Church On The Street

church said to me, "Go home and be a miracle."

So I went home and prayed, "Lord, if I'm going to amount to anything, it will take a miracle."

Years later I returned to my dad's church as a young evangelist. I prayed and fasted before the meetings at his church. At the end of one service a mother brought her ten-year-old daughter with leukemia to me and said, "If you will pray for my daughter, I believe God will heal her."

I prayed for her, and then I went on my way. Later my parents called me. "Do you know what happened to that girl?" my mother exclaimed. "Her doctor examined her and found that all the cancer cells had disappeared. She is healed."

Years later the girl visited our church in Phoenix. She was a pastor's wife and living proof that prayer and fasting bring forth the supernatural power to heal.

Factor #23

Become a Miracle

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13, N.K.J.V).

n an effort to compliment me, a man once remarked, "Brother Barnett, you have literally performed miracles here."

Immediately, I responded, "No, no, no! I have not performed any kind of miracle, but I am a miracle."

I do not perform miracles, nor does any man. But we can become a miracle. The Bible declares that we are the workmanship of the Lord and were created for good works. If the church is going to multiply itself, then it will need to be filled with people who are miracles. So how does someone become a miracle?

Pray not for a task equal to your power, but for power equal to your task. God doesn't need your ability but your availability. Becoming a miracle does not depend on talent, charisma, ability or education. When your task gets bigger than you, you enter miracle territory. If you are equal to the task, then you do not need God or a miracle. However, when the task is bigger than you, God looks down and sees all that you must do and says, "Wow, there's an opportunity for a miracle."

Realize the task and strength never remain constant. Follow this closely. Your task will always require just a little bit more than your strength allows. Now, if you give up a task that God has given you, your present strength will diminish. If you want to be used of God, find and do every job He gives you to do. You will never grow until you are overworked.

Always start the task before you get the power. Consider powerlifting. A powerlifter gets strength only by lifting weights. The more powerlifters lift weights, the more strength they have.

If they want to lift weights beyond their present capacity, they must start lifting before they receive the power to reach their goal. If they never start, they never attain their goal. So you don't get more strength for the work; you get strength by the work.

For example, you don't get strength from God for praying. As you pray, you grow stronger. You do not receive strength for witnessing by talking about it. You get stronger as a witness for Christ by witnessing.

Our church is strong not because we have special events and pageants, not because we run buses, not because we have charisma, not because we have great facilities, but because our church has burdens that we cannot bear.

We have learned that when we have burdens we cannot bear and weights we cannot lift, the Lord reaches down and says, "I am going to help you bear your burdens because the task is bigger than you, and you left Me some miracle territory in which I can demonstrate My strength and show My glory."

We must always start the task before we get the power. Strength comes from God as we do the task. So I pray, "God, don't cut my work, increase it. If my task is larger, my strength will be larger and will increase. I want to grow, God. Make my burdens heavier so that I might see your miracle-working power.

Never pray to do miracles. Pray to be one. This is His work, not ours. We can never do all that we are supposed to do. That opens the door for a miracle.

Do you desire to be a miracle? Then tackle a task given by God even though you believe yourself to be incapable of the task.

Try something big. Reach for something beyond your grasp. Lift something greater than your strength.

Step out and start by declaring, "I serve a God that will give the power." I am the work. He is the worker.

Ask yourself:

Factor #23

Become a miracle.

• Are you praying for miracles or praying to be a miracle?

• When will you step out in faith to do a spiritual task greater than yourself?

• What miracle does God want to do in and through your right now?

- to be a miracle.

- not for strength but for a spiritual task to build your strength.

Factor #24

Qualify Yourself for a Miracle

And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan (Josh. 3:8).

Before the people of Israel could possess the Promised Land they faced a problem—the Jordan River. A river blocked them from God's promise.

Most people regard problems as hindrances to miracles happening in their lives. Actually just the opposite is true. You cannot qualify for a miracle until you have a problem.

God was not satisfied with the Israelites staying in the wilderness. He wanted them to go a little further. First, they were to stand on the bank of the Jordan. Then, they had to stand in the Jordan. Finally, they would cross the barrier, the Jordan River, and enter the Promised Land. Only there they would find another problem - Jericho. But not to worry! The problem of Jericho would qualify them for another miracle.

Too often churches find themselves content with where they are when God wants them to go a little further. Our church has discovered that to experience miracles we must not be satisfied with today's blessings.

As a matter of fact, we are not satisfied with average. One enemy of the church is called average. Some churches must be above average in order to pull the below average churches up. Someone must be red hot to bring the temperature up in lukewarm and cold Christians.

There's always a problem out in front of us. There will always be a Jordan River, an obstacle and a barrier to what God wants us to do. Before we can see a miracle, we must go a little further.

I know many people that come to the edge of the river and say, "Nothing is happening. The water is not parting. I do not see God moving." So they back off and camp by the side of the river. They stand around studying the problem.

Notice that the word "into" can be found in the text. It is when we go into the midst of the water, when we march headlong into the problem. that the waters part and the miracle is seen.

God's servants in Daniel would never have seen the fourth man in the furnace if they had not entered the furnace.

David would never have seen Goliath fall if he had not entered the battle.

Jesus would never have seen the resurrection if He had not faced the cross.

All of us want miracles. But there is a great risk involved in miracles. You have to step out into your problem, face your difficulties and confront your enemies before you will ever see a miracle.

What we want in churches is not miracles but magic. We seek God's miracles, but we don't want to experience any pain, struggle, effort or difficulties. However, there are conditions established by God for miracles. The first condition is to face the problem. Facing a problem calls for us to humble ourselves, pray, repent and seek God's face (2 Chr. 7:14).

