Reading: Foreword— Prophet, Priest, King, & Pastors

Jesus Christ is described in numerous ways in Scripture and in evangelical doctrine and theology that have been drawn from Scripture. We could speak of the person and work of Christ, the attributes of Christ, or the mission of Christ, for example. X/52: Great Commission Skills for Pastors & Church Leaders is not a book about theology per se, but all that comprises X/52 derives from Scripture and emerges, at least in part, from theology and doctrines that are included there. Be sure to examine the Scriptures Referenced recorded in the back pages of X/52. 

I’ve decided to open X/52 with a brief look at the Offices of Jesus Christ. Jesus fulfills the Offices of Prophet, Priest, and King, as attested by Scripture, and treated by leading theologians throughout the centuries, particularly since the Reformation some 500 plus years ago. Old Testament prophets carried enormous responsibility as mediators between God and His people. They represented God and His word to the people and they represented the people before God. Aside from encouragements or warnings over matters of faithfulness or unfaithfulness, their primary message was a Gospel message, the Good News that the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Savior would come as the great healer and liberator. Isaiah records, “And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away,” (Isaiah 35:10). 

That Messiah, that Redeemer, that Savior, of course, is Jesus and, upon His coming, the role of the OT prophet ceased. Jesus was and is the ultimate Prophet, the ultimate Mediator between God the Father and His people. Calvin states, “We see that [Christ] was anointed by the Spirit to be herald and witness of the Father’s grace. And that not in the common way – for he is distinguished from other teachers with a similar office. On the other hand, we must note this: he received anointing, not only for himself that he might carry out the office of teaching, but for his whole body that the power of the Spirit might be present in the continuing preaching of the gospel. This, however, remains certain: the perfect doctrine he has brought has made an end to all prophecies,” (Institutes 1: Calvin, p. 496). Note that Calvin directly ties the Office of Christ as Prophet to the preaching of the Gospel. For me, this calls to mind the statement of Jesus in His encounter with Zacchaeus, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost,” (Luke 19:10), and His directive to the disciples when they pressed Him to respond to the expectations of the crowd that He had served the evening before. Jesus informed, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose,” (Luke 4:43). 

Indeed, Jesus is the ultimate Prophet, the ultimate teacher and preacher of the Gospel, and He is the eternal High Priest, sanctioned in both the Old and New Testaments as being after the order of Melchizedek as follows: 

The LORD says to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”6 

The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! 

Your people will offer themselves freely, on the day of your power, in holy garments, from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. 

The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” (Psalm 110:1-4)

The writer to the Hebrews affirms:  

Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? For where there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is witnessed of him, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 7:11-17)

In explaining the Office of Priest, Hodge offers, “That Christ is our only Priest follows from the nature and design of the office: (1) No man, save the Lord Jesus Christ, has liberty of access unto God. All other men, being sinners, need some one to approach God on their behalf. (2) No other sacrifice than His could take away sin. (3) It is only through Him that God is propitious to sinful men, and (4) it is only through Him that the benefits which flow from the favour of God are conveyed to His people,” (Systematic Theology: Hodge, p. 371).

Jesus is the ultimate Prophet, the eternal High Priest, and He is the Almighty King. Psalm 103 informs, “The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all,” (Psalm 103:19). Paul, in closing his first letter to Timothy, issues this charge, “I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Jesus Christ, who in his testimony before Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time – he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen,” (1 Timothy 6:13-16).

Berkhof takes a deep dive in building the case that the kingship of Jesus Christ is a spiritual kingship. He explains, “The spiritual kingship of Christ is His royal rule over the regnum gratiae, that is over His people or the Church. It is a spiritual kingship, because it relates to a spiritual realm. It is the mediatorial rule as it is established in the hearts and lives of believers. Moreover, it is spiritual, because it bears directly and immediately on a spiritual end, the salvation of His people. And, finally, it is spiritual, because it is administered, not by force or external means, but by the Word and the Spirit, which is the Spirit of truth and wisdom, of justice and holiness, of grace and mercy. This kingship reveals itself in the gathering of the Church, and in its government, protection and perfection,” (Systematic Theology: Berkhof, p. 406).

