Video Transcript: Becoming Christian leaders

Henry - We're back, Henry Reyenga and my wife, Pam, and we're going to talk  today about Christian leaders. We talked before about a Christian what does it  mean to be one? Renew your commitment to Christ. We talked about leaders.  What's leader in the Christian sense of the word right? But now today, we bring  them together, and this brings that amplification, Christians, who are leaders,  Christian leaders. So what happens when you put Christian and leaders  together? It's  

Pam - called amplification when it comes to two words put together.  Amplification involves using two synonymous or complementary adjectives or  nouns to emphasize a more impactful word or concept, such as suffering king or Christian leaders.  

Henry - Yeah. Well, I think suffering King is so yeah, he's suffering King, yeah,  he goes on the cross, yes. And He is our Lord and Savior, right? But, you know,  Christian leader is one who is now sold out for Jesus Christ, who is in a  relationship with him, but also is a servant because the Christian understanding  of leaders is to be a servant leader. So you put that two together, and that's a  powerful army. You know, that's what I love about what I've seen at Christian  leaders Institute for these 20 some years. Today, it's, you know, 2023 and if I  think about that, that's what I've seen. I've seen that powerful combination of  Christian leaders come together. And we're gonna talk about what that means in the following slides. So what we see it to mean here at Christian leaders  Institute is multiplying discipleship ministering impact. So it's a multi Christian  leaders multiply disciple, ministry and impact. So let's talk a little bit about the  Christian cult of Christian leaders, cultivation cycle. Alright?  

Pam - II Timothy 2:1-2. It says, You, then my son, be strong in the grace that is  in Christ, Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.  

Henry - And that's such an interesting amplification. So you have first you, then  my son, be strong in the grace so there's a Christian,  

Pam - right? Timothy, he's affirming him as a Christian. He's  

Henry - the Christian, but then he's the person who went to the Paul ministry  school, right? The things you've heard me say, yes, he's the, you know, in the  school of Tyrannus or whatever, there was a training aspect. So now he learns  how to be a leader, yes, okay, and skills and all of that. Then as this leader, it's  about multiplying what you've learned. Here's the Christian leaders cultivation  cycle. You pass on to others, right? And that really is the inspiration for Christian 

leaders Institute is, how do we get a movement of that Christian leaders  cultivation cycle? How do we do that? How do we think about that? And how do  we have goals along those lines, right? And that's really what our board of  directors here in 2023 have adopted, this concept of, how do we multiply  Christians everywhere? So probably should define this to be real clear what  we're talking about.  

Pam - All right. Well, a Christian is a follower of Jesus and walks as a spiritual  new creation called to reproduce Christianity like Timothy, right? A leader, or  leaders a Christian? Not? Well, yeah, and Paul was that too. Leaders are  servants to others, sensing a calling to influence others by example and  communication.  

Henry - Okay? So in the in the general sense of the word a Christian, a  Christian leader, put our very powerful agents for Christ, right?  

Pam - So put them together. Christian leaders multiply discipleship, ministry  and impact.  

Henry - And that's that Christian leaders cultivation cycle we're talking about,  right? So let's first of all talk about Christian leaders multiply.  

Pam - All right. Well, there was funding to multiply. Acts 4:36-37 says Joseph a  Levite from. Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas, which means son of  encouragement, sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the  apostles feet. So  

Henry - here, this is Acts 4. Pentecost, we read about that in Acts 2. Right now,  Christianity is spreading, and part of that spread is funding. Mm, hmm, so  Barnabas shows us that the foundation to so much spreading of Christianity is  funding, right? So we apply that at Christian leaders Institute. The training must  be free, available, right? So it can be reproduced. We cannot go to a university  tuition model for Christian leaders, right? We are about the volunteer Christian  leader. We are about the part time. We are about the career. We don't want the  currency to be money. It must be calling. So to support these efforts, it takes  those who multiply and seed into Christian leaders institute that ability to be free  on some of the fees to keep them low, and even the fees support more more  multiplication. So that's that first part of the multiply right to be a multiplying  organization that serves the multipliers,  

Pam - all right. And then the leadership strategy to multiply Acts 6:7. So the  word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, 

and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.  

