Are Pastors Human?

Have you seen the list of requirements to be an elder or pastor of the church? It’s crazy! 

Reminds me to be humble and do my best and trust in Him who stengthens and enables. 
1 Timothy 3:1-13 (NKJV)

1 This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.

2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach;

3 not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;

4 one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence

5 (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?);

6 not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.

7 Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

8 Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money,

9 holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience.

10 But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless.

11 Likewise their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.

12 Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.

13 For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

There Is Wisdom In Listening To Your In-Laws

Cool story here. I always thought it was God who directly gave the wisdom to Moses to delegate his work. It probably was God who gave the wisdom, but who did He send it through? 

Exodus 18:13-26 (NKJV)

13 And so it was, on the next day, that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood before Moses from morning until evening.

14 So when Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he did for the people, he said, “What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit, and all the people stand before you from morning until evening?”

15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God.

16 When they have a difficulty, they come to me, and I judge between one and another; and I make known the statutes of God and His laws.”

17 So Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you do is not good.

18 Both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out. For this thing is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself.

19 Listen now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God will be with you: Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the difficulties to God.

20 And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do.

21 Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

22 And let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you.

23 If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all this people will also go to their place in peace.”

24 So Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.

25 And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people: rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

26 So they judged the people at all times; the hard cases they brought to Moses, but they judged every small case themselves.

Qualities To Look For In A Leader

1. Character
2. Influence
3. Positive Attitude
4. Excellent People Skills
5. Evident Gifts
6. Proven Track Record
7. Confidence
8. Self-Discipline
9. Effective Communication Skills
10. Discontent with Status Quo

– John C. Maxwell, Equipping 101

Equipping 101: Chapter 1 – Why Do I Need To Equip Others?

So I’ve been reading recently. It’s a little book called Equipping 101 by John C. Maxwell. And I’ve got the idea to share a little of what I read.

Here are sentences from his book that I’ve found interesting (they may not be in any order or connected to the next sentence):

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Nothing of significance was ever achieved by an individual acting alone. Look below the surface and you will find that all seemingly solo acts are really team efforts.

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Even Albert Einstein, the scientist who revolutionized the world with his theory of relativity, didn’t work in a vacuum. Of the debt he owed to others for his work, Einstein once remarked, “Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.”

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If you want to reach your potential or strive for the seemingly impossible – such as communicating your message two thousand years after you are gone – you need to become a team player. It may be cliche, but it is nonetheless true: Individuals play the game, but teams win the championships.

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Few people are fond of admitting that they can’t do everything, yet that is the reality of life. There are no supermen or superwomen. So the question is not whether you can do everything by yourself; it’s how soon you’re going to realize that you can’t.

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Consultant John Ghegan keeps a sign on his desk that says, “If I had it to do all over again, I’d get help.”

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A few years ago my friend Chuck Swindoll wrote a piece in The Finishing Touch that sums up the importance of teamwork. He said,

Nobody is a whole team… We need each other. You need someone and someone needs you. Isolated islands we’re not. To make this thing called life work, we gotta lean and support. And relate and respond. And give and take. And confess and forgive. And reach out and embrace and rely… Since none of us is a whole, independent, self-sufficient, super-capable, all-powerful hotshot, let’s quit acting like we are. Life’s lonely enough without playing that silly role. The game is over. Let’s link up.

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Hope you’ve been blessed. Let’s learn new skills for leadership.

Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

 

Vision

Today in Sunday School for adults, Leadership Pillar 1 Session 4, we learned about setting Vision, Mission, and Goals. These help us to stay focused in life; to not waste our time (and life) doing things that we may regret or which do not bring any contentment or bring any benefit.

The importance of having a vision, missions, and goals is something taught to me at least once a year, but it’s not something I’ve ever followed through. It’s not easy to follow a goal through or be focused on a vision in a long term (or to even plan your life for long term).

But I believe it’s about time I start being focused.