Jesus, now ascended, continues to fulfill His three-fold Office of Prophet, Priest and King. Horton summarizes with, “In his heavenly exaltation, Jesus Christ exercises all three offices. As prophet, he continues to declare both his law and his gospel, judging and absolving sinners through the frail ministry of human beings. We have been given rest in a greater land through the gospel, led by a greater prophet than Moses (Heb. 3:1-19) or Joshua (4:1-12) and with a greater priest than Aaron or his descendants…Through his heavenly reign, with the Spirit leading the ground war, Jesus Christ loots Satan’s kingdom and sets the prisoners free…From his incarnation to his reign at the Father’s right hand, Jesus is not only the Lord who became the servant, but the servant who is Lord and continues even in this exalted state to serve his Father’s will and his people’s good. From eternity to eternity, he offers his ‘Here I am’ to the Father on behalf of those who have gone their own way. For now, Christ reigns in grace; when he returns in judgment and vindication, his kingdom will be consummated in everlasting glory,” (The Christian Faith: Horton, pp. 531-533).

Wow! I don’t know about you, but I’m excited! I can’t believe that I’m actually part of this, serving under the lordship of Jesus Christ: The Ultimate Prophet, the Highest of High Priest, the Almighty King of kings and Lord of lords. So, what has this got to do with your being a pastor? What has all this got to do with X/52?

Have you noticed that the Offices of Jesus Christ, Prophet, Priest and King, have ties to the Great Commission? The message of the OT prophets was a messianic message, a message that proclaimed Good News. Calvin notes that Jesus, as the Prophet, is engaged in the continuing preaching of the Gospel. Hodge amplifies the Gospel significance of the Offices of Christ in his explanation of the Office of Priest. He informs that the sacrifice of Christ is the only sacrifice that could take away sin, that it was only through Christ that propitiation is realized, and that only through Christ are God’s favorable benefits applied to His people. Regarding Jesus as King, Berkhof speaks of the mediatorial rule of Christ being established in the hearts and lives of believers. How is that possible apart from regeneration? Further, he references a spiritual end that is the salvation of God’s people. Finally, in reiterating Horton’s commentary, the Prophet declares His gospel, the Priest is identified as greater than Aaron or Joshua, and the King reigns from heaven as the prisoners are set free. Free of what? Free of sin; free from the penalty for sin. This is how disciple-making begins.

As a pastor, you serve in the wake that Jesus stirs up as Prophet, Priest, and King. I want to suggest that you have a prophetic role to play, a priestly role to play, and a kingly role to play. Your prophetic role is to bring the Word of God to your church and your community, a Gospel message that the Spirit will use to regenerate, and biblical instruction that the Spirit will use to sanctify and mature. Your priestly role is to serve as a mediator between God and His people, representing Him to them and representing them to Him. In your priestly role, you’ll guide people into and through conversion and baptism as they are cleansed from sin literally and by sign and seal, and you’ll nurture them in the Word of God and in faith through that Word in their hearts and minds. In your kingly role, you will lead them as an under-shepherd while they navigate God’s journey for them through life, a journey that will receive the Gospel, live the Gospel, and share the Gospel. 

As you serve in these roles as pastor, you must devote yourself to ministry that finds its heartbeat in commitment to the Great Commission. You must move in the authority of Jesus Christ to go and make disciples. You must baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. You must teach people that God places under your care to observe and obey all that Jesus commanded. And He will be with you to the end of the age, (Matthew 28:18-20). All of this will be multiplied through the leaders of the church.

X/52: Great Commission Skills for Pastors and Church Leaders will equip and empower you in Great Commission ministry. The skills that will be built through X/52 are Great Commission skills. As your understanding and application of these skills increases, you will see your ministry become more and more effective in both a growing congregation and in the plentiful harvest.

May God bless you abundantly as you turn the page and begin the X/52 journey.

For the Harvest,

Ken Priddy, D.Min., Ph.D.

