both Namibia and Zambia. If you want to read about the trip, I will include the update at the end of this email. I am very pleased that this email tool is helpful to people. Please use whatever you can from it and remember that past issues are at www.myhcy.com. Mike
CRITICISM OF PETER
Peter had just completed the most radical ministry opportunity ever in the early Church when he met with Cornelius, his relatives and friends (Acts 10). God came down upon the Gentiles and they were radically saved. A new era of Church history had just begun.
Word got back to the church leaders (apostles and brothers) what Peter had done with the Gentile Cornelius and his family/friends (Acts 11:1-18). The first thing these leaders did was to criticize Peter for what he had done (hardly anything has changed in 2,000 years). They were putting their theology ahead of ministry and the leading of the Holy Spirit. “How could Peter have been so foolish as to go into the house of a Gentile and spend time with him? Has Peter gone mad?”, were conversations shared among the brethren.
Peter confidently responded to these criticisms by sharing his experience. He told the truth – didn’t embellish the story to make himself look better, and let the truth be known. When we see evidence of God working, even though we may not agree with the total theology of the people, we need to let God do His thing. Why oppose God? Look at the fruit that results. Evaluate the fruit through the filter of scripture.
The sad thing is the leaders right away criticized, instead of knowing Peter’s heart. They could have waited to hear Peter’s explanation of why he did what he did, and then make a decision based on the facts. Why do we do this? We jump to conclusions about how we view an activity of fellow believers whom we know, for we have seen the fruit of their labor. Theology can cloud our perspective. My theology may not always be correct, or at least the whole picture.
You can essentially say that leadership equals or is a magnet to criticism. If you desire to be a spiritual leader, expect criticism. “If you are pursuing a vision of any magnitude, you will be criticized. Perhaps your vision reminds someone of what they are not. But at the same time it reminds them of what they could and should be. And the only thing they know to do is criticize.” (Andy Stanley , Visioneering, p 145)
Why is criticism usually the first response of Christians, even though we know the person’s heart? Being criticized is painful but also as we are able to separate the hurt and untruth from the truth, criticism can be helpful.
When Nehemiah was criticized for rebuilding the Jerusalem walls by Sanballat and Tobiah, he responded three ways. First, he prayed (Nehemiah 4:3-5), then reacted with remembrance (4:14). Remember God’s faithfulness in the past. Use stories about God. How has God worked in your life? Take time to write down how God has worked in your life to encourage you. “The obstacles of the present can easily overwhelm your commitment to what could and should be in the future. As long as you respond to criticism by evaluating your potential, you will be tempted to give up. But when you respond by remembering who it is who has called you, when you ‘remember the Lord who is great and awesome’, it is a different story.” (Andy Stanley, Visioneering, p. 153).
Finally look at criticism as helping your plan. Maybe there needs to be a change. Nehemiah revised his plan (4:9,16-18). There probably is some truth in the criticism. Don’t confuse your plans with God’s vision. A vision is what could and should be. A plan is a faith walk as to the best way to accomplish the vision. If God has given you vision, there will be more questions than answers and it will be bigger than you. Your vision can easily be destroyed, wiped out by discouragement or criticism at this point.
If you have a question about a plan a fellow Christian has, go to that Christian first to get their perspective. We must do things the biblical way (Matthew 5:23-24). Speak directly to the one you have issues with; otherwise, keep your mouth shut. If you are the one being questioned, do as Peter did. Simply tell the truth.
YOUTH MINISTRY INSIGHT
JOSEPH RESISTING TEMPTATION
“There is no way Joseph could have resisted the temptation of Potiphar’s wife on his own”. Interestingly that is a statement from African young people as well as American youth as we discussed a person’s character and resistance to sin’s temptations.
If you remember the story of Joseph, this Jewish teenager was sold into slavery by his brothers and ended up in Potiphar’s (captain of Pharoah’s guards) household in Egypt (Genesis 37,39). The Bible indicates that the Lord was with Joseph and God gave Joseph success in everything he did. As a result, Potiphar put Joseph in charge of everything in his house and God’s blessing came upon Potiphar’s house.
Now Potiphar had a beautiful wife who got eyes for Joseph. Joseph was a young man at the time and we are told he was well built and handsome. His muscles were toned, body fat very low and had a gracious attitude. What more could a girl want. Often Potiphar’s wife tried to coax him to get sexually involved with her. “Who would know”, she would say, “besides, my husband is gone and no one will find out!”
Thoughts like, ‘What’s wrong with one quick fling”, “No one will ever find out.”, and “I been given a raw deal in life, being sold as a slave, I deserve something better and I am in charge of the WHOLE house of Potiphar.”, could have entered Joseph’s mind. Satan loves to plant those thoughts. There would be nothing better than for Joseph to fall morally.
