By Larry Brown

The Cry for Pastors and Church Leaders
Through my 15 years of traveling ministry I have seen a great need for the teaching of God?s word to pastors and leaders, especially in the “developing nations”. I have met many great national evangelists, bishops and apostles who have had tremendous results in reaching the lost and in starting churches.

Often they have told me they need Bible teachers to help establish believers in the faith. These ministers have had awesome results in ministering healing, miracles and raising the dead. However they say the people healed need to learn how to keep their healing. They realized their people needed teaching for this. Their cry to me, time and time again, has been “Help us train and teach our pastors and leaders” so that they can more effectively minister to their people in many needed areas of God?s word.

The Great Commission
Mark 16:15 tells us to go preach to all people. Matthew 28:19-20 tells us to go teach all nations. Through preaching and teaching we are reaching the people that Jesus died for. I believe part of the teaching includes the training of pastors and leaders.

God's Heart Revealed through Equipped Pastors
God uses the 5 fold ministry gifts to help equip pastors and ministry leaders for the work of the ministry, so that they can in turn equip their people to do the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:11-12). As pastors are equipped to minister to their people they can truly function as Jeremiah 3:15 pastors. Jeremiah 3:15 reads “And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding (KJV).” Other translations tell us they will feed God?s people with (sound) judgment, care, insight, intelligence and wisdom. Without pastors, people miss out on some aspects of God?s knowledge, understanding, judgment, care, insight, intelligence and wisdom.

God has ordained for His people to experience and learn some aspects of His character, nature and knowledge through His divinely appointed pastors. He has said He will give pastors after His heart. So there are some aspects of His heart that will not be revealed, except through His pastors. There are some aspects of God?s heart that will only be revealed by us spending quality one on one time with Him also.

Ministry through ministers, church leaders and one on one personal time with God are vitally important. I believe God reserves certain insights about Himself, His word and His will for our lives to only be revealed through one on one time with Him. I also believe God also reserves certain revelations about Himself, His word and direction for our lives to be revealed to us as we sit under the ministry of our God appointed pastors and other ministers.

Moses received some crucial insights about God, His will for Israel and more, through His one on one time with God. However there were other directions from God that came through others. For example the principle of leadership delegation came through the priest of Median, his father in-law Jethro.

Exodus 18:1-27 tells us that an aspect of Moses leadership was not good. He was serving as judge for the many disputes of his people. There were millions of people and therefore millions of disputes. Jethro told Him that what he was doing was not good and that he would wear himself out and wear the people out. The solution – delegate much of the judging of disputes to many of his people. It should also be noted that these delegated leaders needed to meet certain character criteria.

Both the principal of delegation, as well many other biblical leadership principles and the qualifications for leadership are things that must be taught to God?s people. Hence the great need for leadership training. A leader can only take a person as far as they have gone themselves. Note that training can include coaching, mentoring, modeling the right example and more.

Without Properly Trained Pastors and Leaders People Are Distressed
Matthew 9:37 tells us that the harvest of souls is plentiful but that the laborers are
few. We need more laborers to reach the lost. We also need more pastors after God?s own heart to care for the Lord?s harvest as the laborers bring them into the kingdom and church. Matt. 9:36 reads “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” Other translations read that the shepherd-less people were distressed, dejected, harassed, helpless, troubled, wandering, confused, cast away, worried, weary, tired and were fainting on the ground.

In short people need pastors. To have pastors after God?s own heart requires training. Jesus took 3 and ½ years to train the first New Testament ministry
leaders. Today, Bible schools are a great venue for training ministry leaders. Minister and leadership conferences and mentoring also help in this effort.

Trained Pastors and Leaders Increase the Potential for New Souls to Come Into the Kingdom

With more trained leaders and church workers, more ministry work can be accomplished and delegated, so that those ministering God?s word can spend
more time in prayer and the ministry of the word. In Acts 6:1-7 we see that with an increase in ministry help, the apostles were able to spend more time in prayer and the ministry of the word. As a direct result “…the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly…” It is extremely important that ministry leaders get trained because it has a big impact on the reaching of souls, which influences people?s eternal destiny.

Train and Teach So That People Are Not Destroyed For a Lack of Knowledge
Hosea 4:6 says that God?s people are destroyed because of a lack of knowledge. Satan is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). He is a thief that comes to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10). It is vital that pastors and ministry leaders get training / instruction from God?s word so that they and their people are not destroyed by the destroyer because of a lack of knowledge. After we go preach to reach, we must teach to keep people in God?s kingdom. We must teach to help people live victorious Christian lives. And we must teach to train pastors and leaders so they can in turn help their people and equip them to reach the lost.

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