It has been several weeks since Henry Mukonda has been here. The effects of having an African pastor here in my part of the world are still being felt. People are beginning to realize the worldwide spiritual battle going on with the enemy. People have become more aware of what is happening with the Islamic religion. They are more sensitive to the needs of brothers and sisters in the Body, more aware of the suffering going on. Plus Christians are seeing that WILD is impacting other parts of the world, not just locally.
The team is being assembled to journey to
To update all of you, Pastor Banda is back pastoring. We are praising God that he had a full recovery. Thank you to all of you who have emailed me with your thoughts.
Turtle Leadership
Some years ago a successful businessman named Allan Emery drove to an airport to pick up a well-known pastor from
“Allan,” he said, “when I was a schoolboy, from time to time we’d see a turtle on a fencepost, and every time we did, we knew he didn’t get there by himself.”
It is easy at times to think as an old song goes, “I Did It My Way”; that the accomplishments in my life, I made them happen. Reality is we are that turtle on a fencepost. We did not get where we are today without the help of the Lord and others.
One big pitfall as a spiritual leader is the struggle of being bigger and greater than we really are. Remember David. In 2 Samuel 11:1, the Bible says, “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in
For whatever reason King David did not go off to battle that spring as was the normal custom of what kings were supposed to do. Rather, David stayed home and got in trouble with Bathsheba. Perhaps he felt was above that activity or he did not have to serve his kingdom that way any more. If David was thinking that he was the king and a king serves his people, he would have been at battle with his troops.
Pride can so easily creep in when we have been even mildly successful. It is only by the grace of God we are who we are and we need to have the humility Paul showed as he indicated he was the worst of sinners (1 Timothy
Philippians 2:3-5 clearly shows we are to be others’ focused just as Jesus did. This was His attitude He lived by, otherwise we would have no eternal hope. The fruit of our lives that God blesses and blesses others does not contain pride. This fruit is focused off of us and onto others.
Whenever I take the attitude like what David had, I am putting an “x” on me and offering Satan a free shot. Too often another sinful act follows, once again probably a very “minor” sin but the pattern is beginning to be set. The spiral continues downward.
We need honest, sincere friends who hold us accountable to break into that spiral or are willing to remind us that we are turtles on a fencepost. We need to develop habits of praising others for their accomplishments, to be serving people whatever way we can. The willingness to serve anyone in whatever what they need to be served, without fanfare is a good attitude to develop.
ILLUSTRATION
Here is an illustration on the need for solid, clear spiritual leadership training and how to combat false teachings and faiths that infiltrate our churches. This comes from Henry Mukonda.
The rise of other faiths;
