Small but it changed the World

Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to talk with pastors about their goals and dreams for their congregation. Each has had a dream of growing a spiritually stronger body and one that reached out to the broken hearted, the rejected and the lost. The ones that were actually doing growing spiritually healthy churches and had one thing in common. They relied on the Holy Spirit to do grow the body. When you look at the make up of their congregation it was full of flawed people who were not what most would say were the best at evangelism or the most talented people. What their congregations had in common was they relied on the power of the Holy Spirit to move through them.  From my talks with these servant leaders I found that the number one thing they did was to rely on the Holy Spirit to work through those they were leading. They did not look at the abilities or the knowledge of the people but instead stirred them to open themselves to being used by the Holy Spirit.

When we look at the physical we tend to limit what the Holy Spirit can do.  If leaders do not believe in the people they are leading they will see only the flaws or weaknesses in their lives and not the possibilities that the Holy Spirit can do through them.

In his book, "On the Anvil" Max Lucado describes a small church of 120 men that changed the world. Most were illiterate and poor, blue-collar workers, inexperienced and uncultured. They had no plan, no organization, noagreement on what the mission was. Their movement was demanding too much too fast. It lacked tact and was against tradition. On human terms it was doomed to fail.

Within 30 years of the beginning of this small band of men the message of Jesus Christ reached into every port, city, and courtyeard of the world. It was infectious. It was a growing organism. It not only succeeded but still exists today touching the hearts of the broken, the rejected, the addicted and the poor. It succeeded not because of great human leadership or talented men. It succeeded because it's leader believed in those He was leading. It succeeded because His Holy Spirit was active in the lives of those He released for service.

If you are a leader or desire to be a leader always remember it is not the skills of the people you lead that is important. What is most important is you allow the Holy Spirit that dwells in them to rise up. If you want a growing church then rely on the Holy Spirit to move them to serve the poor, the hurting, the broken, the rejected and the addicted. By doing so you will impact your community and beyond.

1 Corinthians 1: 26-31 Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That's why we have the saying, "If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God."