Video Transcript: House to House - Chapter 9 Am I Qualified to Be a Leader?

I'd like to talk to you in this session about the qualifications that are needed to be in leadership, especially leadership of a house church or a new house church, or maybe you're taking over a house church is there now. And by the way, we must remember that there are many levels of leadership, and so if you're called to be  

a house church leader, that's fantastic. I would hope you could at first be an  assistant house church leader, if possible, maybe you don't know anybody that's leading house church, then, hey, go for it. God will give you grace. Build a team,  and go start a house church and and do all you can with others. Jesus sent out  people two by two, so much you can do with others. What are some of these  qualifications we need to be aware of? Well, the scriptures give us various lists  of qualification in the New Testament. But you know what I found? I found that  either we're looking at many of these qualifications. I found that God knows us  well enough and loves us enough that he'll take us through whatever we need to go through to prepare us for leadership. And so I've been through so many tests  in my life. I mentioned in an earlier session that, you know, when I started in  leadership, I brought in, I brought in six leaders, all equal leaders. I said, we're  gonna all lead together because of my insecurities. And then there's the fathers  in the Lord in the early days who helped us, help us understand that, yes, you  have a team, but there's always leadership on the team of some kind. Someone  needs to these be the James that we see in Acts 15, when the Jerusalem  Council formed, James who had stood up and listened to what God was saying  to everybody, and kind of gave the verdict, as you always need that. But I  learned that the hard way. I mean, I've we had some very powerful, good,  amazing leaders that were involved in the early days of of our house church  planning that we lost to other parts of the body of Christ, and by the grace of  God, we're friends today, because God's the God of restoration. But I look back  and I was just an immature leader, and I just didn't know a lot of these things.  And as I look back, I realized there's a lot of tests that God will take us through.  He'll take us through all kind of tests to get you where he wants you. And fact, a  couple years ago, I started to write these tests down, and I put them in this little  book called The 21 tests of effective leadership. And so you know the kind of  tests I hear, some of the tests that I've had to walk through personally. You may  have to walk through too in your life. Maybe some of these, maybe all these  ones that test of your calling. Are you doing what you're doing because God's  called you? Are you doing it because somebody else thinks you should do it? If  somebody can talk you into it, I can promise you, somebody else has got to talk  you out of it. There's a test of humility and a test of realizing that any good thing  that happens is because Jesus does it through us. Humility isn't some religious  thing where you walk around with your head bowed true. Humility is realizing  without Jesus, we can do nothing. We need him desperately. There's a test of  teamwork. Can we build a team? You know, people are wired differently. You  need people on a team with you who are different than you. I find some people 

what I call a lengthener, their people that an evangelist, the apostles, they're  thinking lengthening. You know, Isaiah 54 gives the prophetic word of  lengthening and strengthening. Get our stakes strengthened our tent pegs you  were given lengthen we need lengtheners And strengthener. So, for example, if  someone's apostolic, they're more of a lengthener. If someone's evangelistic,  they're more of a lengthener they're to just bring people into our church, even in  the house church, you need these different kinds of gifts. Strengtheners are  pastors. They're simply saying we got to shepherd people, help them grow in  God. The teachers are strengtheners. Help people be strengthened in the Word  of God and in the scriptures, and then there's those who have prophetic calls.  Sometimes they're lengtheners, sometimes they're strengtheners. I have found  in every nation world I've gone to, about 75 to 80% of all leaders are  strengtheners, and about 20 to 25% are what I call a lengthener. Now why is  that important? Because you've got to know who you are. If you have all  lengtheners on the team. It's not going to work if you all strengtheners. You need some of both, so you can really work together and build teams. It's a test.  There's a test of releasing others. Can we release people God's brought into our lives, that we train, that we hope will stay with us forever? And we have to  release them to have their own ministry, their own house church, their own  whatever ministry. Can we do that? That's a test that we go through. The test of  priorities. What are our priorities? Obviously, it starts with our priority with Jesus  and knowing him and prayer and walking with him, and a priority of our family  and those things that are so important. It's a test, the test of change in transition. Can you go through change without losing everything? Can you go through  change and help people walk through a change without them? Somehow,  people somehow being reactionary against that change, and we take it slow,  step by step, by step, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, there's  the the test of criticism. I don't like criticism. Most leaders don't like it, but we get  it. How do we handle. Criticism when it comes it's a test of dependency.  Together, we realize our dependency must be on God, not on the good things  we've done a test of conflict. I mean, most leaders don't like conflict, but conflict  is good when we deal with it in a healthy way to manage there's this elephant in  the middle of the room, as we say, no one wants to talk about it, though. We  need to talk about it. We need to find ways to work through conflict. There's a  test of vision. Do we have a vision, and can we impart that vision to others? Can we walk that vision now, if you have a vision to start a house church, can you  walk that out with others that God's brought into your life? Can you, as we said  in past sessions, Write the vision down, as we see in Habakkuk 2, there's a test  of love. We make decisions motivated by servanthood and love that because of  what it would do for us. The test of integrity. Are we the same when we're in  public as we're in private, as, again, clear servant leadership? That's a test, and  we'll go through test of security. Are we secure in who we are and who God is in 

