Mission-Minded Servants Do These 13 Kings

http://cwhisna.blogspot.com/2011/08/loy-and-minnie-whisnant-everette.html

 

SOUTHEAST ASIA (BP) -- Who are mission-minded people? How do they see the world? While they could be found in your church, place of work or coaching Little League, what do mission-minded people do differently?

International Mission Board missionaries from around the world helped compile a list of 13 things that make up a mission-minded person:

1. They want to meet someone who does not follow Jesus Christ. Mission-minded people follow Jesus' plan in Luke 10 to go work "His harvest." They actively seek out non-believers for conversations and friendship.

2. They continually look for creative ways to share the Gospel. Mission-minded people find intentional ways to share so that people understand. It is not a "canned presentation" but relative to that person/group. They do the abnormal, irrational, counter-intuitive, and take risks all in an effort to share Christ.

3. They have a different worldview. They think more about the world, culture and languages than they do about the tiny place where they live. They understand that the Gospel is not just for them but for all people. They are committed to getting it to the rest of the world.

4. They hear the voice of God and are obedient. Mission-minded people hear the voice of God and obey when He tells them to go across the street, to another town, state or country to share about His redeeming love.

5. They pray a lot! Praying is a direct link to God. They believe that God will do greater things than we can ever imagine; and they pray for it to happen.

6. They make disciples. They constantly ask themselves if what they are doing will result in disciples. If the strategy is only for people to hear, then the Gospel will not spread. Mission-minded people know the importance of discipleship.

7. They meet human needs while sharing the Gospel. Mission-minded people believe it doesn't matter how many wells a person digs or how many orphans they feed if they are not following Christ's mandate to take the Gospel to those who have not heard. They contend that if a person is not sharing Jesus, they are wasting time and money.

8. They believe that being mission-minded is not a "task." It's a lifestyle. They live out missions in their everyday life. From the moment they wake up until they go to bed, they impact the world around them.

9. They are relational. They are willing to leave their own "bubble" to make relationships with those considered the "least of these." They have an awareness of the people around them and look for ways to build a relationship that will lead to sharing Christ and discipleship.

10. They go! It doesn't matter where God tells them to go -- Timbuktu or Kalamazoo -- they grow where God plants them. And, they are willing to move on when He says, "Go!"

11. They see people with a future. When they look at an unreached people group, they see potential "brothers and sisters" in Christ. They see that eternity and joy are available for everyone and are excited to share it.

12. They send! They know that we are responsible for ALL people groups hearing the Gospel. They follow the example from the book of Acts to "send" out other mission-minded people. They support them in any way possible.

13. They understand "the task" is not done. Mission-minded people know that once they have reached their family and friends with Christ, they are not done. There are still billions in the world that have not proclaimed

MINISTERING GOD'S TRUTH IN A BROKEN WORLD

THE STORMS OF LIFE AND PUTTING BROKEN LIVES BACK TOGETHER AND PASTORAL HELP

I have to realize that we as pastors/ teachers/ leaders/ counselors have to deal with a world of broken lives.

To be critical of people who you don't believe to be faithful to the Lord's work, one has to stop and realize that maybe it's because they are faced dealing with broken lives. I have to stop to realize people who do love the Lord and love the church, are sometimes faced with broken lives in their family.

I am glad that because of our love for our family we don't kick those who have broken lives out of the house. While it's hard for me personally, (maybe it because of my gender) to be emotionally involved with people, I do realize the emotional burden that parents, especially moms have toward their family.

HELP FOR PASTORS:

We live in a broken world. "It’s a Jungle Out There" Each year, the administrative, legal, and regulatory challenges of ministry seem to grow more time-consuming and complex.

Because of the chaos of many lives, their lives affect others as well. As Christians we usually are affected by the chaos of our family and church family, and often they feel drained by the stress and frustration. As a result the energy to spiritual service is forced to the back burner.''

"Tide was high, I don't wanna knock my head on rocks."

