Ministry and Mortality

I have been thinking about mortality for some time now, mine, that is.

Do you realize that one day I will be dead, gone, not around anymore? Of course that is if the Lord tarries.

I have therefore been reflecting on my spiritual heritage as a minister.

Think of this as a will to all those I minister to through all the forums God has afforded me. It is therefore a message calling us to action to help me actualize this vision.

I want us to look at the scriptures to understand what I am talking about.

Priests served from thirty to fifty years, according to God’s clear command.

Now, let me ask this question. Why does a minister retire (leave active, frontline ministry) when he is still strong and active? Where does he go since he is still exempted from pursuing other employment as ministry is his inheritance? What does he do between 50 and the 70 to 80 years a normal man lives? Does he retire to the beaches to just laze around waiting to die?

Of course not.

God intended the retired minister to venture into instruction. He would start mentoring and guiding new ministers. He would offer oversight on the kind of ministry they were offering. He would train them on the kind of ministry they would be executing.

In other words, they moved from the frontline to the strategy centre; to the headquarters if I may call it so.

They simply started passing their ministry and spiritual DNA to a new generation of ministers. They used their experience with God to guide those young ministers as they served God.

I am now past fifty. And this has disturbed me since I approached fifty because I was aware of what the Bible had instructed ministers in God’s house. Incidentally, I remember that though I responded to God’s call early, I was called to leave employment as I was closing in on thirty. David became king at thirty, Joseph became Prime Minister at thirty, Jesus started His public ministry at around thirty, same with John the Baptist.

Having been involved with discipleship over the years I know I have been raising believers who know God enough to minister to Him as well as reach the world with the Gospel. I have people all over the world I can proudly call my children who are bearing fruit for Christ.

But I am here talking about inheritance. I want heirs.

Secondly, do you realize that the said minister on retiring would not hand over the ministry to his biological children? Why? The age gap would most likely disqualify his children. You see, even if they married much earlier those days, a twenty year gap between a father and his children was not usual, at least according to what we see in the scriptures.

But there is another reason. A child has an entitlement mentality, treating ministry more as his right instead of the privilege it is. He will therefore assume so much as he ministers, many times missing out on their responsibility to God. Remember Eli’s and Samuel’s sons? Also why did Jesus not have any of His half-brothers in ministry until He ascended?

That brings in another challenge. Their lack of connection to God personally may lead them to corrupting the ministry as they really do not understand it. It is said that the father to one of the most famous and irreverent motivational pastors was very sound, a far cry from his joker son who took over the reins of that ministry.

Another problem with a son inheriting his father’s ministry is his lack of exposure to warfare. He has been under his father’s canopy for as long as the father was around. He therefore did not develop his fighting muscles when the father was living as he took all the flak. His taking over leadership after the demise of his father opens him to immense warfare, warfare he may never have imagined existed as his father had shielded him. Imagine learning war on the battlefield or boxing in the ring!

A minister therefore grows other ministers, ministers who will hand over the ministry to his children as that is their inheritance, but after their growing enough to know God on their own terms. Then the whole tribe becomes ministry oriented like the priests and Levites through this reproduction.

That is why a minister should be preparing other ministers intensely after attaining that special Biblical age.

Remember Paul had to be made a prisoner to be able to do that? He was so active and strong that he needed God to put the brakes on him. Then he was able to start the writing ministry. He also became more involved in mentoring and giving responsibility to his disciples to take on more ministry responsibilities. The same Paul who could not bear Mark accompanying him in ministry could walk with Onesimus, even Demas.

I want to start focused preparation of ministers on the skills I have so far acquired. And I want the preparation to make them as wholesome as God has made me.

Call this a precursor to City on the Hill, a vision I have posted on the blog of making wholesome ministers who must not have support to thrive on the mission field as they have requisite skills. It is only that this time I want to start with a small pool of ministers to concentrate on. I want to focus on my competencies to build other ministers. I want to borrow from my ministry experience to help build those God has called to those ministries.

What ministries?

I have been a singer, choir organizer and instrumentalist. I have been involved in evangelism and am an evangelism trainer. Of course I have been preaching since I responded to God’s call. I am a teacher of the word. I am a writer and editor and develop Christian writers. And of course I am an encourager.

On the technical side I have been in technical training since form 1. I therefore have competencies in most basic technical fields. I am also media trained.

What concerns me here, however, has to do with the skills that will enhance those ministries.

Who am I looking for?

I want people sensing a call to evangelism, preaching or teaching; Singers or people passionate about singing and playing instruments for God; People seeking to serve God by managing sound systems; People looking to develop camera and other media skills as their ministry; People sensing a call to missions. Plus of course people who just want to serve God without knowing exactly where to or how.

What is difference between this and the way things are done?

