Where is the truthfulness in America today? The version of the truth you are presented with depends on the website you read or television network you watch. This same reality is observed on almost every political issue.

For those of us who are Christ followers, we must be very careful not to get pulled in by any of these forces. I am one hundred percent for being aware of what is happening in our world, but we need to be careful and discerning.

WHAT TRUTHFULNESS IS NOT
1. Truthfulness is not in the eyes of the spectator.
2. Truthfulness is not determined by your preferred news media.
3. Truthfulness is not discovered through the rumor mill.
4. Truthfulness is not defined or re-defined by any politician or political party.
5. Truthfulness is not one thing to one person and another thing to another person.
6. Truthfulness is not fluid.
7. Truthfulness is not human-centered.

WHAT TRUTHFULNESS IS
1. Truthfulness is found only in the Bible and what it says.
2. Truthfulness is in Jesus Christ and Him alone.

ALWAYS REMEMBER
We do not determine what truth is through the lens of a political party, a news outlet, or any segment of the culture.

We do determine what is happening in the culture through the lens of the Bible and what it says.

We should always be Bible-based, Jesus-centered, and Holy Spirit-empowered people.
Anything less than this will blur our eyes to seeing the real truth about anything and it will skew our perspective.

Any time we diminish the Bible and what it says, we sit down on the slippery slide that will take us to where America is living today.

God has a better way.

The entire church of Jesus Christ in our nation needs to convictionally come together in unified prevailing prayer for the next great move of God in America. There is no greater need in America. What will it take to wake us up, die to ourselves, and come together under the banner of the cross?

There is no great movement of God that has ever occurred that does not begin with the extraordinary prayer of God’s people. Regardless of our denominational identity or independence, the time is now for us to come together before God in clear agreement, visible union, and extraordinary prayer for the next great move of God that will catapult us into reaching the world with the life-changing message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe that unified prevailing prayer will lead to these results.

Learn from History
Jonathan Edwards was a man who believed in the absolute sovereignty of God. As a catalyst for America’s first and second Great Awakenings, Edwards called upon God’s people to act. He believed God would listen to the promptings of His people. Edwards called for prayer and fasting, both in secret and with one another.

George Whitfield was used by God to shake America. His powerful preaching of the need to be born again was used by the Lord to bring thousands to Christ. God used both Whitfield and Edwards in a supernatural way in the mid-1700s.

In the early 1800s, the second Great Awakening occurred, and God used men like Charles Grandison Finney, Timothy Dwight, and others to become instrumental preachers of the gospel.
In 1857-1858, Jeremiah Lanphier was a layman who had a burden to pray. Eventually, thousands were praying daily for a mighty move of God in the land, and our God shook America. In a two-year period, 1 million Americans came to Christ and another 1 million converted to Christ in Great Britain and Ireland. The church was revived and the fires of evangelism burned brightly. Missions exploded with the Student Volunteer Movement, where 20,000 young people surrendered their lives to missions.

God used these great movements of God to further impact leaders like Charles Haddon Spurgeon, D.L. Moody, and William Booth. These men and others were shaking the world for Christ.

Sadly, it has been since the Jesus Movement of the 1960s - early 1970s since we have seen such a movement of God upon our land. Churches were exploding in size as thousands were saved and many were called into gospel ministry.

In each of these great movements of God, unified prevailing prayer was occurring.

Prevail in Unified Prayer
If the churches and spiritual leaders of America cannot unify around the need to pray for the next great move of God in America, then we need to repent of our pride and our personal preferences. Stop ignoring history! Learn from it!  Take action to pray for spiritual awakening in a compelling way that is unified around the Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel. James 5:16 (CSB) says, “The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.” This is prevailing prayer. This is what the Church must learn to do together.

Regardless of what we see with our human eyes, we must be faithful to cry out to God in our desperation, appealing to Him with all we have. God, we cry out to You with all we have and are: Wake up Your church in America! By Your grace give us the next great move of God in our nation.

The world is growing desperate for answers to everything going on today. The church must grow desperate for God to usher in the next great move of God in America!

Three Actions to Take Beginning Today
1. Pray Extraordinarily: This means praying for spiritual awakening even more than you have been. Create ways to unite with other people, leaders, and churches in prevailing prayer for spiritual awakening in America.

2. Awakening Brings Evangelization: Billy Graham asked the question, “Can Revival Come?” He believed firmly that, “An awakening can bring about evangelization of the world in our generation.”1 While denominations and churches try to fix their lack of genuine evangelism, they need to realize that a true spiritual awakening is the ultimate answer to this problem. While we must equip others and practice evangelism personally, we need to believe that God can do more in a moment than we can do in a lifetime. This is why we must prevail in unified prayer for spiritual awakening.

3. Maximize Prayer and Minimize the Rest: As we maximize the need for unified prevailing prayer for the next Great Awakening, we need to minimize the rest. It is a call to understand that only God is the One who can change the hearts of Americans from the inside out. While we work with our hands to make a difference in every way in this world, we bow our knees to the One who can change everything immediately.

We Can Do This
We, the churches and spiritual leaders in America, can humble ourselves and unify in prevailing prayer for the next great move of God in America.  We can come together in clear agreement that this is our greatest need. We can become a visible union, standing together in prayer. We can pray more than ever before, and practice extraordinary prayer for the next great move of God in America that will catapult the message of the gospel nationally and internationally. We can believe God in faith that He alone is able to do it! I believe God can do it. I am trusting God to do it.  

Keep your perspective: Our greatest need in America is the next great move of God.

During my 2014-2016 tenure as president of our nation’s largest body of Evangelicals, the Southern Baptist Convention, we adopted a resolution “On Refugee Ministry.”

Recognizing the global mass displacement of people — in particular the Syrian refugee crisis — and our denomination’s history of caring for the sojourner, we resolved to encourage America’s 15 million Southern Baptists to serve and minister to refugees who come to the United States.
Furthermore, we affirmed that “refugees are people loved by God, made in His image, and that Christian love should be extended to them as special objects of God’s mercy in a world that has displaced them from their homelands.”

To us, loving refugees was an unquestionable matter of Christian faith. It wasn’t about whether we agreed or not with President Obama’s policies on refugee resettlement and immigration. As Christians, we understood the ancient biblical mandate to love the foreigner in our land.

Yet, amidst these resolutions of compassion and care, we also inserted a clause asking our nation’s leaders “to implement the strictest security measures possible in the refugee screening and selection process, guarding against anyone intent on doing harm.”

Why did we do this?
The government determines who gets in the country, and the church serves those who do.
Making policies in the interest of the national welfare, especially in relation to protecting the American people, is the government’s job. Christians must honor and respect our elected officials as they do so.  Yet, some Christians in recent days have treated America like a theocracy arguing that it is the government’s job to serve refugees.
It isn’t.

It is the church’s job, and while the government might choose to serve refugees they have no theological mandate to do so in the way the church does. It’s the government’s first job to protect our nation, and it’s the church’s job to serve the world.

The apostle Paul affirmed this. In his letter to the early Christians living in Rome, the epicenter of the Roman Empire, he said, “For government is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason.”

Peter, a leader of the first church and one of the original followers of Jesus, goes as far as to say that submitting to government is part of God’s will for Christians in presenting a good testimony to those around them.

Even Jesus, in his unique and pithy style of teaching, instructed his disciples to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” He also reminded his disciples — perhaps especially Peter, a quick-draw zealot ready to start a rebellion at a moment’s notice — that his kingdom was “not of this world.”

Jesus, Peter, and Paul were rewiring the early church’s way of thinking. In a world concerned with who are the movers and shakers, they were telling them that the church marches to the beat of a different drum. While emperors, presidents, and prime ministers might change policy with the flick of a pen, the millennia-old calling of loving one’s neighbor remains as consistent today as the day Jesus first uttered those words. And this calling transcends time, language, borders, and any executive order signed by any American president.

As our country faces some of the biggest changes in refugee policy in decades, it’s important for the church to remember that her mission is not contingent on what happens at the White House. Nor, should the church attempt to force our Christian theology on our government.

We should always raise our voices in defense of the poor, the broken, and those in need, and do everything in our power, as citizens, to urge our representatives to make compassionate decisions to ease the suffering of those fleeing violence and persecution. But we should also have humility to know our place and their place.

The government decides who gets in; the church serves those who do.

This article was originally published by the Washington Times on March 2, 2017

Government cannot fix us. Politics will never heal us.

Those who follow Jesus Christ and identify themselves as Christians need to understand and believe the first two sentences of this article or you will live a highly disappointed life.
Disunity is triumphant in our nation today. Some pride themselves over creating it while others grieve when our nation experiences it.

Division does not honor Jesus Christ. Jesus is always right. In Luke 11:17, Jesus said, “Knowing their thoughts, He told them: "Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and a house divided against itself falls.”

America does not get an exception to this basic principle. Neither does a family, church, business, or even a long-term friendship.

Therefore, how should we respond as Christians when America is divided like it is today?

Response #1: Christians Need to Pray for America
Many Christians are so disappointed and fed up with matters about America, they struggle even to pray for our nation. Is this right? Is this justified?

Absolutely not!

Because where America is today IS the reason we DO need to pray. If all was perfect and unity abounded across our nation, we may enjoy praying for America more regularly, but whether we enjoy it or not, it is needed.

Praying for America should be our first choice, not our last choice!

God is our hope; our last, great, and only hope. Therefore, we need to pray like we believe this with all we are.

The alarm clock is going off in our nation and this is not the time to push the snooze button. America needs to experience the next great move of God.

That is why we pray. That is why we will prioritize praying for America on our upcoming National Day of Prayer on Thursday, May 2. Will you join us?