On his own Joseph would have given into temptation and gotten involved sexually. It is no different today. Sexual temptation has been high on Satan’s priority list for centuries. Sexual behaviors of Christians are not very different than people who are not Christians. Living together is more the norm as you can save money living together, find out whether you are compatible, you are not a man (or woman) yet unless you have tried sex, marriage is not all it is cracked up to be and besides, everyone is doing it. Those lies are thrown in your face contantly.
How did Joseph (and for you) resist the temptations? First of all it was very difficult for Joseph to say no. He was young, in his prime, and living pretty well at Potiphar’s house. Potiphar’s wife very beautiful and hot after Joseph. “The Lord was with Joseph”, is a phrase often repeated about Joseph. He had a personal relationship with God and had been taught from early on about God through the stories shared by his parents.
To resist temptation, first you need to have asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins and invited him to become your Savior and Lord. Having Jesus and the Holy Spirit in you will give you the power to overcome Satan’s temptations (1 John 4:4). It is vitally important to nurture that relationship with Jesus, so it is imperative to spend time reading the Bible. If you have not begun or have stopped, begin today reading for even a couple of minutes. You have to carve time into your schedule to make it a priority. Then ask the Holy Spirit to guide you through what you read from the Bible and as you pray, talk to Jesus and also listen as the Holy Spirit communicates with your spirit.
Stay away from places or situations that offer temptations, plus have a spiritually growing bunch of Christian friends to keep each of you accountable about choices you make. Then as you face temptation, get away from it. Ask people to pray for you, so you will not fall into the temptations you face. With God’s help and the ways He has given us to get away from temptations, we can be like Joseph and stay away from making some devastating choices that will greatly affect us.
ILLUSTRATION
ESKIMO WOLF HUNTERS
According to tradition, this is how an Eskimo kills a wolf. First, the Eskimo coats his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. Then he adds layer after layer of blood until the blade is completely concealed by the frozen blood.
Next, the hunter fixes his knife in the ground with the blade up. When a wolf follows his sensitive nose to the source of the scent and discovers the bait, he licks it, tasting the fresh frozen blood. He begins to lick faster, more and more vigorously, lapping the blade until the keen edge is bare. Feverishly now, harder and harder, the wolf licks the blade in the cold Arctic night. His craving for blood becomes so great that the wolf does not notice the razor-sharp sting of the naked blade on his own tongue. Nor does he recognize the instant when his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his own warm blood. His carnivorous appetite continues to crave more until in the morning light, the wolf is found dead on the snow.
QUOTES ON INSPIRATION
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. – John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States
Leadership is based on a spiritual quality; the power to inspire, the power to inspire others to follow. – Vince Lombardi, one of the greatest American Football coaches ever
Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be – Ralph Waldo Emerson, American author
SOUTHERN AFRICA HIGHLIGHTS, JULY 2008
Three adventurous partners, Craig Brooks, Ross Nelson and Marty Aubol, joined me for a three week jaunt to Zambia. Landing in Zambia July 4th, Craig and Ross, both pastors, taught in Lusaka while Marty took a five hour bus ride with fellow Zambian Pastor Captain, to Mongu, which is in the western province of Zambia. Marty, a veteran of two previous WILD trips, endured the ride which was cramped and lasted several hours longer. The week’s experience for all three was positively impacting.
Meanwhile Allan Kasungami and I flew to Namibia on the 5th, to teach at a church in the capital city, Windhoek. What a city. Windhoek is on the edge of the desert and very modern. I was reminded of cities in the SW part of the USA with the arid lands. It is the only African city I have been in where there a re overhead passes on the road system. Namibia has the notoriety of being the country with the widest gap between the rich and poor. The poorest area where squatters lived reminded me of the dump in Monterrey, Mexico, where people where given land to live. The new president’s Statehouse makes the White House look like a hunting shack. Also on the trip I had the opportunity to sit in the Speaker of the Parliament’s seat for a few moments. What great Namibian power I had for a short time!
Allan and I taught each night during the week. We averaged about 40 people per night. As we teach on spiritual leadership, there is always the tension between what truth is cultural and what is biblical. No difference in Namibia. It is culturally acceptable and found in the church for the husband to not only have a wife but a girlfriend. One woman asked if you can be a good spiritual leader in the church if you are not a good husband.
In the area of character, we spoke about the life of Joseph in Genesis, Samuel (1 Samuel 12) and then the qualifications Paul put down in
1 Timothy 3. Among the church group that night, we had a level of honesty which I have not seen in a long time as several male leaders shared of their struggles to stay sexually pure to their wives. God was piercing hearts that night. The leadership did meet with us later in the week to receive advice of where to go with developing leaders after we left. This church is strategic for leadership development not only in Windhoek but regionally.
