Spirit Driven Blog

It was Friday night in Costa Rica - the night before we were to leave to return to our home country. With sweet memories of our previous visit with our friends on a similar Friday night a year before, we eagerly gave up sleep to close our time. We knew that this would be a Spirit-driven evening filled with singing, testimony, eating, and just being together with friends.

The activities were not different from the activities we do when we get together here at home. But there was a different sense of time. Here in our U.S. church, we had a starting time, a schedule of how long each part of the event would last and a fairly firm ending time. At home, we sense in people a stronger commitment to time and less commitment to relationships. But in Cost Rica, we felt a much stronger sense of focus on relationships between people, one to another and less commitment to time. In the Costa Rica evening gathering, there was no set ending time. There was also no expectation that everyone would arrive or not leave by a certain time.

You may ask, “Which is better?” I do not know. The point is that the cultures are different. But individual people are less different than the average cultural norm. In Costa Rica, some of our friends were people at the gathering who were on time and were more committed to moving the event along. On the other hand, here at home we have friends who are more casual about starting and ending time. As I pointed out in the last post, people are not an average national culture. People are individuals and God’s unique creation.

It is easy to get trapped into unintentionally relating to people as a commodity - that is until you begin to form relationships with them. I remember when we were in Costa Rica going to Spanish language school and living with a family who were initially strangers to us and therefore included in whatever foolish stereotype we had about Costa Ricans. As we developed a friendship with this wonderful family and their friends, we began to see them each as an individual - a unique and special person.

Over the years of going back to Costa Rica and visiting our new and now close friends, we have learned it is dangerous and misleading to put anyone into some type of cultural norm. People are God’s creation and each one is a one-of-a-kind creation, special in God’s sight and to be special to us. These friends are wonderful people of God - our family.

We learned an important leadership lesson in Costa Rica: You cannot manage or lead people based on generalizations about them. A leader must learn about them as unique creations of God.

Years ago when I was a young banker I remember when my employer changed the name of our personnel department to the “human resource” department. I also remember in business management class when people were sometimes referred to as one of the organizational “input factors.” It always bothered me that the company I worked for would think of me as a human “resource” rather than just as a “human” being or a person. I always saw myself as a person as did my family and friends - except maybe for a couple of my teen-age years. But the idea of being thought of as a human resource or input factor made me feel like a commodity - to be used up and discarded.

This brings me to the question, “When do people cease to be people and become a commodity in the eyes of leadership - be it business, organizational, or church?” Or, “When and how might human commodities cease to be a resource and become partners in relationship with leaders?” Why don’t we engage this theme and see where it leads.

My good friend and ministry partner, Gary Pool of Search Engine Optimization Portland through the use of his SEO talents has helped The Spirit Driven Church reach 87 countries since the website began. Visitors to our site have arrived here by over 110 different Keyword phrase searches during the month of March alone. Gary touches many lives for Christ through his commitment to the spread of the Gospel through the optimization of web sites.

If you were to ask me how he does it, I would have to tell you I don’t know. Frankly, I appreciate the fact I do not have to know. I do not have to concern myself with the web site because I know Gary concerns himself with the task. If you want to know more about Gary, check out his web site at SEO Portland. I think with Gary’s help, you may find yourself relaxing, at least about you web site.

I once heard a friend say, “I just don’t know when our money goes. It seems like every month there is always a lot of month left at the end of the money.” Where does it go?
It doesn’t evaporate like water left in a glass for a week. It doesn’t walk out the door.
It doesn’t go through metamorphosis changing into something like a new television. Many people do not have enough money because they never have learned that a lack of money is often the result of having more money going out than coming in.

So where does the money go? It goes to only a limited number of places. People spend it for real needs of the family – like food and shelter. People spend it for wants; which are not real needs. People spend it for debt payment – for debts caused by spending more than we had some time in the past. But mostly, People just spend it without thinking about the consequences of what they are doing and soon the money is gone and the bills continue to come in.

Perhaps the answer is to understand whose money it is we are spending. Perhaps if we fully realized it is God’s money not ours and we are poor stewards what is His. Perhaps the solution is to desire to become Spirit-driven stewards of God’s money – the money He has entrusted to us. Who knows, we could become Spirit-driven people doing Spirit-driven stewarding and involved in a Spirit-driven community of believers. Now that is an exciting thought.

In November, 2007, for those close enough to Seattle, Washington or Portland, Oregon or willing to travel, Ministry Management Seminars is providing a conference on tax, legal and financial management issues.

Here are some comments from previous seminars:
“Well worth the time―4 hour format well paced and focused―Great ongoing training”

“I will return in the future for more!” “Just what we needed! Answered a lot of questions we’ve been puzzling over.”

“Very good presentation―easy to follow―excellent information” “Good coverage on wide range of topics.”