Henry - This is, I just love reading the book of Acts. In this case, it's Acts 6. So  in Acts 6, the apostles are busy proclaiming the gospel. They're ministers of the  word that is, ministers of the mission, and they're also feeding the widows. And it becomes clear that they can't do everything right. So the Holy Spirit leads them  

to create a multiplication system of ministers, deacons, which means the word  minister. So now all of a sudden, there can be a both informal multiplying of  Christian leaders, but also, in this case, a formalizing way that you get you know Stephen and Philip and others who are out there multiplying with them, right?  And it's here we read right after this is announced. So the word of God spread.  The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased. Those disciples are being  multipliers, right? So now the stage is set for a multi even some priests become  obedient, so their cultivation system welcomes in, and I see that here, like we've had so many ministers from various denominations and non denominations  come to Christian leaders and even go with our minister credentialing because  they Want to participate as well. So it's not just the homegrown ones, it's others  are coming in, and you might be in that situation, but it's all about the Christian  leaders cultivation cycle. Yes,  

Pam - alright. Christian leaders multiply discipleship, evangelism and faith  formation. Matthew 28:19, therefore, go and make disciples of all nations,  baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  

Henry - So Christian leaders multiply discipleship. One of our courses we have  at Christian leaders by Francis Chan is called multiply. Multiplying disciples.  Okay, so that's very important, and this disciple is someone who is hearing  potentially about the Lord, so we reach that person in evangelism, but a person  who is a believer, we want to fan the flame that they grow in their faith, but they  also become multipliers as well, and that really ties into this passage, go and  make disciples of all nations, so evangelists of faith formation. But one thing that we learned in the 1990s when Rich DeVos was mentoring us, our one of our first mentors is we were doing so many things to to recruit ordinary people to get part of being Christian leaders, but we did not have the training piece right there, and once the training piece became available, starting in 2006 we saw a dramatic  increase in effectiveness, and burnout was not occurring as much. So this  concept of, if we're going to see evangelism and faith formation occur, it we do  need training. Yes, we need that ability to lead others. So Christian leaders  multiply not only discipleship, but also ministry. And in this case, let's talk about  two sense of the word and the first one is that general sense of the word  ministry, or to be a minister in a general sense of the word Okay, 

Pam - ministers who serve others with their gifts. As the general in the broadest sense, every Christian is called to be a minister by serving one another in love,  utilizing the gifts God has bestowed upon each individual as I Peter 4:10, says  Christians as ministers or agents of hope, bring good news to communities in  despair, seeking to inspire those in such communities to serve others as they  themselves have been served.  

Henry - Now it's so interesting about that is is I know at the church that we're  going to in Florida, he uses the word priests, so in the general sense of the  word, we're all called to be priests. And Peter talks about that, you know, a royal  priesthood. Now, in a sense, he's not talking about a formal priest. He's talking  about that all believers are called to use their gifts. Well, the same is true with  ministry, that word from the word diakonos can mean, generally, be a minister in  that non ordained minister to other sense. And we're called our whole lives to  minister to others. I mean, until Christian leaders recently here, you've not been  an ordained minister, but you are ministering in a general sense of the word. But the next way is this concept of to actually be set aside for ministry. So let's look  at that next so this is, by the way, the in the organizational sense, how the  church recognizes and credentials ordained leaders to be recognized in  communities, so we call that in the organizational context. Yes, Christian  

Pam - ministers are Christian leaders recognized as having callings to fulfill  various religious functions. These include providing spiritual guidance, officiating religious services, giving religious leadership, engaging in the spread of  Christianity through evangelism, administration, organizational leadership, and  addressing the spiritual or physical needs of individuals,  

