AALC Transcript: The Next Chapter of Leadership: Humble(d) Yet Confident

I’m so grateful for the conference. I was talking with some of my friends earlier and and just the delight of meeting old and new friends and just hearing wonderful messages and just being able to dream about where the Lord is leading us? As I was, I was sitting there singing. I hear my friends, dear friends, surrounding me and singing at the top of their voices, their voices are no good, but they’re singing. I just, it’s amazing. You can’t help but to recognize just being together this way is such an encouragement to us. So thank you for all the hosts, as well as Living Hope Church that’s hosted so generously and so kindly and so well. Grateful for the opportunity for us to all gather together in this way. 

You might have noticed in your booklet, my page is blank. That’s mostly because I have nothing to offer that’s new. That’s the point that we want to get across. But more importantly, I was late in terms of submitting my material. So it’s not about the organizers, it’s me, my sincere apologies. They had asked me to speak on leadership. I’m not exactly sure if I’m the best person for it, but I do want to spend some time today thinking about leadership, not just about Asian Americans, but Christians in general. And let me begin by simply pointing out I’m rather bullish about the next generation of leadership. We have young people coming up behind us. I’m getting to that stage of being old. Anyways, they’re curious, they’re engaged, they’re global, they’re immensely gifted in terms of their engagement. 

But if someone were to ask me here, Joel, what do you worry about in terms of the next generation of leadership? What are those things that you’re concerned about, that you’re praying about at the moment, it’s simply this, we do not have enough frontline workers. We do not have enough frontline workers. We have a lot of gifted workers. We just don’t have enough of them. And the statistics, statistics bear this out, and the situation is actually quite dire. We’re losing people on both ends, as you know well, on the one end, we have a lot of people leaving ministry. Retiring is expected when I’m talking about many brothers and sisters who move on from Ministry rather early, beyond their peak, even in some ways, recognizing the difficult road that is there and perhaps different ways that the Lord is calling them in terms of their service to the kingdom. Most often cited reasons are stresses and expectations of ministry. Many of you are familiar with the 22 Barna report, the percentage of pastors wanting to leave full time ministry reached 42% citing stress of the job, loneliness in ministry, and political divisions as top three reasons given for their departure from ministry. Alexander Lang’s article last year in 2023 got a lot of attention and lot of hits as well. He penned a piece titled departure, why I left the church with which many pastors resonated, and the highlight had the highlight of that article, he talks about 1000 bosses in the church and unrealistic expectations with pastors and leaders expected to be professional speakers, CEO, counselor, fundraiser, HR, Director, Master of Ceremonies and pillar of virtue. 

Perhaps many of you resonate with those sentiments as well. In fact, Harford Institute recently released another study titled, I’m exhausted all the time. Is the title exploring factors contributing to growing clergy discontentment. And many are moving on. And we see this not just in terms of local churches, seminaries as well. Frank Yamada, who is the head of ATS, which is the Association of theological schools, which oversees the accreditation of now about 273 seminaries, he talks about the major leadership shift Since 2017 between 2017 to 2022 214 out of 273 seminaries underwent leadership change at the top whopping 73% leading the leadership positions during that time period, which averages out to about 5.7 years of service for those who are leading seminaries. One seminary president that I met with recently, who, after 15 years, is retiring rather early, a little too early, from my vantage point, announced his early retirement with these words, when he shared leadership is like a mountain climbing exercise. It’s not about reaching the summit, but surviving at some point. You have to learn when to step off. Was the point. And he decided his time had come, and he’s moving on to serve the Lord in a unique and different way. We know this story fairly well, and in fact, among many of us, my peers and brothers and sisters who have struggled in staying in ministry. 

But on the other end, we have less and less people heading into ministry. Anecdotally, you probably knew this already, as you hear from people in seminaries who are engaged in ministry as well. In other words, not enough people are seeking to do frontline ministry anymore. ATS puts out data each year with 273 member schools, between 2007 to 2022 seminary enrollment remain relatively steady. Now that seems counter to what I just pointed out, but there are several caveats that you and I need to understand. 

