Quotes of Note: Christ’s Compelling Calling 

The following “Quotes of Note” are from Chapters Three and Four of Equipping Counselors for Your Church. These chapters focus on crafting a biblical mission and vision for your biblical counseling ministry. For quotes from Chapter One, read God’s Grand Vision for His Church. For quotes from Chapter Two, read Knowing and Loving Those We Serve and Equip. 

• “MEN WANTED FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.”—Ernest Shackleton

• “GOD’S PEOPLE WANTED FOR ARDUOUS JOURNEY. No human wages, but the internal reward of joy and the eternal reward of hearing, ‘Well done!’ Bitter cold and long months of complete darkness because servanthood is lonely. Safe return of your spirit guaranteed. Complete safety doubtful because in this world we will have tribulation, and all who attempt to lead a godly life will be persecuted. Honor and recognition guaranteed from God. Henceforth there is laid up for you the crown of righteousness.”—Your Elders

• The ways we typically invite people to do church and be the church are not compelling enough.

• We cater to consumers with eye-candy instead of challenging Christians to live courageously for Christ.

• Avoid the tired method of recruiting people to fill an opening. Instead, recruit people to a compelling mission and vision.

• Vision catching and casting is not about catering to consumers; rather it challenges committed Christians to follow Christ for God’s glory.

• Envisioning involves a biblically-based, Christ-centered, God-focused process of determining God’s will for our congregation in our community.

• Envisioning involves leaders and members together searching God’s Word for His wisdom for their ministry.

• Envisioning involves searching the Scriptures to become captivated by God’s specific calling for our church in our community for God’s glory.

• Mission is our universal calling—where God wants us. Vision is our unique future—where God is leading us. Passion is our captivating identity—who we are as we serve Christ together. Commission addresses how, in practice, we fulfill our mission, vision, and passion.

• Mission tells us where we should be according to God’s Word. Vision pictures where God is leading us. Passion tells us who we are on our journey. Commission provides the road map to travel from the present to the future.

• A biblical mission provides the theological foundation for ministry. It is God’s compass pointing true north.

• Vision orients your congregation to your sovereign gifting and to the profound thirst of your community.

• When Disney opened the Epcot Center in Florida, someone leaned over to Mike Vance, Creative Director of Disney Studios, and whispered, “It’s really too bad that Walt didn’t live to see this.” To which Vance replied, “He did see it. That’s why it’s here.”

• Passion communicates what we will die for and therefore what we will live for. Passion is our ultimate purpose statement.

• Commission provides the strategy for how you will get from here to there, how you will “pull it off,” and how you will keep your ministry going and growing. Picture the commission statement as a signpost, directional markers, or a GPS. It is your MAP—Ministry Action Plan.

Join the Conversation

Which quote about Christ’s compelling calling resonates with you the most? Why?

Quotes of Note: Knowing and Loving Those We Serve and Equip

The following “Quotes of Note” are from Chapter Two of Equipping Counselors for Your Church. Chapter Two focuses on knowing our congregation and community before serving our congregation and community. For Quotes of Note from Chapter One, read God’s Grand Vision for His Church. 

• We have to know and love our congregation before we can serve and equip our congregation effectively.

• We have to be a community before we can reach our community.

• We have to be in our community before we can reach our community.

• Biblical counselors are soul physicians who understand people, diagnoses problems, and prescribes solutions—biblically. We are also church cardiologists who understand our church and community, diagnose the heart condition of the culture in which we minister, and prescribes God’s cures—biblically.

• A relationship with the transforming Person (Christ) leads to transforming leaders (you and your team) relationally leading a transforming process (The 4E Ministry Training Strategy) that the Spirit uses to transforms your church (the Body of Christ) so others (the congregation and community) are also transformed into disciple-makers.

• We can’t attempt to examine the heart health of others if we are not turning first to the ultimate Soul Physician (Christ) and to mutual spiritual friends (the Body of Christ) to examine our own heart condition.

