Many of you know that Bob Russell came to speak at our church this weekend. Bob is the retired minister of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY. Bob helped grow the church from 120 members to over 18,000 in a 40 years span. Bob has moved on to a new ministry now as he mentors Senior Ministers from around the country and visits churches to speak, encourage, and equip. Bob is a great man of God and is wise to how God can build a church.
As you can imagine, having him here this weekend was such a blessing to all of us who spent time with him. He spoke twice on Sunday (both are available online at www.myoakwood.org click teaching). Both messages were powerful. On Monday, Bob stayed and met with our church staff and elders. Again, it was equally a powerful time of being challenged and encouraged.
Anytime that you get to spend with someone like Bob Russell is a time to soak it up. That's exactly what I did the entire weekend. Bob and I were able to spend some time together just the 2 of us where I was able to ask questions and seek wisdom on some of the issues faces facing our leadership and our church. Bob had several things that he shared that I'd like to share to encourage other leaders in churches, whether lay leadership or church staff.
1) If you stay one step ahead of your people, you're a leader. If you get 3 steps ahead, you're a target. Sometimes when you sit in the seat I'm in you see things faster than other people. Sometimes this may be a supernatural gift from the Lord and sometimes it may just be the seating. In leadership, you have to lead and be out in front...but no so far that you become a target.
2) Don't be too sensitive to people's criticism. Sometimes we care too much about what people might say? We need to know and ask ourselves, #1)"What's going to be the best for this church 3 years from now?" and then #2)"What are people going to say?" When question #2 becomes more important than question #1 then you've got trouble. We must remember that we are here to do what God wants us to do for His church and we ultimately answer to Him. Remember the Israelite leaders and when they did what the people wanted (golden calf, kings). Every time bad things followed.
3) Keep the unity and harmony of the church. Titus 3:10 says, "Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them." So many times we are afraid to do what we know is right. We are afraid of someone leaving or being offended. The church has to maintain a peace and harmony as part of our testimony and witness to the world. We are also called to not allow sin in the camp and we are called to deal with it biblically. What we find is that doing the right things will bring about that desired end result of unity because we do it God's way.
There are a plethora of other lessons learned, but those are 3 big ones. I encourage everyone who reads my blog to listen to Bob's messages for AM and PM services on our website. www.myoakwood.org
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