Notice that each of these actions takes us a little further and a little deeper into God's power and presence. It's there - in His presence and power - that we find miracles.

For years I said from my pulpit that some day God was going to have someone give a million-dollar miracle. I am seeing God do a multi-million-dollar miracle in Los Angeles with the International Church.

Matt Crouch built and operates a television studio there, and his father, Paul, donated equipment for the studio valued at nearly 1 million dollars. Televangelists and other pastors donated tens of thousands of dollars. T.B.N gave us thirty minutes a week to share the vision of L.A. on television. Our Pastors' School pledged almost 700,000 dollars to help us pay for the facilities. Then a guest visiting our church asked to see the ministry, and upon visiting it put a check in my hand. I counted the zeros. There were six of them. I had seen a million-dollar miracle happen not just once but many times over.

Do you know how I happened to see a miracle? The answer is simple. We kept going a little further into the water. We recognized problem after problem in Los Angeles, and God led us into the water. Once we entered the problems, God provided the miracles. Problems qualified us to see His miracles.

Factor #24

The one thing that qualifies you for a miracle is a problem.

Ask yourself:

• What problems am I now facing that block my miracles from God?

• Am I willing and is my church willing to face problems in order to see God's miracles?

- for the willingness to face and enter into your problems.

- for humility and the desire to repent, pray and seek God's face for your problems.

- for a church willing to step into problems in order to qualify for God's miracles.

Investing in God's Kingdom

friend of mine for over forty years invited me to the classy, black-tie banquet where he was to be inducted into the Automobile Hall of Fame in Detroit, Michigan.

Michael Cardone, a Spirit-filled Christian, was dying of cancer the evening he stood to receive his award. He had been coughing so hard during the day that we all doubted he could speak. But he gave a profound testimony in front of many who did not know Jesus.

Michael Cardone invested his resources and talents in God's kingdom for years. He gave money to Oral Roberts University for a building to educate young Christians. In Springfield, Missouri, he gave funds for a Christian media center and a new theological school building.

Michael Cardone had lived life as a Christian entrepreneur. Even fighting a terminal disease, he looked forward to ways he could serve Christ. As he finished his speech, he said, "We have only just begun." Now his son, Michael Cardone, Junior., is seeing his business multiply as a result of his father's investment in the kingdom.

He knew that you don't hold on to what you have. You take a risk for the sake of the gospel.

In risking all for the kingdom, he experienced the greatest profit - an abundant life in Christ Jesus.

Factor #25

Build a Risk-Taking Church

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith very church is living in one of three stages: risk-taking, caretaking or undertaking. Most churches begin their existence as risk-taking churches because they are usually planted or birthed in the midst of revival or renewal.

Noah models this risk-taking lifestyle. For 120 years he built an ark in preparation for something he had never experienced - rain and floods. By faith he took a risk and suffered the world's ridicule and laughter.

Everyone talks about walking by faith, but too many desire a fail-safe faith. They want their walk to be risk-free. However, faith is a life in which we put everything on the line for Christ.

Many desire to move in God and to exercise their spiritual gifts. They want to be used by God. So they attend classes, seminars, conferences and even enroll in our Master's Commission program or a Bible school. But too often their ultimate goal is not how to take risks but how to minister without risk.

Risk-taking Christians and churches are always on the cutting edge of ministry and life. They boldly march into God's future. Their focus is on God's dream and vision for tomorrow. The best is always yet to come. Risk-taking churches invest all they are today in Christ to become all they can be in Christ tomorrow.

A caretaking church carefully plans for the present. They are not oriented toward the future. Caretakers basically try to care for themselves today, carefully planning for the present hour.

Undertaking churches are always looking back. They continually tell stories about yesterday when the church was great. They speak of past revivals and great events that the church has experienced. They fondly remember how God shook the church yesterday.

Each stage has its own theme song. The undertaking church sings, "When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there." The caretaking church intones, "Hold the fort for I am coming." But the risk-taking church triumphantly marches to refrains of, "Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war. like a mighty army moves the church of God."

Risk-takers expectantly proclaim, "God is doing a new thing." Caretakers cautiously declare, "I hope nothing unusual happens today." Undertakers just look around and say, "What happened?"

Remember this:

God is the greatest risk-taker of all.

He risked having His son die on the cross for those who would accept His sacrifice of love. Jesus risked spreading the gospel with twelve disciples. He had no back-up plan.

The church that takes risks walks by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). What qualities does such a church possess? Here's a checklist for you:

- ? The church is oriented to the future not to the past.

- ? People are more important than policy.

- ? Organization springs out of God's vision not out of management strategies.

- ? Dreams dictate direction.

- ? Seeking to be fail-safe is replaced by being risk-takers who trust God.

- ? Members are dependent on God instead of man as their source. Their security is in God alone.

- ? Instead of following good ideas, members pray for and follow after God's ideas.

Build a risk-taking church for Jesus Christ.

Ask yourself- Factor #25

Build a risk-taking church.

Are you relying on God as your source?

• Will you risk everything on His dream and vision for you and your church?

• Do you walk by faith and not by sight?

Pray...

- that your church becomes a risk-taking church.

- that you will seek God's dream and vision.

- for God's ideas for your future.

Factor #26

Enlarge Your Circle of Love

Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another; not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality (Rom. 12:10).

e must become aware of our tendency to draw circles. What do I mean? People tend to draw circles around people who are acceptable to them and exclude people from their circles who are unacceptable.

Having the mind of Christ means that our circles should exclude no one and include everyone. Paul writes, "Wherefore receive [accept] ye one another, as Christ also received [accepted] us to the glory of God" (Rom. 15:7).

