Ridgell's Originals

Well, I worked a couple of uncoming seminars on Sharing Our Story, set up a baptism in a prison, worked on a couple of sermons for this summer at Southern Hills, and starting outlining a seminar on using stories for spiritual counseling with Christians caught in sin. You know, same kind of stuff I was doing 38 years ago.

Marsha was cooking for a funeral meal, keeping a newborn for a working Mom, helping organize our graduating Seniors luncheon at church, and getting me packed for upcoming preaching trips. You know, same stuff she was doing 38 years ago.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. We still love lots, laugh hard, love our families, and spend our time sharing Jesus with friends and neighbors.

So what will we be doing on our 58th wedding anniversary? Well, if God wills that we are able, I would think the same dind of stuff we did today. The same kind of stuff we have always done.

Advice after 38 years. Pick someone who loves Jesus more than you. Pick a stayer. Pick someone you can count on when life gets tough. and someone you can celebrate with when life is good.

I did. And it's worked out well for me.

Thanks God.

Random thoughts on leadership:

You have to have followers. If nobody follows you, you are not a leader. don't care what title you have, you aren't.

If you to tell everyone you are a leader, or ask to be a leader, you probably are not.

Being a boss is not the same as being a leader.

Being in charge is not the same as being a leader.

Leaders take people places, even if those following do not know the destination. They follow the leader.

Persuaders are not always leaders. Power to delegate does not make you a leader.

Who you are is more important to a leader than what you are.

God calls leaders in the church, not men. Men just need to recognize who God is calling, and who He is not calling.

Leaders are not always popular, or liked. But they are often loved.

The main function of a spiritual leader (whether leading your personal family or the family of God) is to follow Jesus personally.

The main goal is to get all your followers to Jesus.

Think about these principles in the life of Jesus.

What are some of your insights into spiritual leadership.

The church at Antioch was one of the most vibrant and active in the entire book of Acts. It is one of the few congregations where we know something about their ministry staff. They had 5 prophets (preachers) and teachers (see Acts 13). Two of them are well known: Barnabus and Paul. And those are the two they kept on the road doing mission work.

5 preachers on one staff. I wonder how they shared the pulpit. Did they take turns? Did they rotate by the month? Did they have multiple services? More to the point, is that the secret to their incredible growth?

We at Southern Hills are like most churches I know. We have 1 preacher. We have a large ministerial staff but they are not primarily teachers and preachers. They minister to us. They administer programs.

We are seeing a renewed emphasis on outreach thru our various programs, but they are still about us. We take care of ourselves. Some parts of me likes this because I do want our children and our young people to have faith. And I am not sure our parents are taking responsibility for that. Of course, if we didn't have professional staff, maybe they would.

Or maybe Simeon, Lucius, and Manaen were a youth minister, children's minister, and worship minister at Antioch. Paul was the missionary in residence and Barnabus was surely the main preacher.

Or maybe they were all prophets because the most important thing for a supported church staff is to teach and preach the Word.

Maybe they didn't care who was the main preacher. Maybe they didn't care about their titles. Maybe they just taught and preached about Jesus. And they grew.

So does that mean anything for the church today? Hve we gone about it all wrong? Should our ministers actually be preachers and teachers?

Not sure I know the answers. I just want to be sure we occasionally ask the question.

Your thoughts please.

I have shared that my core belief -- and that of Southern Hills -- is Jesus: specifically that he died for our sins, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day.

But it is more than an intellectual conviction. I entered into my core belief by being crucified with Christ in baptism.

But I also share with God's family in participating in this core. I Corinthians 10: 15 reminds us that our communion together is a participation in his blood (his death).

It is important to me that a core belief be something that can be lived. It is something I can participate in as an individual and in community.

The core belief is Jesus. I live it. We live it.