I’m sure God is with me on this one, because He helped me draft a pretty much complete Vision, Mission, and Goals this morning just on my first draft. I might share it here one day. When it’s more complete. Hmmmm should I?

Two-Update Update

Obligatory Update

Hey, came back from a camp called TeenStreet. It’s organised by OM for teens all around the world to get to know God more closely and to find out how fun relevant the Word of God actually is. And this one that I attended is the one held in Malaysia wooohooo. It was great fun.

I learnt a lot. Even though I went as a coach, I felt like I went as a participant. The leadership training was especially good. I learned so much about myself.

One interesting part is where we have to change negative views of ourselves into positive ones. One negative view of myself is that I’m lazy. I tell myself this quite often. Then with your friend, you’re supposed to change it into a true positive view, not just use the opposite word. My group member called Nathanael changed it for me to ‘responsible’. So from now on, I can’t say “I’m lazy”, I have to tell myself “I’m responsible.”

We did ALOOOOOT more than just that just for your information. I may share more about it next time.

P.S. I WILL for sure share more about it if you ask for it. Hehe. Or if you’d like me to talk about any other topic.

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Non-Obligatory Update

Did you know that I’m a guy? Being a guy, I like girls. I’ve been attracted to a lot superstars. Let me name a few: Aya Ueto, Emma Watson, Emma Stone, Chloe Moretz, Ana Kendrick, Kristen Bell, Jennifer Lawrence, and others, to say the least. Recently, I’ve met a new superstar, got to spend some time with her. It was pretty awesome.

She’s got bright eyes. She’s pretty. She’s cooler than me. She’s super funny. She’s got a heart-melting smile. She loves God. She’s kind, polite, open, honest, compassionate. She even talked to me! *CHOKE*

Whoaaaaaaa… Aaron stop. Calm down. Breath. Okay.

I guess what I’m saying is, I met another superstar to add to my list. But remember a few posts ago I talked about the 5 Love Languages? Okay, maybe not so few blog posts ago. And I said my primary is Time. Those names I gave up there. I spent NO time with them at all. See what I’m trying to say? No? Good.

Okay, I’m very uncomfortable writing about this here where people may see it. HAHA. But I guess I had to get it out of my system. I hope you don’t understand or try to understand what I just wrote.

Good bye.

Some Old Thoughts

Blogging Money

 

so i did have a few thoughts to write about today,

and i cant help but think that i do blog quite a lot.

i like to share my thoughts.

though its very messy, but i like doing it.

and there are people who genuinely enjoy reading my thoughts.

 

so today, i was thinking:

why dont i register for those ads program where i can earn extra income (even if its a few cents per month).

i can put ads on my blog.

sure.

i update often.

sure.

problem is,

with xanga FREE i cant do it! NOOOOO

if i pay for Xanga Premium then yes i can.

=(

but its quite expensive.

alternative:

migrate my blogging work to wordpress or blogger.

=(

should I?

i feel so attached to this one.

 

 

 

Purpose

 

lots of us dont like to ask ‘why’ at the right time.

this is because we tend to be afraid to look into ourselves to dig out real reasoning.

last week during prayer meeting, my senior pastor asked the whole group of about 20 people:

Why are you here in prayer meeting?

and she asked us to be honest.

dont just give really holy “politically (or religiously correct)” answers.

my answer is too simple.

you know my answer, i’ve shared this last time in a post of random thoughts.

i want to learn to really pray. and the best place to do it is with people who have a great prayer heart and fire.

 

my question to you:

Why do you go to church?

Why do you believe in what you believe in?

 

 

 

Leadership

 

so in my previous post of the same title Leader,

i talked about how a pastor was thinking of training a leader based on what he saw a boy do.

stack the chairs and clean up.