Prayer precedes every great movement of God biblically and historically. Therefore, we need to pray and ask God for a mighty, great spiritual awakening across America. That is why the National Day of Prayer is a nationwide movement of prayer for America.

Response #2: Christians Need to Love One Another
Christians need to follow Jesus’ teaching of loving one another. John 13:34, “Love one another, just as I have loved you.” This what we are calling our nation to do on Thursday, May 2.
We need a Love One Another movement that begins in the church of Jesus Christ. Christians should never take pride in being filled with skepticism or criticism of other people. We should love all people just like Jesus did and does: willfully, sacrificially, and unconditionally.

Love One Another needs to become a movement that also infiltrates every part of American life when the church is experiencing this movement within their own fellowship.

Followers of Christ need each other more than ever before. While certain secondary doctrinal differences will exist, we need to unite around the beliefs that:

• The Bible is God’s infallible Word; it is Truth without any mixture of error.
• Jesus is the Son of God and the hope of the world; therefore, salvation is faith alone in Christ alone.
• We must focus our lives, churches, and futures on taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to every person in America and across the world.

We need to stop fighting over secondary issues and rise up together to become the spiritual light in this darkening America and World. The church needs to model loving one another or we forfeit our right to speak into the future of our nation. It is time to come together in unity.

Response #3: Prepare for the Future
What will the Church become in the future of America? Will we lose our freedom or have it affirmed?

We need to prepare for the future realistically, but also with great hope. Regardless of the present cultural tide that is rising in direct opposition to the ways of God, we are a gospel people committed to Christ alone.

Our future is not in the hands of the United States government; our future is in the hands of our Sovereign God. Yes, our times are in His hands!

We need to prepare future generations spiritually and vocationally for what God wants them to be and how He wants them to live for Him.

That is why I believe our greatest hope lies only in Jesus Christ, His Gospel, and the advancement of this Good News message reaching every corner of America and across this world.

While we call out to God for His Church to be revived by the Spirit and begin to love one another, resulting in coming together in unity, we need to simultaneously pray extraordinarily for the next Great Spiritual Awakening in America. I believe this is our greatest hope in America.

There are no shortcuts in your personal walk with Jesus Christ. Just as an athlete has to train their body in order to perform at the maximum level when competition occurs, we even more need to train ourselves in godliness.

I want to list several ways you can train yourself in personal godliness. Resolving to take these intentional actions will increase your intensity as you walk with Christ personally:

1. I will develop my spiritual life daily.
When you resolve in your heart and mind that you are going to prioritize the development of your own spiritual life, you are making a decision to transform your personal life. Ask God for a plan, learn from others, develop your plan, and live by it daily.

2. I will release my life to God daily.
When you choose to humble yourself before God daily and release yourself to God fully, you will go to a new level in your life daily. When you lean on yourself it is pride; but when you lean on God alone, it is humility. Release your life to God daily.

3. I will read the Bible daily.
People who live out their faith daily are people who read their Bible daily. It is impossible to be all God wants you to be if you do not read your Bible daily. As Psalm 119:25 says, “Give me life through Your Word.” We find life when we read the Bible daily.  

In just a few days, I will again complete reading through the Bible. That means that over the last twenty-eight years, I will have read through the Bible at least one time annually.
Nothing has shaped me more than reading through God’s Word daily and annually.

4. I will talk to God daily.
When you read the Bible daily, God speaks to you through His Word. This will lead you to talk to God daily. In fact, it will not only inspire you to talk to God daily, it will shape what you say to God in prayer.

Do not complicate it. Create a list of people and a list of needs; then, talk to God about these people and needs daily.

5. I will take whatever necessary actions to intensify my walk with Christ daily.
You cannot delegate your personal walk with Christ.

Therefore, prioritize it. Discipline yourself. Press in to God and press forward to do whatever it takes to intensify your walk with God daily.

It starts with you. Stand on the following words: James 4:8, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”

I believe one of the most essential parts of Christian discipleship is teaching people how to have a time with God daily. When my sons were elementary age boys, I taught them these things.
If we can teach our son to throw a football or our daughter gymnastics, we can teach our children how to have a daily time with God. If we can teach our friends how to close a business deal or how to decorate a home, we can teach our friends how to walk with Christ daily.

I will stay brief today even though there is so much more to share.

Component #1: Practice Prayer
Prayer is a conversation with God. Prayer is not just you talking to God, but it involves you listening to God. Daily, I begin my time with God in prayer. Practice prayer.

Whether you are a rookie or a seasoned veteran in your spiritual life, prayer is one of the great disciplines in the life of the believer. Develop your prayer life. Learn how to pray.

While I am no authority on prayer, I do pray and believe in the power of prayer. Prayer built upon the Scriptures takes it to another level.

Take the time to organize your prayer life. When you do, you will find your prayer life becoming much more meaningful and perhaps even extended.

Interweaving with prayer is the second component in my daily time with God...

Component #2: Read the Bible
The most transforming discipline in my walk with Christ is the daily reading of the Bible. Nothing is more powerful than the Holy Scriptures. When the Scriptures speak, our God is speaking to us.

From my youngest years, I was taught the value of the Bible and its impact upon my life. Read the Bible daily.

The increasing impact of the Scriptures happened to me when I began to read the Bible through each year and since 1990, I have read the Bible through at least one time annually. In this last decade or so, it may be closer to one and one-half times per year.

The point is this: The more I read the Scriptures, the more I want to read the Scriptures. Faith is built upon the Word of God, not upon the words of others. In this noisy world filled with voices that amplify negativity and forecast constant doom, I must have the Bible, God’s Word, consume me daily.

It is the Bible that anchors my faith. It is the Bible that sustains and ignites my prayer life. It is the Bible, the Word of the Living God, that serves as my filter to separate all untruth from my life.

Component #3: Keep a Journal
In 1990, God led me to not just read through the entire Bible, but to daily begin one of the most meaningful practices I have done in my walk with Christ. When I have completed my daily prayer and Scripture reading time, I close my time with God by writing no less than a one-page prayer to God.

This prayer to God that is written down in a journal daily often becomes a documentation of God working in my life. I have volumes and volumes of these prayer journal books that go back to this daily discipline that I began in 1990. Still to this day, I do this. The only change is that on most days, the letters exceed a page or two.

There is something powerful about transferring your greatest burdens and most special moments with God on to the pages of a journal.

Back to the Basics
How is your daily time with God going? Maybe today is a reminder that it is time to go back to the basics of walking with Christ daily.

Tithing is the spiritual practice of honoring God by giving the first tenth of your entire income to your local church. Tithing is not taboo, meaning it is not banned, prohibited, or forbidden. Your church may not emphasize the importance of tithing from your entire income, but it is a very important part of the Christian life.

Generosity is a lifestyle that gives freely and lives openhandedly. Generosity is the amount beyond the first tenth you give to your church. I can assure you that generosity is better than greed.

Greed is an insatiable desire for more. Greed is about grasping, craving, acquiring, and hoarding, while generosity is about giving, charity, blessing, and handing.

Greed is Not Godly
Christians ignore and mock God’s Word when they do not honor God with giving at least the first tenth of their entire income to their local church. They try to rationalize or even justify it, and some even attempt to explain it away biblically. I have never discovered anyone who practices tithing and generosity try to explain why tithing and generosity are not biblical.

Somehow, we must grow in our faith enough to understand that when we do not give biblically by both tithing and practicing generosity, we are not walking in godliness. Greed is not godly.

No One is Exempt from Tithing and Generosity
Pastors, staff members, elders, deacons, lay leaders, and all Christians are not exempt from tithing and generosity. In fact, when we do not practice giving the first tenth of our income and enter into the sphere of generosity, we are practicing and choosing greed.

Greed is like a rattlesnake that many of us want to snuggle up with in our hearts. While on a run last week, I ran upon a Copperhead snake lying right beside the curb. I did not cuddle with it; in fact, I ran with a chill up my spine for the rest of the week.

Greed is not about how much a person has or does not have. Greed is a matter of the heart. I have seen greed exist in the lives of those who have little and I have seen it exist in the lives of those who are overwhelmed with wealth. Nice things are not wrong until you violate God’s principles of giving in order to attain them.

There is Only One Way to Avoid Greed
There is only one way those with much or those with little avoid greed: Giving the first ten percent of their entire income to their local church and moving into the sphere of practicing generosity. They completely embrace a lifestyle of giving freely and living openhandedly.
Pastor James MacDonald is correct when he says that giving the first tenth of all God has given to you is the on ramp to the highway called generosity. Wherever you are in your life educationally, vocationally, or financially, ALL BLESSINGS flood the person and family that get on this on ramp that leads to the highway called generosity.

Living on 90% with God involved will go much further than living on 100% without God involved.

When you obey God’s Word about giving and generosity, you are getting God involved in your life supernaturally. You are never more like Jesus than when you give.

Living on 90% with God involved will go further than living on 100% without God involved. I have never met any person who practiced giving the first ten percent of their income through their local church that ever regretted it or did not have their needs met in life.

Three Important Things to Remember

1. Pastors need to preach unashamedly and uncompromisingly what the Bible says about tithing and generosity.
When you speak on tithing and generosity, there will always be some who will complain or crank up the rumor mill. But just remember pastor: Many who do so do not give as they should biblically. Many who cause this stir are carnal and do not want to face the reality of their greed. Pastor, you and your family should model giving at least the first ten percent of all God gives you through your local church and practice generosity beyond that.

2. Laypeople, encourage your pastor to preach on tithing and generosity.
Lead the way laypeople, encouraging your pastor to preach on tithing and generosity. Encourage and defend him both privately and publicly. Rebuke people who want to criticize him for doing it. People who do not want to hear and be challenged in giving are people who are not practicing giving God’s way.

