Video Transcript: What does it mean to be called as a Christian leader?

Henry Reyenga: Henry and Steve are back. Last time, we talked about being a Christian as kind of a key issue for being a Christian leader. 

Steve Elzinga: And some of those things that we talked about are things that you do often. In some ways, I make a daily commitment to Christ in this situation, and he takes more and more of my life, and I grow. So, whether you have been a Christian all your life or maybe you became a Christian after watching that, welcome aboard. In this lecture we are going to talk about God's call in your life.

Henry Reyenga: So, to be a leader is to really grasp that call. 

Steve Elzinga: Right. So, Henry let's talk first about the inner call.

Henry Reyenga: Acts 26:19-20, "I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. First to those in Damascus then to those in Jerusalem, and then all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached." And then it went on from there. Who is this? 

Steve Elzinga: This is Apostle Paul. He was raised in a Jewish home, he was a Pharisee, which was kind of like a religious lawyer, and they lived by the law. They had all these laws that they found in the Old Testament, and then they added thousands of laws to those laws to make sure that they kept those laws. Pharisees were the only ones that could figure it out. They could keep track of it and could actually do it. And then Jesus met him on the Damascus Road, because he was going there to persecute the Christians. And Jesus gave him a vision for what he was going to do with the rest of his life.

Henry Reyenga: So, he's a very unlikely candidate to be a Christian leader.

Steve Elzinga: Right, he was the opposite.

Henry Reyenga: The opposite. And then God stopped him - that's Acts 9 I believe - on the road to Damascus. And that's actually where he mentioned, in Damascus, where it all begins.

Steve Elzinga: Right. In some ways the inner call is out of your control. God somehow moves in your heart, and it can be dramatic like the Apostle Paul where all of a sudden, he's going one direction and now he's going a totally different direction. But it can be a gradual thing, where maybe right now, you have a sense that you think God wants to use you in ministry in some way, but you have no idea how or what or what direction you should go. But you just have that little sense that--

Henry Reyenga: That small voice.

Steve Elzinga: Yeah, and that is the inner call. And over time, God reveals as you study, as you start doing ministry, little by little by little, God reveals the vision that he has for your life. We both had experiences in our lives. I had my Florida experience where God showed up and sort of radically turned the direction of my ministry around.

Henry Reyenga: I had a young experience, at 12. My grandma was reading from the Bible. She read Jeremiah 1, and as she was reading those words, those words burned internally in my heart, and I started thinking, am I called to be a minister? At 12.

Steve Elzinga: Right, at 12. And then different things happened in your life to push you in this direction and that direction. So, maybe you get a full-blown vision or maybe you get just a small, partial vision.

Henry Reyenga: Wow, that's really amazing. 

Steve Elzinga: Okay, there's the inner call. It's sort of mysterious. The Holy Spirit is working inside of you. You can't always explain it. But then there's the external call and that sort of follows things that we sort of recognize and we can grab hold of.

Henry Reyenga: We can discern. 

Steve Elzinga: Right. So, the first one is gifts.

Henry Reyenga: 1 Peter 4:10-11, "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms."

Steve Elzinga: Okay, so gifts are called gifts of the Holy Spirit. God gives these gifts, and they're sometimes different that just what you're good at (maybe you're talented in a certain area). A gift is something that you don't have, but then all of a sudden, you get it, you open it up and then there it is. For my life, I was a horrible speaker. I couldn't read. I was dyslexic. I never went into plays. Then all of a sudden, in ninth grade, I got forced into a reading contest. And all of a sudden, I did it, and I didn't know what I was doing and I went for it, and God was with me. And it like he, all of a sudden, gave me a gift that I didn't have. I didn't have it before that, but after that I had it. And that's what gifts can be like.

Henry Reyenga: Now we know over experience with thousands of students, that this happens and many of you understand this and you have received a special gift.

Steve Elzinga: 1 Corinthians 12, "Now about the gifts of the spirit, brothers and sisters"--

Henry Reyenga: I almost sneezed there.

Steve Elzinga: The spiritual warfare has plagued us the last couple of days. It took us 10 hours to make our first video yesterday because things weren't working.

Henry Reyenga: A ladder even fell on his head.

Steve Elzinga: But we're here. God overcomes.

Henry Reyenga: Many of you are probably experiencing spiritual warfare to even make this bold move of the next step.

Steve Elzinga: But that's how powerful ministry is. So, 1 Corinthians 12:1,  "Now about the gifts of the spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed." What we're trying to do here is inform you. 1 Corinthians 12:7, "Now to each one," to each person, "the manifestation of the spirit is given for the common good. So, God gives gifts and the point of it is to build up the body of believers.

Henry Reyenga: 1 Peter 4:10-11, "Each of you should use whatever gift you've received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace and his various forms that were used." So, you are taking a step by being in this class to figure out and discern your internal but now your external calling and gifts.