Henry - okay, wow, but a large percentage of those who come to Christian  leaders Institute through the Christian leaders Alliance have been empowered  through Minister credentials, right? So this is a beautiful thing. So there's the  general sense that we are into ministry, and again, training would be needed to  help you be more effective. But in this case, too, as a credential minister, this  training and a ordination process is highly effective. One of the things I really like Pam is to see what happens to these wedding officiants here. So someone is  asked to do a wedding, and they could go to the another one of these mill  ordination things to get right to do it, yeah, but they don't want that. They would  really want to be established in a Christian leadership and credentialing  organization where there's a recommendation, where there is standing,  Christian, historic standing, and laying on hands and stuff like that. So we see  many people come because, you know, I want to do a wedding, and then what  happens? They get on fire for being taken that further, and seeing one of the  many options that are here before Christian leaders Alliance, yes. So, so if that's

you, you can explore. And as you walk here at Christian leaders Institute, you'll  notice so many opportunities for Minister credentials. God may be calling you to  be a minister in the general sense, or in a sense of credentials. So again, we  look at Christian leaders, Christian leaders, you put those words together. One  is Christian leaders. Multiply Christian leaders. Multiply discipleship and  reproduce Christian leaders. Minister, Christian leaders also multiply difference  makers, okay, operatives of Hope embedded in communities of despair, raise up Christian leaders within those very communities. Yes.  

Pam - II Corinthians 1:3-4 says, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord,  Jesus, Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who  comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with  the comfort we ourselves receive from God.  

Henry - I think that is amazing. So now you have leaders, but these leaders are  often called out of communities of despair, and these communities of despair  are transformed by those who are actually called from those communities of  despair. Yes, so wherever you have come, and maybe you did an online search  for Christian leaders, and next thing you know, you found yourself signing up,  and you start taking these classes, and the Holy Spirit has changed you. You're  there. You're an operative in these communities. You know what it's like to walk  the way people in the community that you're in walk. You know what the  transformation of Jesus Christ is like when you read some of these stories. Pam, will my wife, Pam here, read stories and edit stories of students that submit that  we put online, and you'll bring up one story of the other, of how this person was  transformed, and now that transformed person is reaching people in that  community, people that you and I would never be able to reach, right? We don't  understand some of those things that are going on. We don't, but God has  

Pam - put you different ministers where you and Christian leaders where you  need to be, and you're reaching. Well, in us,  

Henry - we have our own communities of despair. If you really think about it, it's  like our community of Despair is a broken community in other ways, right? Well,  we have, we have kind of developed world problems, and we have our own  despair and our own versions and different places of the world, different  versions. We're all in this together. That's why we're compassionate to one  another,  

Pam - right, right? We're ministering where we are planted.  

Henry - So let's talk now very specifically about the calling. Maybe your calling 

to be a Christian leader.  

Pam - Acts 1:8 says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come  upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and  Samaria and to the end of the earth.  

Henry - Hmm. First word there, I want to talk about a little bit with you. Pam, is  the word testimony in the the Old Testament is called Old testimony. The Old  Testament, right? The New Testament is a new testimony, right? Okay, and the  testimony is of Jesus Christ, or God's redemptive work in the world, right? And  then, specifically, in the New Testament, a testimony of the life work, yeah?  death, resurrection, yes. And what that means, it's a testimony, right? And we  were going through this book that was just talking about Papias, in like 110 120  ad, when he was putting together the testament, the testimonies of the apostles  and how these things were written down, you want to make sure that they were  all put together. So then eventually we had the Bible, our canon from the  testimony of the apostles of Jesus Christ, and I say even in like the apostle Paul, how he'll talk about how he was on the road to Damascus, then what happens  on the road to Damascus Again,  