Executive Director, GO Center

Introduction

When you were called to be a disciple of Christ you were called to go and make disciples. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was sent by God the Father to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). Jesus told His disciples that, just as the Father had sent Him, He was sending them (John 20:21). He made that clear in His pre-ascension address with a mandate that we have come to know as the Great Commission: 

All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:18-20).

Through the work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is still on His mission to seek and to save the lost, and we are co-missioned to work with Him, co-laborers with Him and each other in the harvest fields that are white for harvest (Matthew 9:35-38; John 4:34-38). When you were called to pastoral ministry or to church leadership, you were called to lead in the sanctified task of gathering this harvest of souls to the glory of God. Jesus is, indeed, building His church (Matthew 16:18). Yet, the American evangelical church today is largely a church in plateau and decline, steadily losing its influence in American culture and failing to fulfill the mandate of the Great Commission.

The X Factor:

Why is it that some churches seem to thrive with vitality while others are caught in plateau or decline? Why is it that some churches are very effective at promoting the Gospel and see significant conversion growth while others rarely see a profession of faith? Why is it that the people of some congregations are mobilized for neighborhood and community ministry while the people of other congregations remain passive toward the community and are more spectators than participants?

Many factors contribute to the condition of a given church, some internal and some external, but there is one X Factor that is a clear difference maker, a catalytic game changer, a bright hope in an often-resigned ministry environment. That X Factor is the pastor’s strong commitment to Great Commission ministry coupled with strong leadership skills and working in tandem with church leaders of the same heart, mind, and skillset. These skills can be learned and sharpened over time as pastors and leaders are equipped, encouraged, and empowered to fulfill the important role of Great Commission leadership. X/52 training is a resource for becoming an effective Great Commission pastor or leader.

With that in mind, be aware that the manuscript you are reading is more than information; it’s a training manual. Years ago, I trained to become certified as a corporate trainer. I wasn’t working in a corporation and didn’t plan to do so, but I had come to understand that my training ministry was built more on ministry than on the art and science of training, and that it would be of great benefit to me and those I serve if I took the time and effort to study the discipline of training. One important distinction I discovered is the distinction between teaching and training. Teaching is information-driven and the objective of teaching is the acquisition of knowledge. Training is implementation-driven or execution-driven and the objective of training is the acquisition of skills. Effectiveness lies in what is done, not in what is known or even planned. 4DX offers this insight, “After working with thousands of leaders and teams in every kind of industry, and in schools and government agencies worldwide, this is what we have learned: once you’ve decided what to do, your biggest challenge is in getting people to execute it at the level of excellence you need,” (The 4 Disciplines of Execution: McChesney, Covey, Huling, p. xxiii). It isn’t too big a jump to engage James 2 here, “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead,” (James 2:17). X/52 has been developed as training, and the objective of this training is the acquisition of skills, Great Commission skills that effectively reach the harvest. Go for it!

Judges 5.2: A Biblical Formula for Church Revitalization.

OK – I’ll admit that this might be a stretch. A formula? Really? Over the years of my ministry of training and consulting in church revitalization, I have been repeatedly asked to reveal the secret, the essence, the secret sauce, the formula, if you will, for effective church revitalization. If there is such a formula, it would have to be a biblical formula to be truly credible. For many years, my biblical starting place for understanding revitalization has been the Book of Nehemiah, a biblical reference point for the process of revitalization that I still use as a cornerstone of training. But Nehemiah offers more of a model than a formula.

A few years ago, while reading through a one-year Bible, I came upon the Book of Judges, admittedly a scriptural address I rarely visited. Judges 4 records the dynamic leadership of the prophetess, Deborah.