Steve Elzinga: Probably, some of you might be wondering what are these gifts? The bulk of them are found in three passages in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12, and we have a worksheet that has these verses all out and the gift is bold. So, you see all the different gifts. And then there's a worksheet where you can read about what the gift is and then sort of, maybe I have this gift? You put a little slash or, "I definitely think I have this gift." So, that's a quick, easy way to try to discern what gift you may have. But also, if you would hand that to your spouse if you're married, or get people that know you and you trust, get them to fill this out too.

Henry Reyenga: Sometimes you'll be surprised that you have a gift, and you haven't even acknowledged it.

Steve Elzinga: Right, but people will see it in you before you are aware of it. Once they point it out, all of a sudden, what happens is then you know a little bit more about who you are and maybe the direction of ministry that you want to go to. Really, that's what this class is about - trying to help you figure out what form of study or what track of study that would be best for God's call in your life. 

Henry Reyenga: We love collaboration with others in terms of your journey, so for you to be recommended for ministry is powerful for you, for you to ask others what are some gifts that maybe you do not recognize, for you to find mentors, people in your life to encourage you.

Steve Elzinga: Yeah. You and I are who we are in part because you and I--- we were planting churches and we were sort of out there doing our own thing, all alone trying to figure things out. And then when we found out we were doing the same thing, we started our churches like one week apart. I was in Vancouver; you were in Chicago. And that was so important to have somebody that understood, that could see things. In some ways, you were a mirror that I could see, "Okay, this is what you’re doing; this what I'm doing. Is that working? How is it going?

Henry Reyenga: And we benefited from each other. We benefited from our spouses. We benefited from our ministry friends. We benefited from good leaders in our church, businessmen, housewives, humble people of no esteem who saw something in us. All that commending going on, powerful. 

Steve Elzinga: So often, you don't know what you're really gifted at but in part, because we don't employ the advice and opinions of the people around us. Now you are opening yourself up. It's sort of a vulnerable thing, "Hey, would you like to assess me?" But it's definitely worth it. So, we have that gifts worksheet, and secondly, following that external call, experience. I have the tagline in there, "What you have been saved from."

Henry Reyenga: Acts 14:1, "At Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went as usually into the Jewish Synagogue. They spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed." Now, here's my question. What has this to do with experience, Steve?

Steve Elzinga: Well that previous passage where Paul gets his vision from God, God turns him around, and he goes to Damascus. The vision that God gave Paul was to be a messenger to the Gentiles - the non-Jewish culture. I want you to take this message and break out of--

Henry Reyenga: But he goes to the synagogue all the time. Is that where all the Gentiles were? I thought that's where all the Jews were.

Steve Elzinga: No, that's where the Jews were. So, Paul, even though he's called to go to the Gentiles, whenever he went to a new city-- he traveled all around Asia Minor, present day Turkey and Greece and all thse places-- he first went to the synagogues.

Henry Reyenga: So, he had a passion for those who are Jewish also.

Steve Elzinga: Yes. And why? He had a passion for the Jewish people, because he was saved from this rigorous try to save yourself by doing the law. He was, again, the Pharisee, the top of the people trying to follow the law as a means to save them. Then when he found Christ, that Christ is the one who pays the price. It's not your works but his grace. It was like he found a freedom he didn't know existed, and now when he goes to a new place, he sees all those people in the synagogue who are struggling with the same problem he had. So, a lot of times, ministry comes out of what we've been saved from.

Henry Reyenga: I've noticed that of the thousands who have joined CLI and gone through various programs. A large portion, even in their profiles, and you make sure that in your profile, when you do that later on in this class as one of the assignments. You will notice that your calling externally came from your very experience of salvation - what you were saved from.

Steve Elzinga: So, it makes sense. In AA, I think the twelfth step, is now having been helped by doing these steps; you're now going to bring it to others. But they almost don't need the twelfth step because when you have been saved from this thing like alcohol that has been ruining your life and you were on this downward spiral, and all of a sudden, through the help of others and believing in God, all of a sudden, now when you see people struggling, you're like, "I know that there's hope. I've seen it. I've experienced it. This is not just theory. It's the same thing if your marriage was going downhill and then because of Christ and helpful mentors, all of a sudden, your marriage became better than it ever was in the beginning. And then when you see people struggling in their marriage, you just can't help but share it.

Henry Reyenga: Is there a worksheet for this? 

Steve Elzinga: Yes, we have a worksheet helping you on what have you been saved from. And then there's a list of options and things that'll help you see experience worksheet. Because right now I'm saying this and your like, "I don't even know what I've been saved form," my guess is if you go through the list, you’re going to say, "Oh okay." And here's the thing. If you can't figure out anything that you've been saved from, then what do you need to be saved from? And then when Jesus does it, this might be your ministry. 

Henry Reyenga: I always found it interesting when Apostle Paul talked about the thorn in the flesh, that even after he was called to ministry, it says in 2 Corinthians, that there were still some weaknesses that he was still being saved from, and they kept him humble as he was growing in his faith. And I feel that as ministers, too, over these years, we have been called. We were saved from specific things that then were core in our ministry. But that process of sanctification - we call it growing - we never lose the edge of needing a savior.