Ministers normally treat their ministry as autonomous, independent of others. That is why most singers and instrumentalists will leave church after their performance and preachers do not see the need to sit through the service, coming in just before they preach. We have children’s workers who never attend service. Yet God sees the church as one body that should be meshing seamlessly as it ministers His love to the world.

Another challenge we will deal with is the superstar mentality in ministers. Once a minister gets to ‘fame’, they become brittle and not subject to rebuke whatever they may do. They will not be corrected. No wonder many singers start their own churches so that they are not subject to anybody else. And that goes for any other prominent minister (I call them performers). They will rarely, if ever, submit to anybody else after their ‘success’ and ‘breakthrough’.

Another thing we tackle is the exclusive nature of ministry. It is surprising that a singer wants to be called a musician yet the only thing they can do is a solo act. They can’t play a single instrument or harmonise with anybody else. They can’t even arrange any instruments. The only thing they can do is sing after tracks somebody else made. And many times it is the same with instrumentalists and preachers.

The main reason we must have someone who knows and has been involved with such ministry is to deal with the wow factor. Most pastors are unable to handle stardom because they really do not understand what it is. A silver edged tongue is therefore treated as too special to rebuke. I have handled being the only person handling an instrument that it was christened my name. I have handled choirs, even started them. Yet I never grew horns because I was submitted to God’s word. I therefore will have no problem shutting someone out if they think their gift or talent qualifies them for special treatment. Again the partners we have been praying through this are also people who are gifted, experts in their fields and so would have no stardom seizures when someone has character issues, especially if they will stop growing because they think a gift is all they need.

Let me add something else I think is very important. It was recently that I came to learn that most musicians, even Christian ones did not have any instruments and instrumentalists (I learnt it as we were discussing this). They just composed a song and went to the studio that would provide session instrumentalists. The sad fact is that probably no studio was run by a believer, let alone a committed one. It therefore meant that someone would in the morning be playing morally depraved songs and in the afternoon be playing ‘anointed’ songs. I do not know whether you know that there are Muslims who play instruments and even back up Christian ‘worshippers’. You see, to them it is just business.

So much for the anointing of the song!

We can never be able to produce an anointed song if anybody and anything in the whole process does not carry the anointing. Remember the fly in the ointment?

Yet how many ‘Gospel’ singers (I have explained why I do not call them musicians) care to know the spiritual state of the studio and everything their recording would involve? In fact I find one of the most prominent producers of choirs and ‘worshippers’ in his shop contentedly enjoying a puff after a hard day’s work of producing ‘anointed’ music and music videos.

That may be the first thing we want to tackle. We intend for any song done by our team to have the anointing from beginning to end. This means the team will be growing together, ministering together and recording together.

In short, we intend to make a team united in their desire to serve God by applying their skills, talents and competencies. They will grow together as they are trained and mentored by older and more experienced ministers.

Of course we will not shy from rebuking and correcting. But the context is love and concern for growth. And that is why we need old people. They do not care for impressions and so will pursue God’s agenda without fearing being misunderstood. They will not seek to win the approval of anyone provided they have God’s approval. And the young people will not have problems being corrected, even rebuked because they are sure no one is after their image.

How do we identify the people to develop their skills? I believe God has His own ways of choosing people. Those who know me know that I allow God the autonomy of choosing whom He will for me to be involved in. And He is best placed to trim to the number He desires.

Ours is to set up structures for this.

I remember my times in student ministry when I would announce an activity and three times the number the budget would cater for would register and I just prayed. Incidentally only the number required would come on the actual date. It is only once I turned away a friend, but for breaking the rules we had set for the activity.

But that does not mean we will not dismiss people. Only that it would not be for the purposes of reducing the number. We would not hesitate to dismiss anyone when their values clash with our core mandate.

As an example, if someone dressed immodestly, they will not be allowed to minister however gifted they may be. An unteachable spirit will open one to dismissal as a superiority (I cannot do menial jobs, I came to sing not clean and carry equipment, I am a preacher and not backup singer) spirit. One who does not know how to deal with rebuke will disqualify themselves as Christian character is essential to the training we will be offering.

But we believe that God has the first batch He has prepared to take us to that level of ministry and so we will not be wasting much of our time on non-essentials.

We will be exposing them to everything from singing to instruments to sound systems to audio recording and camera work and editing.

Incidentally, as I have seen a lot in ministry, one may discover that what they thought was their core ministry was only the entry point to other ministry as training and discipleship proceeds. Someone who thought they were singers may discover their strength is in video production even as the evangelist discovers he perfectly fits in leading in song. And it works across the board.

There will be loving and firm instruction by people who have been involved in the ministry they are instructing on as well as the clear call of God in their life.

We will have a lot of instruction on the scriptures. Then using the scriptures to explore and explain callings and visions we will be handling. We will use the scriptures to examine the songs being sung, from the lyrics to the instrumentation. We will devote a lot of time in the study of the Bible.

