" A Season For Leadership and Service"
- May 28, 2015
- 3 min read
This message was presented during our 34th Church Anniversary Services on May 21st, 22nd, and 24th, 2015, as a way of showcasing the vision Carson Christian Outreach has, for the upcoming 2015-2016 year.
Genesis Chapter 1 tells us that both the earths and the universe were set up so that “years and seasons” would occur, and be meaningful to us in our everyday life experiences. Because of this, it is appropriate at anniversary celebrations like this, to consider our “years and seasons”, for years past, and years to come.
During this past year, the 34th year of this ministry, we have focused more than ever on issues of leadership. Pastor Alexander has been the instructor for two classes on “Spiritual Leadership”, held here at our church, for students of our Central California District Council’s (CCDC) Aenon Bible College. The focus of these classes was on applying spiritual leadership principles, as a way of enhancing ministry areas for the improved results of our churches; Thereby furthering the work of the Kingdom. Those in attendance, including members from our church, and other CCDC churches, thoroughly enjoyed the classes, and found them to be very beneficial for enhancing their God-given leadership capabilities.
For this year, our theme is, “Behold, I have set before thee an open door…” (Revelation 3:8). This scripture passage identifies the speaker, God, as “he that hath the key of David…” This representation of David is almost unique in the Bible as one called a “leader” (Isaiah 55:4), but also frequently called a servant (Psalms 78: 70-72), and therefore may well be the first “servant-leader” of record. Our Savior Jesus, undoubtedly the greatest leader of all time, is also presented in prophecy as “my Servant” (Isaiah. 42:1), and stands alone as the greatest Servant-Leader of the ages!
Someone once said, “The greatest lack in furthering the work of the Kingdom is leadership”. Furthermore, someone also said, “Leadership will never be learned, until it is taught…” We know, that Jesus has reminded us that leadership in the Kingdom is distinctly different from leadership, or lordship, in “the world” (Mark 10:42-45). So in essence, “Spiritual Leadership”, and training ourselves in it, may be the greatest need of our time! Since leadership is “our passion” here at Carson Christian Outreach, we realize that we may have “come to the kingdom for such a time (season) as this” (Esther 4:14).
In our Aenon Leadership classes, we emphasized identifying a Mission, Vision, and set of Values (M-V-V Statements) as an introductory step to preparing a “Plan” for ministry improvements. Let’s consider possible M-V-V Statements for our church as we look towards next year.
Mission – To embrace the words of Galatians 5:13 “by love, serve one another”
Vision – To help identify, enable, and strengthen God-ordained “servant leaders” within our local churches, District 3, Region 1, the CCDC, and beyond, as far as the Lord might grant us to serve His kingdom in this matter.
Values- We seek to emulate the One who “...took upon him the form of a servant…” (Philippians 2:7), and to let this be the basis of our servant-leadership goals. In addition, we seek to follow Apostle Paul, who proclaimed the words of Philippians 1:21, “for to me to live is Christ”.
We proclaim the year before us to be “A Season for Leadership and Service”, for both our ministries here at Carson Christian Outreach, and beyond. Our passion is to strengthen leadership for apostolic ministries wherever the Lord will grace us to serve; especially within our beloved CCDC. We believe the “open door” the Lord has set before us (He who holds the key of David, his servant-leader), is a door of leadership for ministries. Working within our church, the CCDC Aenon Bible College, and in other venues, we trust that God will enable us to accomplish the Vision he has put in our hearts.
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