If you are interested, you can check out the details and register on the Ministry Management Seminar web site at
http://www.ministrymanagementseminars.org/.

I hope some of you can come.

Allen Quist

Readers, do you often use a metaphor when you speak or write? In my writing, I am discovering just how much the metaphor adds to communication. To someone trying to get a thought across to someone else, the metaphor is like feeding a helpless person with a soup spoon. A soup spoon is a tool; a metaphor is a tool, it is not the message, it carries the message. A soup spoon carries various foods; a metaphor carries various ideas. When you feed someone with a soup spoon, you are giving to that person, but they have to open their mouth to receive it. With the metaphor you are giving someone a new way of looking at an idea or thought, but they have to open their mind to receive it.

For example, let us use the image of an aquarium you might find in a home or a pet store to clarify some aspect of parenting. Let’s say parenting is like an aquarium. In the aquarium, the fish are free to swim anywhere they want – within the confines of the glass case or boundaries. The fish can decide to swim near the top of the tank or near the bottom. They can swim fast or just slowly glide around looking at us looking in.

Good parenting is like the aquarium. The parent gives their children boundaries to keep them safe but gives them freedom to live within those boundaries so they might learn about life without getting seriously hurt.

You all come back. Next time we will look at another metaphor for good parenting.

Enduring Values for Leadership Development
Drawn from a Study of 1 Timothy
by Allen H. Quist

As the popularity of leadership theories come and go, the life and battles of the first century church remain as a constant light illuminating the issues facing church leadership development today. This paper examines the values, culture, and struggles of the early church through the lens of Paul’s First Letter to Timothy, written to redirect the focus of God’s people to God’s honor through discernment of true from false teachers. In Timothy, God provides His values, His transcendent objective, and His marching orders for church leadership throughout the ages.

This paper will examine all of 1 Timothy since the first century church would have read this letter in its entirety (Dean and Church “Letter”). The letter reveals its theme through an inclusion (Campbell 189-190), a stylistic device using the same theme in the beginning and the end of a text to form “a literary envelope” with an overarching message (Carson 37). Paul’s goal is to convince Timothy and the church in Ephesus to live godly lives (1 Tim. 1:16-17; 6:15-16; Campbell 191-192), and to preserve their relationship with God (1:5). His goal is to endure in the fight against false teaching (1:3-11, 19-20; 4:1-10; 6:3-5, 20-21) and to discern truth from falsehood based on God’s Word.

From this context, this paper will identify Paul’s Spirit-given concern about the spiritual vitality of the church, the capacity and willingness of God’s leaders to battle falsehood over the long-term, and the commitment and knowledge to teach God’s truth. The result overlaid on a picture of our current society and culture will reveal God’s enduring passion for His fictive family; the battles faced by the family of God; and the determination, understanding, and skills necessary to fight the battle. The challenge will be for today’s leaders to prepare and develop leaders for tomorrow who value Spirit-led discernment based on God’s Word, who value godliness, who value their relationship with God, and who value endurance in battle.

The complete paper, Moral Leadership Development Today: Enduring Values for Leadership Development, drawn from a study of 1 Timothy, is available on SpiritDrivenChurch.net.

The Sermon on the Mount provides many examples of Jesus’ values applicable to leadership. For example, Matthew 5:21-26 provides three statements in one triad (Stassen 272): do not murder; do not hate; and go reconcile. Stassen argues that in Matthew’s Greek rhetoric style, the emphasis is on the third point. So while Jesus advocates “not murdering” or “not hating,” Jesus’ strongest emphasis is on His value of reconciliation between people. A leadership principle would be: A leader seeks to reconcile people.

Looking at this same text psychologically, Jesus led the argument from a cultural prohibition of an act of murder to a deeper psychological level – a prohibition of the damaging emotion of hate. Jesus then concluded the argument with an even deeper psychological level, one of reconciling a relationship which requires both a cognitive change and a change in behavior.

While few leaders murder their opponents, Jesus forces the leaders to examine their own heart to rid their heart from hate. Then with a final rhetorical third point thrust, Jesus directs leaders to humble themselves and go to the offending person to take the initiative to reconcile.

Works cited:

Stassen, Glen. “The Fourteen Triads of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:21-7:12).” Journal of Biblical Literature 122.2 (2003): 267-308. 27 Aug. 2005

Equipping the next generation for leadership.
by Allen Quist

Your pastor suddenly announces that he’s retiring. A major industry in your community closes and your leadership moves away. Your congregation grows and you suddenly realize your current leaders are unable to keep up with the demands on their time.

These events are part of the natural flow of life. But it still leaves churches with a constant challenge—where do you find qualified leaders to replace those who have left?

There are two questions we need to answer:

* What is God looking for in a church leader?

* How can you get that leader for your congregation?

You can read this article at: BuildingChurchLeaders.