THE CHALLENGE OF MINISTRY

• Getting the work of ministry done is always a challenge. The ability to motivate and engage others in the work to be done is a critical aspect of achieving your ministry goals. And, without able and energized volunteers, any church will grind to a halt. How to cultivate and nurture effective ministry in lives of those who are spiritually challenged is a task.

• The world in which we live has become increasingly complex and filled with laws affecting our ministries that we did not need to deal with in the past. Regardless of the state in which you minister, you are subject to “abuse reporting” rules of some type. The failure to comply can affect your ministry and subject you to personal fines or even incarceration.

THE STORMS OF LIFE

Ministry is just a succession of storms of life. There is always a storm coming through our ministry. Mark 4:1-2 You believe you are ready for any storm that comes into your life and the life of the church; but as you come into the storm, you begin to realize maybe you are not ready.

Storms in life, broken lives coming into our care, will bring out your belief in God. The challenge is to put our faith in a God who is in the boat with us. "Lord, do you care for us, or not." Mark 4:35-41. "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?" You are sleeping during our storm.

What do we really believe about God, what is your theology? It comes to light in a storm.

The challenge in the pastor's life is to know God is in this ministry with us. The challenge with the people is to know God is in the boat with us as we deal with storms and broken lives that come into our life. The challenge with pastors, elders, is to let the people know, you too are in the boat with them.

I fail to realize I need to say, "How can I help you?" But maybe the Lord is still teaching us. The Lord is giving me wisdom and understanding as I have taught in Proverbs 4:1-10 this past Sunday.

BILL and SHARON SMITH

Located on the left bank of the Rio Branco, only 220 km from the border of Brazil and Venezuela, Boa Vista is the only Brazilian capital located entirely above the Equator, and a gateway for ecoturismo to the Amazon, Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname. The state itself is named after Mount Roraima and represents a symbolic challenge of uniting the hemisphere, as well as an irresistible invitation to the adventurers and seekers of mother nature's place in the 21st century.

Fasting growing state in Brazil, and a gateway to Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela and the Amazon.

Bill and Sharon Smith, have working in Brazil since 1973 and continue to work with the people in Boa Vista, Roraima, Brazil, South America. I wonder if Sarah Palin knows that? (sorry about that)

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Bill Smith from Ohio, and was called to preached in 1967 I believe, and traveled to Arlington Texas to the Bible Baptist Seminary, and he and I were best friends from the start.

Sharon and Bill are worked in this part of Brazil and planted Churches.

Bill and Sharon were at Rivers of Joy this Wednesday and were a blessing to our people.

This year they have traveled more than 11,000 miles in the United States, visiting churches. And sharing with others the work in BoaVista, Roraima. Where the weather does not get below 75.

WHILE THE LOVELY WHITE SNOW FALL: PERSONAL REFLECTIONS
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While the lovely white snow ( six inches) came down over Porstmouth, we missed the heavy snow (nineteen inches) that Columbus received, Charity and I were enjoying our day off from our jobs.

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So after my regular visit to PYROMANIACS AND PULPIT MAGAZINE, reading the articles from the Shepherd's Conference 2008, I cut off the Gateway. For the next few hours I worked with my HOT WHEELS DIE CAST COLLECTION.

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HOT WHEELS DIECAST COLLECTION

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I believe I started a collection of Hot Wheels in 1996. Before 1996 I had never bought a Hot Wheel Diecast in my life, nor did I have any. My collection was sports cards. (You can check my blog on that story.) Then NASCAR die cast 1/24 and 1/64 cars became an interest in 1996. Following Dale Earnhardt, Sr.'s death in 2001, I lost interest in the collection. Then for some reason I began a collection of the first edition of the 1998 Hot Wheels Collection.

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Followed by the 1999 and 2000 first editions. What really became of interest was the variations of the cars. I was able to pick up a few variations in flea markets. Then in 2006 after a visit with my nephew Stephen Sigmon, my sister Ellen's son, I really became interested in going to Wal Mart, K Mart, and Target to search for variations. "The Hunt" is really what is fun. Stephen was gracious enough to find me several nice variations. That really started this search.