3. Give freely and live openhandedly.
Be a giver, not a grabber. Live generously, not greedily. Give freely because God gave all He has given to you freely. Live openhandedly, sharing it with your church and other people because none of it is yours anyway. You own nothing; God owns everything. Give it away freely and live your entire life openhandedly. By the way, even when you die, leave at least the first ten percent of all God had given you in your life and legacy to your local church. Additionally, practice generosity by giving to your church even beyond the first ten percent and then to other Christian ministries that are advancing the gospel globally.

We are never more like Jesus than when we give. Allow God to be part of your life in a supernatural way by giving biblically.

This year I decided to tread new waters and launch a new venture to develop leaders: a leadership podcast, featuring conversations with some of America’s top voices in faith, business, media and sports.

From Fox News’ chief religion correspondent, to Auburn’s football head coach and the former president and CEO of Walmart U.S., each episode features a guest with a unique perspective on life, faith and leadership.

Recently, I had the honor of talking with Dave Ramsey. When it comes to biblical financial wisdom, no one has had more reach or impact than Dave. Through his national radio broadcast, books, and financial management university, he helps thousands of people find financial peace and freedom every day.

Here are five lessons on life and money I learned talking with him.

1. Success is all about the size of your legacy, not the size of your stuff.
In a world obsessed with names, brands and money, it’s easy to confuse success with a pile of stuff. After all, what more tangible evidence can you ask for than the material stuff your hard-earned money can buy? Yet, according to Dave, true success is ultimately about leaving a legacy. It’s about that which will outlive you.

What kind of business are you leaving behind? Is it a business with a vision and mission to bless your employees and customers and glorify God with the excellence of your work?

What type of church has your leadership helped form? Does your congregation love each other and the Gospel of Jesus more than the day you first started pastoring?

And—most important—what kind of family have you raised? Are your children godly and involved in ministry? Have you cultivated a relationship of love and service with your spouse?

We should measure our success by the kind of legacy—and not the amount of stuff—we are leaving behind.

2. Communication about finances is a key to marital success.
You’d be surprised to learn that money problems in marriage are rarely ever about money itself. They are instead conflicts regarding value systems in the household. As Matthew 6:21 declares, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Finances force couples to communicate ultimately about their hearts’ desires. When couples understand this truth, they can see financial discussions as an opportunity to strengthen the marriage bond of trust and intimacy.

3. Use the Bible as a guide for financial direction.
When it comes to our daily financial decisions, there is no other book in the world packed with more wisdom than the Bible. The Bible mentions money and possessions 2,350 times, charting the path to good stewardship and financial success. Financial advisors and plans are extremely important—and you should always seek help when in financial trouble—but only in the Scriptures will you find the wisdom to wealth and leave a lasting legacy in a healthy, life-giving way.

4. The best way to escape debt is to get angry about it.
No one wanders out of debt. The only way to defeat debt is with passionate intentionality, determination and hard work. In other words: you have to get angry about debt, and concentrate your energies on eradicating every shred of it. Perhaps the most effective method of getting rid of debt is the “Debt Snowball” method. While you pay the monthly minimum on every debt, you attack the smallest loan with vengeance until it’s gone, and then move to the next and so forth. Each win—no matter how small it may seem—will uplift your spirit and move you closer to financial freedom.

5. Financial success is marked by budgeting and high-quality relationships
As obvious as it might sound, the best way to avoid debt is to avoid overspending. Determine a budget at the beginning of each month and stick to it. Manage your money; don’t let money manage you. And always surround yourself with people who will encourage you towards financial success. Scripture says, “Bad company corrupts good morals” (1 Corinthians 15:33). If you want financial freedom—for yourself and your family—you have to walk out of the relational environments that lead to debt and financial compromise.

In the end, never forget that every “good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17). Both in plenty and in want, trust God’s provision, imitating His kind generosity toward us.

In the past few years, I have given a clear and consistent call to bring prayer back into public worship services in the church. I want to lift up a specific and significant way to do this today.

We Need to Recapture the Pastoral Prayer
Prayer led by the pastor of the church used to be a normal part of worship services. What was deemed in the past as a part of public worship, has now been minimized, eliminated, or delegated. This is not acceptable or good for the church.

There are several examples in the Scriptures where spiritual leaders called out to God in prayer before the people of God. Their prayers were passionate, from the heart, and meaningful. Prayers offered by the pastor of the church during worship services should be the same way.

When Pastors Pray in Public Worship Services
Prayer by the pastor should be one of the highest moments in public worship services. As the spiritual leader of the church, the pastor is standing in the gap, calling out to God in prayer for the church. This moment of public intercession can be absolutely powerful.

I would like to suggest these things for consideration:

Context
The pastor needs to set the context for this prayer moment. He can do this before or after asking the congregation to bow their heads, preparing to pray. Setting the stage for this moment needs to be an important part of worship planning.

Timing
The timing for the pastoral prayer is very important. Personally, I like to set it just before the offering is received, prior to the final song before the message. Many times, the previous song can help me set the context and the moment. Not only is the timing important, but the amount of time allocated for the prayer is important. Allocate enough time for a four to five-minute prayer led by the pastor. Having latitude to follow the Spirit of God is key in any worship service. If we are not careful, we are going to schedule God right out of our public worship services in the church.

Agreement
Teach your people how to agree in prayer with you. As pastor, they need to be engaged with you while you are praying. They do not need to just be listening in, but involved with you in prayer. They can agree with you verbally while you pray. As we turn the church house into a house of prayer for the nations, people need to become involved as you pray.

Planned
While the pastoral prayer is determined to happen within a set time or to help create an atmosphere, what the pastor prays about should be planned as well. This is very important. The pastor needs to set this in his planning, so he can go forward that moment with purpose. If this is not planned, it can become meaningless and disconnected. The pastor can even list the topics of prayer to the people before the prayer begins.

Conviction
When the pastoral prayer occurs, after setting the context in the best timing within the public worship service, and after planning for this moment, the pastor should pray with a strong conviction. A conviction is not just something that you have in your heart, it something that has you. Convictional prayer will illustrate to the people that you pray because you believe in it, and it really matters. It does work and it does matter, so pray with conviction.

Passionate
When the pastor prays before the church in a public worship service, he needs to pray passionately. The people will become passionate in their prayers when they see modeled before them a pastor who prays with passion. Never should we be afraid to have our emotions involved while we are praying, from enthusiasm to expectation, to weeping, and perhaps even shouting. Regardless, be authentic, but make sure you are passionate.

National and Global
I am convinced that the pastoral prayer needs to be a time the church is led to pray for national and global needs. Pastors and churches need to pray for our national leaders, and about situations existing in the nation and across the globe. If we really believe prayer matters, we need to pray for national and global issues.

Posture
While most of the time I kneel in reverence to God when I do my pastoral prayer, this past week, I walked around the stage while I prayed. This is something I determined at that moment and not before. By the way, I think it is very healthy for the people of God to see their pastor kneel as he intercedes for the people and national and global issues.

Recapture the Pastoral Prayer
Pastor, recapture the pastoral prayer in your public worship services. I promise you, you will never regret it. You are the Worship Leader of the church; therefore, lead like it.

Jeana and I have been married for forty-seven years. After we’d been married for eighteen years and Jeana would mention to my Mom some crazy thing I had done, she would say, “You have now had him longer than me. I am no longer responsible!”

After being married to one another this long, we have learned so much about each other and marriage. And still the learning continues. Perhaps what I share today will be an encouragement for your marriage.

1. Walk closely with the Lord individually and together.
One of the things that always encourages me is knowing that when I walk down the stairs from my office in the early morning, my wife is up having her time with God. She does not live on my walk and I do not live on hers. We walk with the Lord individually. We each take it seriously.

Yet, we walk side-by-side with the Lord. We talk about spiritual and ministry things regularly. We pray together nightly. We know it is critical for us to do life and ministry together.

2. Do ministry individually and together.
Jeana has consistently been involved in the ministry of the church. For years, she served in the worship ministry. She has also served by leading a cancer support group and has done weekly jail ministry. Now, she leads a Bible Study in our neighborhood, which gives her unique influence with women in our community. And she has always assisted as needed in the women’s ministry of our church.

Jeana has accompanied me on many ministry endeavors. I am a pastor who does not do ministry alone. Jeana is with me. We have done ministry of all kinds together through the years from mission trips to funerals to weddings to so much more.

3. Live life together.
Jeana and I have noticed something in the lives of many ministers and their wives. Many of them live life alone. The wife goes one way and the minister goes another. I do not get this and quite honestly, it is very unhealthy.

Since 1985, Jeana and I have spent Fridays together. Can you believe that? It is rare we are not together on this day. We live life together during the week and on the weekends. Yes, when the children were home, our lives were focused on them, but we still did life together.

Live life together. Ministry is hard enough. You do not need to fly solo. Marriage is hard enough. You certainly do not need to fly solo. This is not good for either of you or your marriage. Find a regular time to spend with your spouse. You will not regret it.

4. Honor God’s calling upon your life together.
Have you considered recently that you have been called to do ministry by God Himself? If you sensed God’s leadership to marry your spouse, and I assume you did, you must believe that God has called you to walk in ministry together.

Therefore, honor God’s calling upon your life together. Do not take it for granted.
You have a holy calling upon your lives, both husband and wife. You have not been called to business, entertainment, or politics, but the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is holy. This is your calling. Live worthy of this call to ministry. Honor God’s calling upon your life together.

Follow Him wherever He leads you to go. He has a great plan for each of you individually and as a couple. Surrender your marriage to Him now in a new and fresh way. He has wonderful things in store for your life and ministry together.

As pastors, we have been entrusted with the privilege of teaching people the Bible.