• Before we catch God’s future vision we must first diagnose the past history and current condition of our congregation and community.

• In John 3-4, Jesus models for us that the message is always the same, but the methods and means of communication vary because of the personal and cultural differences of the specific audience.

• In Acts 17, Paul offers their culture a biblical message in a culture-specific manner.

• Paul is not culturally-influenced; he is culturally-informed so he can be a culture-influencer for Christ.

• In a culturally-informed manner we influence our culture for Christ by relating Christ’s changeless truth to our changing times.

• The Bible teaches that we are responsible to apply Christ’s universal calling in culturally-informed ways in our particular ministry context.

• We open our hearts to experience the pain of the hopelessness of our society. We open our eyes to know our society, listening to their earthly story. We open our mouths to share Christ as society’s only hope. We open the Word to explain Scripture, sharing God’s eternal story.

• If you are going to assess how ready your church is for the relational ministry of speaking the truth in love, then your mindset must be relational connection, not data collection.

• Engaging in spiritual conversations about spiritual weakness is never easy. However, it is necessary. When Jesus addressed the seven churches of Asia Minor, He pulled no punches in exposing their sin.

• God calls us to be a church of biblical counseling to our community for His glory.

• We must diagnose our congregation and community’s readiness, health, and fitness compared to Christ’s vision for His Church. If we don’t, then our application of God’s truth will sound more like us than like how Christ wants us to communicate His timeless truth.

• There’s nothing Christ-centered about communicating truth with a “my-way-or-the-highway” mentality.

Join the Conversation 

Which quote about knowing and loving our congregation and community resonates with you the most? Why?

Quotes of Note: God’s Grand Vision for His Church

The following “Quotes of Note” are from the Introduction and Chapter One of Equipping Counselors for Your Church. This section of the book focuses on God’s grand vision for His church.

• If pastors fail to focus on equipping, then we selfishly treat God’s people like children who have never grown up spiritually.

• When pastors focus on equipping, we leave an other-centered legacy of loving leaders.

• My goal is the promotion of a congregation-saturated mindset of every-member ministry with an entire congregation passionate about and equipped to make disciples.

• Pastoral care is not just what the pastor does, but what every member is equipped to offer to one another.

• Biblical counseling is not simply a ministry of a few in one corner of the church, but a mindset of an entire congregation that the Bible is sufficient for every life issue.

• Biblical counseling is focused one-another ministry designed to fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

• Gospel-centered biblical counseling involves communicating Gospel truth about grace-focused sanctification in word, thought, and action through one-another relationships that have integrity, genuineness, authenticity, transparency, and reliability, done in love to promote the unity and maturity of the Body of Christ for the ultimate purpose of displaying the glory of Christ’s grace.

• God’s end goal is for every member to be a disciple-maker who speaks and lives Gospel truth in love to help one another to grow in Christ.

• We don’t want to create the ministry mindset where the only way people can relate to one another is by discussing their problems. The goal is to move people forward in Christlikeness whether or not they are facing specific crisis problems.

• If pastoral search committees desired in a pastor what Christ desires, they would throw out every résumé that failed to emphasize experience in and passion for equipping the saints.

• Christ’s grand plan for His Church is for pastors/teachers to focus on equipping every member to do the work of the ministry.

• These eight words must be every church leader’s reason for existence: “To prepare God’s people for works of service.”

• The leader’s calling is to help God’s people to fulfill their calling.

• Christ’s grand plan for His Church is for every member to be a disciple-maker by speaking and living Gospel truth to one another in love.

• Sadly, in far too many churches, the people of God are second-class citizens when it comes to the work of the ministry.

• Pastors and teachers serve the people so God’s people can serve the congregation and community.

• The normal agenda and priority of every Christian is to make disciple-makers.

• Christ’s training strategy for disciple-making involves pastors and teachers equipping every member to embody the truth in love through the personal ministry of the Word—biblical counseling.

