A Leader’s Persistance

In 1947, Lester Wunderman was arbitrarily fired from his advertising job in New York. But he felt he still had a lot to learn from the head of the agency, Max Sackheim. So the next morning Wunderman went back to his office and began working as he had before. He talked to coworkers and clients; he sat in on meetings – all without pay. Sackheim ignored him for a month. Finally he walked up to Wunderman: “Okay, you win,” he said, shaking his head. “I never saw a man who wanted a job more than he wanted money.” Well, guess what? Wunderman went on to be one of the most successful advertising men of the century. He’s credited with having invented preprinted newspaper inserts, plus subscription cards such as those used by Time-Life Books and the Columbia Record Club; ideas that have produced billions of dollars in profit. Now, advertising may not be your thing – but action must be! What are you willing to do to achieve your dream? Work without pay? Refuse to quit?

Success begins at the beginning, and it continues with consistent action. Now, ponder these thoughts:

(1) you don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.

(2) The first two letters in the word goal, are GO.

(3) Some people dream of worthy accomplishments, others wake up and do them.

(4) Anybody who brags about what they’re going to do tomorrow probably did the same thing yesterday.

(5) You will never be what you ought to be until you’re doing what you ought to be doing.

(6) If you’re having trouble thinking outside the box, you’re probably in the wrong box. Get out of there!

Nehemiah 4:6 “So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.”

[John Armstrong is a National Coordinator with Word of Life Local Church Ministries. He and his wife, Cathy, reside in Schroon Lake, NY. Questions and comments about this article may be directed to John at johna@wol.org.]

Enemy of the leader’s life…Self Doubt

Ed nervously paced the crowded sidewalk outside Holton’s Shoe Store in downtown Boston. His brief lunch hour was nearly over; but, he had not yet done what he had come to do! Inside the shoe store was an eighteen-year-old clerk who was a member of the Sunday school class Ed taught at church. The young man had seemed bored in class and generally disinterested in spiritual things since he began attending church one year earlier. Ed felt burdened to talk to him about his relationship with Christ; and, today was the day he had planned to do so. But, he was nervous about it! What if he won’t listen to me? What if he thinks I’m being too pushy and quits the class all together? What if he gets angry and throws me out?

Breathing a prayer for courage, Ed finally walked into the store and found the clerk busy at work. The young man was surprised to see his Sunday school teacher. Ed quickly got to the point. “I came to tell you how much Christ loves you” he said. They talked for several minutes. Then, the young man knelt down on the spot and opened his life to Jesus Christ. Later, the clerk related the impact of his conversion: “I was in a new world. The birds sang sweeter, the sun shone brighter. I’d never known such peace.”

Ed left the shoe store that day rejoicing that he had overcome his self-doubt and fear and let God use him to share the good news with the young shoe clerk. This fearful Sunday school teacher could not have imagined that during the next 150 years millions of people would be just as thankful that he had overcome his anxiety and hesitation that April day in 1855 to share the gospel in a shoe store. Though unaware until now, you may be one of the people whose spiritual journey was influenced by this Sunday school teacher, Edward Kimball.

You see, the eighteen-year-old Boston shoe clerk Kimball talked to that day was Dwight L. Moody. Moody became one of America’s great evangelists in the latter half of the nineteenth century. He had an impact all over the world. In addition, Moody later counseled a young man named J. Wilbur Chapman on the assurance of his salvation. Chapman became a Presbyterian minister, evangelist, and Moody’s friend and colleague in ministry. Moody and Chapman strongly influenced a young professional baseball player named Billy Sunday, whom God used in the evangelistic ministry. It is estimated that three hundred thousand men and women came to faith in Christ during Billy Sunday’s two hundred campaigns.

But Kimball’s legacy didn’t stop there. A 1924 Billy Sunday evangelistic campaign in Charlotte, NC resulted in the formation of the Charlotte Businessman’s Club which continued to evangelize the region. In 1934, the CBMC invited evangelist Mordecai Ham to conduct a campaign in Charlotte. A young man of eighteen reluctantly attended one of those meetings and then gave his life to Christ. His name was Billy Graham. No one has preached the gospel to more people than Billy Graham. Was Billy Graham instrumental in your coming to Christ? If not directly, perhaps the person who brought you to Christ was influenced by his preaching. At the very least, you likely know someone who became a Christian because of this great evangelist’s ministry.

