#34
It is true that ministry from a mind reaches a mind, but ministry from heart
reaches a heart. (Aspiration)
- ASSEMBLE A SEMINAR PLANNING GROUP: Creative and practicable planning will make the seminar a productive and enjoyable event. The planning group’s goal is to make the seminar a “rave” success, a seminar which pleases God and prepares people for their ministry. Call together two to eight people to be responsible for:
1) Publicity (your church, other churches, local media) 2) Pre-seminar registration (start at least a month before the seminar.) 3) Seminar Registration (tend the registration table, hand out materials, name tags, etc.) 4) Hospitality (greet people, give directions, etc.) 5) Lunch and refreshment breaks 6) Arrangements (tables, chairs, equipment, banner, etc.) 7) Materials (manuals, books, papers, pencils, etc.) 8) Finances
- LEADERSHIP: One person can teach the entire seminar; or teaching can be shared with church staff, visiting presenters, and/or seasoned and experienced lay people.
- SCHEDULE: See the suggested seminar schedule in the Supporting Papers section. 10 to 15 hours are needed to adequately equip people. It can be fewer, but quality is sacrificed unless the people have read Can the Pastor Do It Alone? prior to the seminar. Time frame possibilities are:
1) Friday evening and all day Saturday
2) All day Saturday and Sunday morning or evening
3) Two consecutive Saturdays
4) Ten to fifteen one-hour Sunday morning sessions or five to eight two-hour sessions
5) A week-end retreat
NOTE: Be creative. You can add a Saturday a.m. breakfast, or a Saturday evening dinner with a celebrate program following. An early Friday evening dinner could give the seminar a “charged-up” start.
- SUPPORTING PAPERS: The manual indicates when supporting papers are available to develop the teaching more completely. These are found on separate paper. They are identified as SP in the manual in lieu of spelling “Supporting Papers” each time. You have to permission to photocopy one paper for each participant. (Special permission must be requested from Lay Pastors Ministry, Inc. to photocopy for other purposes.)●
(Audio/Byeong) Dr. Melvin says what and how to prepare for equipping seminar. He wrote these things for senior pastors at local churches, but in my case I am visiting each church to prepare myself and the senior pastor and their congregation. I meet the pastor in person first, and share the concept of this ministry. And visit their church, explain the whole congregation, and recruit people to be a lay pastor. And I am giving them Melvin’s book, Can The Pastor Do It Alone? To read individually or in group with their pastor. They read it, and are motivated for it. That’s what I am doing for their preparation. And when they gathered for my equipping seminar, they were ready enough to receive PACE Training gladly, and ready to jump into the real field PACE ministry.
COMMENTS
in relation to EQUIPPING SEMINAR PREPARATIONS
Barbara Curtis, USA, wrote:
Being Obedient to Our Call: Now in the third year of Lay Shepherding Ministry, our biggest problem remains the same as in our first year, with one exception. The Holy Spirit is showing us the power of prayer and we are encouraged as we share these experiences.
Our Lay Shepherds have been so excited about this ministry and have wanted to establish relationships right off with each of their households (our term for “sheep”). When a household wasn’t receptive, or hasn’t let them make that visit, or just seemed “so-so”, the Lay Shepherds have been discouraged. Dr. Steinbron’s theory of “minimum contact and maximum prayer” was throughly discussed in our initial training along with the fact that not everyone would embrace them with open arms. Our Shepherds thought they were prepared, but when actually faced with this reality, it was disappointing.
Several things have happened over the years that have not taken away the disappointment, but have given our Shepherds hope. First, as our education continues each year, more and more of our members seem to have a better understanding of this ministry, and second, we have found that educating our congregation is an on-going process.
One example in our first year was a widow who was emphatic that she wasn’t interested when her Shepherd called. The Shepherd didn’t push but mentioned that she had a very unusual name and wanted to know more about it. After a lengthy conversation, it turned out that the window hadn’t really understood the ministry. Later, when the widow had a heart attack, the Lay Shepherd was the one she asked the nurse to call.
Hurricane Fran had most of Raleigh at a stand-still in the fall of 1996. One Lay Shepherd who was fortunate enough to have telephone service received a call from a household. This was the first time there had been any real acknowledgement of the ministry or the Shepherd. For one year, the main contact had been through notes, cards and messages on the answering machine. However, also included had been lots of prayer. The purpose of the phone call was the household’s need for prayer.
These situations helped, but the more time that would elapse from the Shepherd’s initial contact, the less likely the Shepherd felt a relationship would be established. One Shepherd’s experience has proved this wrong.
After several tries, the Shepherd and the person finally met. The person said how things were just terrible and that there wasn’t time for anything else in their life. The Shepherd listened and said he would pray for them. Every attempt for further contact always brought the same response – “I’m busy.” The Shepherd back off, not out, and began sending cards that didn’t require a response, but always mentioned that he was praying for them. Then out of the blue, the household wanted to meet the Shepherd.
