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How to Increase Ministry Impact Exponentially
Posted by
Bob Fetherlin
,
15 March 2007
·
813 views
Several years ago a Romanian pastor was being harassed in an effort to shut down his influence. In the midst of this, he came to the point of all-out commitment to Christ, even if that meant losing his own life. After that commitment, he preached without fear or inhibition. Increased threats and harassment soon followed.
One day as he was questioned, his interrogator threatened to kill him. "Sir," the pastor replied, "let me explain the issue to you. Your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying. You know my sermons are all over the country on tapes now. If you kill me, I will be sprinkling them with my blood. Whoever listens to them after that will say, 'I had better listen. This man sealed it with his blood.' My sermons will speak ten times louder than before. So go on and kill me. I win the supreme victory then." The interrogator released the pastor and sent him home.
The pastor then realized that for years, he had been overly cautious and low-keyed in his ministry. He had accepted all of the restrictions placed on him because he wanted to live. Now he wanted to die and those in power were unwilling to put him to death.
His freedom in ministry dramatically increased after the above-described incident. The pastor lamented, "For years I had wanted to save my life and I was losing it. Now that I wanted to lose it, I was winning it. Somebody had said those words before, but they had not sunk into my mind."
Want to increase your ministry impact exponentially? Embrace the way of thinking, the posture of heart demonstrated by this Romanian pastor. Then watch what happens!
[This true story was taken from "Partners in Suffering: How Christ Builds His Church Through the Crosses of His Servants" by Joseph Tson (Ann Arbor, Michigan: The Center for Pastoral Renewal), pg. 28.]
One day as he was questioned, his interrogator threatened to kill him. "Sir," the pastor replied, "let me explain the issue to you. Your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying. You know my sermons are all over the country on tapes now. If you kill me, I will be sprinkling them with my blood. Whoever listens to them after that will say, 'I had better listen. This man sealed it with his blood.' My sermons will speak ten times louder than before. So go on and kill me. I win the supreme victory then." The interrogator released the pastor and sent him home.
The pastor then realized that for years, he had been overly cautious and low-keyed in his ministry. He had accepted all of the restrictions placed on him because he wanted to live. Now he wanted to die and those in power were unwilling to put him to death.
His freedom in ministry dramatically increased after the above-described incident. The pastor lamented, "For years I had wanted to save my life and I was losing it. Now that I wanted to lose it, I was winning it. Somebody had said those words before, but they had not sunk into my mind."
Want to increase your ministry impact exponentially? Embrace the way of thinking, the posture of heart demonstrated by this Romanian pastor. Then watch what happens!
[This true story was taken from "Partners in Suffering: How Christ Builds His Church Through the Crosses of His Servants" by Joseph Tson (Ann Arbor, Michigan: The Center for Pastoral Renewal), pg. 28.]