Then we will be training on the skills our team has; Music and singing skills, various instruments, sound systems, audio and visual recording and editing.

They must learn how to give an effective testimony in a short time. Remember anytime Paul gave his testimony he aroused a lot of response and reaction?

Our practical sessions will be actual outreach that we will record. We will identify a location (preferably a location someone is burdened for). We will set up the equipment and start a normal open air service where the singers sing, the preachers preach and the evangelists get their chance to share the Gospel. Then we will liaise with the neighboring churches on how the fruit will be managed though we will still pursue the follow up as part of the training. Of course we will go anywhere one of us is invited to minister.

How do I intend to accomplish this?

This is where I require your prayerful partnership. It concerns some of you who have been asking how they can be involved in and support the ministry God has called me to.

I will need a media van. By this I mean a van that has a public address system, a mixer and facility to record good audio as well as carry a few people. We will also need video cameras. We will need instruments, at the most basic being a keyboard and a guitar or two. Of course we will need a good computer for editing.

But it doesn’t have to be bought as a media van as the costs would be prohibitive. We (I already have a few partners who have caught the vision) want to customize a van(preferably high roof)  by fitting all those gadgets without taking so much space as we will need seats for the teams as that van should be sufficient for ministry.

On a greater scale we could have a truck or bus that is customized to be fully media equipped and self-contained to take teams for longer term missions on the same terms; growing younger ministers with the supervision and mentoring of older and spiritually mature ministers who preferably have crossed that Biblical age. It will also have camping and cooking equipment.

We will then get back and examine the way ministry was done with the purpose of improving it. Then it will be edited as a whole and then separated so than the songs can be compiled separately as well as the preaching. This is more so that progress can be gauged as we progress. It is essential for growth to know where one starts and the progress.

We will then be sure that our productions have passed the test of spiritual and Biblical relevance.

Let me add another thing we are doing though it does not strictly fit in this.

Of course you know that I have been in the books ministry (not just writing and editing) for a long time.

We have very many books (they can fill a pickup) as of now and want to have a library. A partner has offered a room but we need shelves for the books to be useful. Once we get them, I will also bring my personal library so that we can build believers through offering them wholesome reading materials. Of course any other person with a similar burden can avail books or whatever they can for this ministry. Our students will make maximum use of the library. Give us those shelves. We do not need to tell you that you are also welcome to benefit from this library. By the way if you have a room in town you can give for this we will be very grateful. But we urgently need shelves. I could make them if I got timber though it would take quite some time due to my other ministry responsibilities. But just give what you can.

Another ministry I have been involved in is challenging and assisting people not only appreciate the Bible but also be consistently reading it. We have been availing Reading Plans for the same as well as speaking in many churches and forums. As of today we have given over fifteen thousand such. In fact I have started putting them on the inside cover of my books for the same reason. Of course we will be continuing with the same.

We have also been availing affordable Audio Bibles. You realize that most people who make them make them unaffordable for most people, whatever argument they may use in defense. This is because the prime targets of Audio Bibles are the illiterate and due to that will be severely disadvantaged and unable to afford. We therefore download free ones and put them in gadgets (radios, MP3 players, etc.) and modify them (my training) so that the only thing they play is the Bible. The cost would be to recoup the purchase of the gadgets. We have given out very many of these so far.

On that, we intend to use our production facilities to record vernacular Audio Bibles as very few have them. We trust that God will give us people dedicated enough to read the Bible in their language so that we can have adequate and affordable Audio Bibles in vernacular.

We will not be starting a church and so will not be taking the people we will be growing from their churches. That is unless one of the team is called to start one. Then we will help him start one from evangelizing the area he is called.

We therefore expect the churches to benefit from this new crop of ministers. How?

Imagine ministers without attitude and entitlement? Imagine a lead singer who will arrive in church early to arrange and clean seats? Imagine a pastor who cannot be sabotaged by a disappearing instrumentalist as he will then pick up the instrument and join the singing team? Imagine a singer who does not become a grasshopper once his songs make them popular? Imagine an evangelist who will only sit at the front when he is preaching? Imagine a minister who dreads special treatment and will easily mingle with the people he is ministering to?

That is what we intend to be producing; Ministers who will serve God first instead of the churches they are serving in; ministers who will not threaten to move elsewhere when their temporal wants are not met as they are serving at God’s pleasure and calling; Ministers who won’t be swayed by money or other inducements because they are deeply rooted in God’s word.

As a very important aside, suppose our worship in everything from training to mentoring to ministry pleases God that His cloud descends on us? Suppose what happened when David played the harp before Saul happens; demons flee, sicknesses get healed, conviction sets in on the rebellious, conversions happen? Suppose revival breaks out from this new season God is calling me to?

Let us pray.

Who will join me?