Join the Conversation 

Which quote about God’s vision for His church resonates with you the most? Why?

Be Equipped

Many people have been asking me about the Table of Contents (TOC) for Equipping Counselors for Your Church. So here it is. Plus, I’ve included a summary of the main equipping benefit of each chapter.

Foreword—By Pastor James MacDonald

Introduction—Want to Change Lives?

Section One: Envisioning God’s Ministry

Chapter 1—More Than Counseling: Catching God’s Vision for the Entire Church

• You will be equipped to be a catalyst for a congregation-saturated shift to the ministry mindset that changes everything—every member a disciple-maker.

Chapter 2—Examining Heart Health: Diagnosing Congregational and Community Fitness

• You will be equipped as a spiritual cardiologist to diagnose the heart health of your congregation and community to establish a present baseline for envisioning God’s future dream.

Chapter 3—Dreaming God’s Dream: Becoming an MVP-C Congregation

• You will be equipped to champion the biblical meaning of and necessity for jointly crafting congregation-wide and ministry-specific MVP-C Statements.

Chapter 4—Living God’s Calling: Jointly Crafting Your Biblical Counseling MVP-C Statement

• You will be equipped to guide your biblical counseling ministry team in jointly crafting a ministry-specific MVP-C Statement.

Section Two: Enlisting God’s Ministers for Ministry

Chapter 5—Shepherding the Transformation: Cultivating a Climate for Ongoing Ownership

• You will be equipped to shepherd a congregational transformation that unites your entire congregation around the right Person (Christ) and the right purposes (loving God and others).

Chapter 6—Mobilizing Ministers: Nurturing a Family and Building a Team

• You will be equipped to mobilize ministers so that you are able to match the right people to the right ministry for the right reasons at the right time in the right way—relationally.

Section Three: Equipping Godly Ministers for Ministry

Chapter 7—Competent to Counsel: The Résumé of the Biblical Counselor

• You will be equipped to develop comprehensive four-dimensional training goals and objectives for equipping biblical counselors in the 4Cs of biblical content, Christ-like character, counseling competence, and Christian community.

Chapter 8—What Makes Biblical Counseling Biblical?: Part One—Theology and Methodology in Biblical Counseling

• You will be equipped to map out the focused curriculum and materials that will become your subject matter and lesson plans for equipping biblical counselors in content and competence.

Chapter 9—What Makes Biblical Counseling Biblical?: Part Two—Spiritual Formation and Spiritual Fellowship in Biblical Counseling

• You will be equipped to map out the focused curriculum and materials that will become your subject matter and lesson plans for equipping biblical counselors in character and community.

Chapter 10—Equipping Competent Biblical Counselors: Transformational Training Strategies and Methods

• You will be equipped to apply transformational training strategies and methods that comprehensively equip your trainees for knowing (head/content), being (heart/character), doing (hands/competence), and loving (home/community).

Section Four: Empowering/Employing Godly Ministers for Ministry

Chapter 11—Overseeing Ministries for God’s Glory: Organizing the Organism

• You will be equipped to oversee the ongoing organizing of the organism through God’s empowering for God’s glory by administrating ministries, mentoring/supervising ministers, and passing the baton of ministry.

Chapter 12—Practicing Ethical and Legal Wisdom in Ministry: Caring Carefully

• You will be equipped to care carefully by following sound principles of ethical behavior, legal norms, wise practices, and biblical standards.

Appendices—Practical Equipping Resources (Over 125 Pages!)

Bibliography—Sources Cited and Consulted

Join the Conversation

Which of the chapters are you most excited about?

The Biblical Servant Pastor

Not the Mega-Star 

During the early days of television, two shows dominated the airwaves. One was on Tuesday night and the other aired on Sunday evening. Initially the most popular of the two shows was The Texaco Star Theatre hosted by Milton Berle. Originally it was designed along the lines of the old-fashion vaudeville variety hour with a host highlighting half-a-dozen guests each week.

