Volume 1, Number 6
FIVE CALISTHENICS TO STRENGTHEN YOUR SOUL
Vigorous, regular soul conditioning is as imperative for a pastor as physical exercise is essential for a star athlete. When we condition our soul, we experience improved endurance, energy, and flexibility even as tension and fatigue are lowered. Here are five exercises you might want to try.
1) Write your own script. Write a personal mission statement of what you want to do with your ministry. It should be your reason for being. Someone called it a “road map for my future.” It will determine the activities of your life, the way you spend money, and even where you choose to live. One rather morbid writer suggests the way to write your life plan is to write your own obituary and then develop plans to make it happen.
2) Listen for spiritual secrets. It’s so easy for us to think we are the only Christ followers in the neighborhood. Yesterday I rejoiced to see my neighbor out walking with her preschool age child. My heart sang as I thought about the potential wrapped up in that child. At the library I heard a young teen—maybe 12 years old—ask the librarian for information on an obscure tribe in Africa. I heard him quietly say he was thinking about becoming a missionary doctor. Awareness and listening are required, but you can do that well.
3) Consider the special uniqueness of your current locale. Like soil for beautiful flowers, nearly every place has some special nutrient that can help you grow and develop there. It may be wild flowers like bluebonnets in Texas, poppies in California, cactus in Arizona, redbud and dogwood in Tennessee, and sunflowers in Kansas. Or it might be a delicate rose that has been cultivated and fed by a tender green thumb in almost any setting. At your house and in your church, it’s you. Use the climate, people, and job opportunities. Look for what makes you feel strong and secure where you are.
4) Praise the Creator. As I write these words we are enjoying a borrowed apartment on the Rhine River at Busigen, Germany. The village is typical Swiss. Such beauty! It is late May. The flowers and shrubs are in full bloom. Every front stoop has a dish garden. The vegetable gardens are weed-less. The hills are yellow with hopps. And the Rhine falls are just a mile or two away. As I look around I am convinced the Creator is loving, imaginative, alive, active, and charming. In the midst of His creation it is easy to sing, to pray, to believe, and to report for duty.
5) Do something anonymously for somebody. Watch for a need you can fill without anyone being able to identify the giver. I once gave the business manager at the Bible college where I taught $500 to help a student who was having a hard time feeding his family. That man is a pastor today and I hope he doesn’t know who helped him. What joy I had when he was able to settle into a job. What joy I had on the day he graduated. And what joy I feel now as I consider his impact for the gospel.
MINISTRY LESSONS FROM FEMALE BIBLICAL COACHES
Women, your Christ-exalting way of life—what Paul called “clothing yourself with the Lord Jesus”—initiates you into this hall of fame. Imagine the lessons we can learn from these biblical role models:
¬ Perseverance: Anna refused to allow her advancing age to inhibit her active faith.
¬ Faithfulness: Mary and Martha, first persons at the empty tomb, were forever impacted by the resurrection.
¬ Obedience: Mary, the mother of Jesus, was obedient even when she did not understand.
¬ Uniqueness: Mary and Martha, Lazarus’ sisters, sought a balance between wholehearted devotion and household duties.
¬ Investment: Tryphena and Tryphosa gave incredible energy for a great cause.
¬ Leadership: Priscilla shared ministry as a full partner with Aquila and Paul.
¬ Modeling: Eunice and Lois transmitted the faith to Timothy.
Add your own. We all need to learn from the available biblical lessons from female role models.
ADVICE FROM AN ESTEEMED MENTOR
Here are a few more words of timely advice from Dr. Raymond Kratzer, former Superintendent of the Northwest District.
A Shepherd Knows the Sheep
The pastor with a shepherd-heart will know his/her sheep. She/he will study their strengths and weaknesses. It goes without saying that individuality is a God-given endowment. Some people by nature have great quality of leadership. They are fearless and out-going in their approach to life. Others are timid, shy, and prefer working in the shadows. Each of these extremes and all of this in between should be considered in the light of their greatest strengths when tasks are assigned. Sometimes those who work in the shadows do a greater work than the extrovert. The shepherd will seek to elicit the cooperation of all so that their service will be relaxed, joyous, and blessed of God.
STARING DOWN MYTHS CONCERNING ADMINISTRATION
Administration, contrary to the opinions of some, is a skill that can be learned. While some folks have a natural affinity for administration, leadership principles can be studied, practiced, and honed until the leader is effective. As a starting point, the following myths need to be seen for what they are: mistaken ideas that need to be seriously questioned. Once the myths are bulldozed, the landscape is clear for new growth.
Administration Myths:
- Activity is achievement.
- God requires faithfulness, not effectiveness.
- Institutions are more important than people.
- Numbers are not important.
- Administration is not biblical.
- Administration can be ignored because it is better to preach or contact people.
- Administrative order is automatic if other phases of ministry are doing well.
- Students cannot learn administration until they start serving a local church.
- Administration is something new that came into the life of the church in the last 100 years.
- The cynicism caused by corporate dishonesty, government waste, and misused authority on many levels of society does not carry over into the church.
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