Pam - blinding light met Jesus. Jesus speaks to him. He's blinded. Yeah, he's  

Henry - changed. He's changed. So his testimony is a Jesus hater. A Jesus  hater becomes a follower of Jesus, and is a powerful instrument. He's  persecuting the church. Yes, a persecutor becomes a powerful instrument.  That's a testimony, right? You know, Jesus rose from the dead. The apostle Paul says in I Corinthians 15 that 500 people at the time of the writing of I Corinthians are alive with a testimony that saw him raised from the. That right? So Christian  leaders have a testimony. One of the things that we have in this class is we want you to write your profile. Is really to write your testimony, even if it's very brief,  people that identify you as a Christian with your story, desiring to reproduce to  others, your testimony, right? And we can see over our four decades of ministry  that testimony is very important. You know, some preachers and ministers, they  don't talk about themselves. They just, you know, I just preach this message,  and that's very important, but we've noticed that an honest, sincere presentation of the gospel seems to us include a authentic testimony. Where has God  brought you? Where is he taking you? And it's a testimony. Now it's not the  testimony of THE Old and New Testament. It's not new revelation. That  revelation concluded with the Old and New Testament. We believe it's not like,  like Muslims will come up and they said there was a greater testimony, and they  talk about Jesus, but no, no, we have the canon. The Canon is established, but  the power of testimony remains. So the calling of Christian leaders, you have a 

story. So we see that from this passage that you will receive power when the  Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be my witnesses, right? And that comes out of your walk of faith and your testimony, yeah, your journey. So once that's  there, if you sense that calling to multiply, now you're here for training, and that's really what this free ministry training is all about. And some of you are here Yes,  to be for the calling that you have, and then some of you are here for  credentialing, yes. So we're concluding this. It's powerful, two words coming  together that make all the difference in our goal with all of this, I just want to  again share that is 100 million ministers, Christian leaders, operatives, 100  million Christian leaders by 2033 that's the 2000 year anniversary of Jesus  Christ rising from the dead, and we're asking you to be part of that to and what  can happen is if each person, each year raises up two more Christian leaders To study, and then we train them to raise up two more Christian leaders to study.  We believe by 10 years, a powerful multiplication will occur. We also believe that in those 10 years, the impact of Christianity will spread exponentially on this  globe. So in order to sort of commit ourselves to this, just like when the first two  we had a prayer, Pam is going to read a prayer about committing yourself to be  that Christian leader that multiplying leader for the gospel. Yes, all,  

Pam - Heavenly Father, we stand before you at the close of our time together,  hearts filled with gratitude for the wisdom imparted and the fellowship enjoyed  we thank you for calling us to the noble task of leadership within your kingdom  for entrusting us with the sacred duty of discipleship, ministry and impact, Lord,  

as we depart from one another, we ask that you anoint us in the lessons of your  son, our ultimate leader, may we go forth as fervent disciples, eager to learn and even more eager to serve, grant us the Grace to minister to the needs of all, to  be vessels of your love and compassion in every word spoken and action taken, multiply. Oh God, the seeds that have been sown in our hearts today empower  us to be agents of change, to bring forth a bountiful harvest of new disciples,  igniting us the fire to spread your word to be relentless in our pursuit of  spreading your gospel to every corner of the earth. We ask for your guidance to  navigate the challenges ahead, for the strength to uphold your truth and for the  wisdom to lead with integrity and courage. Let your Holy Spirit be our constant  companion, guiding. Our steps and refining our character as we build your  kingdom, may our lives and our leadership be a testament to your glory. We  seek to multiply, not for our Name's sake, but so that your name is known and  revered. Bless our endeavors, that we may truly make a lasting impact for your  cause. In Jesus name, we pray amen.  

Henry - Yeah, that's powerful. Just to say, look, we are called called Christians.  We're called to leadership, servant leadership. We're called to join together as  Christian leaders who multiply disciples, who multiply ministers, who multiply 

that impact in communities to be operatives of Hope everywhere. And that's  what we are. That's what we are together, and we pray that through our efforts,  the world will be more reached, that more leaders, more families transformed,  that the nations may bow their knee to the God of the universe, our Lord, Jesus,  Christ, amen.