I am committed to God’s inerrant and infallible Word and its final authority for all we believe and practice... period. Every word from a politician or preacher, author or educator, king or a president is secondary. We filter everything through God’s Word.

Therefore, as pastors, it is incumbent upon us to teach people the Word of God. One of the premiere principles we must teach them is how to walk with God personally.

The Need is Obvious
It is more than obvious that we must teach people how to walk with God personally. The world we live in today is a constant challenge. Promises are continually broken. Faithfulness in friendships is rare. Marriages are in crisis. Families are falling apart. Unforgiveness in relationships is normative. Financial crises happen.

People need to know how to navigate through these and other challenges they face not just periodically, but continually.

The need is obvious. We must teach people how to walk with God personally. Here are some ways I suggest we can do this:

1. Teach People the Importance of Reading the Bible
I really believe reading the Scripture daily is the major way people learn to navigate through challenges in their own lives. Scripture provides eternal truths, principles to live by, and stories that inspire.

This is why I think it is absolutely imperative that our people be challenged to read the Scriptures daily. We can challenge them to read a chapter a day, especially at the first of each day. We can challenge them to read through the New Testament in a year. We can challenge them to read through the Bible in a year.

As a pastor, do not under-challenge your people. God will guide them on what to do, but we must share with them the power of reading through the Scriptures. They need to know why it is important and what it will do for their life. Not only should we encourage them to read the Scripture, we should give them a plan.

2. Teach People the Importance of Prayer
People need to be taught how to pray. In fact, Jesus taught His disciples how to pray. They asked Him how to pray and he showed them.

We need to teach God’s people how to pray. We need to teach them why prayer is important in their life. We need to teach them how God can use prayer to mold us to the truthfulness of the Scriptures. We need to teach His people how to pray the Scriptures and how to stand on them in times of need.

We need to take time for prayer in worship services. We need to take prayer seriously in these services. We need to plan what to pray about during these times as much as we plan what songs we are going to sing. The lessening of prayer in public worship services and the role of the pastor’s prayer in worship services is one of the reasons our people may not know how to pray. The pastor must pray with clarity and conviction. He needs to inspire God’s people to pray.

3. Teach People to Have Focused Times with God
The most effective way to teach people how to have focused time with God is to lead them to do so corporately with your church. Pastors can lead their church to have a special day, week, or season of prayer focused for a specific purpose.

It takes time for churches to grow in these principles just as it takes time for individuals to grow. Pastors have the privilege to teach their people about the value of specific, focused prayer seasons.

Here at Cross Church, we have done this in all kinds of ways. In fact, we are entering into a 21-day period of prayer and fasting from January 10 January 31. We will close this focused season by dedicating each of our eleven services on all five campuses to prayer.

People learn by doing what God’s Word teaches. Pastors, we must not only teach them with words, but with our life, and then lead them to experience it with us.

In 2016
In 2016, commit yourself to teaching people how to walk with God. Remember, we teach what we know; we reproduce what we are.

Wisdom is seeing and living life from God’s perspective. Pastors need to live and lead wisely. How?

Today, I want to challenge you to take these four actions to lead wisely:

1. Live in the Word of God Personally
If you do not live in, read, and study the Bible personally, you cannot lead wisely. I am astounded at how many pastors do not have a consistent time with God, reading His Word. I am even more astounded how many have never read through the entire Bible.

When I am talking about living, reading, and studying the Bible personally, I am not referring to sermon preparation. This is secondary compared to your own personal pilgrimage in the Word of God.

One of the wisest decisions I ever made was reading through the entire Bible at least one time annually. I have done so since 1990.

A pastor cannot and will not lead wisely without living in the Word of God personally. Wisdom is seeing and living life from God’s perspective. You cannot lead people by something you do not do personally.

2. Develop Your Prayer Life Intentionally
Prayer should never be neglected in the life of a spiritual leader. Your prayer life needs to be intentional.

This demands the discipline to organize your personal life and your prayer life. If you do not plan to pray, you will not pray.

This means you must prioritize your daily schedule. Allocate the time. I do not see how one can do this without beginning their day with God. Ministry is too challenging not to.

Pastor, organize your prayer life. I organize my prayer life in the Notes section of my iPad. This leads to easy change, depending on need.

A pastor who is crying out to God in prayer daily will be much more likely to lead his church or ministry wisely.

3. Know Your People Individually
The larger the church and ministry, the more this becomes an impossibility. I do not think this prohibits a pastor or his leadership, but he must counteract this challenge by making himself available to people.

How do you do this?
Walk through the room slowly.
Refuse to just appear to be friendly; be truly friendly.
Smile while you walk.
Pray for people right there when they share a need.
Offer opportunities like receptions or other entrees for people to say hello to you personally.

Knowing your people is challenging, but after all these years of pastoring along with other positions, it still comes down to one thing overall: relating to people effectively.

4. Build Leaders Intentionally
While tenure in ministry is no longer the friend it used to be, it is irreplaceable relating to building leaders. In my twenty-nine years of leading people in this church and building leaders, I have realized it takes intentionality.

One of the craziest things I ever did here was what we called Midnight Madness. When we were getting ready for the fall kick-off season, hundreds of our leaders came, had dinner, and sat with me for hours, letting me invest in them. As I poured into them the Word of God, prayer, vision, and actions to build the church, they responded. When midnight came and dismissal occurred, we celebrated.

This not only led to me doing this more than one year, but eventually into having a direct line to our leaders. We also established a quarterly time where I personally invested in our leaders on a Sunday afternoon for an hour.

Now with five campuses, multiple staff members, and thousands of people attending weekly, I do not do these kinds of things any longer. I help develop our staff and key leaders, and our staff leads and develops our people.

Regardless of the method you use, we need to build leaders intentionally.

A Closing Observation
Most pastors never lose their church or ministry due to bad theology, but over their leadership. So many times leadership is ineffective because it is not done wisely. Pastors, lead wisely.

One of the greatest legacies of any pastor is for his children to grow up loving God and loving the Church passionately.

Yet, this is often not the story of the children of a pastor. Why? Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to this question.

A Brief Testimony
Through the years, hundreds of people have asked how they could pray for our family. Jeana and I were very clear through the years our boys were living at home with us: Pray for Josh and Nick to love God and love the Church passionately.

By grace alone, both Josh and Nick, now in their thirties, love God and love the church passionately. Josh is located in metropolitan Birmingham, Alabama, serving as the Head Football Coach of the Hewitt Trussville Huskies. He and his wife Kate love God and love the church passionately.

Nick is the leader of our Cross Church staff team and serves as Teaching Pastor of not just our Fayetteville campuses, but across the ministry. He and his wife Meredith love God and love the Church passionately.

Now, both Josh and Kate and Nick and Meredith have the privilege of raising their children to live as they did and still do today: Loving God and loving the Church passionately.

4 Things to Consider in Relationship to Your Children
Again, there is no easy answer to how your children grow up and love God and His Church passionately. Yet, perhaps these four things may be worth consideration.

1. Engage Other People to Pray for Your Children
As a pastor, please do not think you are over-spiritualizing the extraordinary challenge of raising your children. Pastors need to request of their church publicly and when asked privately, “Please pray for my children to grow up loving God and loving the Church passionately.”

Pastor, you are continually called upon to pray for other people. There is nothing wrong with requesting that others pray for your children from the time they are toddlers all the way through their collegiate years. This is not a sign of weakness, but personal humility and deep faith in God.

2. Teach Your Children to Walk with God
Pastors spend much time teaching people God’s Word and how to walk in His power through life. If we can do this for our church members, we should do this for our own children.

Yes, from the youngest to the oldest of your children, while living with you, teach them what it means to walk with God. Show them how to do it. We cannot expect them to walk or live in a way we have never shown them personally.

3. Give God a Chance
Many pastors feel they do not need to encourage their children to be involved in church ministries and activities, thinking they will be perceived as forcing them. I respectfully disagree.
My boys grew up always going to church. Yes, unashamedly, Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, Wednesday nights, children’s activities and ministries, and student activities and ministries. We started with church, not sports, personal preferences, or peer influence. Our boys were never bitter or resentful. They were afforded life-changing experiences at student camps and retreats, on mission trips, choir trips, and multiple other experiences. Powerful relationships were formed and they are connected forever to their former student pastors.

Pastor, give God a chance with your kids. They need to be in spiritual environments as children and teenagers to have God do a work in their life.

4. Walk by Faith, Trusting God
As parents, pastors need to teach their children to walk with God and continually place them in environments where God has a powerful chance with their kids. Then while asking people to pray for them, walk by faith, trusting God for their future with Him and His Church.

Your child may take a periodic tour away from God, but God is able to pull them back to Himself. His Word never returns void and the prayers of His people have lasting influence with Him.
Therefore, what we can do as parents, whether we are pastors or not, is to walk by faith, trusting God.

In the meantime, love your children unconditionally and call out to God on their behalf in prayer daily, periodically even coupling those prayers with fasting.

Our God is able! Trust Him by faith!

Dear Fellow Ministers,

In recent weeks, I have felt the need to write a special letter to you.

Speaking at a convention on Monday night and in Washington, DC on Thursday, and spending time with other ministers recently has reminded me of how much ministers need encouragement. Also, hanging out with some of our Cross Church School of Ministry residents has reminded me of some basic things it is important for all ministers to practice from the beginning of our ministry.

Therefore, from my heart to your heart, I share these things with you. May they bring encouragement and remind us we are all in this ministry life together.

1. Put Jesus First in Your Day.
First, put Jesus first in your day. Start your day early with God and if early is not your deal, at least start your day with God first. Yes, first things first. If we do not begin our day with Jesus, then we forfeit the privilege to lead His people. Please begin your day with God; otherwise, defeat in life and ministry will become normal for you. Minister of the gospel, remember this: Deepen your walk and God will expand your influence.