First, evangelical seminaries grew in enrollment over that period, while mainline and Catholic seminary seminaries declined by over a third in terms of sheer number second, the growth among evangelical seminaries is encouraging, but a large part of this is the result of new seminaries joining ATS like Liberty University and, if nothing else, adding new degree programs like demon and others, where those who have previously gone through a theological education, those who already have theological education, coming back for more education. If you were to take those factors out and actually look at the same seminaries over the same period, you’ve seen over 15% decline in number of students coming into seminaries. And finally, what you come to recognize is that the degree traditionally used to prepare people for ministry called a master of divinity, has continued its decline for some time. Now, only about 35% of all those who are matriculating at seminaries is actually preparing for pastoral ministry. 35% is the number with greater numbers actually involved in academic degrees or additional theological degrees or non degree granting areas. And if you’re asking, how about Asian Americans? About the same, if there’s any tick, that’s different is the fact that academic degrees are higher percentage, and then non degree granting classes are even higher, almost twice as big. Meaning, there are a lot of lay people who are desiring theological education. They’re taking it not because maybe the Lord will call them one day, not because they want to be in frontline ministries, but because they’re engaged in theological education as a whole. 

Friends, I don’t think I’m saying anything new here when I mentioned to you ministry and frontline work does not seem desirable to most people. We are asking people to jump into a task that does not pay well, it’s not respected and with no guarantees of success, whatever that success may be, let’s be honest. For those of you with kids, how many will of you will talk to your kids and say to them, with all honesty, you should go into ministry. We talked to a lot of young people, talking to them about teachers, business, engineering, doctors and lawyers. Yet, many of us who are actually in ministry hesitate to encourage our kids to head into the same path that many of you and I have chosen to take, and I think that’s true of all of us. We recognize the difficulty involved. And I don’t even know what the next steps ought to be, but I do know something that does not help the situation, the ideals of success, achievement and winning. We’ve talked about this several times now, in many ways, the forefront this expectation that’s before us, where we live in a time that idolizes success, and if I can be very bold enough to say we are people who idolize success, Amy Chua wrote a book called The Battle Hymn of the Republic. I’m sorry, Battle Hymn of the tiger mom arguing that Chinese parenting is superior, maybe they are, while cringing at the extreme attitude and actions of the book, many parents, particularly Asian ones, were left wondering whether they’re doing enough for their children. Because I think many of us agree with her premise that academic achievement, Ivy League schools and prominent and well paying jobs are all indicators of success. We even do ministry this way, there are certain returns on investment and key metrics that you and I look for that indicate to us what success, achievement, as well as winning, may ultimately look like. 

And to be honest, I think all of us are in the same trap in many ways. I have two kids, Anna and Simeon. Are their names, 18 and 16. Girl. A boy we named the manna and Simeon. Simeon taken from Luke chapter two with hopes that even if the world doesn’t recognize Jesus, that our kids will remain as witnesses of Jesus, those two individuals who recognize Baby Jesus as the one who has come to say, save the world. What was interesting about Simeon in particular was he was quick to recognize, I think, the parental habits one day as we are walking through Target, and he was maybe about three or so as he’s looking around, he turned to me and said, Daddy, I want to work here. You couldn’t say ours very well, I want to work here. I said, as an immigrant, I came to the States when I was 10, working at Target is a beautiful thing. Let me just say that not exactly what I thought my son would say. So I turned to him and said, Simeon, do you want to own target? Owning target is okay. Simeon, do you want to be the regional director of target? He says, No, No, Daddy, I want to be a scanner. He liked the sound some reason. And he thought his future involved a scanning at Target. Again, working at Target is a beautiful thing, but as an immigrant parent, I was kind of concerned as to where he might actually go, or where he might actually end up.

Well, when he was about six or seven, we’re walking the neighborhood. We’re holding hands. We don’t do that anymore, because he’s too old now. But as we’re walking, he said, Daddy, I figured out what I want to be. I said, Really, Simeon. What do you want to be, Simeon? And he looked up at me, and he was still holding my hand. He said, Daddy, I want to be a doctor with a question but a statement. And then I think I said something like, Hmm, that’s not bad, Simeon. And he said, Yes, doctor, that’s what I want to be. Reading parental faces is what kids do really well. We could say certain things in terms about expectations that we have, but certainly what we give off in terms of every other indicators of how we ought to conduct ourselves. I think our kids understand quite well in terms of what the expectations are. Don’t misunderstand me here, friends. I have nothing against success, but I do wrestle with how cultural norms affect our faith and the practice of our faith. While these standards of success may be well and good in society, although I have my own doubts, I wonder if such notions of success have infiltrated the way we think about our faith and the way we do church and way we envision leadership in the first place. So if the question is, what is next about leadership among Asian Americans? I’m not sure, but I want to begin here. I think there are a number of things we can talk about, perhaps even a conference on it. But simply, I want to begin by pointing out at the base level being naively biblical and simple about ministry and ministers. 