Once again, the people of Israel had fallen away from God, His blessing had been lifted, and they were in bondage, finally crying out to the Lord for help. Under Deborah’s leadership, the people of Israel were delivered. Judges 5 records a song sung by Deborah and Barak, her military commander. The opening lyric of that song reads:

That the leaders took the lead in Israel,

That the people offered themselves willingly,

Bless the LORD! (Judges 5:2)

Suddenly, I realized that I had stumbled upon something important that I have come to appreciate as a combination of elements that are as close to a biblical formula for church revitalization as we are likely to get. These elements, seen in the light of my years of experience, observation, reading, and study, truly capture the heart and soul of revitalization – and it’s so simple. Pastors and leaders must strongly lead a congregation in Great Commission-focused ministry. People of the congregation must give themselves sacrificially to the Great Commission effort. When these two initiatives are wholeheartedly embraced, God is not only praised and blessed, but He blesses. Take a look at the biblical books of Ezra and Nehemiah, for example. Note how many times a phrase such as because the hand of His God was upon him appears. God was blessed by the faithfulness and commitment of Ezra and Nehemiah, and God’s blessing was upon them (e.g., Ezra 7:6, 9; Nehemiah 2:8, 11-15, 17-18).

The X/52 Triangle:

Proactive Great Commission leadership coupled with congregational Great Commission sacrifice brings blessing, glory, honor, and praise to God, and His hand upon such leaders and congregations blesses them and their ministry in the harvest. Acquiring and activating Great Commission skills moves such a church away from the program-driven culture of conventional church-as-usual churches into being among those few that truly make a redemptive difference in a community.

The people of God in the American evangelical church need pastors and leaders to take the lead. When leaders lead and people sacrifice deliverance comes, and there is no greater deliverance than the freedom and excitement that comes from making disciples in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Pastors and leaders must lead from the Great Commission and the people of God must offer themselves willingly for the Great Commission. X/52 combines orthodoxy with orthopraxis and puts Great Commission tools in your hands. The content of X/52 is centered on six Key Skills and each Key Skill contains six Key Elements. These skills and elements are listed in the Table of Contents and I’ll list the Key Skills again here:

Key Skill 1: Discerning & Developing Vision

Key Skill 2: Casting Vision & Creating Ownership

Key Skill 3: Setting Objectives & Establishing Accountability

Key Skill 4: Managing Ministry Time

Key Skill 5: Working with Staff & Leaders

Key Skill 6: Leaving a Gospel Footprint

Spiritual Renewal with Strategic Initiative

The Ministry Model that serves as a backdrop for X/52 is a model that emerges from the Book of Nehemiah, outlined in Nehemiah Chapter 1 and revealed throughout the balance of the book. That model is Spiritual Renewal with Strategic Initiative. Revitalization is a combination of spiritual dynamics and strategic dynamics working in tandem with pastors and leaders who are fully aware of and engaged in both. Either without the other is going to lead to failure of the revitalization effort. The spiritual without the strategic typically results in momentary spiritual pep rallies that briefly inspire but soon disappear with ministry returning to status quo. The strategic without the spiritual typically results in momentary statistical spiking brought about by methodological manipulation before, again, returning to status quo. Revitalization is spiritual and revitalization is strategic. Pastors and leaders must address and leverage both if sustainable gains in health, growth, and multiplication are to be experienced. 

A quick run through Nehemiah 1 spotlights the model. Nehemiah receives the results of an assessment of how the people of God are faring back in Jerusalem after surviving the exile. The report is not good. The text reads, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire,” (Nehemiah 1:3). This might be one way of metaphorically describing a church that is in steep decline. 

Nehemiah’s response is a spiritual response. We’re told that, for some days, he wept, mourned, fasted, and prayed (Nehemiah 1:4). The nature of his prayer, as revealed in Chapter 1, is spiritual as he confesses sin before God and intercedes on behalf of his family and the people of Israel. Clearly, Nehemiah is heartbroken over the condition of the people of Israel in Jerusalem and over their failure to be faithful. He seeks spiritual renewal.

However, the closing statement in Chapter 1 is of a completely different genre than the rest of his prayer. Why? What’s going on here? At the end of Chapter 1, Scripture reveals the seed of strategic initiative. Nehemiah prays, “give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Now I was cupbearer to the king,” (Nehemiah 1:11). Apparently, as Nehemiah has sought the Lord during these days of weeping, mourning, fasting, and praying, something has begun to occur to Nehemiah, something that is going to grow into being a revitalization strategy. He has come to understand that someone needs to go to Jerusalem to lead restoration, and he has concluded that he is that someone. But, as cupbearer to the king, he doesn’t have the option simply to leave. He needs permission and even help from the king, so he prays for God’s mercy in regard to “this man,” the king. Spiritual renewal with strategic initiative is what Nehemiah modeled for us and, as it was with Nehemiah, is our path to revitalization.