2. Renew Your Belief in the Power of God.
Second, renew your belief in the power of God. The same God that saves you by grace through being born again by His supernatural power is the same God alive today in your ministry and life. Embrace the power of God! He can do anything, any time, anywhere, with anyone. He can do this with you and through your church. Refuse to dissect what He can and cannot do. Receive what He is able to do with you and through you. Begin to teach and preach about the power of God to your church. They need to begin to believe again.

3. Bring Prayer Back into the Worship Services of Your Church.
Third, bring prayer back into the worship services of your church. Get beyond the “Bless me” prayers and into calling out to the God of Heaven to manifest His presence to the people of God. Weekly, call out to God before your people. Pray for the sick. Pray for the hurting. Your entire church needs to hear you pray with both confidence and conviction. At times, move your people to pray together in groups around the room. At other times, call them to their knees in humility. Pray for revival to come to the people of God and for the next Great Awakening to occur in America. Prayer always precedes great works of God.

4. Prioritize Evangelism in the Life of Your Church.
Fourth, prioritize evangelism in the life of your church. Refuse to succumb to persuasions and practices that do not aggressively reach others for Christ. Celebrate the reaching of the lost and the baptizing of new followers of Christ. Discover places in your community where the gospel has never been shared and resolve to take the gospel there. Study the demographics of your city. Strategize how to win your city to Jesus Christ. Then, do not cease evangelizing.

5. Call Your People to Support God’s Work Financially.
Fifth, call your people to support God’s work financially. Do not minimize it. This is not simply about the church being blessed, but it is incumbent on you as a pastor to raise up and develop people to practice financial stewardship.

Unashamedly, model and teach God’s people about giving the first ten percent of their entire income to their local church. Call them to give beyond this and challenge them to live life in the lane of generosity. Then, as a church, give sacrificially and generously to advance the gospel across the world exponentially by planting gospel churches and supporting missionaries.

6. Stand Upon the Word of God Courageously.
Sixth, stand upon the Word of God courageously. Our biblical Christian worldview is in constant conflict with the culture. Do not cower down to our culture nor cuddle with it. Stand strongly and courageously upon the Word of God. Always communicate God’s Word in Jesus’ love. Stand strong.

7. Value Each Person in the World.
Seventh, value each person in the world. Give respect to every person in the world. Stop letting things divide you with the people of God and with fellow ministers. We are family! Stand for the dignity of each person and for the sanctity of life. Reject racism in any form. Renounce abortion in every way. Stand for the dignity and the sanctity of human life from the womb all the way to the tomb.

8. Learn from Criticism.
Eighth, learn from criticism. It will come. Count on it. Determine to outlive it. Refuse to become bitter toward any person who is critical of you. Do not let anyone outside of your circle of love.

9. Lead Cross-Generationally.
Ninth, lead cross-generationally. Do not be influential with just your generation; develop relationships with the generation before you and the generation behind you. Otherwise, your leadership will be limited and any potential legacy you may have will become short-lived. Invest in all generations. This is biblical. Give respect and love to all generations. We are family.

10. Be Humble.
Tenth, be humble. When you are humble, God will raise you up. The way up is down. When you humble yourself before God, you can more easily humble yourself before others. God is not attracted to pride, but He is to humility. He lifts up those who are humble before Him.
Fellow minister, thank you for living for Jesus and standing upon His Word. Fulfill the calling God has given to you. Please know I am with you in this battle and praying for you daily.

As football teams begin their final preparations for the season, optimism abounds. Whether these teams compete at the high school, college, or professional level, they are working toward a great and winning season.

Any experienced coach realizes that he must celebrate good seasons, wins, and championships with his team. Not only must he celebrate, he must celebrate big. Winning is hard, and each win is much harder than many realize.

The Same is True in Your Life and Leadership
Winning in your life and leadership is also much harder than others may realize. Quite honestly, inexperienced leaders may not understand how much of a blessing it is when your life and organization are in a winning streak or season.

Just as it is true for any team at any level of the game of football, it is true for each of us. In a moment, an injury, setback, loss of a team player, or a bad quarter can literally change the trajectory in your organization, and therefore, changes your life and leadership.

The bigger your team and your organization, the more probability for setback occurs. Perhaps you can get through it quicker due to the size, but it still cripples and complicates the road to success.

When Good Seasons Occur
When the good seasons occur, what are some helpful things to remember in your life and leadership?

1. Celebrate the good seasons
Good seasons in your personal and family life should be celebrated! Good seasons in your organization, business, church, city, or anything that affects your life, should be celebrated. Good seasons are hard to come by, so do not be so driven to the next thing that you do not celebrate the good season of today.

2. Verbalize your gratitude for the good seasons
I am thankful and blessed to pastor a local church. It is a church with multiple campuses and a large staff team that God uses to impact thousands of people weekly. We have had our setbacks and challenges. We will have them again.

But right now, we are in a good season. I am so thankful to God for our team and for our church. Health and growth are occurring. I am grateful for any good season in life and leadership.

I no longer take the good seasons for granted. I know this culture and posture that exudes health and growth can change quickly. I have learned to celebrate good seasons and verbalize my gratitude for them.

3. Remember where the good seasons ultimately come from
Good seasons ultimately come from the favor of God. Only God can work so powerfully through the affairs of our life and leadership and bring things together in a good and favorable way.
Just as Nehemiah, Joseph, and many others in the Bible were recipients of the favor of God, we have what we have and do what we do because of the favor of the Lord. By the way, Nehemiah, Joseph, and others in the Bible had their setbacks. We will also.

Remember that ultimately, the good seasons come from the hand and favor of God. Therefore, always be thankful to God and recognize that He is the Giver of His favor.

There is Nothing Like the Favor of God
Please remember, there is nothing like the favor of God. It can take the most unlikely person and exalt them with favor, responsibility, and leadership.

Just a few weeks ago, I was privileged to be interviewed by Chris Brown for his Momentum Leadership podcast. Living and leading through the seasons of life is the very subject we discussed. Yes, all kinds of seasons. It may add help and encouragement to those who may be in a tough season. You can listen to the interview here.

One of the most difficult things as a church leader is knowing the right questions to ask. I believe when we discover these four key questions, we will find it easier to make the right decisions for the future of the church.

#1: What is best for the church?
The number one question that church leaders must always ask is: What is best for the church? In fact, church leaders need to teach the members of the church to ask the same question.

Sadly, the fellowship of the church is often high jacked by the carnal consumerism of its members. This happens because too many of us have stopped asking this most important question: What is best for the church? The church is about Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, discipleship of believers, reaching of those without Christ, and the advancement of the Kingdom of God. The church is not about me and my personal needs. Nor is it about you and your personal needs.

At the next business conference in your church, point your people to this question: What is best for the church? At the next committee meeting where debate occurs, push pause. Call everyone to ask the question: What is best for the church? When there are many different opinions about the future of the church and what should be done, ask the people to answer the question: What is best for the church? If you are a pastor approached by a staff member or church leader about church matters, challenge them to ask this important question: What is best for the church?        

When we prioritize what is best for the Church of Jesus Christ, decision-making in the church will begin to make sense and operate in a more biblical order.

#2: What is best for the Office of the Pastor?
The second question we need to ask when faced with decision-making in the church is: What is best for the Office of the Pastor? There is a very concerted, constant effort by the enemy, Satan himself, to bring destruction to the Office of the Pastor, even bringing the termination of God-called pastors in service to their church. This is sad and wrong.

The American culture is constantly questioning their leaders. Sadly, it happens not only in politics, education, business, and athletics, but even in the church. From news talk shows and debates to blogs and social media, there is a growing, blatant attack on the leaders in our nation and world. Scripture does not applaud this conduct, but condemns it.

When churches or ministries are confused about the future, there must be enough spirituality present among people to ask these two questions, in this order:
 What is best for the church?
 What is best for the Office of the Pastor?

You see, if the Office of the Pastor becomes jeopardized in a local church, the entire church will be negatively affected. I have never seen a church that dishonors the Office of the Pastor go on to prosper over any length of time. In fact, I have seen those churches become shipwrecked. I appeal to you, always have your church at heart and then always lift up the Office of the Pastor. When you do, your church will become a recipient of God’s blessing and power.

#3: What is best for my ministry?
Many well-intentioned church members and staff members are most concerned about the ministries they are involved in personally or may even lead. If they are not careful, this will skew their decision-making and can even sour their attitudes.

Always start with asking: What is best for the church? Then follow that with: What is best for the Office of the Pastor? Then and only then, is it right to ask the question: What is best for my ministry?

From your perspective, it may make sense for the ministry you are involved in to receive greater support financially, have a different meeting space, or new equipment. However, this may not be best for the church. Remember, the pastor has to look at every ministry of the church, not just yours. Therefore, in reality, he may have to determine your request is not best for the church as a whole at this time. For the sake of what is best for the church, receive the decision. Trust the Lord. Leave it in His hands.

#4: What is best for me?
How many times do you say about church matters, “Well, this is what I think we need to do”? Or perhaps, “This is what will minister to me the most”? While this may be your feeling, it just may not be the will of God or the best thing for the church.

The greatest churches in the world are not the churches that cater to the needs of its people.
The greatest churches in the world are those committed to being a Jesus church above all else. One of the wonderful by-products of this is that the needs of people are met. Christ-likeness, not consumerism, moves decision-making.

Keep these questions in order
Keep these questions in your heart. Keep them before yourself and the members of your church. Refuse to let them get out of order for yourself, others, or your church.
What order do they go in? What is proper?

What is best for the church?
What is best for the Office of the Pastor?
What is best for my ministry?
What is best for me?

I hope you will have a great week in your church.

