Throughout our lives we have been so blessed with friendships and ministry opportunities.
This blog is meant to share what God has been doing in, for and through us. It is also used as a resource page for teaching and preaching Dave has had the opportunity to do. We do this for the purpose of GLORIFYING GOD and HELPING OTHERS GLORIFY GOD.
Reading Lead by Paul Tripp has been a blessing because I took a different approach to reading this book. I slowly went through the book. This helped me think about what each chapter was about and what I needed to learn and/or remember about each topic.
Part of this reflection time included writing a general, leadership prayer for each chapter. I put the links for each prayer below.
Another part of this reflection time was a more personal prayer.
The following two quotes helped me think about the theme of this book.
"Because we are not sovereign over the situation in which we minister, because we have no power to change people's heart, because we are often in the way of instead of being part of what God is doing, because we cannot predict the future, we have no ability on our own to achieve ministry growth or success."
"Ministry success is a testament to who God is and what he is willing to do through us by grace."
Ministry leaders need to have a ministry team helping one another through, not just this specifically rough time, but even so times of blessing AND challenge. I would recommend church and ministry leaders read this book. It will be a blessing and a challenge.
A prayer I wrote using quotes from chapter 12 - Presence - Paul Tripp's Lead: 12 Gospel Principles for Leadership in the Church
Lord, God, the one who has everlasting dominion and does what he wants,
Don't let me forget your presence, Lord. Fill the eyes of my heart and help me see the glory and presence of the one who created all of creation and controls it to this day. Every good thing is the work of hands greater than your own, including the ministry you give me.
May I find my confidence in you and not in myself and never quit reminding myself of your presence and glory. I don't want to quit doing what I'm doing out of allegiance to you, Lord, and love for others and do it for me. Lord, don't allow me to take too much credit for the results of your ministry. Ministry success is a testament to who you are, God.
Thank you so much for your rescuing mercy especially when it all seems to be crashing down, when sin is exposed or where ministry leadership is taken away.
God, your presence is my hope, my confidence, my refuge, my courage,
Your presence calls me to humility and dependency.
Your presence is a constant motivation to continue.
Amen!
Bad things happen to a ministry leader and to a leadership community when ministry leadership works so commands focus that they begin to functionally forget the presence of the Lord. (211)
Leading a ministry without the presence of the Lord filling the eyes of your heart is dangerous for any leader or leadership community. If it's possible to look at creation and not see the glory and presence of the one who created it all and controls it to this day then it is also possible to look at your ministry and forget that every good thing is the work of hands greater than your own. (212)
Every human being is glory-oriented because that orientation is meant to drive us to God. (214)
For ministry leaders, success is more spiritually dangerous than failure, much power rather than no power tempts us to dominate, acclaim is more of a potential spiritual pitfall than rejection, and seasoned experience carries with it more temptation than the unknowns of starting out. (215)
There is too much confidence in self and self-importance among us. (215)
We must never quit reminding ourselves of God's presence and glory lest we quit doing what we're doing out of allegiance to him and love for others and do it for ourselves. (216)
We ministry leaders are given way too much credit for the results of our ministry, and we should all resist it. People tend to think that we have way more power and wisdom than we actually have. Ministry success is a testament to who God is and what he is willing to do through us by grace. (216)
God will not surrender his glory to another. He is not willing that we take credit for what he alone can do. (217)
Those moments when it all comes crashing down, when sin is exposed or where ministry leadership is taken away, are not judgment but rescuing mercy. (217)
This glory-of-God culture is protection against self-glory and will keep us from taking credit for ministry success we could never produce on our own. (217)
The men of Israel are afraid not just because Goliath is big and powerful, but because they are forgetful. (218)
As a ministry leader, God's presence is your hope, God's presence is your confidence, God's presence is your refuge, God's presence is your courage, God's presence calls you to humility and dependency, and God's presence is your constant motivation to continue. (221)
Ministry leadership, at hit core, is about a community of leaders practicing together the presence of the Lord. (221)