Our accommodations were great and we were fed well (steak, lamb, liver), including a traditional meal of an actual sheep head that had been roasted. (It was looking at me, pleading to not be eaten.) I ate a little. It was okay. At the home I stayed, they had a satellite dish. Sports Center was on the day we left for Zambia and I noticed breaking news that Favre was asking the Packers for his unconditional release…I did pinch myself to make sure I was not dreaming that up. (Weird dreams can result from the precautionary malaria medication I am taking.)
During our second full week in Africa, we all traveled five hours north to Ndola, Zambia. Here eight pastors joined Marty and me for three very full days of strategic planning for WILD. From Tuesday morning until late Thursday night, we discussed, prayed and planned WILD’s future in southern Africa. Mixed in was training on team development and becoming emotionally healthy to be spiritually healthy. I was able to do the teaching and training those three days which the team responded well to. If we accomplish our strategic objectives by following through on our action steps, WILD will have made a quantum leap forward in development in Africa. That would have been worth the trip right there, but God did much more.
One of the objectives the pastors laid out was to establish a regional director for WILD in Zambia. This director will be the point person in southern Africa and work closely with me in preparation and the continuing development of WILD’s presence in that region. To me that was key to have laid the groundwork for this position before leaving Africa. That was accomplished and I am beginning to look for the person to fill this voluntary position.
Another unexpected blessing was meeting Samuel Yawila, possibly the denomination’s (Evangelical Church in Zambia’s -ECZ) only partially funded youth pastor in all of the over 800 churches. Samuel sat in on the strategic planning at the request of Allan. He gave some good insight during the sessions but Marty and I really got to know him the last several days we were in Zambia as Samuel ended up to be our hosts those days.
Samuel has a great heart for the Lord and a vision of reaching the 30 and younger people group for Christ. He gets no salary but the church he serves at, Northrise, pays for his housing where we held our strategic planning. He has had very little training so I am sending him the training material I use with youth leaders here in Wisconsin. His job is youth pastor and trust God to supply his needs as again, he gets no salary. There are several colleges in Ndola so he works with high school students through college age students. This guy is the real deal as far as wanting to serve the Lord by reaching the youth of Africa.
I got very excited about Samuel because he is an answer to the prayer of who will reach the youth of Africa (the 30’s and younger) because whomever does reach that generation (Muslims, Communists (China is flooding Africa with money and people resources) or Christians) will own the continent for generations to come. On the 20th I had the privilege to speak at Northrise, Samuel’s church and of the 100 or so in the audience that day, 80% were easily young people. That was like throwing raw meat to a hungry lion – I was pumped to preach to them. Here was the hope of Africa sitting in front of me.
This gives an overview of what occurred over the three weeks in Africa. Already for next year, there are at least three churches that have asked WILD to train them and the leadership of the ECZ has asked me to go to Angola to train refugees who lived in Zambia during Angola’s civil war and now have returned to their country.
Because of Him,
Mike
CHANCE ENCOUNTERS OF A GOD KIND
One other story I need to share that shows how God is working and using
WILD. Returning from Namibia, Allan and I flew through Johansasburg, South Africa. We had to go to the Transit Counter to acquire our ticket to Zambia. While in line, the guy in front of me noticed that I was wearing a Badger sweatshirt. He (Justin) inquired if I was from Wisconsin and told me he was from north of Detroit. So we exchanged our stories about why we were in that part of the world. I explained about WILD and that I had worked for a youth ministry for 27 years. Thus people consider me like a youth pastor.
There was a young couple ahead of Justin, Allan and I who had a year old son named Isaiah (Could they be Christians? Why else would you name your child that name.) The husband, Ken had stepped out of line to play with Isaiah. When the wife heard that I was a youth pastor, she whipped around and said her husband was a youth pastor and they were headed to Malawi to be a youth pastorate at a church. So she called Ken over to join in on the conversation and talk to this youth pastor.
Ken asked why we were in Africa, so I told them and explained WILD. I mentioned I was wearing my Badger sweatshirt and had gotten my missions understanding through the Navigators on campus at Madison, thus the philosophy WILD had with giving out training materials for free. They got excited and said they were Navigators too. His eyes lit up and wanted to know more about WILD.
How did we make contacts for WILD? Well we told them that this is the way God was establishing most contacts, by “chance” encounters. Ken asked for a business card and Allan had a WILD card so Ken took it and said he would email me as it was their turn to go up to the ticket counter. (I have not heard from him yet – please pray that he does make contact.)
Through all this Justin was listening. I thanked him for asking where I was from and that God had used him to bring Ken and his wife to connect with us. I do not know where Justin is spiritually, but he got a huge dose of God and Jesus in those 5 minutes. There are no “chance” encounters in God’s sovereignty as we shared with Justin. He is another prayer request, for his salvation.