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Then of late, over the last year, I have really found a lot of variations of Hot Wheels. So I began to display these variations. I had about twenty cars with variations. Then all of a sudden I found myself with over fifty cars with two variations. Then there were the three car variations, then four, and now several cars with five variations first in 2007. Now I have over sixty cars with variations.

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I have never really liked real cars and don't know a Dodge from a Ford. I can pump gas, but never have changed the oil in a car. So why do I like collecting cars? Go figure!

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I thought, " I will collect all 1/64 cars." So I started looking for the 1931 Doozie, '32 Ford Coupe '32 Ford '32 Bugatti Type 50, '33 Ford Road, '35 Cadillac, '36 Cord, '40 Ford Coupe'41 Willie, and '47 Chevy. This gets worse. '50 Chevy, Plymouth, '60 Lincoln, T-Bird '70's Dodge Charger, Plymouth Barracuda, Pontiac Firebird.

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Oh, then the Jaguar, Corvette, Porsche, Mustang, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Mercedes and my favorite -- the Mercucy Cougar. (The best real car we have owned.)

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• My son Eric really likes riding his "bike". So guess what, I look for motorcycles. I have a very nice collection of bikes (about 40 different ones). And a very nice display of them in my room. And since he is a Lexington Firefigher, guess what -- I look for fire engines

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Then I like, for some odd reason, to display out of the box, the yellow cars. I have a very nice display of these cars (over fifty). Then there are the buses, goodness, sad isn't it?

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Earlier last month, I made a very nice display of over sixty cars with two variations.
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So yesterday during the blizzard, I spent several pleasant hours checking out all my Hot Wheels. I discovered there are a number of cars that I could fit into one of the catagorgies I have listed. I noticed that Hot Wheels makes the same cars over and over. For example they make the Phaeton Car over and over.

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This could go on and on, but really it's not a big time killer for me. Though, it's fun for sure. Who said you couldn't still have fun at sixty.

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NASCAR, WHEETIES, POSTERS, SPORTS CARDS, MAGAZINES, USA SPORTS SECTIONS

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I enjoy displaying my collection of NASCAR, the Dale Earnhardt Sr. collection, and the Jeff Gordon collection. Today my collection is in our upstairs room. You can find a nice display of Wheatie boxes, a Tiger Woods collection, A Lexmark 1/64 diecast cars (provided by nephew Brian Williams), and collection of Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordon, and a display of old baseball cards. And there is a nice display of sports binders of cards collected over the last few years.

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Also, I have a nice display of Starting Lineup Players. Then there are the posters of Earnhart, Griffey, Pippen, Jordon and the Chicago Bulls. Today I collect very little of these I have mentioned.
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I started collecting baseball, basketball, football, hockey, NASCAR cards again in 1993 until 2001 with regularity. Couldn't go into a store or flee market without buying cards. Today I have some 150,000 cards. Isn't that really great! Buying cards was rather cheap. Today I only pick up a pack and look that them.

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What was really fun was going on trips. We would go to Sam's, and as Eric got older, he would buy a box of baseball cards, and we would split them half and half. When we would leave Kansas to come to Porstmouth, Ohio, to visit family, we would stop in Pittsburg, Kan at a Flea Market and get a box of 500 old cards for $5, and that entertained us for the whole trip. In Altoona, I would go with Eric and Chad to card shops, and get cards. That was always great to do, and they would know what to get me for my birthday and Christmas. As a matter of fact, Chad picked up six or seven packs of cards over Christmas and gave them to me. That was really neat! Chad has a good collection of cards, and so does Eric.

In the first years of our marriage, while Charity shopped I would sit out in the car reading my Bible. When I became interested in sports cards around 1993, I would go in with Charity and shop for bargains, too. My spirituality slipped!

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HERE IS THE ADDIDICTION

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From 1996-2003 I was not pastoring a church, and my interest changed. From 2002-03 I was studying church ministry, and then I lost my job at the church. From 2003 to 2007 I didn't have employment at a church or secular place. My interest changed to studying over the Internet. For the next years I spend as much as eight hours a day studying the Doctrines of the Bible. There were a few attempts of seeking a place to serve in a church, but there was little interest from those churches. In 2007 I spent the whole year in research and study for a ministry that I believed I was going to have in a church. This was a wonderful time to get back into ministry, but at the end of 2007 I no longer had the positon.