We need to simplify what we think ministry is and who ought to be in the forefront of ministries under three headings, in particular, messenger, message and ministry. Messenger, message and ministry. And I want to turn briefly to the John 119 we’re not going to be spending a lot of time here, except to jump off of John 119 and I was going to read until 23 but just the two first verses, 19 and 20 hear now the word of the Lord. And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you? He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ. I am not the Christ. You know, John’s credentials, they were immense. He was a somebody. His birth was a stuff of legends. Every child is a miracle, as all the parents here would recognize and admit, but he really was a miracle, born to parents who are aging and who are unable to bear children. In fact, before his birth, the angel of the Lord appeared before his father, Zechariah, and foretold of the birth of this child who will be great before the Lord. The angel then states, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. He was predicted. That’s how famous he was. As if that was not enough. When Mary, the mother of Jesus, visited Elizabeth, who was then pregnant with John, the baby leapt in her womb, we are told in Luke because he recognized the Savior to come. But not only it was his birth one of Legends, he was also a well known prophet. He was a prophet without equal. As he prepared the way of the Lord. Not only did the angel declare that John will minister in the spirit and power of Elijah, he even looked the part, appearing in clothing made of camel’s hair with leather belt and diet of locusts and honey. 

If you think Kirkland brand is bad, I would imagine this is even worse. Not surprisingly, when some Jews questioned Him, they asked, Are you Elijah thinking that perhaps his look, as well as what he was doing, was very reminiscent of what was predicted from old and everyone knows about John’s successes. Man endowed with such history and past, not surprisingly, was successful in his ministry. Popularity of John was recorded in saying that multitudes went out to hear John. In fact, Matthew tells us that people came to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around about the Jordan. He said, even Herod, the Tetrarch of Galilee summoned John to hear him preach. Mark tells us that Herod enjoyed the preaching as long as they remained general and neutral and not offensive. When John started to preach against Herodias, his new wife and former wife of his brother, simply saying that his actions were immoral, his affection for John noticeably cooled this anger herodia So much that eventually she succeeded in having John arrested and later killed, ultimately for his offense. But just imagine this legendary birth long for profit and preacher to the kings. Not bad for a CV or a resume. I know that many of you have stellar resumes and experiences you can point to, and as Asian Americans, we love to talk about our accomplishments and our resumes, and I want to simply point this out. John was pretty good. He could compete with the best of them. This is what makes John’s confession even more startling, perhaps for us, jarring in many ways. His background makes his confession intriguing when he says, when the question was asked, Who are you? Who are you? I always find his answer intriguing. When he says he confessed, he did not deny, but confessed, such a convoluted way of introducing allows us to focus on the following statement. Pay attention to what he says next. When he says, I am not the Christ. I am not the Christ. He says that again in chapter three, verse 28 you yourselves, bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him, friends. 

This is a phrase that you and I need to remember, well, I am not the Christ. We are not Christ’s. You are not the Christ. On days when pew seem especially empty, when eye contact is avoided, after a particularly difficult sermon, when your sheep seem to bite, despite all your efforts, your calendar is empty and nothing you seem to be effective. Remember you are not the Christ, even on days when your sermon seems to bless people despite yourself, pews are full with excited people, and your calendar is full of speaking programs and meetings, even on those days you are not the Christ. You are not the Christ. Don’t be offended. You are not the Christ. Let’s be honest. You and I have no power to impart grace. We lack eloquence to change hearts. We are unable to provide genuine comfort, and even our best effort is insufficient. For those of us who have been in ministry long enough, we know how insufficient we are on our own, there is pattern recognition of things repeating every single time where we come to realize there’s a cycle. Some days we seem awesome, but many times, the same troubles return. We are insufficient, sufficient on our own, and even more so, we are sinful. We are dead people preaching to other dead men and women. We. Battle every day with our own sins and sinfulness, despite how well you and I cover those things up with nice dresses or the way we conduct ourselves, we often follow in Moses’s steps, as one scholar said, as he yelled at the people of God and struck the rock in rage, we are susceptible to lust like David who could not pull his eyes away from another man’s wife. We are open to fear of men like Peter, who deny the Lord to save his own skin. You’re not the Christ. I’m not the Christ. As Charles Spurgeon once said, Be content to be nothing, for that is what you are. Be content to be nothing. That is what you are. We take ourselves way too seriously.

I think I am not. I’m not looking at any people except for my friends. We do take ourselves very seriously. Friends, you’re not the Christ. If you’ve come here with burdens beyond you, you are not the Christ.