The gripping reality is this: countless millions of people have been brought to faith in Christ through the preaching of D.L. Moody, Billy Sunday, and Billy Graham during the past century and a half. What would have happened if a Sunday school teacher named Edward Kimball had allowed self-doubt to detour him from living out his passion for sharing Christ with others?

Another significant enemy of the life of passion is self-doubt – the inner gnawing sense that you are unqualified or incapable of making a difference in your world. You may say something like, “Why should I work so hard at pursuing a passionate life? I’m nobody special. I can’t do much. Passionate people have it all together, and that’s not me.”

Had Edward Kimball taken that attitude, he may never have entered the shoe store. And if you allow self-doubt to corner you, you will not only rob yourself of the exciting life of passion God has for you; but, you will also rob others of God’s influence through you.

[This article was excerpted from Life Wide Open—Unleashing the Power of a Passionate Life written by Dr. David Jeremiah and published by Integrity Publishers, Nashville, pages 103-105.]

Should We Add Anything To Our Theology Part 2

We add life to our theology in at least two ways. The first is to properly interpret the Bible; and the second is to creatively apply the truth of the Scriptures. Too often students have decided that the life of faith is not for them because their youth workers have not properly reflected the exciting life of theology.

Their conclusion is that theology is boring, and therefore the Christian life is boring. Jesus said that He came to give us life which includes both eternal life and life lived to the fullest on the earth (John 10:10)! This is exciting – and we should communicate the excitement – the life of theology. Throughout Scripture God has used descriptive words, creative concepts, and incredible stories to express His truth. We must read, search, discover, and convey the life of the Scriptures. This takes work. I recently researched Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God.” I found that the Hebrew meaning of being still is for me to put everything down, drop everything out of my hands. That makes sense when looking at the previous verses. In them God says He will break the bow, burn the shield, and shatter the spear. He takes the weapons from our hands and destroys them. The conclusion is when things are dropped from our hands; we must trust God because we have nothing left to trust in ourselves. This has exciting applications to students. What is in their hands that needs to be dropped so they can be still and know that God is God? Is it popularity, computers, phones, schoolwork, or fear?

The concepts of salt and light, from the Sermon on the Mount, are two more biblical concepts that are exciting to students when we effectively communicate them. They include ideas about making a difference, having an impact on their world, and becoming significant in the work of Christ. Add life to theology by doing the work of interpreting what the Bible is saying. Do your students know that Daniel stood up for God as a teenager, (Daniel 1) but by the time he is thrown into the den of lions he was in his late 90’s (Daniel 6), that he read a letter from Jeremiah and thought that God was going to deliver him (Jeremiah 11 and Daniel 9), or that the king was in terrible torment during the night while Daniel was with the lions? This is just one story with such a strong fragrance of life that your students should be caught in the aroma as you tell it!

Check out Jonathan and his armor bearer, David and Goliath, Hezekiah and Sanacharib, any story about Jesus, or countless other Bible stories. Read them with new life and communicate them so that your students will enter into what God is saying! The Bible is not boring in any way; but we make it that way by not allowing the life to stay in our theology. Continued on next page… The second way we are able to add life in theology is to creatively apply the truth of Scripture. Tell stories! Remember the following guidelines. Always use an illustration to breathe life into the Scripture. Do not use a passage of Scripture to illustrate your interesting story. Tell an interesting story to illustrate the passage of Scripture. Add life by using stories of current events, referring to news that is happening in the student’s cultural areas of music, media, or celebrities. If it is within your personality, use humor. When using humor, it is important to stay within your personality. I can’t tell jokes so I don’t try. There is only one David Letterman. Be yourself. Be creative when we add life to Scripture by using the talent the Lord has blessed you with. If you are an artist, use art. If you are musician, use music. If you are a poet, use poetry. Creativity is surprising when giving an invitation. Nail notes to a cross, burn slips of paper with idols written on them; hand out nails, stones, as imaginative ways to add life to student response time.