However, little by little, Uncle Miltie became the star each week. As the format changed, the accent gradually focused increasingly on Berle himself. There were fewer guest acts, and Berle began to dominate each show. In just eight years, the steam ran out of Mr. Television. No one person is talented enough to carry any show, or any ministry, for more than a short time.

The Mega-Servant

The other show, The Ed Sullivan Show, experienced a very different fate. If any show in the history of television could be called an institution, it would be The Ed Sullivan Show. Every Sunday night for more than two decades this show brought an incredible variety of entertainers into homes. Sullivan’s show continued as a major hit for fifteen years longer than Berle.

Unlike Milton Berle, Ed Sullivan never wavered from his original format. He was the host who called other people to center stage. Numerous performers made their television debut on his show: Walt Disney, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Bob Hope, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, and hundreds more. Though Ed Sullivan died soon after the last run of his show, he will not soon be forgotten. His legacy outlives him.

Are We Like Milton Berle or Ed Sullivan?

God calls leaders in the church to be like Ed Sullivan, not like Milton Berle. If we’re like Milton Berle, and the spotlight increasingly focuses on us and our individual ministry, then biblically we are missing God’s mark as equippers. If Christian leaders fail to focus on equipping, then we selfishly treat God’s people like children who have never grown up spiritually.

God wants us to be like Ed Sullivan—a host who calls others to center stage by equipping them to fulfill their calling. If Christian leaders focus on equipping, then we leave an other-centered legacy of loving leaders (2 Timothy 2:2).

The Rest of the Story 

Today’s post is from Equipping Counselors for Your Church which will be released September 23 by P & R Publishing.

• To Pre-Order Visit our Store 

• To Read the Foreword and a dozen endorsements visit our Equipping Counselors Home Page 

• Watch the Video Book Trailer 

• Read a Sample Chapter

Join the Conversation

How can the church be filled with Ed Sullivan equippers?

Want to Change Lives?

Pre-Order Equipping Counselors for Your Church

I’m thrilled to let you know that you can now pre-order Equipping Counselors for Your Church. My sixth book will be available on September 23, 2011. You can order your autographed copy now from me at 30% off for just $17.50. Here’s all the info you need:

• To Pre-Order Visit our Store           

• To Read the Foreword by Pastor James MacDonald and to read a dozen endorsements by leading pastors, counselors, and educators, visit our Equipping Counselors Home Page 

• Watch the Video Book Trailer 

• Read a Free Sample Chapter

• Learn about Consulting Options 

• Learn about Seminar Options 

Why You’ll Want to Own Equipping Counselors for Your Church

You’re passionate about equipping God’s people for every-member-ministry as biblical counselors, small group leaders, spiritual friends, mentors, and one-another ministers. However, you’re tired of seeing great effort expended on “programs” that don’t launch, don’t last, or don’t result in leaving a legacy of loving leaders. So am I. That’s why Equipping Counselors for Your Church teaches you a biblical, field-tested, best-practice approach to equipping God’s people for biblical counseling using the “4E” ministry training strategy of envisioning, enlisting, equipping, and empowering godly ministers for ministry.

What You’ll Learn

After reading Equipping Counselors for Your Church, you will be able to:

1. Envision God’s Ministry: Jointly create mission, vision, passion, and commission (MVP-C) statements that nourish the compassion, conviction, and connection needed to launch flourishing biblical counseling ministries.

2. Enlist God’s Ministers for Ministry: Mobilize ministers by nurturing a family and building a team prepared for change, skilled in conflict resolution, and connected to the MVP-C Statement.

3. Equip Godly Ministers for Ministry: Apply transformational training strategies that comprehensively address the “4Cs” of biblical content, Christ-like character, relational competence, and Christian community.

4. Empower Godly Ministers for Ministry: Oversee the ongoing “organizing of the organism” by leading ministries that are built to last, that grow from good to great, and that leave a legacy of loving leaders.

Place Your Order Now