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My goal is to become the best disciplemaking pastor and expository preacher I can become by the grace of God’s Spirit. I believe the pastor's primary role is to prepare people for the work of ministry by being an instructor in the Christian life, teaching people to obey. This is much more than simply dispensing great truths, no matter how eloquent one might be. Preaching is the first and most important step in making disciples in the local church, but only the first step.
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I am committed to the Great Commandment and believe the way we can best love God with all our being is to obey Him with all that we are; heart, soul, and mind (Mt. 22:36-38). The best application is to fully obey the Great Commission, first by being a disciple, and then by making disciples. Among leaders, this calls for leading the church to be a Great Commandment, Great Commission church (Mt. 28:18-20).
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The mission must come first (
Luke 9:23-25 ). By placing the mission first, there is impact in the community harvest field and the member's spiritual needs are met. The church is to multiply through its leaders and members. They are to actively seek to plant other churches as a means of evangelism.
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You cannot make disciples without accountability, and you cannot develop a helpful accountability system without structure. This is the role of church leaders (Mt. 28:20, I Thess. 5:14). Accountability serves as a catalyst to obedience.
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A disciplemaking church employs an intentional strategy based on their Philosophy of Ministry. A Philosophy of Ministry answers both the why and how questions. Why are we here and how are we going to fulfill our mission? It serves like a constitution to promote agreement and direction. My goal to lead each church I am called to pastor to develop their own Philosophy of Ministry.
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Making disciples is a primary work and purpose of a church because it creates healthy Christians and through reproduction and multiplication, the world is evangelized God's way. Thus it meets the requirement of glorifying God to the fullest through obedience and bearing of fruit. My vision is to see multiplication happen within a local church.
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A church must properly and clearly identify the role of the pastor, the people, and the disciplemaking process.
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The priesthood of all believers. Each person is a called minister of the Gospel and is empowered and gifted to fulfill God's will for their life and their church.
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Multiplication is both a principle and a method for increasing the impact and outreach of a congregation.
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Apprenticeship is critical element to leadership development; i.e., the church creates a system that chooses potential leaders, trains them, tests them and then deploys them.
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Leaders should be selected by character and by gifts, in that order.
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Philosophical purity must be maintained at the leadership level. I want to help the leadership go in the same direction. Thus all leaders must be in agreement with the doctrinal statement and the Philosophy of Ministry of the church.
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Decentralization of ministry is possible through small groups.
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Evangelism is a catalyst to the practice of the spiritual disciplines. My goal is to help every person to know how they are involved in the evangelism ministry of the church.
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I believe that change is vital to any congregation's ability to be renewed and reformed. But before change can occur, values must be adjusted or clarified so that people see the need for change.
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I believe high commitment is for the normal Christian life and that it can be built and managed. A high commitment environment is possible within the contemporary evangelical church. Everyone is highly committed to something. Jesus desires us to be highly committed to the right things. My goal is to call people to the high expectations Jesus has of his disciples.
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I believe training phases modeled by Christ as a helpful paradigm for understanding how to assist people on their spiritual journeys. While I don't see the phases as the purpose of the Gospels or a true Systematic Theology, I do see them as an insightful truth modeled by Jesus. Those phases are "Come and See, Come and Follow me, Come and Be with Me, and Remain in Me." These are outlined in the book New Century Disciplemaking by Bill Hull.
Comments
My 4 convictions are -
1. Jesus Christ is coming again soon.
2. Because Jesus is coming again soon, the urgent task is world evangelization.
3. The key to world evangelization is intentional disciplemaking.
4. At the heart of intentional disciplemaking is a radical, New testament discipleship to Jesus, who is coming again soon!
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