The whole story came out – it seemed that the cards always seemed to come at low points in their life. They had stopped coming to church and recently began feeling nudges to return. The Lay Shepherd had never mentioned one thing about church attendance!
Neither the household nor the Shepherd believe that these were coincidences, but rather the Holy Spirit at work. The Lay Shepherd says a valuable lesson has been learned. “It’s my job to be obedient to my calling and let the Holy Spirit do the best.” Peter said, “Though you have not seen him, you love him…”(I Peter 1:8), which is a message for us as Shepherds, too. We don’t need to the effect of our ministry, but just be obedient to our call.■
Byeong, Melvin University, says:
Have you ever experienced this kind of training event in ministry? How was it. What’s the pastor’s primary job? There are many, but equipping the saint is the primary job, without that pastor alone has to do everything that as someone once said there 46 jobs for pastor to do from the opening the door and close the door. Pastor can do only a few things, for instance, Preaching, Sacrament, Administration, and Leadership. Others, lay people can do it. Which one is more effective, and more productive? I once have preached at one church, Diaper Nagaland, there I preached the topic, “1+ 99,” means one pastor and ninety-nine laypeople, of course it means pastor and laypeople there. Which one is more effective? Doing by one person or with ninety-nine people, of course the latter is much better, even we know this calculation, but we don’t do that, because we think this is just mathematics. Is that only mathematics? No. This is true.
Also, at PACE ministry, they, lay pastors need equipping to do it. Without it, it is not possible to happen. But there are another issue; equipping & reequipping. That is also challenging to most of pastors. Most pastors do equipping in the first stage, means once they start any ministry they are equipping, training, preparing them well, but they don’t know how important the re-equipping is. Yes, they did very well in the beginning but that is only starting point, just beginning stage, something started, but no more any meaning in some sense. When they started up, right away they have to change the system of maintenance, just like wedding is different from marriage life, starting is different from maintenance. Start-up is, just like wedding ceremony, take only a few minutes, but maintenance is forever. For instance, we have started PACE International Seminary at Nagaland India, it was prepared many months, but opening ceremony took only for a few minutes, people gathered for opening worship. That’s it. Everyone dispersed after the event. Since then, our school began to shift to maintain.■
ADDITIONAL COMMENT
by BYEONG
Never give up: West Point, a military academy in New York, U.S., goes through a difficult four-year process. More than 14,000 youngsters apply for there at their second year of high school across the U.S. Then 4,000 of them pass document’s test; 2,500 through the process of another test, and then finally 1,200 final pass through further tests. However, about 200 to 300 people were dropped on the way, so only about 1,000 people attended the final graduation ceremony.
However, these two to three hundred dropouts were admitted and almost gave up within seven weeks of their first summer training (called BEAST). After two years of admission processed, they give up in the first two months. It gives the most difficult training for the first two months of the summer, and it is the process of changing from a cadet to a soldier.
I think it is intended to completely changed their lifestyle in society previous. Anyway, the curriculum has been organized to change from cadets to soldiers, so strong training runs from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Furthermore, there are no weekends, no breaks except for mealtime, and they can’t meet their family and friends outside the West Point. That’s why hundreds of them give up and dropped out because they are train strong even in the hot summer weather.
However, there were studied of cadets who are dropped. Why are they giving up? By the way, most of what was found was the same; namely that they had highly high school scores, leadership experiences, and physical strength as well. In order to enter the U.S. Military Academy, the level of school performance and others should be the highest because coming into Military Academy must be met entering to the same level of universities in Ivy League.
So what is the difference between those who succeeded with seven weeks and those who are dropped? That is, there is a difference in their endurance (Perseverance, Grit*, fighting spirit). Rather than winning because it’s skill, talent, and genius, but it’s been discovered through years of research that was perseverance.
Most successful people were not excel in IQ, intelligent, and gifted. It was usually people who worked hard in one field. Perhaps, as Stanford psychology professor Dr. Carol said, it seems similar to the discovery that students who feel a little lacking have endurance and continue to work hard to reach the top.
Personally, I thought: People who think they have everything, 100% IQ and 100% talent, don’t have to struggle anymore, so there’s no room for effort. Isn’t it 100% done?
But let’s say that there are only 60 percents of people who feel that something is lacking. Those people are trying, and trying to fill 100%, so maybe they are in perseverance and fighting spirit to keep going, and not only to reach 100%, but they can proceed to 120%, 130%. In other words, it seems to be a matter of direction, not a matter of the destination. There are many great people in the world, but I think the best of them are the latter! The best people in the world are those who have gone beyond 100 percent to 150 percent, and 200 percent further.
In other words, it is not a matter of IQ, talent, but people who are satisfied with dissatisfaction. After achieving something, people are not satisfied with it and are dissatisfied with pursuing a higher level, and like the confession of Apostle Paul in the Bible, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on….”