If you come with stiff necked believing that you have accomplished something in life, you are not the Christ. You are not the Christ. Is what John said. Who are you? I know this. I am not the Christ. But then he moves on. In understanding who he is not, we are able to get a glimpse of who he is and what he is. Is a witness. What’s intriguing is throughout John how he’s described in John one verses six through eight, a paragraph before, there was a man sent from God whose name was John, He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe Through him, he was not the light because he’s not Christ, but he came to bear witness about the the light in John, the word truth in its related forms occur 48 times compared to 10 times in the Synoptic Gospels combined. Synoptics is basically the combination of Matthew, Mark and Luke in John, the noun witness or testimony occurs 14 times compared to four times in the synoptics, and the verb to witness or to testify occur 33 times compared to twice in all of synoptics. 

Vocabulary isn’t everything, but it’s surprising how focused John is on this notion of truth telling as well as witnessing and testifying. And in fact, there is a book that’s titled truth on trial that tries to summarize all of the Gospel of John under this larger theme that truth is on trial, summarizing it based upon chapter 18, verse 38 where Pilate asked Jesus, standing before him, what is truth? What is truth? Truth stood before him, but he didn’t recognize him. This is where all of the Gospel of John tries to testify to the truth. It teaches and witnesses what truth is. And this is why John, 119, begins despite the fact that he’s not saying anything in particular, but his actions speak loud when it begins by saying, this is the testimony of John. John is a testifier. He’s a witness who testifies to what truth is actually who truth is. Truth is not a thing or a what it’s a person that is Jesus Christ, as he declared in John 14, six, Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Him. So John simply and literally points to the truth that Jesus Christ in 129 we see an interesting scene here in John. The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Behold, see him, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me. I myself did not know him. But for this purpose, I came baptizing with water that he might be revealed to Israel, and John bore witness. What did he witness to? And I have seen, and I have borne witness that this Jesus is the Son of God. This Jesus is the Son. Of God. 

You know what John is as a witness. He’s a signpost, he’s a pointer, he’s an arrow. He’s like a hunting dog, like a dachshund. He’s pointing in the direction where you’re supposed to see, what you’re supposed to see. His purpose in life was to be a pointer to the Savior who was to come. A signpost may be beautiful, colorful, prominent, or even big, but a signpost can also be ugly. It can be tired and faded and old. It could be completely unknown to most and seemingly small. What a signpost cannot be, however, is be wrong or unclear. If the signpost is wrong or unclear, here you have a cliff on the end of that sign. It doesn’t matter how beautiful you are. It doesn’t matter how eloquent you are. It doesn’t matter how known you are. It doesn’t matter what your credentials are, the zeros in your bank account or the letters behind your name, you could be older. You can be faded. The letters may be off here. Colors may not be vibrant. You are tired and worn. However, what a signpost needs to be is right and clear. You cannot be wrong and unclear, because at the end of the day, nobody looks at the signpost and says, That’s a beautiful signpost. Let me get off and take a picture with the signpost is not what people say they want to be directed, pointed to. 

And for us, the message is simply this, For God so loved the world that He gave he gave his only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. Does that verse still move you the way it used to move you when you’re young, where every Asian parent made you memorize that verse, usually for a competition at church. He’s a signpost. He knows his role. And do you know how Noah he knows his role? He goes on to say, in chapter three, John says He must increase. I must decrease all the attention on the signpost is no good. It doesn’t help anyone. This is not an option. Christ must increase in my life and I must decrease in my life, to be honest, they go hand in hand, his growing glory in me means my decrease in my own glory. This is not because our humility increases his glory, but our lack of humility clouds his glory. This is why Apostle Paul says in Galatians 220 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith, in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. He must increase, I must decrease, and our pointing to Christ, Jesus must be clear and ever, ever faithful. One of my favorite books of the late Tim Keller, and lots of people have different books that they turn to, but my favorite is a booklet called the freedom of self forgetfulness, and this is what he says there CS Lewis in Mere Christianity, makes a brilliant observation about gospel humility at the very end of his chapter on Pride. If we were to meet a truly humble person, Lewis says we would never come away from meeting him or them thinking they were humble, they would not always be telling us they were a nobody, because a person who keeps saying that they are a nobody is actually a self obsessed person. The thing we would remember from meeting a truly gospel humble person is how much they seem to be totally interested in us, because the essence of gospel humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself. It is thinking of myself less. Hear that again, because the essence of gospel humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself. It. Thinking of myself less. 