The greatest leadership lesson I have ever learned is: Every hill you face is not worth dying on. If I had practiced this in my previous churches and perhaps during the first few years here, I believe my influence would be greater and the ministry would be more effective. In today’s world of continual media bombardment and social outrage, it can be easy to get swept up in trivial matters. We must not allow that to happen and compromise our leadership.

I have seen ministers let their stubbornness and pride wreck their leadership in the home and in the church. When you have the clarity and wisdom to not die on every hill, your leadership can be long and effective.

Whether you are a rookie pastor or an experienced minister: Every hill you face in leadership is not worth dying on. When the pastor practices this, the church will flourish. The fellowship will be sweeter, the growth will be greater, and the preservation of this growth will be more successful.

How I Learned This
How did I learn this important truth? It did not happen at a particular point, but through a process. Some things in leadership you can only learn through the growth of the entity you are assigned to lead. The growth of the organization in structures, personnel, dollars, and expectations requires the leader to operate by the conviction that every hill he faces is not worth dying on.

There are times that I could have carried more people with me along the church’s vision path if I had been more patient and personal along the way. In the name of “urgency” or “reaching,” we can sometimes push “hurry” too much and too often. This is not an asset, but a liability.

The Christian life is not about being right — it is about being Christ-like

Most Christians are more interested in being right than they are in being Christ-like. Pastor and church leaders, the Christian life is not about being right — it is about being Christ-like. If Satan cannot get you to do the wrong thing, he will get you to do the right thing in the wrong way. When you think you are always right, you will die on needless hills. When you constantly have to prove you are right and don’t take the time to work toward making the best decision in the right time and in the right way, you lose influence and leadership.

3 Hills Worth Dying On

There are three hills that are worth dying on no matter what anyone else thinks.
1. Truth – You must be willing to die on the hill of God’s truth found in Scripture.
You must stand in your pulpit, in your meetings, and everywhere else you go with the confidence that the Bible is God’s truth for today and always. In my ministry, I have seen more people willing to die for their tradition than die for the Truth of God’s Word.

2. Morality – Jesus was very clear that we are to be the salt and light of the world.
We must be the moral conscience of our region, nation, and world. Biblically, we have no alternative. We have to impact our culture. When we do, there are times that our faith will collide with the culture.

3. The Great Commission – The Great Commission should consume every Christian and church.
For a church to advance toward the future in terms of health and growth, the church needs to be emblazoned by the Great Commission. There is no one in the church who ought to be more fired up and passionate about sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with every person in the world and making disciples of all the nations than the pastor.

When You Go to the Hill
Pastor, a good leader determines not only which hills to die upon, but he also chooses the timing.

Let me give you a strategic grid to go through before you ascend the hill:
Leadership has to be clear
Processes have to be thorough
Timing must be right

A wise leader does everything in God’s timing, by God’s Word, and in God’s power.

There are many ways a leader can develop their staff team, but I have never found a better way than allocating time away from the office together. In fact, whether it be days or hours, the end will result in a much stronger team.

Jeana and I Just Led Our 31st Consecutive Staff Advance

Last Thursday, Jeana and I closed out our 31st consecutive Staff Advance for our Ministry Staff and their spouses here at Cross Church. This three and one-half-day investment into our team was tremendous. We are grateful for this opportunity.

Why do we do it? We do this because we believe in:

• Developing God-called leaders to lead
• Launching God-called leaders to lead
• Empowering God-called leaders to lead
• Investing in God-called leaders and their spouses

Here is what we have found again and again, and please read this carefully: Not one God-called leader will ever rise above their marital relationship with their spouse, nor will they rise above the engagement of their spouse in their own ministry. That is why, for thirty-one consecutive years, Jeana and I have led this staff advance.

What Was Small Years Ago Has Now Flourished Greatly
When I came here as a boy preacher from Texas, I had no idea how long I would be here, but I believed even then in the importance of developing our small staff team. So, I started something that has flourished beyond my imagination. God has been so good to us.

I am convinced that one of the reasons why Cross Church has grown and flourished over the years is this intentional, continual commitment to our Annual Staff Advance. For simplicity’s sake, we plan it for the same week each year, beginning the last Monday of July.

It can be tiring for Jeana and me to plan and lead, but the investment of time into the lives of people make it more than worth it all. Each of us always leave better individually and we always leave more unified.

The larger our church has grown and the more complex our organization has become makes these days more important than ever before.

Find Your Way To Develop Your Staff Team
Our way is not the only way, but it works for us. I cannot imagine leading this large, complex ministry without these few days together each year. It would make the days longer and the grind of ministry less enjoyable.

Here is what I have discovered: Your staff team does not need to be like you, nor do you all need be best friends, but you do need to enjoy working together.
 
Leadership is hard. Having a team that you enjoy working with and even enjoy personally makes leadership a joy.

My counsel to you today is simple: Find your way to develop your staff team.

ESPN produces a series of documentary films entitled 30 for 30. They highlight important people and events in sports history. Each of these is powerful and highly engaging.
Today, I want to share with you my own 30 for 30. I want to call it 30 LESSONS I HAVE LEARNED IN LEADERSHIP THROUGH LEADING THE SAME ORGANIZATION FOR 30 YEARS. Many people have led organizations for 30 years. Yet, only a few have led the same organization for the past 30 years.

905 For and 12 Against
As a kid preacher, I came to be the pastor of our church on Sunday, October 26, 1986.  Before we began our third of the five campuses we now have at Cross Church, our church was called First Baptist Church of Springdale, Arkansas.

In September of 1986, I came to preach in a view of being called as pastor. After an extended weekend, the church voted to call me as pastor. The vote was 905 for and 12 against. One month later, our very young family left our home state of Texas and arrived in Arkansas driving an old orange suburban. On the last week of October of this year, I will have served as Senior Pastor of Cross Church for 30 years.

I have learned much about leadership by serving and growing with this region called Northwest Arkansas. This region has been filled with a strong innovative leadership culture, producing powerful corporations with global headquarters here. Walmart, J.B. Hunt, Tyson Foods, and the University of Arkansas have anchored this Northwest Arkansas region. Surprising to most, somewhere between 1,200-1,400 national and international companies have a presence here to service their Walmart account. This presence may be from a few employees to hundreds. Additionally, private business, law, education, and politics are thriving here. In reality, the world comes here to do business. That is one way this region has taught me so much about leadership.

Simultaneously, I began serving in all kinds of roles and with many responsibilities in the Southern Baptist Convention. In the most recent two years of my life, I served as the President of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in America. Additionally, the Lord has graciously given me all sorts of opportunity to minister to many evangelicals outside of our Southern Baptist Convention.

Through all of these things and life experience, I have learned plentiful lessons on leadership. I want to share just 30 of these lessons on leadership.
I will only list these lessons in this article today. Perhaps in the future, I will write something on each of them. They are not listed in any order. I will stay with only 30 lessons to represent my 30 years here, but in writing, I initially listed at least 60 lessons on leadership I have learned these past 30 years.

30 Lessons on Leadership I Have Learned in 30 Years Leading the Same Organization
#1 Leadership is rallying people to a better future.
#2 Vision is seeing it before you see it.
#3 All people matter.
#4 Put change in your pocket in relationships so you will have something to spend when you lead people.
#5 Walk slowly through the crowd.
#6 Limit time with people who deplete you, but expand time with people who replenish you.
#7 Enjoy the special moments.
#8 Learn from your defeats but celebrate the victories.
#9 Stay out of the ditches in your leadership.
#10 Truth guides great leaders, not trends.
#11 Do what is best for the organization.
#12 Who surrounds you will define you.
#13 Hire people slowly but fire people quickly.
#14 Wisdom, discernment, and timing are critical in decision making.
#15 Do not sell out to keep any staff member.
#16 Transition is inevitable and strategic change always has a cost.
#17 People who are highly critical of others will also be critical of you.
#18 Never let anyone outside of your circle of love.
#19 You can go faster alone but farther with others.
#20 Invite your opponents to help you formulate the future.
#21 Lift the principles high and do not lose the vision on details.
#22 Beware of mission drift; confront mission rift.
#23 Investing in leaders strategically ascends the organization and extends your leadership influence.
#24 Never believe all the good people say about you or you will also have to believe all the bad they say about you.
#25 Leadership is comprised of various seasons.
#26 Leadership longevity is possible when you learn to surf the waters of cultural and leadership change successfully.
#27 Always start your day with God.
#28 Generosity sets a leader apart from other leaders.
#29 Build exercise and fitness into your life five to six days a week.
#30 Not every hill is worth dying on.

You Have One Shot

You have one shot in your life. Live enthusiastically. Lead passionately. Make a difference. Make it count!

Raising our children in ministry was a true joy for Jeana and me. We knew God had called us; we never even implied there was another option. Therefore, our children knew it as a joyful lifestyle.

Yet, I am more than aware that ministers sometimes struggle with raising their children in ministry. I want to share six tips I believe will be helpful while raising children in the ministry.

1. Be content where you are.
If you are not content in ministry or content where you are living, sooner or later your children will catch that same spirit. The spirit of perpetual discontentedness is reality not only for ministers and wives, but their children. This can lead to all kinds of conflict in the home.
If you know God has called you, then in reality, you have no choice but to follow Him. If you know God called you to serve where you are, give it your best and leave your future in the hands of God.

2. Leave conflict at the church.
Refuse to be negative about the church in front of your children. If something has happened and you must talk with your spouse about it, wait until the children are out of the room. Leave conflict at the church.

By the way, your spouse does not need to know every negative thing you face in your ministry. You are called to pastor the church, not her. God will give you the grace to carry the conflict and the discernment on what to say to your spouse and what not to say.

3. Be involved in the church.
Raise your children in the church and ensure they are involved in ministry at their level. If camp is happening, your children need to be at camp.

