Day 1 Afternoon Session, Good News Community Church Leadership Summit II
A Testimony// Ptr. Sonny B.
The guy had quite the message. I don’t want to go into too much detail… His story is his, alone. I will say it involves a childhood of anger, a growth in arrogance and a fall to repentance. And even at the progression of repentance, came even more affliction… but when he came to his wits’ end, so a vision came as well; A vision, that is, with a message:
“Let it go and die, but if God has a calling for you, receive it.”
While there was a miraculous recovery, great resistance to the call followed. But the Word endured: “O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,”1 Timothy 6:20
Even past hardship, and in the presence of greater hardship (e.g. Covid), there was still reason for overwhelming conviction of righteousness. Greater signs of great grace. And even more of the Word: “…(to) keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,” 1 Timothy 6:14
The launch was so significant, the direction was definite. But there comes the call. The focus. And even in the presence of calamity from the outside in and from the inside out, tempting you to compromise your integrity, there comes another word:
We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
2 Corinthians 6:3-10
Through the course of this testimony, we’ve received much of His word, just as Pastor Sonny did. And we can stop there. However, here we have another perspective, another facet to the finished work of Christ, the Grace of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit – that is, that not only do we have a living Word… but we also we have a living Witness – One that keeps us in integrity, one that, as just mentioned, keeps us from putting an obstacle in anyone’s way.
Pastor Sonny had a very colorful life, and still does. Much can be learned from his testimony. Much can be learned from all our testimonies. But it’s not about the color we shine; let us never forget that it takes Light to shine for the colors to come out.
For Pastor Sonny, and for all our lives – we give thanks, for it is in Christ that we have life, and this life is the light of men. And not only does the light reveal the colors… but we also learn something: Focused light brings fire.
Lots of people talk about our being on fire, but it’s from the Light.
Repeated 7 Practices of Effective Ministry (Continued) // Ptr. John M.
(3) Narrow the Focus – It’s not focus at all if it’s not narrowed. Whether you’re leading yourself or others, you need focus. The opposite is being pushed to and fro by everything that demands your focus, and taking in the confusion and the anxiety that ensues.
Not really listening to the main speaker now, I think I’m going back to what was shared earlier.
“O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge”1 Timothy 6:20
Guard the deposit. We’re talking about focus, and where I think we should be starting off, instead of figuring out what we can focus on… we ought to know the focus that was deposited into us… and to guard it, is to primarily know it.
In fact, I think what follows serves as a nice guide as well… because we may not know what we want, but we have a bigger and more precise picture of what we don’t want: That is, distractions (‘irreverent babble’), and ‘contradictions’. If we don’t know what was deposited, perhaps we should withdraw what does not give value, or worse, takes value away.
And this is concerning self-leadership… But God forbid that it stays there. No, our leadership ought to ensure that we also help others to avoid the irreverent babble, and the contradictions.
(4) Teach Less For More – I’d like to keep it there. Just want to point out that it’s funny that we’re allocating time to explain this.
I’m ending it here. Too much spoken, too little heard.
The Light needs no explanation. It only needs to be received. Reflected.
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