 

well, some of you know that i myself am a leader in my church youth group.

funny thing is,

i had NO capabilities whatsoever at that time.

i was not great with leadership skills, i wasnt good in relating with people,

i hated confronting people, i was pretty happy-go-lucky (not as responsible as i should at my age),

i liked to make jokes at inappropriate times, and i disliked being on stage or in the spot light.

and i wasnt even CLOSE to SMART.

but one thing about me is that i just wanted to be there to help.

i wanted to serve.

i remember being so proud of myself because in my schools Christian Fellowship Club,

i attended every single meeting, i attended every prayer meeting,

and i wasnt even a leader of post in the club.

i was a no one.

even the leaders and the committee members skipped at least once.

anyways i was picked to be a leader because of my commitment.

and i loved my God.

easy as that.

 

question:

Who gets to be leader?

The one who is comfortable under pressure?

the one who is comfortable in the spot light?

the one who is comfortable giving orders?

the one comfortable loving others?

mind boggling.

 

 

 

Sales

 

Did you notice that i dislike selling an idea to people?

i did.

i dont like it when my Amway friends keep trying to sell me their product.

i said no bro.

i dont like it when my dad keeps reminding me about prayer meeting.

i said im going bro.

you know, its not whether i agree with you or not,

its just that you’re a bugger.

this is EXACTLY why i hear SOOO SOOO MUCH about why people don’t go to church.

they have no problem with Jesus.

they have problems with the christians.

what stuck up little humbugs we really are.

 

i have no solutions to this.

maybe we need to be less annoying.

maybe we need to be less proud, then they might trust our words more.

maybe we need to live a more fruitful life, be a living proof.

maybe we need to talk less.

maybe we need to sit back and let God do his thang.

i dunno.

 

what do you think we should do to stop SELLING our religion??

 

 

Leader

To My Readers

 

been getting more visits these days.

thanks!

i see people still like to read.

thats awesome news!

i hope i continue to entertain, educate, and inspire!

(if possible lol)

 

 

Lets Get Back On Track

 

so about a month ago my church had an invited guest speaker for our service.

i forgot who it was actually. hehe.

i DO remember something the pastor said.

the story went something like this.

lets make the pastor a he, because i think i remember the pastor being a man haha.

he has a big church.

(he was telling us about how God moved and the church grew)

so they had a big youth service.

and they had a great youth service.

at the end of the service,

they all left as usual.

one stayed back to pack up.

stack the chairs and tidy the place up.

in a meme the pastor might’ve thought

“Faith in humanity restored“.

but instead the pastor said, this is the one person i would train to be a leader.

i was thinking, this guy didnt show any leadership qualities,

how did the pastor think of him being a leader?

 

but what good is a leader with no servanthood heart?

what good is a leader that has no love?

a good leader needs to love God and love people.

and i think a servanthood heart is a manifestation of that.

and come to think of it,

what good is ANYONE as ANYTHING if you do not love God and people?

 

this is a good test.

you can use this to test people.

very effective way to gauge your friends hearts.

 

it is also a good test for yourself.

 

 

Jeremiah 50:6-7

 

 ⁶ “My people have been lost sheep;
   their shepherds have led them astray
   and caused them to roam on the mountains.
They wandered over mountain and hill
   and forgot their own resting place.
⁷ Whoever found them devoured them;
   their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty,
for they sinned against the LORD, their true pasture,
   the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’

 

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We Are Not Guilty

 

its in their nature.

evil cant help it.

it devours you.

 

 

Their True Pasture

 

our true bread and life should be Jesus.

the center.

the every reason.

 

 

Led Them Astray

 

caused them to roam on the mountains.

i think this speaks of leadership.

we are all leaders.

are we setting examples?

or are we causing people to stray away from God?

responsibility.

is our duty.

ignorance.

therefore, will also be our fault.

 

 

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 ⁶ “My people have been lost sheep;
   their shepherds have led them astray
   and caused them to roam on the mountains.
They wandered over mountain and hill
   and forgot their own resting place.
⁷ Whoever found them devoured them;
   their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty,
for they sinned against the LORD, their true pasture,
   the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’