In August 2006 I discovered Bloggers. They have a free website that you can have your own blog. That is, you can write your thoughts on a daily basis or how many times you want to. This was a really wonderful thing for me. I have spent many hours studying and writing "posts" for my "Grow By Learning" site. Today there are over 400 posts.

Then in Febuary 2008 my sister Ellen, was gracious enough to get me a web site. GROWBYLEARNING.COM. She is my websister. Now this is another avenue in which I have to express myself in ministry.

Finally, I went back to work at a secular job, Mex-Itali (the business Charity's mom and dad owned and operated for thirty-four years.) My good friends Tim and Sherri Wheeler were nice enough to give me a job for four hours a day in October 2007.

THE PURPOSE OF LIVING

My family, Eric, Becky, Chad and Kyle are living their own lives, and doing rather well, I might say. So that part of my life is not as involved as it was. Ministry in a church at the moment has not materialized. There seems to be this idea that my service is not needed at the moment in a local church.

I have to express in some way the ministry that the Lord has called me to do. While I would love to express my love for teaching in a local church, the opportunity has not occured. I still have this spiritual need to express my love for the Lord and love for people.

So there is now a mix of ministry, one 'GROW BY LEARNING' Two, at Mex-Itali, Tim introduces me as the resident chaplain. Three, my e-mail ministry as well, and my study over the Internet.

Then in those moments to relax, I love to get into my collections.

Spring is coming and I love the outdoors. Lawn mowing is what I really enjoy doing. Soon Union Mills, Mex-Itali and our place will be ready for me to get out the old lawn mower. I also love walking about three to four miles a day (at least 30 minutes of that time is with Charity.) Then there is hitting the old golf balls! I gathered over 300 golf balls from the wooded trails surrounding the resort at Lake Cumberland last August!

Proofread by Charity, and some added remarks.

So what is the understanding of Scripture about the order of ministry that is to be found in the local church?

As a pastor/teacher/leader, I have read John MacArthur’s books and of course many other points of view about how to do church. You believe you are equipped for the task of ministry and have the leadership to accomplish those purposes. You believe you are doing biblical ministry and have the means of accomplishing the Lord’s purpose for the church. And then you say, it is the Lord who will bless as He wills.

When I pastored FBC in Altoona, I had just come from FBC, Hammond, Indiana. From a church of 25,000 actively attending the church to less than 30 in attendance at FBC in Altoona. On one hand I had seen a mega church ministry. I had gone to the college to learn about church ministry. I had five classes a week on Christian Education. Then coming to FBC, was not only a shock, but trying to achieve what I had learned in college was very difficult. To be able to keep focused in the present was a real challenge. I had been on staff of some rather large churches. Southall (1000) Baptist Tabernacle (1600) Mansfield (600) Calvary (600). To have a church staff of more than five pastors at these churches was normal. There were multiple Sunday School classes and many ministries.

Coming to FBC to pastor a small church in a small town was a real challenge and humbling for sure. I was often reminded by the church members, "This is a small church in a small community., not a large church in a big city." They were right. But I didn’t want a small church mind set. We are small so we think small, and so things remain small.

But at the same time I didn’t want fall into the trap of saying "we will have 300 in the next twelve months." That wasn’t a realistic idea., and you have your members getting discouraged if you push for high attendances that cannot be reached.

But on the other hand we still could do the best that we could. We had the best possible music, and we had the best possible groups of music teams coming and singing for us. We had the best possible missionaries coming each month. We had the top evangelists coming to preach for us. We provided the best Sunday School material for the teachers that we could. We had a great Children’s Church program, and the best trained teachers. We had a wonderful church secretary and financial secretary. We had some very good Deacons. We had the best organ and piano players. A small church setting doesn’t mean that you have to do things poorly. We provided good discipleship training for each member. The preaching/teaching was not all that bad either.