When we raised our boys, church was still highly engaged on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights, as well as several outreach nights. We built a culture: This is what we do! It was never optional.

The best thing for your child is to have spiritual influence from the church throughout their life. Your children need to be involved in the church.

4. Talk about the benefits of ministry.
Many in ministry want to spend volumes of time talking about the challenges and problems in ministry. That is never productive.

When you have children at home, your children are afforded many great opportunities when they are raised in the home of a minister. They will have access to meeting many wonderful people in your church and others who visit to assist you in ministry. They get to go places where other children may not have access. As a minister, you have the privilege of going to unique places. When possible, take your children with you and on the way, talk about the benefits of being raised in the home of minister.

5. Take an annual vacation.
Take an annual vacation with your entire family. This is non-negotiable. Do not let limited finances choke this opportunity with your children. You have only one shot with your kids. Invest time in them. Whatever the financial resources or lack of them, you can find something you can do.

There are other times you can get away, like Christmas or other holidays. Take advantage of this time. Leave town and go. It is impossible for ministers to really relax and spend time with family without being out of town.

6. Pray with your children daily.
Every morning before our boys left for school, we prayed with them. Many ministers pray with everyone else, but they do not pray with their family. This is not healthy at all.

In your own devotional life, pray for your children to love Jesus and love His church. When people used to ask us, "How can we pray for your children?", this is what I always told them. I wanted our children to leave my home and one day raise their children to love Jesus and love His church.

God answered our prayer. He will answer yours.

On December 31, 2023, we celebrated forty seven years of marriage together. While the years have gone by so fast, we have experienced some long days.

We are both very committed to pouring into the lives of others. While reflecting on our forty seven years together, we thought that sharing some of our journey might encourage others.
We want to highlight five keys to our forty seven years of marriage together.

1st Key: COMMITMENT
Marriage is based upon a commitment to God and one another. It is not based solely upon the emotion and expression of love. For us, it has always been a commitment to God that has moved us forward through marriage.

While we have gone through the transitional storms of marriage through the years, we have never considered giving up, walking away, or having another relationship.

Our commitment to the covenant of marriage before God far exceeds any personal struggle we have faced together.

2nd Key: RELATIONSHIP
We have refused to be two people who just live in the same house and had little to no relationship with one another. There have been moments this could have easily occurred, but our commitment to the marriage covenant demanded more from us.

We both believe the most important relationship in life is not the one we have together, but the individual relationship we each have with Jesus Christ. For years, we have believed that the closer each of us personally gets to God, the closer we will be to one another.

This is a major reason each of us begins every day with God. Our personal time with God is a non-negotiable in our marriage.

3rd Key: PARTNERSHIP
Due to our maturing relationship together, we have lived life as partners. We have not gone our separate ways and then met up every now and then. We have lived life together. We do not have “his days” or “her days”, but “our days.”

We have been partners not only through marriage, but also in parenting our two children. While our schedules may have taken us apart most days, we always prioritized our marriage and family time together. In our life today parenting has changed, but we now walk through the fresh new challenges of grandparenting our seven grandchildren.

We also partner together through ministry. For thirty years, we served in the same church together. While at times, Ronnie may have been referred to as Pastor, Pastor Ronnie, or Dr. Floyd and Jeana as Miss Jeana or just Jeana; the people of Cross Church mostly refer to us as Pastor and Jeana. They did not see us separately, but together.

4th Key: TRANSITION
Transition is inevitable in life and marriage. No one and nothing ever stays the same. We have gone through the transition that all couples go through in learning to live together. While that may have seemed larger than life when we first married, looking back, it was quite simple.
In our forty years together, we have had to navigate through the transition of many things, a few of which are:

• Parenting two children and grandparenting seven children.
• Parenting and pastoring full-time churches, driving back and forth to seminary, and Ronnie earning both his masters and doctoral degrees.
• Jeana diagnosed with cancer at 35 years of age, having surgery and ongoing treatment for a period of time.
• Experiencing the victories, defeats, disappointments, and setbacks of local church ministry and leadership through forty years of pastoring, with thirty years being in the same church.
• Jeana lost her Dad and Ronnie has lost both his Dad and Mom to death, but all three are in heaven with the Lord.
• Jeana caring for her almost 93 year-old mother, working diligently now to see her transition from Texas to Northwest Arkansas.
• Ronnie serving in all kinds of leadership capacities well beyond his pastoral duties at our church, from matters in our nation to serving as the President of the Southern Baptist Convention.

This list could go on and on, but we have highlighted only a few of these transitions. Yes, transition is an ongoing part of life. We have handled these transitions well due to our commitment to our covenant of marriage, our relationship to God and one another, and our ongoing partnership in marriage, life, family, and ministry.

We have discovered that we cannot stop transition or even deter it. The only thing we can do is respond to it as it comes our way.

5th Key: INTIMACY
We belong together. Even with our unique tendencies and definite weaknesses, it is more than obvious to each of us that God has willed us to be together. Marriage is not always intimate among couples, but our marriage is an intimate relationship we only share together.

Years together has not ensured our intimacy. But we are both convinced that our life-long commitment to live life together has soared our intimacy with each other through our forty years of marriage.

This is why we can share with you that after forty years of marriage; we are more in love with each other today than ever before. Each trial, setback, disappointment, struggle, and challenge we have ever experienced in our marriage has never been greater than our love and forgiveness practiced toward each other through the years.

We love marriage and we love being married to one another. As we have celebrated our fortieth marriage anniversary together, we have done so in humility before God and others, knowing that we are what we are and we are where we are by the grace of our great God.

He has seen us through. He can also see you through.

Following a pastor’s personal salvation and his surrender to the call of God to ministry, I believe his choice of a wife is the most critical decision he can make relating to his life and ministry. I know this, not just by observing the lives of other pastors, but from my own marriage.

I have not always made the best decisions. But when I made a decision to marry Jeana Thomas, it was a great one. Through forty years of marriage, we have learned the value of one another and the value of living life and doing ministry together.

I want to highlight five keys to a successful marriage between a pastor and his wife:

1. Learn from one another.
After being married to one another this long, we have learned so much about each other and marriage. And still, the learning continues. Perhaps what I share today will be an encouragement for your marriage.

2. Walk closely with the Lord individually and together.
One of the things that always encourages me is knowing that when I come out of my home office early in the morning, my wife is also up having her time with God. She does not live on my walk, and I do not live on hers. We walk with the Lord individually. We each take it seriously.

Yet, we walk side-by-side with the Lord. We talk about spiritual and ministry things regularly. We talk with people about their walk with Christ. We pray together nightly. We know it is critical for us to do life and ministry together.

3. Do ministry individually and together.
Jeana has consistently been involved in the ministry of the church. She’s served in the worship ministry, led a cancer support group, participated in weekly jail ministry, and assisted as needed in women’s ministry. She currently leads a neighborhood Bible study, which gives her a unique area of influence.

I am a pastor who does not do ministry alone. Jeana is with me. We have done ministry of all kinds together through the years, from mission trips to funerals to weddings, to so much more. In my service as President of the Southern Baptist Convention, she was there with me. In my present service as the President of the National Day of Prayer, she is there with me.

4. Live life together.
Jeana and I have noticed something in the lives of many ministers and their wives. Many of them live life alone. The wife goes one way and the minister goes another. This is very unhealthy.

Since 1985, Jeana and I have spent Fridays together. Can you believe that? It is rare we are not together on this day. We live life together during the week and on the weekends. Yes, when the children were home, our lives were focused on them, but we still did life together.
Live life together. Ministry and marriage are hard enough. You do not need to fly solo. That is not good for either of you or your marriage. Find a regular time to spend with your spouse. You will not regret it.

5. Honor God’s calling upon your life together.
God is the One who has called you into ministry. If you sensed God’s leadership to marry your spouse, and I assume you did, you must believe that God has called you to walk in ministry together.

Honor God’s calling upon your life together. Do not take it for granted. You have a holy calling upon your lives, both husband and wife.

You have not been called to business, entertainment, or politics, but the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is holy. This is your calling. Live worthy of this call to ministry. Honor God’s calling upon your life together.

Follow Him wherever He leads you. He has a great plan for each of you individually and as a couple. Surrender your marriage to Him now in a new and fresh way. He has wonderful things in store for your life and ministry together.

Twenty-nine years ago this week, following God’s call to our lives, my very young family and I moved to Northwest Arkansas. I would have never imagined that one day I would be writing about my pastoral longevity here or anywhere else.

This past Sunday, I was preaching at the Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida, honoring my dear friend, Dr. Ted Traylor for his twenty-five years of pastoral longevity there. Over dinner, he and Liz remarked to us how fast the years have gone.

Observing and Reflecting
While observing the Traylors this past weekend and hearing them reflect over their ministry, I was reminded of the power of reflection. Obviously, pastors who stay anywhere long enough will reflect on their own journey toward longevity.

Some pastors stay long effectively, while others stay enduringly. The former is much greater than the latter.

3 Secrets to Pastoral Longevity
In my own reflection upon life and ministry, I want to share three secrets to pastoral longevity:

1. Living with the conviction of God’s calling
Staying somewhere a long time can be extremely difficult for a pastor and his family. There are moments when leaving would be much easier than staying. There may be times when you beg God for somewhere to go.

Yet, one of the secrets to pastoral longevity is living with the conviction of God’s calling upon your life and location. This conviction must grip your life and the very essence of who you are. Without it, you will not be able to stay anywhere very long.

2. Learning to surf the seasons of ministry transition
Pastors must understand that ministry is filled with many seasons. Just like a team, there are winning seasons, mediocre seasons, and losing seasons. This is why you cherish the seasons overflowing with fruitfulness and faithfulness.