us? Or is our security and what we do that's a test, the test of grace. Do we  depend on the grace of God for everything, or do we somehow get offended  when things don't go the way they think we should go? The test of unmet  expectations? That's huge, and if we have time, maybe later in one of the  classes here, we can talk more about that. But many, many leaders fail, even  housechurch leaders fail because of unmet expectations. They were so sure the house church were going to look a certain way, and it turned out differently.  They're so sure someone's going to come and help them, it didn't happen. And  Hebrews 12:15 is clear. Make sure you don't fall short of the grace of God.  That's the root of bitterness springs up and it not only defiles you, but it defiles  many others, what happens is, is when our expectations aren't met. Here's what happens all at once. We say, what we don't say, Well, God, your grace will cover me. We say, I don't believe they did that. We get forgiveness in a heart, a little  root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble. It's a test. We'll go through  these. These are, these are extremely important understand, because these,  plus what we see in Titus and Timothy, you know, all the other qualifications,  they all fit together to be the leader. We're called to be the test of finance and  the test of trusting God for finance and knowing how to use finance properly,  integrity with finances, they give you the comparison test. We always compare  up. We compare what you know, the goal is, what does God call us to do?  Whenever I compare myself to somebody else, one of two things happens, if I  think I'm doing a better job than them, I get proud. If I think they're doing a better job than me, I get depressed. So I looked at Jesus. They Jesus, what are you  saying my life? We can learn from others. We should never compare ourselves  with others. Then there's a perseverance test. Effective leaders refuse to  quench. And then there's a success test. Sometimes the greatest test is when  you're successful and things need to work out exactly the way you thought  they're going to. And then we think somehow we did this, and really it was God  doing it through us. There's a grace of God in us. Then the test of timing, you  know, Ecclesiastes says it clearly to everything. There's a there's a season,  there's a time for everything under heaven. And you know, we have the right  vision. And when it comes to starting a house church, you know, for you to start  a house church, make sure you have the timing of God. Take time to pray. Take  time to build a team, walk through some processes and make sure it's the timing of God. Moses had the right vision deliver the children of Israel from Egypt, but  he had the wrong timing. Missed it by 40 years. Now, the good news is God still  came through, and God still used him, and God still empowered him, but he was in the backside the desert, working under Jethro and I assume others, for 40  years until that happened. And then there's the kingdom test. Are we just  building something that's gonna be our kingdom, or is it all about the Kingdom of God? Again, the 21 tests of effective leadership. And I want to say that because  we need to understand that God does love us enough to take us through these 