I have to be very careful in my hatred of sin not to hate the sinner. It is possible to love the sinner and hate the sin. If the church today is to truly express Christ's love, then we cannot exclude anyone.

Does your circle include those who have wronged you? Does your circle include those who backbite and hurt you? Isn't it interesting that Jesus' circle of intimate friends included Judas? Can your circle include a Judas within it? If so, you will receive healing, restoration and blessing. You will never know the full blessing God has for you, your church and your ministry until your circle includes all those that God includes.

Here are some important revelations:

• The only one who can hurt or wound you is the one excluded from your circle.

One reason the church is not fulfilling its mission is that too many people have been excluded. We think the church is a waiting room for saints. However, the church is a hospital for the sick.

The attitude of the average church seems to be: "Don't let them in because they will corrupt the church." The moment our church in Phoenix let me in as the pastor, the church was corrupted. The truth is that all of us are sinners redeemed by the blood of Christ. We are a part of His circle of love not because we are acceptable but because we are accepted. Once you exclude someone, you make that person your enemy.

• Church membership is based on God's acceptance not on human qualifications.

One philosophy of church membership holds that not just anybody can join a church. A candidate for membership must vow that he or she will do or not do certain things before the person will be accepted. The other philosophy of membership states that if God accepts them, they can join. We'll take them as they are and help them grow in grace. We'll accept them into our circle of love, and they will mature in Christ along with us. Legalism is very narrow and exclusive. But love is inclusive of all whom God accepts.

- Our circle of love must include the thing about which we feel most ashamed.

We feel shame when we feel separated from friends and from God. Everyone in a church has something shameful in his past. If we include in our circle that which is shameful, God will cover it with His forgiveness, glory, beauty and loveliness. If we are to have boldness and confidence in the church, we have to release our shame. Release begins when we include it in our circle of love.

We include in our circle of love the most shameful symbol in history - the cross. On the cross, Jesus became sin and shame for us. We include shame in our circle of love.

What people are you seeking to exclude from your church? Who is so bad and shameful that you cannot love him or her? Are homosexuals, perverts, thieves, abortionists or murderers excluded? Who is on your exclusion list?

Once you have identified whom you exclude, you will have an important mirror for looking at yourself. Whom we exclude tells us more about ourselves than about the excluded. Our fears, sins, insecurities and prejudices are revealed by those we choose to exclude.

If there is anyone that you or your church need to include in your circle of love, do it now. Including them will transform both them and you.

Ask yourself

Factor #26

Enlarge your circle of love.

• Do I or my church exclude certain people or groups from our circle of love?

• How will I enlarge my circle of love?

• Whom do I exclude? What does that reveal about myself?

Pray...

- for Christ to empower you to accept others.

- for the boldness to enlarge your circle of love.

Purpose Motivated by Love

watched as some retarded children lined up to run the hundred-yard dash in a Special Olympics. As the starter's gun sounded, they sprinted down the track, each child straining every muscle to win the race. „1 • „ „ 1 r . „,

One child pulled out in front of the rest. Suddenly the runner a few steps behind the leader stumbled and fell to the ground. The first place runner stopped dead in his tracks, went back to the fallen runner and helped him to his feet asking, "Are you Ok?" Then the one who had been in the lead helped his friend across the finish line.

As I watched this scene unfold, I thought, Who is retarded after all?

Too often we who call ourselves "normal" are actually retarded in our ability to love others.

We can learn from this example. Yes, the purpose of the race was to cross the finish line. But the motivation behind that purpose was love. Multiplication happens when unselfish people are motivated by love.

Jesus reminded us that in His kingdom, the first will be last and the last first. So pick up that person next to you and carry

Motivate Through Relationships

Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock (1 Pet. 5:2).

I

am often asked the question, "You seem to have a very close relationship with your congregation. How can you be so close to so many people?" I do not understand fully how this intimate relationship happens, but I personally feel that every person I meet is special, unique and a miracle. I genuinely love the people in our congregation. I do know that if the relationship is not right between pastor and people, then a church will never be motivated to win souls and serve Jesus.

Christ.

How does a right relationship of intimacy between pastor and people become a reality? I do not have all the answers, but here are some ideas that have worked in our congregation. I believe the pastor sets the stage for such a relationship. So to pastors I would say:

1. Express your love openly. After I preach on Sundays, I stand at the door and shake hands with and hug everyone that I can. I love them, brag on them and encourage them.

2. Listen to your critics. You don't have to do all that your critics suggest, but do listen to them.

3. Do not strike the second blow. Refuse to retaliate. I have noticed in football games that the one who strikes second often gets penalized even though he didn't start the conflict.

4. Be quick to apologize. I try, and sometimes I fail. So I have learned how to apologize for my mistakes.

5. Never show your anger publicly. The Bible advises us in Ephesians 4:26, "Be ye angry, and sin not." Publicly berating someone never heals and always hurts.

6. Reward faithfulness openly. Affirm others. Honor and thank God publicly for what others do in ministry.

7. Give others credit and accept none. Of course, we never accept any of God's glory. But it is appropriate to honor others when they have worked hard, faithfully serving the Lord. Every

Sunday I like to recognize the nursery workers. They deserve great credit for the ministry they do which allows parents to worship God and be involved in ministry.

8. Heal the hurt when someone is wounded. I never take Monday off because it is the day I gather up all the hurts that may have been caused on Sunday and seek to heal them.

9. Walk slowly through the crowd. Years ago I caught myself shaking hands with one person while looking past that person to the next in an earnest attempt to see everyone. As a result, I missed giving my attention to the one right in front of me. Now I give each person I encounter my attention and look them in the eye.