Oftentimes our prayers are indicators of where our heart idolatries are, and it’s usually focused on me. And he simply says, forgetfulness is what we ought to seek in a dramatic development, John the Baptist disappears from the Gospel of John. Have you noticed that such a prominent figure at the beginning of John, in the middle of John, he’s gone. He’s like Barnabas. He disappears. No one knows. And here John three therefore becomes his final testimony, unlike Matthew who records that John the Baptist, was beheaded, the Gospel of John is simply silent. It’s almost as if John lived out what he proclaimed. He must increase, I must disappear, is what we see. It’s not only the messenger here who recognizes that he is not the Christ, that she is not the Christ. The message is only about Jesus Christ, that his name be known and proclaimed and lifted up on high. Which leads us to the final M ministry, when Jesus became more known, people’s regard for John, the Baptist, waned when his disciples approached him with resentment and frustration, saying, he’s getting more popular. More people are coming to Jesus to be baptized by him, and less and less people are coming to us. John answered them with this simple statement in chapter three, verse 27 a person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given to him from heaven. From Heaven is a reverential circumlocution for from God. These are given from God. 

In other words, John states, all things come from God and our God is in charge. I know you know this. Our God is in charge. This is John’s perspective. God is indeed in charge. As simple as this sounds, John believes that God is indeed sovereign, that God created and sustains all things in life, including the providential care of his people. He is convinced that God’s sovereign hand stands behind all things in life often hidden, including things and ministries that he has himself received. This is tied to Paul’s rebuke later on, to First Corinthians and the Corinthian church, when he says in First Corinthians, chapter four, verse seven, for who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive if, then you received it. Why do you boast as if you did not receive it? Division was a major problem in the Corinthian church, where some claim to follow Paul, others, Apollos and still others Peter. In this dispute, they compare the relative merits of these leaders and then boasted of their own status and power to then Paul simply asks, did you forget that you received whatever you have? Nothing you have comes from you. Everything you have comes from the Lord. It is the height of folly Paul believes and falsehood to claim anything good as their own when they fully know that all things come from God and no one else. John understood this. He possessed the proper sense of God’s sovereignty in all matters of his life, his life and the ministry in which he is engaged, we don’t know, but he does. Our successes belong to God. Our failures are in the Lord’s hands. All these things are not unknown to God, though unseen by us simply, those of us who come before the Lord can only offer up and lift up the prayer of King Jehoshaphat recorded for us in Second Chronicles 20 when he simply says, We do not know what to do, but Our eyes are on you.

None of us. No we can try our best. We want to utilize all the gifts, experience, knowledge and time, to put the best things forward for the kingdom and for Christ, Jesus. But even our best will be insufficient, apart from God, for God is in charge. I. This is where we are able to say, God, everything is indeed in your hands. We don’t know the smartest of us, don’t know the most gifted of us, don’t know the most experienced of us. Don’t know what we don’t know you know. So our eyes are fixed on you. This is where we’re reminded throughout scriptures, in places like this, in Colossians, chapter 120, and 29 Paul. Paul doesn’t talk about himself all that often, but he gets engaged in talking about himself when he says him, we proclaim, do you know who that hymn is? I think you do. Jesus Christ, we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this, I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works in me. Notice the switch in personal pronouns. Here for this, I toil, put our best effort, struggling with, however, all his energy that he powerfully works in me. Do you notice that he didn’t say, I’m going to do my best? I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. He’s great, insufficient. I toil with all his energy, he powerfully works in me. And do you know what that power is? He repeats the same word in chapter two of Colossians, in verse 12 that explains the depth and breadth of his power. When we’re told you are that is you and me in Christ, Jesus, we’re also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God. So what is this power that is at work within us, as we faithfully seek to serve the Lord? Is resurrection power. It’s power to raise people from the dead. Here Lazarus didn’t rise because he said, I think I can. I think I can just, I can just lift up my finger. No, it was the voice of Jesus, Lazarus come out that resurrection power is at work in you, even in the darkest of days of ministry, it’s work in you, for he promised you in the heights of your success, it’s at work, and that’s why here you’re able to see the fruit of your labors, for we recognize he powerfully works his resurrection power in all of us. 