tests. He's counted all joy when you get into various tests. James 1:2-5, and  what happens? And he says, If any of you like lack wisdom, let him ask of God,  but we should ask of God for wisdom. By often it's a light of the test that we're  going through. So God loves you now, if you go, if you're going to do some hard  times, some tests, Hey, join the club. It's a good thing. God's preparing you for  leadership. It's awesome. And those the leaders who have gone through the  greatest tests are the leaders who have the greatest heart of compassion and  servanthood. And a man of God, said to me many years ago, he said, You know, I've learned in all my years of leadership in older man, I don't trust anyone  unless they walk with a limp. At first, I didn't know what he meant. Then I  thought, Jacob. Remember he had Jacob his, you know, he had had this  encounter with God, and his thigh was touched, but he was a different man from that day on, and he walked with a limp. We often walk with a spiritual limp. We  walk with an emotional limp. But I find people think they have all the answers.  Are the ones that I don't want to build with. I want to build with people who have  a heart of compassion and servanthood, who have been tested through the  tests that God gives and came out on the other side. So are we qualified to be in leadership? I know we all you. You go through those tests and other tests. We  all go through that. I'm still going through tests. But bottom line is, God is the  one who qualifies us. I don't care what you've done or where you've been. God  wants to use you. He is the great Redeemer. It doesn't make much say, Larry, I  messed up so much. How could God use me? He will. There'll be a time and a  place, there's a process, but he wants to use you. I meet so many people today  who are just simply not fulfilling their call to ministry. If they would start a house  church, they'd find great fulfillment, because they're fulfilling the call that's on  their lives to be ministers to another generation. So when we look at the New  Testament list of you know qualifications for elders and all those things, how  does that apply? Let me read you I Timothy 3:10 says they must first be tested,  as we're talking about, and then, if there's nothing against them, let them serve  as deacons. Now there's deacons. Deacons are a type of House Fellowship  leaders in many ways. And of course, there are elders and deacons the new in  the New Testament. And then, as I read before, in I Corinthians 12:18, says, in  fact, God has arranged the parts of his body, every one of them, just as He  wanted them to be. So God's the one who places people in leadership. So let  me just take a moment and just mention a few of the qualifications that we need  for leadership, that I believe to be a healthy house church leader. And these are  very simplistic, and there's areas that you need to change. You can easily make  the adjustments where you can meet these qualifications. And the first, the first,  I would say, I mean, obviously we're called to be servants. We took a whole  session on that. We need to have a heart of a servant. That's where it starts. I  believe we need to have a clear testimony. II Timothy, he says it like this in  chapter 1:12, I know whom I believe. Paul says I'm convinced he's able to guard

that which I've entrusted to him. Until that day, his testimony was clear. He knew who Jesus was. He knew what Jesus did in his life. He had explained his  testimony. He knew he's in a relationship with intimacy with God. Leaders are  filled with faith. I find in the book of Acts 6:5, they chose Stephen as a deacon  because he was a guy who was full of faith and full the Holy Spirit. So we need  to have a sense of faith. And I, an Indian pastor, told me years ago from the  midst of India, he said, Larry. I've learned something. I've learned that anointing  comes with Association. I wasn't quite sure what he meant at first. They said  this. He said, when I hang around people, I have something of God that I need. I can often get that anointing, that grace, that gift from God, comes by association with those who have it. And I just want you to know that if you're not a person of  faith, hang around people who live faith. Hang around people who have a gift of  faith in their lives. And so we can see God do what he wants to do through our  lives. And I find that many times in my life, I am indebted to those who walk in  faith that I can spend time with help me with faith in my own life. I find that  leaders, future leaders, need to support the church they are in now. You need to  enthusiastically support the vision, even if it's not your vision. If it's different than  your thing, honor your leadership. Bless your leadership, encourage your  leadership. What they're building might be something different than you would  build, but that's okay. Bless them and what God's called them to do, we're not  called to change our church leadership. Called to pray for them. Honor them.  God can God can change him. He will change like, I'm not called to change my  wife. I learned that years ago I got married. I thought, well, I'm going to change  her, and she like, she's going to change me. That didn't work. We ended up  before a marriage counselor. That's what happened. I tell people, we have 45  years of marriage, 44 amazing years, one really rough year. We're married  about five years. It was hard because I was trying to change her and she was  trying to change me. But the bottom line is, we can't we can't change other  people, but we can have God will change them and he'll change us, and that's  why it's so important to understand. So you're not called to change your  leadership, but honor them, bless them. Whatever you sow, you will reap.  Remember that a leader is personable and easy to easy to approach. You know, we need to have some people skills. Do people like you? You know, people say,  Well, how do I start a house church? Well, gather some people. Do people  connect with you? And if they're connecting with you, if your heart's open, you're there to serve them, they'll love No, I love to be the people who want to serve.  People want to serve me and help me do I'm holding is fantastic, and I would be  there for other people in the same way. So leaders have a gift to lead people,  and they recognize other people that get there must be some kind of a gift of  leadership. You say, I don't know if I have that. Ask your friends. They'll tell you,  as people who know you, sometimes I can't see myself in the mirror clearly, but  other people can see things that I don't see. A leader should not be a novice. In 