10. Let others save face. A businessman once said to me, "Sometimes a relationship is more important than being right." A relationship is more important than being right, winning an argument or proving a point.

11. Always befriend the little person. Those that seem insignificant and unimportant - be their friend.

12. Make all the friends you can on the way up because you may need them on the way down. When you are in a position to give, do so. There will come a day when you need to receive, and those that have received from you in the past will minister to your need.

13. Keep all the cards on the table. When people know that you are transparent, they will trust you. Remember, you have nothing to fear, nothing to hide and nothing to lose. The love of Christ has conquered your fear. When you confess your sins, you come clean and are forgiven. And since you have lost your life in Christ and know that everything belongs to him, no one can take anything from you.

14. Lead by example. Paul said to follow his example. If chairs need to be put up after a service, be right in the middle helping your people.

15. Be predictable. Let your people know what to expect of you. Don't preach on money when you've told your people to bring the unsaved. Keep a schedule so people know where you are and how to contact you.

16. Believe in people. Expect that your people will do something great for God.

17. Be transparent and vulnerable. Let people know that you are human and have real feelings and a real life.

18. Have a certain mystique about you. People do not need to know and understand everything about you. Mystique happens when a pastor spends time alone with God, getting to know His will and hearing His voice.

19. Be able to identify with your people. Understand what your people are going through and the demands upon their lives.

A leader must be able to relate to his people, to love them and to care for them. Love covers a multitude of sins - especially in a pastor's life! Amen.

An intimate relationship with the pastor motivates a church.

• As a pastor, am I building an intimate relationship with my people? As a lay person, do I have a caring and loving relationship with my pastor?

• Which of the qualities listed needs to be worked on the most in my church?

Pray...

- for the pastor and people in your congregation to develop a loving, caring relationship.

Factor #28

Overcome Excuses

Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8).

here are several reasons why people do not win souls. Years ago I found out how difficult it is to get people to come out and do church visitation and evangelism, so I am sharing with you some reasons people give for not becoming soulwinners and some means to overcome these hindrances.

1. People do not win souls because they don't know how.

Churches often expect people to witness but do not equip their members to witness. Inspiration without education leads to frustration. We need to train people to be soulwinners. In Phoenix we have developed the Saturday Soulwinning Society. This is a simple thirteen-week course designed to equip people to lead others to Christ. You need to be equipped if you have not been. Your church needs such a course if it does not have one. How to obtain more information about this course can be found at the end of this book.

2. People do not win souls because they are afraid.

Fear of rejection or of appearing foolish often hinders people from witnessing. The fear of knocking on an unknown door and asking, "Do you know if you would go to heaven if you died today?" simply paralyzes some folks.

3. People do not win souls because they have not set a time in their schedule to witness.

Everyone must have a schedule with a time slot set aside for witnessing. You may say, "From two until five o'clock every Saturday afternoon I am going out soulwinning.

We worked together in my first congregation to overcome these obstacles to soulwinning.

I said to the church, "How many of you would win souls if you were trained and could overcome your fear? How many would come for one hour on Saturday mornings for thirteen weeks to be trained?" More than 250 signed a contract to be faithful each week, work with their leaders and pray and fast for power. After thirteen weeks, 267 people graduated and started going out to witness during a set time each week.

That group of people led over fifteen hundred people to Jesus Christ. I have been setting up Saturday Soulwinning Societies ever since. The course materials are used all over the world. The course we recommend may be the most-used soulwinning course available today.

In the process of training, we give people biblical reasons why they must win souls and why they cannot remain silent about the gospel. I am sharing those reasons with you so that you will be motivated to get trained if you are not already a soulwinner, and you will have these reasons to share with others.

Five Reasons Why I Must Win Souls

1. Soulwinners are wise (Prow 11:30).

2. Soulwinners are partners with the Lord (2 Cor. 6:1).

3. Soulwinners will shine (Dan. 12:3).

4. Soulwinners are happy (Ps. 126:5 to 6).

5. Soulwinning covers a multitude of sins (James 5:19 to 20).

Four Reasons Why I Cannot Remain Silent About Jesus

1. Jesus commanded all Christians to go and make disciples (Matt. 28:19 to 20).

2. Jesus' love for His people and their love for Him compels Christians to be soulwinners (John 14:15,21).

3. People of the world will perish without Jesus Christ (Rom. 6:23).

4. God is not willing that any should perish (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9).

I want to encourage and urge you to become a soulwinner. If you are fearful, work beside someone who has confidence in the Lord and is a bold witness. Learn from him. Be trained and equipped. And begin today to pray for the lost.

Factor #28

Overcome the reasons people have for not being soulwinners.

• Am I willing to be trained and equipped as a soulwinner or to be a trainer for others?

• Have I set aside a time to lead others to Jesus each week?

Pray...

- to become a soulwinner and to train and encourage others to be soulwinners.

Ministering to Couples

about five years ago, Pastor Leo, a pastor on our staff who had over four hundred couples in his young couples' Sunday school class, said to me, "No one speaks nationally for the Spirit-filled community about marriage."

Needing to be proven in ministry as builders of strong marriages before we went national with a ministry, we multiplied ministry to couples with a strong Sunday School class as a foundation for ministry. God restored marriages miraculously. We virtually eliminated divorce among our church members in a city with a very high divorce rate.

God gave us the vision to create an annual conference to network with other churches that desired to equip leaders and minister to married couples. We have seen a revival in marriages. We have a worship team comprised of formerly divorced and now remarried couples and a discipling ministry that helps couples learn how to prevent conflict and divorce.

