Category Archives: Empowerment

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God Goes to the Absolute Extreme for the Lost

Understanding Jesus from the perspective of the Father’s love can really inform the way you abide in Him, serve others, and pray. The Gospel of John tells the story of the relationship between the Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus and their indescribable love for you and for me. It is a story about Jesus Christ’s extravagant and extreme love for the lost. I challenge you as a leader to ponder this truth and consider how it may change you by fully embracing it.

the father goes to an absolute extreme for the lost

The Greatest Opener of All Time

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5)
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What is Blue Zone Ministry?

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. – Mark 1:35

Blue Zone is the category of Full Spectrum Ministry that brings life to all the rest. Sadly, Blue Zone (rest and retreat) is the type of ministry that leaders neglect the most. 

blue zone ministry, full spectrum youth ministry

Photo by Matt Gross on Unslpash

The consequence of neglecting our need to retreat from the busyness of life is painful. Leaders who don’t develop a regular rhythm of rest and retreat suffer from emotional, spiritual, and physical burnout. They lose their ability to share grace and truth with the people around them. 

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What Leaders Can Do to Help Those Who Feel Isolated: Four Lessons from the Berlin Airlift Of 1948

Joel Vermillion, Director of Wilderness Ministry Institute shares some incredible insight on how leaders can help others who feel isolated, a condition that is uniquely affecting the world at this time.

THE CANDY BOMBERS UNTOLD STORY OF THE BERLIN AIRLIFT

I’ve always had a fascination with WWII as one of my grandfathers was a chaplain in the US Army, and my Mom grew up in postwar Germany. You’ll often find a book about WWII or people from that time period on my nightstand. One of the books I’ve read during this quarantine is called “The Candy Bombers: The untold story of the Berlin airlift and America’s finest hour” by Andrei Cherny.
What Leaders Can Do to Help Those Who Feel Isolated: Four Lessons from the Berlin Airlift Of 1948
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Your Leadership Voice and the Holy Spirit

As a leader who wants to successfully reach the next generation of young people with the Gospel, you may find yourself in a start-up situation with your church or mission organization.

NAME REALITY: WHAT’S YOUR “LEADERSHIP VOICE?”

Some of us are more natural “starters” and others are more natural maintainers or menders. That is reality. But if I could submit, from a discipleship perspective whether you are more of a pioneer-type on one end of the spectrum of leadership, or a guardian on the other end of the spectrum, we all need to be open to the Holy Spirit’s desires for our ministry. (As a side note, here is a link to take a really cool, free assessment looking at the 5 Voices of leadership: pioneer, creative, connector, nurturer, guardian).
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MOSES OFFERS A REMEDY FOR LEADER FATIGUE | NUMBERS 11

In the closing hours of our four-day retreat with three youth pastors in Asia, the Lord led us to a devotion in the book of Numbers…

Moses was at a point of extreme fatigue in his ministry (like many youth leaders I know). Frustrated and burdened by all of the people looking to him for leadership, he realizes he is in over his head and beyond his abilities. So he cries out to God for help. At wits-end and discouraged from the pressure, God responds to Moses. But he doesn’t answer his prayer the way he was expecting.

leader fatigue

Equipping leaders

Moses just wanted some pots of meat to quell the people’s hunger. God would later provide the meat, but not without offering Moses some more important provision. Instead of meat, God provides Moses with more leaders to shepherd Israel. Seventy to be exact. Seventy spirit-filled leaders would help solve this leadership crisis:

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4 Ways to Exponentially Improve Youth Leadership Training | Daniel 1:17-20

Like the priests who took the first steps to lead Israel into the icy waters of the Jordan River (Joshua 3), young leaders today need to be apprenticed toward brave new leadership.  When you take into account the huge youth population bulges in many nations coupled with geopolitical instability likely for decades to come, vanguard student ministry organizations and churches committed to introducing more kids to Jesus must start thinking more about strategic sustainability. Strategic sustainability implies health and growth even in the midst of unpredictability. To achieve this you must have a principle-driven leadership training framework.

At the center of any strategy to influence wide swaths of young people of any nation is to identify, train, and empower younger leaders. In this post I’m not writing to just any leader, I’m addressing those young leaders, organizations, and churches out there who dream about changing the next generation with the Gospel.  As I look at young leaders in the Bible who stand out as models for us to follow today, Daniel rises to the top.

LEADERSHIP TRAINING MUST ADAPT, RE-EDUCATE, AND RE-TRAIN

Daniel provides a clear pathway for leaders to expand their influence more broadly. We can’t rely on cultural norms to provide an incubator for basic leadership understanding anymore. Churches and mission organizations must pioneer the way and in many ways re-educate and re-train their younger leaders who want to serve. We can’t make assumptions anymore. We must have much more than mere skills training. Instead, leadership training must involve a combination of education+training+apprenticeship. That will be the foundation of strategic sustainability for student ministry organizations in a world of fracturing cultural norms.

Daniel had four remarkable qualities that broadened his leadership: COMPREHENSIVE KNOWLEDGE, CHARACTER, COMPETENCE, and an ability to CONNECT people to God by using his spiritual gifts. These four qualities are the mark of catalytic leaders. Now lets look at each of them in context…

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5 Priorities for Mentoring Chinese Church Leaders

If I had a thousand pounds China should have it- if I had a thousand lives, China should have them. No! Not China, but Christ. Can we do too much for Him? Can we do enough for such a precious Saviour? -Hudson Taylor (circa 1900)

5 mentoring needs of leaders in China

The church in China has been growing rapidly for many years. We know some things about the development student ministry in China but it is still somewhat of a mystery to the outside world. Yet one thing that China has a lot of is students. So what challenges will the Chinese church face in the coming decades as they raise up the next generation of young leaders? How will they provide the needed mentoring to grow the church and reach the millions of Chinese who do not yet know Jesus? Here are 5 current needs for mentoring among Chinese church leaders…

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Empowerment: 8 Ways You Can Increase Someone’s Potential

 build someone up today

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up… – Ephesians 4:11-12

LEADERSHIP IS ABOUT EMPOWERMENT: BUILDING SOMEONE ELSE UP

Jesus spent most of his time building up Peter, James, and John. Three guys. And the rest of his time was primarily invested in building up the other eight disciples. Then the crowds got a little bit of his time too as he spread seeds of the Gospel extravagantly up on the masses. Things happen in a person’s life when they have someone intentionally trying to build them up. Empowerment is God’s design.