Steve Elzinga: No, and that can be part of your ministry too. Maybe you haven't been totally saved from it. Like, you’re in process, but that’s an awesome way to share. I, too, struggle with that. I still am coming to Jesus every day and going, "Lord, I need saving from this." And now people see a person who needs a Savior like they do, rather than someone who's got it all together and all figured out.

Henry Reyenga: The answer man, the person who tells you what to do. That's not ministry. Ministry is a journey of a walk that you reproduce, a transparency, all of that.

Steve Elzinga: And if you share your need for a Savior, then people are more likely to share their need for a savior.

Henry Reyenga: Right, people don't want to be talked down to, like, "You need to be saved." 

Steve Elzinga: Right. "I was saved a long time ago but you--." 

Henry Reyenga: Yeah, exactly. 

Steve Elzinga: All right, the third external call. External things are things in your life that you can look at and go, "Okay. Maybe this is pushing me towards a certain kind of ministry." So, personality traits.

Henry Reyenga: Psalm 139:13-14, "For you created my innermost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I'm fearfully and wonderfully made."

Steve Elzinga: Right. We're not all the same persons, Henry.

Henry Reyenga: We’re not.

Steve Elzinga: No, we're not. There's a personality worksheet; I have it here.

Henry Reyenga: It's on your computer; you didn't print it out yet. Oh, yes, I see that. You haven't seen this, but I'm seeing it.

Steve Elzinga: It's like a continuum and there's, for example, introvert on one side, extrovert on the other. And then you put an X on if you're more introverted or extroverted, or if you're sort of both, you can put it in the middle. So, what do you think you are?

Henry Reyenga: I'm clearly an extrovert.

Steve Elzinga: Yeah, and I'm an introvert. 

Henry Reyenga: You wouldn't know it. He's so talkative right now, but he is.

Steve Elzinga: Right. But for introverts, we like to think a lot, and then when we get a mic that, "Okay, you're on," then I can do well. An extrovert doesn't need a mic. They just start talking regardless of the situation. For me, if I'm with a lot of people for a long period of time, I get drained of energy, whereas Henry, he's ready to go.

Henry Reyenga: Later on in life, I'm less so now, but generally--

Steve Elzinga: Right, and that does change.

Henry Reyenga: Yeah, it does.

Steve Elzinga: And you can be an introvert and you marry an extrovert, but over time, you might switch.

Henry Reyenga: Yeah, Pam's way more extroverted than when we first married.

Steve Elzinga: Yeah, you're not locked into that.

Henry Reyenga: I married a shy girl, and now, she's quite a talker.

Steve Elzinga: So, here are some others: thinker versus feeler, positive versus negative. And being sort of negative isn't all bad. A negative person actually sees the problems sometimes more than the positive person, and you need a few people like that in your life that see the potential dangers and so on. There is dreamer and doer. What do you think you are?

Henry Reyenga: I'm a doer. I mean, my general deal is do.

Steve Elzinga: But you're a dreamer.

Henry Reyenga: I'm a dreamer, yeah.

Steve Elzinga: I think both of us are kind of both.

Henry Reyenga: We're in the middle of that one.

Steve Elzinga: Then fun loving and serious.

Henry Reyenga: Yeah, I used to be even more fun-loving. I'm actually honestly more serious now, because I feel like I'm 60 now, the time is going fast, but I try to still love fun.

Steve Elzinga: Risktaker vs Calculated.

Henry Reyenga: Yeah, I'd be a risktaker, clearly. 

Steve Elzinga: Talker vs Listener.

Henry Reyenga: I'm more in the middle now. I used to be the talker; I'm more in the middle.

Steve Elzinga: Team orientated vs Solo.

Henry Reyenga: I like to be team oriented; I really feel like we are all in this together.

Steve Elzinga: Well, for myself, like say, we're working on a car, I like to work on it alone. I can think better, but you like to work with a group.

Henry Reyenga: I like collaboration.

Steve Elzinga: Yeah. Open minded versus closed minded.

Henry Reyenga: Timid, bold.

Steve Elzinga: Timid, bold, others-minded versus self-absorbed. I can be a little self-absorbed sometimes. Visionary versus manager. Now you need all these things, right? You might be a visionary, but then nothing happens because you don't have manager type people in your life or logical versus intuitive. 

So, I think you'll have a lot of fun with it. Print it out. Do it for yourself. Again, get others. I think, especially, this one is sort of a fun one that people enjoy doing. And if you did it within your own family, you would see that you have a tribe of different people. We have different personality traits, and we can't just force people into the same box.

Henry Reyenga: I think so much in ministry is about getting in touch with that call, that spiritual walk. The external issues that we’re talking about in this one is very important. Your experience is very important. Your gifts are very important. In a discernment, we actually have a mini-course on Christian discernment. The discerning process is to think through everything, pray through it all, and come to some conclusions that give you road maps and insights for how you can take that next step and calling.