The U.S. Military Academy aims to develop various aspects, it is said to provide mental, physical, military spirit, and social training. However, as they passed the difficult training process, they discovered their weakness, which they wouldn’t unbearable. Perhaps they think of a lack of self-esteem. Therefore, they are often dropped out without endurance. Who would pass four years of such a hard process and go to the graduation? Moreover, even the cadets who passed the whole of the military academy’s self-test were dropped. They must be fully equipped cadets. Nevertheless, those who eventually go through all the way were the ones who don’t give up.
This isn’t just a story in the military, though. It is applied to various jobs, businesses, pastors, students, etc. Analyzing successful people, it comes down to two things: one is passion, the other is perseverance. The passion is not cooling down, and perseverance is overcoming difficult problems. If these two are essential to success, is it absurd? Passion is necessary at the beginning, and perseverance is necessary to continue and develop further.
Note)
* Grit is expressed in the Cambridge Dictionary as “grit your teeth”.
두가지 두려움
어떤 사역이나 프로젝트를 시작해보려 할 때에 두려움은 생길 수밖에 없다. 다른 말로 걱정이라고 말할 수도 있겠다. 두 가지 경우에서 오게 될 텐데, 하나는 “실패하면 어떡하지? (실패의 측면)” 즉 실패에 대한 두려움이다. 실패를 많이 해본 사람일수록 그런 생각이 들 수밖에 없을 것이다. 또 다른 두려움은 “이 기회를 놓치면 어떻게 될 것인가? (후회의 측면)” 즉 주어진 기회를 어떻게 할 것인가에 대한 것이다,
그런데 전자의 경우는 “실패할까에 대한 걱정” 때문에 시작을 못한다는 것이다. 대부분이 이러지 않는가? 그러나 그것을 기회라고 생각하는 사람들은 놓치고 싶지 않다는, 아니 놓쳐서는 안 된다는 생각이 강력해진 경우인데 그런 사람들은 시작한다는 것이다. 실패에 대한 걱정 대 놓칠까에 대한 걱정, 두가지이다. 선택은 물론 당사자 자신의 몫이다.
놓치고 나중에 평생 후회할 것 같은 경우에는, 그것이 힘들더라도 기회라고 받아들이면서 시작하는 경우이다. 피터 드러커가 말한 것처럼 Timing is everything. 다른 말로는 Everything is timing이라고도 말할 수 있겠다.
인생에서 세 번의 기회가 온다는데, 그중의 하나가 결정적인 기회인 것은 사실이다. 최근에 우리 멜빈대학교 이사장과 얘기를 나눈 적이 있는데. 학교의 발전을 위해 업그레드를 시도하고 있는데, 그런 것이 엄청나게 힘든 것을 나는 (서목사) 안다. 그런데 그 이사장은 그런 기회가 주어진 것에 감사한다는 것이었다. 내가 봐도 정말 무리수이다. 백퍼센트의 헌신이 아니라 거의 수백배의 헌신을 해야 가능해지는 일이다. 그러나 그것을 인생에 주어진 큰 기회라고 생각하는 것 같다. 그러니까 멜빈대학교가 이 만큼 진행해가면서 조금씩 나아지고 있는 것이다. 이것은 온전히 그 이사장님의 덕택이다. 특히 그분은 그 직책을 통해 많은 사람들을 만나게 되었으니 그것 또한 감사한 일이라고 하셨다.
No pain, no gain, no crown이라는 말은 좀 식상하기도 하지만 사실 그렇다. 주어진 기회는 감사하지만, 그 기회를 이루어내는 데에는 엄청남 피와 땀이 필요하다. 어쩌면 사람들은 이것이 두려워서 못 할 수도 있으리라. 그래서 영광은 고통과 함께 간다는 명제를 나는 최근에야 인지하게 되었다. 더 큰 영광은 더 큰 고통과 반드시 함께 간다는 것이다.
어떤 사람들은 조그마한 위험이라도 감수 안하려 한다. 실패하면 어찌할까 하는 두려움이 아마도 커서 그런 것 같다. 잘 안되면 돈만 날리는 것이 아닌가 하는 두려움!
결국의 선택의 문제인 것 같다. 포기하고서 그것에 대한 미련 때문에 평생 후회할 것인가! 아니면 한 번 큰 시도를 해볼 것인가? 실패는 한 트럭의 책이고, 성공은 300페이지의 책 한권에 불과하다는 얘기가 사실이라는 것을 우리는 잘 알지 않는가! 우리가 실패에 대한 두려움에 사로잡힌다면 행동으로 옮기지 못할 것이다.
실패에 대한 두려움인가! 주어진 기회를 놓칠까 봐에 대한 염려인가! 나 (서목사) 개인적인 경우는 분명히 후자였던 것 같다. 기회라는 것이 -멜빈대학교설립 – 자주 안 오는 것이니, 놓치면 안 된다. 그리고 Timing is the most important 라는 슬로건을 내 자신의 것으로 확실히 새기면서, 앞으로 또 그런 기회가 온다면 붙잡아야겠다고 한 번 더 다짐해본다.●