How can I improve the chances students will remember theology? Add life. Some youth workers of my generation were taught to not use humor, not tell stories, and in so many words not show any personality when communicating the Gospel. The proper way to present theology was by being boring. When a particularly entertaining chapel speaker appeared, our instructor would spend the next class explaining why entertainment was wrong in presenting theology. If this is or is not your background, I have good news for you. Add life, it is ok to tell stories! We must Add LIFE to Theology!

These essential additions to our theology will cause us to reach the hearts as well as the minds of our students. We will also have a good balance between our theology and the words of Christ. The addition of KNOWLEDGE and LIFE are essential to our theology!

(This article is reprinted with permission of the publisher. Article originally published in Vision for Youth Magazine, Spring 2007.) [Tim Ahlgrim is the National Director of Vision For Youth, Inc. and has been actively involved in student ministry for over 30 years! You can reach him at: tim@visionforyouth.com.]

Should We Add Anything to our Theology?

I love the Bible! I think everyone could sing that song with me. In fact, this is one area that distinguishes Vision for Youth from many other evangelical youth ministry organizations. Everything we do is built on a Biblical foundation. Our entire philosophy of ministry is to filter everything we do through the grid of Scripture. Our student ministry must have a strong theological base. We desire to be leaders in a student ministry that is honoring to God, culturally relevant to students, and theologically sound. Sometimes, however, it is difficult not to notice the hurt that is caused by what people consider “good theology”. This saddens me because it is not necessary.

Jesus gave us two rules: “love God and love each other”. How can we be strong in theology and yet live up to what Christ has demanded for us? In the process, how will we impact hearts and minds through our theology with students? I believe we must make two essential additions to our theology to most effectively
impact students for eternity. We must make the essential additions of KNOWLEDGE and LIFE to our theology.
Essential Addition One, Add KNOWLEDGE to Theology. I do not intend to be insulting when I say we should add knowledge; but, I do mean to say that maybe we are not as smart as we might think. We must know

our theology. This seems simple, but it is not. Knowing theology means that we must know what we believe and why we believe it. We must become good friends with the Bible. Knowing theology means that I have a place to begin when teaching the kids in my student ministry. When we communicate to students, our theology needs to be the beginning and not the end.

One recent study shows that kids are responding less to student ministry centered on games and activities and they are responding more to student ministry centered on Biblical truth. Much of what is passing in student ministry for theology might reside out on the edges of a theological spectrum. When we are not as knowledgeable as we should be about theology we end up either downplaying or watering it down on the one hand, or on the other hand we elevate preferences and personal opinions to the place of immovable theological standards. One side would fear being irrelevant with old fashioned truth while the other side would fear being accused of compromise. We either subtract from our obligation to truth or we multiply our obligations to a place of equality with truth. Adding knowledge will help us to not land in either of these places. Another reason to add knowledge to our theology is to avoid what my father calls “hobby horse” theology. As an assignment, my Crossroads Bible Collegeyouth ministry class visited a church youth group for three weeks in a row.

Each week the youth pastor talked about the evils of sex, rap, and hip hop music. Those issues had become his “hobby horse.” Other issues might be musical style, dress code, recreation, or even what we perceive as proper ways to worship. So that we do not become “hobby horse” communicators, we need to add knowledge to our theology. Adding knowledge to theology will cause us to use theology not as the end of things but as
the foundation on which to build our ministry. Adding knowledge is learning that the entire story of the Bible is good theology. Once in a while, we spend much energy and time striving to convince students to believe our particular system of theology. So that this does not become our main thing, we must concentrate on the
main thing seen through all the pages of Scripture, which is the story of God, His interaction with men and women throughout history, and His provision for forgiveness of sin through His Son – Jesus Christ! That is the Bible story from cover to cover. Our theological energy should not necessarily be used to convince students to follow our particular approach to theology but to use our particular approach to theology to convince our students to follow Christ!

(This article is reprinted with permission of the publisher. Article originally published in Vision for Youth Magazine, spring 2007. Tim Ahlgrim is the National Director of Vision For Youth, Inc. and has been actively involved in student ministry for over 30 years! You can reach him at: tim@visionforyouth.com. )