One of our largest resources for birthing people into ministry is our couples' ministry.

Most of our Sunday School teachers and workers come through this ministry.

Strong marriages definitely help a church multiply disciples throughout the congregation and community.

Factor #29

Reach for Your Potential in Christ

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? (Ps. 137:1 to 4).

he psalmist laments the lost potential and greatness of Israel. He mourns about how Israel used to be free, powerful and mighty in the Lord. In the past there was a song to sing, but now God's people have no song. All their potential had been wasted in sin and idolatry.

All over America there are churches mourning their lost potential. Some had revival in the past. Others were large but now their numbers are a fraction of former multitudes. Failing to reach their potential in Christ, some churches are contemplating shutting their doors.

The saddest people and churches in the world are those to whom God gave a plan that they failed to implement for God. God laid something before them, and they refused to grasp His plan and purpose. Potential requires commitment, sacrifice and work. How sad when a church turns from its potential, believing the price to be too high and the sacrifice too great.

God's potential will come to a person or a church as a gift. With potential, God gives plan, promise and power.

The plan and the promise always come before the power. For some, that presents a difficulty. They want the power first. We never see God giving power to people who decide to pull up short of their potential. So how does God want us to claim our full potential in Christ?

God wants a church that looks for hurt.

God desires churches to be on an expedition to find need. We saw a need for ministry to those in wheelchairs. We went on an expedition to find and buy wheelchair buses. Find a need and meet it. Out of the need to minister to those in wheelchairs came a plan from God, and His promise to provide the resources to meet that need. Then came the power to implement the plan and to build an entire ministry for the handicapped.

God wants a mobilizing church.

He wants a church that makes disciples and sends them around the world to make more disciples. We do not have a church that merely puts up a sign saying, "All visitors welcome." We go into the hedges and highways compelling people to come.

God wants a modeling church.

This church will be a pattern and example of good works. We want the world to see the light of Jesus shining through us.

What attacks the church's potential? Division. And who causes division? Those who major in minors; those who make essential the nonessentials; those who strain to see a speck of sin in others while missing the mountain of sin in their own lives; those more concerned with style than substance; and those who divide and split the church. Division spills out of the glue of disunity and sticks us to worldly concerns when our focus should be on godly potential.

In the book of Acts we see that the church realized its God-given potential because it moved ahead in "one accord," in unity.

Factor #29

Reach for your potential in Christ Jesus.

Ask yourself

• Am I a unifying factor in my church which can enable us to realize our potential in Christ?

• Will I stop nit-picking in the church and begin to model Christ in all that I do and say?

- to realize God's potential in your life and in your church.

- for unity in the body of Christ so that the world can see our good works and glorify God.

Be Better Than Average

And ye have heard it was said by them of oldtime, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment (Matt. 5:21 to 22).

▼ ▼ hat contribution are you or your church making that will last for eternity? As I grow older, I wonder at times if the world will be a better place because I have passed through it. What about your life? Do you stand above the crowd?

This text from Matthew points to a spiritual principle - go beyond what's required, and be better than average. Go beyond murdering - don't hate. Go beyond stealing - don't covet. Go beyond committing adultery - don't lust.

Christians have been caught in the trap of average and stuck in the rut of mediocrity by comparing ourselves to others instead of to Christ. Too often church leaders compare their church to others in their town or denomination. They mistakenly believe that if they are doing better than most then God must be pleased. However, our only standard for comparison should be Christ himself (2 Cor. 10:12 to 13).

Let me share three observations that show why being average is sinful and how to be better than average:

1. Those who are average fellowship with failure.

In order to maintain average, at times we rise above average but at others times we fall below average into failure. God does not want His people or His church to fail. I do not associate with failure. Jesus taught that loving only those who love us makes us average but that loving our enemies puts us above average.

Jesus hates average. He wants us to rise far above the world's standards. Jesus never said that He had come that we might just survive. Rather, He came that we might have abundant life (John 10:10). God desires that we go beyond surviving and prosper in all that we do (3 John 2).

2. It will take above average people to raise our world from where it is to where God wants it to be.

The church rises above the average so that the world can see a higher standard of morality, caring and service. The world will beat a path to the above average church that is prepared to meet the needs of an average world.

We set the standard for righteousness, purity and compassion. How sad it is when churches have as high a divorce rate as the world. The fact that everyone else is "doing it" does not excuse us. We must rise above the average in our homes, marriages and relationships. Let's raise the standard for the world to live up to instead of coming down to the world's ways.

The church should be better than the world in the way it treats people who work in it. The church must offer better "customer service" than the world. The church is called to live with higher financial, moral and ethical standards than the world's average. Instead of the church copying the world's new ideas, let the world start copying the church. Let creativity, innovation, new ideas and excellence begin in the church.

3. We make our world worse by being average because there is no one left to counteract all that is below average.

I believe that God's people can do better than the world's average. More is expected of us than of the world, not because we are better, but because our standard is higher.

Our example rises far above the world's average. Christ is the standard which lifts us up above average.

More is expected of we who are His church.

God expects more of us because He has empowered us with His Holy Spirit. He has filled us with the love of His Son. He has defeated sin and death on the cross and given us the good news to take to the world. In this age we have more wealth, more media to communicate the gospel, more facilities, more Christian education, more resources and more people to take the gospel to the world than ever in history. To whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48).

We have over two hundred ministries to reach out to the lost and hurting in our church and community. We are one of the largest congregations not only in our nation but in our world. Nonetheless, what has been accomplished is not the standard for another church. The churches in the world that are larger than ours will never be our standard of comparison. We have only one standard Jesus Christ. He has said to us, "More is expected." And He will continue to lift us up above what is average and to challenge us beyond our best until that day when He returns.

