Greetings one and all. Monday, we talked about what I learned in Minor Prophets. We talked about what I learned in James and Peter on Tuesday. Today, Wednesday, we’re going to talk about what I learned in Spiritual Leadership. In this class we read The Spiritual Leadership Handbook by Dr JJ Turner. Excellent resource! I’ve read several really good books on leadership. This book by Dr Turner was one of the best books out there on leadership. During the class we talked alot about the book. We talked a lot about many different aspects of leadership. Training little children to be leaders when they grow up. Training the men in the youth group and college group to be leaders in their respective ministry contexts and in the church at large. Many other aspects of leadership like leadership in a mission field context, leading by example, and etc.
In this class we had to make two different presentations on leadership. For the first assignment our instructor gave us an assigned topic to do. The second presentation was up to us to decide. Our instructor told us to talk about whatever you specifically are passionate about.
My first presentation was on Jesus: The Master Teacher. I talked about Jesus’ style of teaching. That He talked about things that people already knew about. Jesus’ earthly ministry was in a time before they had refrigerators so they couldn’t put leftover food away. So they used salt as preservative. Salt was used for that and for seasoning. That is how we are to be. When Jesus told us we are the light of the world He meant we are to be out there leading the way for people back to God. Jesus was the Master Teacher in that we are to talk about whatever is culturally relavent that our audience will understand. Jesus was the Master Teacher in that He helped people understand how to apply what they heard and that they needed to apply it. Those who apply well are like those who build there lives on a solid and ferm foundation. When the storms of life come, their lives won’t be destroyed by them. Those who don’t apply these lessons well are like those who build their lives on the shakey foundation like sand. When the storms of life come, those who built their lives on a sandy foundation won’t stand, it won’t last. It will crash. And Jesus told earthly stories with heavenly meanings (parables) to many people. He always started those with “the kingdom of heaven is like …”. And again He told them things and illustrations He knew they would understand. We would do well to follow His example.
In my second presentation I taught on leaders knowing and telling the truth. I wrote a blog post some time ago about the man of God from Judah in 1st Kings 13. The man of God from Judah knew what God wanted him to do, and he disobeyed Him and was punished by being killed by a lion. The prophet of God lied to him, and I believe was held reponsible to God for what happened. We must be sure to know and tell the truth. If we lie to people, we will be held reponsible. We also talked about 2nd Timothy 4:1-5. We should always remember who we are and whos we are. We should always remember who called us to do what we are doing. Always be prepared to do what God called us to be doing. Be prepared when it’s convieniant and when it’s not. Remember there are those who turned away from the One who called you. May God tell us that we fulfilled the ministry He gave us to do.
My other classmates did a fantastic job on their presentations as well. It was an excellent class. It was very practicle and beneficial. I learned so much from our instructor and all of my classmates.
Tomorrow I’ll write about what I learned in Colossians and Ephesians. God bless you all.