If you do not cherish the seasons, when the tough times hit, you move to the depth of despair. You get down on ministry as well as the church you are called to serve. This is why it is imperative to learn to surf the seasons of ministry transition. Otherwise, you feel you are drowning. Hang on. Give it time. Keep your head up and soon you will feel the Spirit of God carrying you.

3. Changing your life and ministry practices continually
Pastors promote change within their church, but at times, the greatest need for change is within the pastor himself. Pastors have to experience continual sanctification, becoming more like Jesus continually.

We do this willingly, or the Lord, at times, may do it with us purposefully. This is not always easy to go through for any of us. But if we have a genuine desire to be used of God powerfully, God knows what needs to happen to get us to the point of becoming surrendered and useable.
Therefore, we must be like new wineskins: flexible, filled with elasticity, and conforming to what God is doing within us, through us, and around us. This results in our ministry practices not being something we worship, but something that adjusts to what God is doing at the time.

Cling to 1 Corinthians 15:58
God does not call every pastor to stay somewhere a long time, but He does call every pastor to be faithful and fruitful. What does this mean? Perhaps the following verse will address this question. In fact, if you want pastor longevity, cling to 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

Pastor, rise up in this hour. Be willing to give your life to a place God calls you and simultaneously, be willing to leave tomorrow if God so wills. I have and I will. Our allegiance is to God Himself and His calling in our lives.

Conflict is unavoidable. Conflict happens between husbands and wives, parents and kids, brothers and sisters, Democrats and Republicans, employees and supervisors, CEOs and boards, pastors and leaders in the church, people on social media, and a myriad of other ways.

Sadly, conflict is just one click or thoughtless response away.

In this explosive culture in America, motives are challenged endlessly. Trust in relationships is not earned easily. Criticism of others is ruthless. Cynicism is applauded loudly. Leaders are under detailed scrutiny.

With as many conflicts as we endure, one might think people really are not that concerned with it, content to live with fractured relationships and just move on. I do not believe this is the case.

People Want Conflict Resolved, but do Not Know How
A few years ago, I read that eighty-five percent of people surveyed said they wanted to resolve conflict between themselves and others. The percentage may not be this high in America any longer, but I am certain people do not like to live in conflict.

So why do people not resolve conflict? Why do they let their anger simmer into a rage, privately or publicly? I believe this occurs because they just do not know the actions to take to see it resolved.

How to Resolve Conflict in an Explosive Culture
There is no easy way to resolve conflict, but there are some actions we can take to confront it and live through it.

Be Willing to Take Responsibility
We know that people do not want to live in conflict and want to see it resolved. What we see in the media indicates that no one wants to take responsibility for conflict. However, I believe most people live a life that we do not see on television, through social media, or on the Internet.
I believe people want to see their personal conflicts resolved and are at least willing to consider taking full or partial responsibility for it.

Let me encourage you to take responsibility for conflict. It may not be easy and you may have to swallow your pride. If you are honest with yourself, do you really want to continue feeling the way you feel while living in conflict when you could resolve it and live in personal freedom? I know the answer, and I think you do as well.

While the situation or the relationship may never be the same, take responsibility for the conflict. You have to live with yourself for the rest of your life. The situation or relationship may not be life-long, but the effects of unresolved conflict can follow you.

God commends harmony and we should stop minimizing it. Stop letting the politics of today poison you. Refuse to take on the anger that others feel. This is your life to live. Refuse to live your life in conflict. Be willing to take responsibility for it.

Choose to Forgive and Let it Go
When we bear grudges, our ability to lead others down the path of forgiveness is hindered. Do you want your children and grandchildren, your colleagues in business, your brothers and sisters in Christ, to walk in the lane of unforgiveness and bitterness? Do you want this to be your legacy?

We can learn, practice, and teach what the Scripture says about forgiveness. Our offenses against God are far greater than anyone’s offenses against us. Jesus Christ forgives us from all our offenses against God and we should forgive the offenses that others may have committed toward us. Let it go.

When we practice forgiveness, we can become conduits of reconciliation with and for others. Because unresolved conflict is so damaging, we as believers should be catalysts to help others.

Encourage others to take their next step and to be willing to take responsibility for conflict. Encourage them to set an appointment to deal with it, through a phone call if appropriate, or in person if needed. If things are difficult, appeal for a third person to help you resolve it.
Just resolve it. Forgive and let it go.

Resolve to Live as a Peacemaker
While America may applaud those who yell the loudest, you are not a television camera that follows the latest conflict somewhere. You are a person. You need to live as a peacemaker.
Jesus said, “The peacemakers are blessed, for they will be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9, HCSB). Living like a peacemaker exemplifies the gospel and the gospel life so much more than condemnatory or suspicious words, or a social media rant that fans the fire of conflict.

Resolve to live as a peacemaker. This is the gospel way.

My first pastorate was in a town of 300 people. It was a very special church. Each Sunday I would go to lunch at a different member’s home. We will never forget those days. It was a great place for me to learn.

One of the greatest lessons about vision I learned in the simplest manner while I was at that church. Some of the church’s leadership determined we needed to air condition the building. This led to a business meeting. We were discussing the situation as the ping-pong match began. One of the men felt strongly we did not need to do it because “times were hard.” A godly woman in the church had heard about all she wanted to hear. She stood up and said to them, “God will take care of this. Let’s help the church move forward to the future for our younger families.” In her passionate speech and plea, she nailed the hard times issue by telling them she would give the first $1,000. Needless to say, within minutes the whole issue was solved. The church was getting its own central heat and air unit.

In the middle of the match, I had resolved the deal was over. However, I learned that night I was not thinking big enough! I had forgotten the power of vision and how people love to rally to a better future. The lady had called people to a better future, even demonstrating sacrifice toward it.

What God etched in my heart that night, I will never forget. A godly lady had a vision and was not going to let anyone torpedo it. She painted a vision, and people ran toward it. The Lord has used the lessons I learned that night and built upon them church by church and situation by situation. God wanted to build me into a man of vision and faith.

Casting Vision
When I came to my present church in 1986 and preached for the church to vote on me becoming their pastor, I was grilled with questions for a long time. That night, I began to cast a vision in many areas.

I remember saying, “Surely He wants to use our church to place Jesus and His gospel all over the world from Northwest Arkansas.” That was a strong statement of vision and faith. On that night, I rallied people to a better future.

Through the years, I have felt at times there was no way it would happen, but I continued on in the vision. With the limited population in our region, I lost my vision and faith periodically. Sometimes I would believe we had peaked and there was no way for growth to continue. Yet it continued to happen. Every time I felt the lid was on, God would blow the lid off the church. I was not thinking big enough! Each time, I would look back and say to myself, “I should have known God better than that.” Each time, vision and faith were contributing factors. Each time, people were rallying to a better future for their lives and our church.

Vision is rallying people to a better future. Vision is helping people see what you see already. Vision is calling the invisible into visibility. Vision is usually determined by your burden and by your faith.

Jesus Thinks Big
When Jesus was about to ascend to be with His Father in heaven, He demonstrated the big idea. It all fit into His extraordinary plan. He had died for our sins. He had been raised from the dead supernaturally. Moments before His ascension, He laid some major visionary plans upon His faithful followers. He stated, as recorded by Luke in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

This was a big idea. Jesus was thinking big! He was calling His followers to expand their belief in Him and His good news. He wanted His followers to begin sharing where they lived, then stretch to their own country, and eventually go into the entire world. This plan for reaching the world with news about His gift of eternal life became the marching orders to the church from our commander-in-chief, Jesus Christ. Any vision we have needs to be a vision that is tied to the vision of Jesus. He pulls for your vision to be fulfilled when you join Him in fulfilling His vision for the entire world, beginning with your own world.

When we do this, we experience a better future. We see things happen that do not logically make sense. We begin to realize that when God factors into our lives and churches, He creates something that is powerful! The supernatural power of God is unleashed upon you and your church when you have the heart for and begin to step toward reaching your region with the good news of Jesus with great intentionality. The power escalates along with the vision.
Whether you are trusting God for central heat and air to be placed in your building, or something else, ensure the vision somehow connects with reaching others for Jesus. When you connect what you desire to do with His vision, you send your vision to an entirely different level. The commitment from the divine towards you and your church begins to escalate.

Are you thinking big enough? Is your church thinking big enough? It all begins with our vision. Do you have one?

Every Person in the World
Pastors and church leaders, Great Commission strategizing ignites my spirit like nothing else. I long to exhaust all approaches, and all resources, in telling every person in the world about Jesus Christ and making disciples of all the nations. This has been my heart’s vision for many years.

There is no way I could share a word about vision without mentioning an experience that changed me forever. Johnny Hunt, then president of our convention, appointed me to serve as chairman of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force of the Southern Baptist Convention in 2009-10. I led a Task Force team of 22 diverse leaders in bringing a report and recommendations to our convention of more than 40,000 churches and congregations, on the question of how we might better work together to fulfill the Great Commission.

I led this gifted team for one year through, long, exhausting, and exhilarating hours. I knew this was the most wonderful, significant opportunity I would ever undertake in my earthly life. At times I felt overwhelmed with our task.

The Lord taught me many things during my time with the Task Force. Through my interactions with these 22 leaders, He ultimately matured my vision for the Great Commission. I concluded that time in my life still holding a deep passion and vision to see every person in the world hear the great name of Jesus Christ, but with a matured vision to encourage the next generation of pastors and church leaders to join me in this passion.

As part of my Great Commission vision, today I diligently make time to engage the next generation and encourage them in every way possible. I see tremendous value and importance in pouring into the lives of the next generation of church leaders. I encourage you to come alongside and invest in your developing leaders and share your vision with them – may the Lord ignite your vision in them as well.