X/52 Training with the GO Center:

X/52 Training is available through the GO Center as a tool for fulfilling its mission in accordance with its mission statement included below:

THE GO CENTER MISSION STATEMENT

The GO Center inspires hope, instills vision, informs strategy, and invigorates action in pastors, leaders, and congregations as they serve God by finding who’s missing and bringing them home. Stated simply the GO Center helps pastors and church leaders revitalize their congregations while impacting their communities.

The GO Center is a Virginia not-for-profit corporation that trains, coaches, and consults with ministry leaders in gaining, sustaining, or regaining Great Commission effectiveness. Led by its Founder and Executive Director, Dr. Ken Priddy, the GO Center works throughout the U.S. and occasionally beyond through on-site and online interaction.

Inspires Hope: Statistics indicate that over 80% of American churches are in plateau or decline. The typical congregation is a shrinking, aging congregation that struggles with a lack of funding, a lack of leadership, a lack of young adults and families, and a lack of energetic, relevant programming. Many of these congregations have lost hope that revitalization is possible and are resigned to a future beyond their control. The GO Center inspires hope by presenting a future that is biblically guided by the truth that Jesus Christ Himself is building His church and that God’s blessing can spark health, growth, and multiplication.

Instills Vision: Congregations in plateau or decline have often lost their sense of vision and leaders wonder what God’s vision might hold for them. The GO Center encourages leaders to seek a vision of God before seeking a vision from God. Rather than beginning with the question, “What is God’s vision for our church,” the GO Center encourages leaders to ask, “What is God’s vision for Himself,” and then, “How can our church serve that vision?” With this big picture firmly in place, leaders are then led to a Key Vision Question that captures the application of God’s big vision in the context of a local church. That question is, “How does God want to express Himself through our church in our community at this time?” This perspective, and the exercise of finding answers to this question, instills godly vision into church leaders of a clear direction toward a godly destination.

Informs Strategy: In the King James Version, Proverbs 29:18a reads, “without a vision, the people will perish.” Here’s another truth, “without a strategy, the vision will perish.” Discerning and developing God’s vision for a congregation is a vital and necessary investment, but words on a page do not make ministry happen. Articulating vision is an important first step, but other steps must follow. The GO Center informs strategy with a process that flows from self-discovery through assessment to the practice of congregational Great Commission disciplines, from forming a Vision Team that is surrounded by Prayer Teams to nuts and bolts strategic planning through a proven strategic tool called the Great Commission Matrix. This strategic matrix channels Great Commission ministry through a congregation and into the surrounding community.

Invigorates Action: With hope inspired, godly vision instilled, and a Great Commission strategy informed, leaders are positioned to take action. The GO Center invigorates that action by challenging leaders and congregations to step out in faith in a proactive and timely way, and by supporting those leaders with ongoing coaching, consultation, and training reinforcement. As pastors and leaders work the process, the process works!

Finding Who’s Missing & Bringing Them Home: Simply stated, the mission objective of the GO Center is to equip and empower pastors, leaders, and congregations in finding who’s missing and bringing them home. The lost are the missing and Jesus came to seek and save the lost. As the Father has sent Him, so He is sending us. We are to go and make disciples of the lost, the missing, and the harvest is plentiful with fields ripe for harvest. We are to be His witnesses. The GO Center promotes finding the missing and bringing them home through outreach and evangelism, and, once home, they are to be discipled in their faith en route to becoming true worshipers who worship the Father in spirit and truth. The Father is seeking such people to worship Him. Hallelujah! Amen! (Luke 19:10, John 20:19-22, Matthew 28:18-20, Matthew 9:35-38, John 4:34-38, Acts 1:8, John 4:23, Romans 12:1-2)