David Ralph

Great Words of Wisdom

This morning I had an awesome opportunity to sit and be mentored by one of the greatest “pastor to pastors” that I know.  He sat at my table and he poured out his heart, sharing with me some of the most incredible ministry insights.  Most of them were reminders, but they were reminders that I needed to hear.  I wrote dozens of pages in my journal.  I thought I would simply share the insights that he shared with me.  There are 37 of them – so this might be a little longer entry than normal.  He shared them with me in more detail – but I will give you the highlights as a series of bullet points.  Here they are:

1. It all starts with prayer – so be prayerful in all that you do.
2. Your faith needs to be sincere and bold and visible to everyone.
3. Be completely passionate about the ministry that you have been called to – gifted for – ordained in.
4. Don’t be fearful or intimidated by the negative critics in your life – instead lead with a balance between power and love and self discipline.
5. Never be ashamed about the mission that God has called you to – defend it boldly.
6. Know that there will be negative critics of who you are – what you do – how you teach – how you lead.
7. Rely completely on the power of God for ministry.
8. Live a “holy life”.  Not out of obligation or fear but out of gratitude for the grace and the mercy and the work of Jesus in your life.
9. The good, life changing teaching of Jesus should be at the heart of all of your teaching.
10. Your teaching must always be biblically grounded, Holy Spirit guided and presented with the love and grace of Jesus.
11. People will leave the ministry that you lead – including those who once were close to you.  It happened to Jesus (John 6:44) and it will happen to you.
12. Others will stay committed to your leadership and the mission of the church no matter what.  Encourage and build up these people.
13. Make sure that you are continually turning over the ministry to young, called, gifted, trained and qualified leaders.
14. Make it your aim to please Jesus and don’t worry about pleasing others, unless it also pleases Him.
15. Know that there is nothing that you will encounter in ministry that Jesus didn’t go through.
16. Don’t get into useless, unproductive quarrels with negative people – that only leads to a negative outcome and can leave you feeling negative which can distract you from the ministry you were called to.
17. Focus your energy and passion on doing your very best – your best teaching – leading – serving – caring – helping.
18. Practice repentance before preaching repentance.
19. Use your passion and energy and focus to be a better servant leader.
20. Pursue love and peace with everyone, out of a pure heart.
21. Be kind to everyone – like Jesus was.
22. Get rid of all resentments towards your critics and those who have been negative about you.
23. Understand where you critics are coming from – see it from their perspective and hope for the best for them instead of hoping that bad things will happen to them.
24. Have a positive influence over the negative aspects of our culture without being influenced by it.  He gave me a list of 20 negative things to watch out for.
25. Be a protector against any kind of false teaching coming into the church.
26. Know the power of how the Bible changed your life and teach it to others so their lives are transformed.  Transformational teaching is the goal more than informational teaching.
27. Always have someone who is mentoring you.
28. Teach the truths of the Bible – whether it is popular or not.
29. Walk alongside those who are struggling with obeying God’s truths – lovingly and graciously and courageously – in a one on one setting – show then where they are offside – carefully and patiently guiding them back to obedience – knowing some people will shove you away.
30. Keep a level head in all situations.
31. Make spiritual explorers (outsiders) the primary focus of your ministry.
32. Carry out your ministry responsibilities with passion and diligence.
33. Leave a legacy by doing life and ministry well.
34. Be on guard – there will be critics of you message and your mission – they will do it in subtle ways.  Confront them in a loving and gracious way.
35. When you feel all alone in ministry – know that Jesus is right beside you helping you to carry out His mission.
36. Rejoice that God is leading and building the church…not you.
37. Be positive about everything you do – it is infectious on the people you lead.

That’s the list.  You want to know who this great pastor/ leader is, don’t you?  His name is Paul.  He lived 2000 years ago.  He wrote a pastor to pastor letter to a young man named Timothy.  2 Timothy records the details of this letter.  I spent four hours today studying it.   God’s spirit spoke so clearly to me.  I prayed through what I discovered.  The final part of my prayer today was that it is my desire and hope to live these truths out in my life and ministry.  I am so glad Paul showed up at my table this morning.    His advice was awesome and exactly what I needed to hear.  It has really excited me for the next leg of my ministry at Lakeside.