Therefore first, Peter five, six, simply says, humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, humble yourselves before the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time God may exalt you. I’m Presbyterian, forgive me, and so, but I like to think I’m a happy Presbyterian on the whole. So I have to interject something here. That’s Presbyterian in the sense of Heidelberg Catechism Q and A number 28 our forefathers of faith, five centuries ago, asked this question, how does the knowledge of God’s creation and Providence. Providence is God superintending all things help us. We can be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity and for the future. We can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature will separate us from His love. How does the knowledge of God’s providence help us? We can be patient in adversity because he’s there with us, thankful and prosperity, because he’s doing it all and for the future, we can have good confidence, not in ourselves, but in our faithful God and Father, that no creature will separate us from His love. I wrestled with what to share with you all, and I was mulling over quite a long time for acts 1336 where it says For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep. I wonder what that is. One day I want to preach on it. I’ve never done it. 

But after he had served the purpose of God in his generation, he fell asleep and was laid with his fathers, my friends, I’m not sure what the Lord’s purposes for us are for this generation, but I will say this one thing I do pray for is raising up of many men and women who risk their lives to go to the front lines and to. Serve them well, because we have many gifted leaders. We just don’t have enough of them. One of our brothers here, and Aaron Chung in particular, couple nights ago, was sharing how we’re talking about these revivals. But there was a period during the 80s and 90s in particular where many of us decided that we’re going to go into ministry. There was a surge of God’s grace where many people decided to step forward into ministry, missions work, or any other frontline ministry that’s there. I’m not exactly sure, and I can’t read the providence of God that is taking place, but I think surely it must be worth our time for us to pray that the Lord, through His Spirit, will bring among us many more leaders of not only our age, but ages behind us. For those of you brothers and sisters who are in your 50s and 60s and 70s, I wonder if this ought to be our prayer that the Lord before we are laid to rest with our forefathers and fall asleep, that one of the purposes, surely, of our generation that we leave behind is that we put all our energies, resources and certainly prayers, into equipping and raising and preparing men and women for the church to come 50 years from now and the decades to come. May the Lord move us to that end. 

And as we think about the next story and the next chapter and the next step that we may be able to say, without any Guile, I am not the Christ. I just want to point to Jesus, Christ, faithfully and clearly, and that I want to trust in Him always to the dying breath, that he will one day take me home and I will hear from him say, Well done, my good and faithful servant, you have been faithful in the little things come in and join your master’s happiness. 

Let’s turn to the Lord in prayer. Shall we? 

We find it amazing, oh Lord, that you have set apart these men and women, for your church’s service, we confess to you, oh Lord, we genuinely are not smart enough. We’re not experienced enough. We do not have enough gifts. But yet, Lord, by your Spirit, you use the weak and the unsmart and the accidental leaders among us to lead your people forward. We’re humbled and grateful, yet Lord, we become ever more dependent upon You. Lord, work as the Spirit works among us. Grant to us humility to recognize that this is not in our hands, but in yours. Grant to us wisdom to know to whom we must point. For Christ, Jesus in me must increase and I must decrease in the name of Christ, Jesus and the name of Christ Jesus only must be lifted up on high. But in doing all that, oh Lord, allow us to trust in You. May we be first, be on our knees. 

We often speak and preach about prayer, but we confess often we lack lives of prayer. And so Lord, allow us to depend upon you daily, trusting in the power that resurrected many from the dead, that we may turn to that power and see your work among us raise up amongst us here, oh Lord, hundreds of gathered who are here, who are singing at the top of their voices, their praises to you. For those who are in labor for your kingdom work in the churches. Oh Lord, grant them strength and confidence and humility in their ministry. Oh Lord, those who bear burdens beyond what they can comfort them and be near them, oh Lord, and wipe away their tears for those who are laboring, oh Lord and daily, strengthened by your grace, Lord, blow wind into their sails that by your Spirit, oh Lord, that they may be able to remain faithful to you and declare the name of Christ, Jesus. And if there are brothers and sisters here who are serving, but yet not quite certain where the Lord is leading them. Would you whisper in their hearts to possibly consider the thought that maybe, just maybe, that the Lord you are calling them to Kingdom service in such a way that they may risk all things but gain much because of Christ, Jesus, we pray for our generation and the generation to come use us, O Lord, as instruments of Your grace, that many will come to serve you, not just to know You. For we desire that to be true, that every knee shall bow, but that many will also come for. Lord to become individuals who preach and teach and declare Jesus, so Lord work in our churches, wherever we are coming from. Allow us to see eyes. Have eyes to see and discern those who are gifted in those areas. May we prayerfully seek to guide and encourage and shape those individuals, so that they may see you and to desire to serve you always.

For We pray all these things in the powerful and matchless name of Your Son, Jesus, Christ, our Lord. Amen.