Factor #30

It's a sin for the church to be mediocre - so be better than average.

Ask yourself

• Am I content with my Christian life? Am I making a difference?

Do I rise above the average? Is the world a better place because of my Christian commitment? Do I stand among the faithful, brave and true? Do the lost see Christ in me?

- for courage to live above the average and beyond your best.

- for the Holy Spirit to empower you to change your world for Christ.

Blessed to Be a Blessing

E

ugene Reisner was trying to start an inner-city church in Houston with no building and eight people who met for services under an overpass bridge. After attending our first Pastors' School in Los Angeles where I took up an offering for the Dream Center, Eugene decided to give $2,500 of the $3,300 his church had accumulated in a building fund for a church building.

Later, Eugene found a building that cost $250,000. The owner asked for $25,000 in down payment. His heart broke as he started to walk out of the building. As he got to the door, with tears in his eyes the owner said, "I'm not a believer. I don't know why I'm doing this but I am going to give you this building."

A church in Houston gave them a dormitory, a church building and $90,000 for their ministry.

Multiplying ministries inspire people to give, and they, in turn, receive multiplied blessings.

By sowing into a ministry greater than his, Eugene Reisner experienced God's multiplication in his own ministry. God multiplied facilities and people in a way greater than he ever imagined.

Factor #31

Rebound to Do Something Great

That they may recover [rebound] themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will (2 Tim 2:26). ne of the most important aspects of the game of basketball is rebounding. If someone misses a shot, the most important thing to do is crash the boards and get the rebound. The same principle applies in the church. Everyone misses the mark at times. So the importance of rebounding in the church cannot be overstated. How well do you rebound the missed shots?

The Bible is filled with stories about heroes who were rebounders. Moses rebounded to serve God after he murdered an Egyptian. Rahab rebounded to an honored place in the genealogy of Jesus after she had been a prostitute. Ruth rebounded to marry Boaz after the death of her husband. David rebounded to become Israel's greatest king after sinning with Bathsheba. Peter rebounded to become a great apostle after denying Christ three times. And Paul rebounded to become history's greatest missionary after persecuting and killing Christians.

The list is much too long for us to rehearse all the names. But what about you or your church? You may have been fired as the pastor of a church or removed as a volunteer. You may have attempted a unique ministry only to see it crumble and disappear into oblivion.

You may have tried to lead someone you care about to Jesus but that person rejected both you and Christ. You may be down, but you are not out. The Holy Spirit within gives you the power to rebound.

Great men and women of God are ordinary people that will not quit. They just keep rebounding. They keep coming back. They keep on receiving God's forgiveness and sharing it with others.

The greatest symbol of rebounding is not a basketball backboard or even the story of a great rebounder. The cross is the greatest symbol of rebounding. Jesus appeared to be completely defeated. His disciples had abandoned Him. The religious and political leaders of that day rejected Him. The crowds that had followed Him all melted away. And Jesus died an ignominious death, on a cross, despised and rejected by humanity. Yet He rebounded. On the third day, God raised Him from the dead.

There is no failure too great and no sin too terrible for God to forgive. You can rebound - Christ did. The same power that allowed Him to rebound is now available to you through the Holy Spirit.

Factor #31

A secret of doing something great for God is rebounding.

Ask yourself

• Have I given up? Is my church defeated?

• Will I claim Jesus' resurrection power to rebound?

• Who needs the witness of my rebound in order to be saved?

- to see beyond every failure to the concrete hope of rebounding in Christ.

- for opportunities to encourage others to rebound in Christ.

Factor #32

Start a Saturday SoulWinning Society

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" (Rom. 10:14 to 15).

E

very Christian is called to be a soulwinner, to go into his or her world and share the gospel of Christ with the lost. One of the most effective ways of "going" is to send equipped Christians into your city. A church without effective visitation of the lost will never begin to multiply disciples.

How does effective visitation help to win the lost to Christ? We asked deacons and deaconesses to become actively involved in soulwinning. Let me list the guidelines for visiting the lost that we give to them.

1. Establish a definite time to visit the lost. Guard that time carefully. As the time approaches, distractions and attacks from the enemy will fill your life. But no matter what time is set, stick to it with concrete resolve. Saturday morning is an excellent time for visitation.

2. Be soul conscious. Remember that the purpose of the visit is to lift up Jesus Christ. I do not care if a home is filled with religious slogans and pictures. It does not matter if the people visited are listening to Christian television or display Christian stickers on their car. Find a time to ask, "Are you a Christian? Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?"

3. Be neat and clean. Do not let your personal appearance or dress distract another person from Christ. Look good and smell good. Your personal appearance is important when you witness.

4. Carry a New Testament with you. Do not carry your fifteen-pound study Bible. That can be intimidating. Have your New Testament in a pocket or purse where you can reach for it easily.

5. Go two by two. Jesus sent out His disciples two by two. One encourages the other. Don't go alone.

6. Let one person do the talking. It becomes confusing when both people try to talk at the same time. While one talks, let the other person pray and observe.

7. Go with different people. Train others to win souls. Allow other people to do the talking, and then review with one another what happened during the visit after you leave the home. Learn from one another.

S. Pray for the filling and anointing of the Holy Spirit before going. The Holy Spirit will give you the words you need to say. Pray with your partner before your visits.

9. Go believing. Have a positive attitude. Believe that the Holy Spirit will lead the people you visit to Christ.

10. Be kind. That's a biblical commandment (Eph. 4:32). Be careful about the use of religious language. Do not say constantly, "Praise the Lord" or "Hallelujah, brother." Always be courteous and never argue with the people you are visiting.