My objective was to have Ephesians 4:12 church members. My objective was to build up people to be fully mature believers in Christ. I was trying to build up people rather than build a physical church. We made improvements on the inside of the building, but we needed a new facility. That was achieved by the people and the next pastor, Monty. Praise the Lord

While at FBC we didn’t have the ability to have a staff of multiple pastors coming into our church. As a matter of fact in the sixteen years I was there we had two preachers who came to our church.

One pastor/teacher doesn’t have the ability to do all he would like to see accomplished in the church. You have to learn to work with the good people that are in the community and work with your own spiritual gift and abilities, and they are limited. While I had worked as a youth director, a bus director, a camp director, an educational director, etc. the possibility of doing all that in one church is impossible. Even if Mrs. Ethel York thought I could do it all..

I truly believe what I have learned over the last ten years has been multi dimentional. Could I go back to FBC in Altoona and do better ministry? A very good question! What would I do differently?

What if today I were to pastor a church in a small town with a small congregation? The mind set of the church body I have discovered is the key to doing ministry. Each organized body of believers has a different perspective on what ministry is and what they believe is important and what is secondary in ministry.

I pastored a church that had 478 members and less than a fifty came my first Sunday. The mind set of this church body had been set in stone for over fifty years. It was impossible for me to bring about a change in mind set about ministry into this church body with any success.
My original thought of this thread was, "Are the ministry principles I am suggesting today the same principles I used at FBC?" It’s one thing to suggest ideas and principles for church ministry as a consultant knowing they will work and another thing just to believe they will work. Biblical principles will always work.

I have studied church ministry for over thirty years from some of the largest churches in the country in the past.

• Church ministry is undertaking the task of accomplishing the fundamental principles the church has established to be Biblical.

So what is the understanding of Scripture about the order of ministry that is to be found in the local church?

part two

Michael Horton said "What are we doing on the Lord's day, especially when we are gathered as God's people in church? How do we understand Christian growth and discipleship -- as chiefly corporate or individual, as nourished by the preached Word and the divinely instituted Sacraments or by self-approved "means of grace"? Would an outsider coming into our worship services be immediately impressed with the centrality of preaching, baptism, and the supper, or would he or she be more likely to notice the importance given to performance?"

Could we all agree that our purpose for a local church is to provide Worship and Discipleship and Community and Fellowship? Where there is a differences is in how to provide the Worship, Discipleship, Community and Fellowship.

Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

We would all agree on Ephesians 4:11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

We agree that the pastor/teachers are to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ. Where there is a difference of opinion is "the how" the saints are to be equipped for the doing of the ministry. And a difference of persuasion as to what is the work of the ministry as described here in these verses.

I would say also there are different mind sets as to how ministry is to be fleshed out in the body of Christ.

How to equip the saints?. What are "the works of the ministry? And who and how are we to flesh out doing the ministry?

How is the best way to bring about the results that Paul speaks about in verse 13 thru 16?

Each member of the body is to grow up in every way into Christ likeness, so that the whole body of believers in the local church will grow in number. ("makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.") This could mean as we grow in Christ likeness, and in love, there will be an increase in a number of people being saved and coming into the church.

"makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love; the increase of the body the church, is either in numbers, when persons are converted and added to it; or in the exercise of grace, under the influence of the Spirit, through the ministration of the word and ordinances; and both these tend to the edifying or building of it up; John Gill said. And he was a hyper Calvinist, and pastored the church where Charles Spurgeon pastored.

So how should the effort of building up the body of Christ in the local church be accomplished? Failure to correctly understand biblical leadership leads to unbiblical discipleship and modeling and uneven ministry priorities

A Well Articulated Principles of Ministry that is Biblical is Essential to "DOING GOD’S WORK IN GOD’S WAY."

It’s crucial that this biblical conviction of ministry be the GRID through which all your ministry decisions are passed.

Drafted by Charles E. Whisnant 01 05 06 Proof Checked by my lovely, darling, wonderful wife Charity 01 06 09 Filed 00 01 09 07 Posted 01 11 07