"Be Very Strong and Courageous." The Lord tells Joshua several times in Joshua chapter one that he should be strong and courageous in the invasion of Canaan. Then at the end of the chapter the community responds to Joshua telling them what the Lord has instructed them to do. Their response?
"Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go...Only be strong and courageous." Joshua 1:16-18
Can you imagine the power of a community of believers with this kind of dialogue in their hearts and mouths!
God gives clear direction.
The leader communicates it to the community.
The community responds positively.
Then, the community presses the leader to be strong and courageous and active.
In most churches today the Pastor gets a dream that is big and creative and for some reason it is the congregation's job to keep the Pastor from getting out of hand. What if the congregation's response was, "Pastor, that is a big vision! That road will be difficult and hard! Let's do it, but Pastor, don't be a whimp about it. Get busy and be strong and courageous!"
I write this blog entry today with tears in my eyes because our last board meeting was a beautiful picture of God giving direction, and the community then responding by pressing the leader to be immediate and forward moving on the vision.
I will post more about this later, but just to give you a glimpse, God has given me a theme for 2010. I will spend most of this fall preparing for the accomplishment of the 2010 vision and theme. If we will obey the Lord, and be strong and courageous, God is going to bless our sock off!
2 comments:
God bless you pastor paul. keith and bryan waugh... miss y'all very much. Love your passion to inspire and lead by example, still motivates me. God bless your ministry..
Thanks Keith! Great to hear from you. We love you and miss you and Bryan a lot. Jenan and I talk about you often. III John 2
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