11. Be accepting and affirming. Look for ways to affirm and compliment the people you visit.

12. Be careful about going inside. Those you are visiting may not want you in their home. Their house may be a mess. Remember that they may not know you. You can visit on the front porch if necessary.

13. Be a good listener. Listening is one of the greatest gifts you can give to another person. Listening affirms others and shows them honor and respect. Listening gives you insights into their needs and thus a way to apply the gospel to those needs.

14. When you get into a soulwinning dialogue, stay on the subject. Focus on salvation not on controversial doctrines. Do not be critical of other religions or church groups. Focus on Jesus Christ. If you do not know the answer to something, admit it and promise to find the answer.

15. Help them get lost. Now that may sound paradoxical. However, until a person knows they are lost, they will not know they need to be found, to be saved.

16. Keep the message simple. We like to use the Four Spiritual Laws by Bill Bright. Others prefer to use the Roman Road. Still others like to introduce Jesus through the gospel of John. Know how to present Jesus, and keep it simple. A simple progression of scriptures for salvation is found in Romans (3:23; 6:23; 5:8; 10:13).

17. Always ask the unsaved to receive Jesus. Ask them if they would go to heaven if they died. Explain to them the wages of sin and point them to the cross of Jesus Christ. When they receive Christ, ask them to pray with you, repenting of sin and receiving Jesus.

18. Invite them to church. Sit with them in church. Walk forward with them during the invitation. Urge them to make a public testimony of their faith in Christ and to be baptized.

19. Stay in contact. Involve them in ministry. Continue to maintain a relationship and encourage them. Invite them to be trained as soulwinners. They too need to go and lead others to Jesus.

Factor #32

Churches and people never grow until they go.

Ask yourself-

Am I willing to share the gospel?

• Will I maintain a relationship with those who accept Christ?

• What is my church doing to equip people to go?

Pray...

- for a desire to go and visit the lost.

- for someone to go with you.

- for the lost that will be saved as a result of your visits.

The Master's Commission

arry Kerychuk saw that many young people had no direction in their lives until the age of twenty-five. So I released him to create the Master's Commission, where young people who desire to serve God enter into a training program. For one year these young people dedicate their lives to Bible study and hands-on ministry.

They pray, memorize scripture, learn doctrine and study about ministry. They also put into practice what they are learning by visiting nursing homes to conduct services, ministering to the needy, witnessing to the lost and helping in our many ministries. They become an army of disciples. It's like having 120 ministers on staff.

The Master's Commission has multiplied disciples, and hundreds of young people have been equipped for ministry.

Graduates of the Master's Commission have become youth pastors, evangelists, and pastors all over America and throughout the world. Four pastors on staff in Phoenix came from our Master's Commission.

Now, all the Master's Commissions around the country network with one another to continue to share ideas and improve the ministry of equipping.

Factor #33

Use a New Kind of Deacon to Involve People in Ministry

But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ (Eph. 4:7).

f people are not involved in ministry, some debilitating symptoms arise in a church:

• Uninvolved people use their time criticizing others instead of edifying others.

• Uninvolved people miss God moving and doing miracles in their midst.

• Uninvolved people lose the joy of leading the lost to Christ.

- Uninvolved people become frustrated, angry and eventually inactive.

How do we involve people in ministry? In our congregation, we train and equip a new kind of deacon to care for the church.

During our parade of ministry at a Pastors' School, 6,000 people walked across our platform with signs describing scores of our ministries. Viewing this parade of ministries, an insight came to Dr. Hurston. He had started Dr. Cho's cell ministry in Seoul, Korea. After the service, Dr. Hurston commented to me, "The reason Dr. Cho has such a great church is not only because of the wonderful cell ministries but because of 50,000 deaconnesses and deacons. Those 6,000 people I saw walking across your platform are really your deacons and deaconnesses."

So I went to my deacon board and asked them to become an administrative board and to let me establish visitation deacons and deaconnesses. Each of them has fifteen families to visit twice a year.

Here are the important factors they use in visitation to involve others in ministry.

1. Make contact with people. Every deacon leader regularly contacts fifteen family units - individuals or couples, including any children. We love them, pray for their needs, nurture them and work hard to involve them in a ministry. Involved people are happy people in the church.

2. Talent and gift evaluations. We find out where the interests and gifts of other people lie. Talents must be used, or fulfillment and challenge is lost in a church.

3. Overcome any excuses others may have for not being involved. As deacons work with the group they are nurturing, they form accountability relationships. They learn about the real lives of those under their care. And they get to know each person under their care so that they will be able to counteract any excuse another person may have for not being involved in a ministry that fits him.

4. Inform people of the 'four W's." Deacons know the who, what, when and where of every meeting, event, service and ministry of the church. Now that is a big order in a church with over two hundred ministries. If a deacon cannot answer a specific question or need that arises within their group, they know where to go and whom to ask to get the information.

5. Never make promises you cannot keep. There are many helping ministries in our church. We can point people to the right ministry, but we cannot specifically promise what that ministry will be able to do for each individual. Each person needs to follow the biblical process of asking, seeking and knocking in order to find answers and ministry fulfillment.

6. Display a helpful - not helpless - attitude. A deacon's vocabulary should not include the phrase, "Well, I don't know." A leader may not have the information at his fingertips, but he is always ready and willing to find out the needed information as soon as possible.

7. When in doubt, refer. At various times all of us encounter needs and questions that go beyond our ability to minister to or answer. A person may have a physical or spiritual need that a deacon simply cannot meet. A person may have an emotional need that requires counseling or guidance. A person may have a concern or doctrinal question that only a pastor can answer. When a leader is beyond his or her own abilities, gifts and skills, that leader acts wisely and refers the needy person to someone who can minister to the need.

