03 Throwback Monday

Reading Time: 6:00

The first of the year I started this blog as a way to reflect on things of the past week. However, my mind keeps going back even farther than that. So much seems to have changed in the past decade as I have pastored at Calvary. Susan and I came here on Easter Sunday of 2009. There was great excitement, but it immediately settled into discontentment and division. So the first few years were just learning to get along with one another as many departed from Calvary.

As the dust began to clear I set myself to the task of finding a vision for the church. I felt like that vision rested in the longstanding members who had forged Calvary from the dust many years ago. I would spend time listening to their hopes and dreams from the past. I also listened to their complaints and disappointments of the present. All in all I began to see a few themes in our continued discussions.

All too often they spoke of strife among the congregation and the leadership as well. I could relate to that firsthand. There was a certain high-mindedness among congregation members who thought “their” ministry warranted “special” attention. Even new comers exercised verbal force to carve out a place for their “gift.” To the elder members of the church, this was nothing new. Some policies were put in place, but outliving these issues was the only permanent resolve. I regret how this kind of discord in the body of Christ has hardened me over the years.

As I applied my gift to teaching I saw little progress. In leadership, when you have to use authority, you do it at the sacrifice of relationship. Nevertheless some relationships needed to end. Some just continued as a pretense. Yet, they began to drift away over the years. On top of that, some longstanding members began to lose confidence in my leadership and departed. However, the ones who actually gave me the greatest wisdom remained and are still my greatest support. Of course, they were a great support to all the previous pastors as well. Slowly developing a team spirit on our board of trustees gave me renewed hope.

We paid for training at ISOM, we bought books on leadership and read them together. We held monthly leadership lunches. There were those who invested in everything I did. There were those though who only jumped through the hoops to gain leverage in the church. Nonetheless, it taught me a lot about leadership.

10-truths-cover

As I was “under great pressure, far beyond [my] ability to endure (2nd Corinthians 1:8),” I took a trip to Richmond and Susan and I went to the Goodwill. I saw this book on a shelf entitled 10 Truths of Leadership by Pete Luongo. I took it and scanned through it and the Spirit of the Lord said, “Get it and read it!” I replied, “But, Lord, it’s not even a Christian book!” The Lord did not reply to that so I did not disobey. I bought the book and read it.

Of the ten truths that Pete Luogo outlined, the one the Lord wanted me to see was: You Can Develop The Gift That Is A Person, But You Can’t Put It There. This leaped from the page as a revelation to me. How did I get so far in life without knowing and understanding this truth? I have spent much of my time cultivating ground with no seed in it. There has to be a gift of God present before fruit will come forth. Many claim to be gifted of God, but “by their fruit you will know them (Matthew 20:7).” I needed a change in my game plan.

Our church quit buying books for people and quit paying for them to go to ISOM. This high-mindedness had to cease. Instead I started to look for giftings. How do you do that? A pastor a long time ago in Louisville, Kentucky told me, “Pursuit is the Proof of Passion.” I began to look at what people actually pursued in their lives, not what they said they had a passion for, but what they actually invested in.

This gave me a totally different view of the landscape. Actually the view was disheartening. It took me a while to get over my too-little-too-late attitude. Also I began two teach on giftedness. This too only promoted a high-minded response. It amazes me how many people view themselves as extremely gifted, but have no fruit to show for it.

As I developed this revelation in my life and ministry it made me take a hard look at myself. Like Pastor Dave Williams says, “Your inner reality produces your outer reality.” Maybe all of this was to cause me to change. That was more true than I realized at the time. God saw me spinning my wheels trying to work with people who were simply not doing anything to begin with. It reminded me of my Pastor, Wayne Biggs, in Texas. He told me the reason he piled things on me was because if you want to get something done, find someone who is busy and give it to them.

These truths ring in my ears on a daily basis now, as I endeavor to serve the church here in Union City. I have no more time to waste. I must overcome my own cynicism and seek a team who will truly invest in their own giftings. Thank you, Lord, for opening my eyes to this. No one has to tell me to go the second mile. That’s the passion I want for the leadership at Calvary.

“And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses,
the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”

2nd Timothy 2:2 (KJV)

Pastor Brian Jenkins
Calvary Assemblies of God

Calvary Assemblies of God | 720 N Plum St Union City IN 47390 | Pastor Brian P. Jenkins |  (765) 229-4013 | www.calvaryassembliesofgod.org