other words, a house church leader shouldn't just be saved two days or two  weeks or maybe two months. Now you can fairly quickly ask someone to be an  assistant leader. And I encourage house church leaders. Have as many  assistant leaders as you can, and they can do different things to assist you,  because God is the God of teamwork. Build a Team of people, and you know  what happened? They'll watch you lead, and they'll soon be ready to lead  themselves. They might need a bit differently, but they'll be ready to lead  themselves because you're the one who's teaching them to do that. If a leader, a potential leader, is married, they should be in unity with their spouses about their decision to lead. Now I know of many cases. I know women whose husbands  are not believers. The husband said, Hey, you do what your thing. Do you want  to you want to lead a house church by that's fine, but if there is spouses, very  much against it. I really encourage praying with other leadership, processing  that together, no automatically saying I'm going to do it anyway, that they will be  bring disunity in a marriage. I believe leaders need to be tithing to the local  churches. They need be giving tithing. Tithe means 10% I'll be giving tithes and  offerings, because if we're not giving where we're not giving where we're placed. Now, why should we expect God to bless us as we lead a house? and expect  other people to tithe there in the same way? Some people say, Well, that's an  Old Testament. Well, Matthew 23:23 Jesus says it like this. He says, You give a  10th of your spices, but you neglected the more important matters of all. In other words, your heart's wrong. He's telling the Pharisees. Then he said this, you  should have practiced this. You should have practiced giving, he says, without  neglecting the former. So yes, we are called to give. I believe we're called to  give way above 10% but that's, that's just, that's just my opinion leaders are  accountable. Find someone you can be accountable to if you're going to start a  house church. Find someone you can connect with you at the ordination,  obviously, through CLI and and I believe even locally, even find someone, a  spiritual father we connect with even for a season. Remember we started, we  found some men and a bishop who, just for a season, helped us. Now, we  should have found somebody else later. We didn't. We did many years later, but  we need to be accountable. I tell leaders this all the time. They say, well, people  in our church aren't really accountable. I say, Who are you accountable to? Say,  Well, God. They feel the same way. We're all there's a sense of accountability in  the body Christ Hebrews 13:17, obey your leaders and submit to their authority.  So who your leaders? If you're going to be a house church leader, who are your  leaders? And then the scripture says they keep watch over you, as men must  give an account, obey them, so their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that  would be of no advantage to Hebrews 13:17. And so again, there's many other if you look at those lists in Titus and Timothy, there's many other lists of  qualifications, but there's some of the main qualifications I believe we need to  have clear in our lives, as we're going to be leading house churches. Now I 

mentioned before, I just want to mention one more time the kind of people God  calls to leadership. In many cases, don't think they're called. I never thought I  was called until God really had hit me over the head really showed me clearly.  And I find misled many times. I find there are many, many times that someone  may be called and have deep insecurities. Really say, How could God ever use  me? Or they're struggling through the whole process. But I always you know, if  that's you, that God's call could be in your life, even though you feel like you  may not have what it takes. God says, Oh yes, I have what it takes. God says,  and I live inside of you, and I'm gonna even though you don't feel qualified, God  says, I'm I take the those who feel unqualified and I qualify them. And if our  hearts are servant hearts, our hearts return to Jesus. We're filled with  compassion, we found someone to be accountable to. So we're not just Lone  Rangers, not all by ourselves. God will honor us and will bless us and will help  us to be the servant leaders that he's called us to be. So right now, in Jesus  name, I pray for any of us that feel like we're not qualified, feel like we've made  too many mistakes, and I pray for the healing presence of God to come into your life, and I pray the Lord would give you much grace and give you much strength  and give you much confidence in these days that He will use you to see the  kingdom of God advance as you plant house churches for the glory of God. And  we thank you In Jesus Name, Amen.