Bill Hybels on Succession The person who helped him think through the tough questions around this asked – Do you ever see yourself dying? The death rate is 100% Do you see yourself being Senior Pastor till your last day? Or when you’re walking slow and drooling? PLANNING PHASE Every important matter to do with this needs to be asked. Who decides? How long will they have approximately What role will the pastor have afterwards How will their contribution be honoured? PHASE 2 Is there an internal successor? Give this a time frame. If not.. PHASE 3 External successor PHASE 4 18 months transition to new person. This is a GOOD process! It gives security to the church. But it’s tough on the pastor and needs to be handled with great sensitivity. Don’t assign a person with low Emotional Intelligence to handle it! Some senior pastors hang on too long. Leave a great legacy! Trust God to guide you on the journey. Set the church up to be stronger as you go.
David Shearman at Ivy Manchester
The mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. Let your mind be controlled – Not by your mind Not by your emotions Not by your body By the Spirit Cultivate the presence of God in your life. Be filled with Him. Recognise that each of us was born to be a presence carrier. You are incomplete without that. How do we engage in prayer? For our families? There are some great prayers in the Bible. Prayer is a conversation But it’s also about listening Prophecy comes from listening It comes from what you hear. If you stand long enough you’ll see more, if you listen long enough you’ll hear more. Otherwise you just give people out of your intellect. When was the last time when something swept over you and you knew that you were loved? Prayer is about knowing and being known. God is committed to making this life better and easier with Him than without Him. The word is near you – in your mouth. 2 Kings – Elisha The road to anointing: Gilgal – where […]
The most tragic verse in the Bible?
I believe that this Saturday, God is going to do something supernatural in the lives of the men who come to the Diamond Geezers Day here in Manchester, releasing our potential for supernatural greatness. If you’ll come along to the Message building and connect to God’s presence there, hearing His Word and doing what He says, I believe that God is going to raise up from the day some spiritual leaders to make a massive difference in this world. And the reality is that this is so important because there’s a huge shortage of godly men in our nation. In the church men too many men have relegated themselves into passivity, or fallen to compromise and shame. One of the most tragic verses in the Bible is Ezekiel 22:30: I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it… God said: I looked for a man like that… How many did He find? The Bible tells us: […]
SOW MORE SEED – BILL HYBELS
From DVD of Willow Creek GLS last year – watched with staff team today. Parable of talents. – Luke 8 Despite how bountifully the seed is sown (the good news of God’s love). Some people reject it- but don’t get discouraged. Some of it will land on good soil, too. The maths of this is amazing for the seed rejection ratio – he says there’s a 75% rejection rate. But then look at the maths of the tree that represents someone who says yes and has their life changed. How much is produced by a transformed life. We want to see more trees! So – what must I do? PLANT MORE SEED! To overcome the rejection maths. Don’t just complain about the rejection rate! Plant different kinds of seed. We have to sow a lot more seed in our communities. Alpha Course Just Walk Across The Room Experiment!! You will see more trees. Leader – this depends on you. The church takes its cues from you. One of the fundamental requirements of a leader is to learn, experiment and stay […]
The Great Commission is fulfilled by the Great Commandment. Alan Taylor at Ivy MCR
We love to see growth. Watch a toddler getting more words, more movement. And it’s great to see people grow more open to go from ‘no gods’ to ‘Yes to God.’ We want to grow Spiritual growth Matt 28 Context – Matthew is about Jesus’ life and ministry – his call to follow went out as he brought the Kingdom near. And he has given us this Great commission – to continue his ministry. Ivy Fallowfield went out for 40 days between 11pm through to 1am! 40 days of blessing. Handed out promises of God to students. One said ‘I received one already and disagree with it.’ Why? Because my life has no purpose or meaning. What’s your purpose? Look at Jesus’ last words This is his will It’s a living will – what Jesus wants to do with his body! What is a disciple? A learner. Someone learning to do what Jesus does. Our educational system doesn’t set us up well for that kind of learning. We revise and do exams, we try to pass. But this isn’t about […]
Why the Great Commission has stopped me ‘Evangelising’ and ‘Discipling’ people.
I’m disturbed that the church has made DISCIPLING a new kind of industry in the last 5 years or so. Everyone’s doing conferences or writing books with plans and formulas to ‘disciple’ people. As if it’s a verb – not a noun.
CROSSED OUT – Carpenter worth less than the wood and nails?
The cross, crossed people out. They didn’t matter anymore. It was a death that deliberately stripped all dignity. You were belittled. That means you were being, littled. Jesus’ cross was inconsequential. The sign above his head ‘King of the Jews’ – a bitter irony. He was nothing. Crossed out.
‘COULD YOU NOT WATCH ONE HOUR?!’ – (My struggles with learning to pray. part 2)
Occasionally I’d have a bit of an energy burst and do some journalling (ever done that?). Some of the conferences I went to had experts saying if you didn’t journal every day you had to doubt your salvation. I got a journal. The ‘MAN’ type, leather, with a cross on the front, not the girls one with flowers. Some time later I got another one because I’d hardly written in the first one. It had ‘MY PRAYER JOURNAL’ written on the front. But there’s still not much written in it. Actually though, Jesus didn’t journal. It really wasn’t me. I love writing, I hate journaling. I’m not even sure journalling is a word. How many ls should it have if it is? Spellchecker doesn’t like either. I read somewhere that CS Lewis STOPPED journaling when he became a Christian, because he’d done it for years before, and found it made him too self centred. I was doing really badly from the outset at how I thought you were supposed to be growing spiritually. It never got better. It’s not like […]
‘Could You Not Watch One Hour?’ – Er… to be honest… no.
I have felt so GUILTY about prayer. Because I am rubbish at it.
Make This Sunday’s Message RESONATE!
I’ve been a Nancy Duarte fan for years, highly recomending her books as a great investment to anyone who communicates (that’s you) and especially preachers. How fantastic to discover that one of the world’s leading authorities on getting your message across in a way people will hear it is also a Christian and passionate about THE Message that changes lives forever and the world for good. Invest 20 minutes on this video, and take notes! (I have the structure line on my office wall now together with some other prompts to help as I pull messages together).