8. Always be soul-conscious. A deacon or church leader must always be sensitive to what is happening with people spiritually. A person's eternal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is the primary concern. A leader is always ready to give an account of the hope within him (1 Peter 3:15); he or she is always ready to share the gospel or pray with another person.

Factor #33

Leaders involve people in ministry.

• Am I a candidate to be a deacon or leader in the church?

• Who is nurturing me? To whom am I accountable in our church?

• As a leader, am I nurturing and involving others in ministry?

Pray...

- to become the leader God desires you to be.

- for those that you nurture and care for in the church.

Factor #34

Personalize Ministry

Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it (Col. 4:17).

ersonalization is vital for effective ministry.

Personalization is simply leaders forming personal relationships with people in a congregation so that they can be effectively ministered to and nurtured. We cannot help or disciple another Christian unless we have a personal relationship with that individual. Personalization also means individualization.

Each person is special and unique. No two relationships are identically alike. The way a leader nurtures one person may not work with another. We must be sensitive to the needs and concerns of each person.

After winning people to Christ, win people to yourself.

Be careful not to misunderstand what I am saying. I am not saying that you seek to win people to yourself for the purpose of manipulation, control or dependency. I am saying that, like Paul, "To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" (1 Cor. 9:22). Paul encouraged others to follow the example set by himself and Christian leaders (2 Thess. 3:9). You can encourage others to follow your example as you follow Christ.

As leaders develop personal, caring relationships with people in the church, they will find themselves relating to three categories of individuals.

1. Inactive People

These people are the hardest to involve in ministry and to develop a relationship with. Often their motivation for coming to church is to be entertained. They are spectators in a non- spectator arena. They come to watch worship instead of worshiping. They want the gifts and not the Giver. They follow after signs and wonders instead of having signs and wonders follow after them. They want the message to do something for them instead of going out and living the message.

These are the hardest people to nurture because they are constantly taking and never giving. When a leader finds himself or herself spending too much time trying to develop in-depth relationships with these people, that leader will become frustrated and burn out.

Inactive people have become lukewarm in their relationship with Christ. They have forgotten their first love. Help them to fall in love again with fresh fire and passion for Jesus Christ.

2. Active People

These individuals are church members who receive nurturing and guidance. They desire personal contact with leadership. Be wise in your guidance of active people.

Involve them in ministry that fits their talents and gifts. Urge them to do a few ministries well and with excellence instead of trying to be everywhere, go to everything and do everything.

Initially guide active people to one ministry such as a class or home group that helps them to grow spiritually. Help them find a ministry that encourages spiritual growth through an outreach such as visiting a prison, hospital or home. They may be able to minister through a teaching or music ministry. Active Christians need at least one ministry that feeds them and one ministry that equips and uses them to minister to others. I am not saying that you should limit a person to one giving and one receiving ministry. Individuals can become involved in more ministries as time permits and training equips.

3. Unsaved people

Yes, in every group that a leader nurtures in a church there may be unsaved people. Do not assume that just because people attend church and use religious language they are saved. Always be ready to lead a person to Jesus Christ.

The Importance of Watchmen and Teams

Church leaders are to be watchmen for Christ. They notice people. Jesus had a wonderful ministry of noticing people. He did not walk around in a divine daze.

He noticed the paralyzed man as he lay beside the pool. He noticed the blind man on the side of the road. He noticed a crowd growing hungry as they listened to Him teach.

When leaders are caring for and nurturing church members, they notice when a person misses worship or experiences sickness, success and various life passages such as birthdays, anniversaries or graduations. Leadership acts upon what they notice with affirmation, prayer, cards, phone calls, visits and personal contact.

Finally, leaders who personalize their nurturing of church members understand that they themselves are part of a team. Leaders are not lone rangers who work alone. They are accountable to one another through prayer and discipleship. Leaders nurture and support one another. Jesus sent out leaders two by two. He formed a team of twelve men to work with Him. He understood that if we are left to ourselves, at times we will become discouraged and fail to function properly. Pastors, leaders, elders, deacons and all church leaders need to be a part of leadership teams that nurture, pray for, and equip one another and hold each other accountable in Christ.

Factor #34

Leaders personalize ministry by caring for people.

Ask yourself

• Am I part of a team that trains, nurtures and holds me accountable?

• Who are the people I am nurturing, and in which category are they - inactive, active or unsaved?

• How can I personalize my relationship with each person I am nurturing and discipling in the church?

Pray...

- for those you are leading, nurturing and disciplining.

- to be a Christ-like example that others can follow.

- for those on the leadership team with you.

Love and a Drive-By Shooting

young black boy was shot and killed by a gang on the steps of the Dream Center. Matthew took up an offering that night during the youth meeting. After the youth meeting, he took the $29 offering and walked across the street to the home of the slain child's mother.

Gang members filled the place with tension as Matthew softly spoke to the grieving mother. "We took up an offering for you. We want to give it to you to let you know that we love you."

As he left, the gang member guarding the door asked, "Could you pray with me?"

As Matthew prayed, the gang leader repeated Matthew's prayer in Spanish. Gang members joined hands as he prayed for everyone in the room to accept Jesus Christ.

From that night Matthew and other church members have been safe in that neighborhood. Their cars and property are protected. The gang members have begun coming to church. and bringing their gang brothers with them. Soon many were saved and discipled.

The entire neighborhood was transformed by the love of Christ.

That first act of love has multiplied into the salvation of people throughout the surrounding neighborhood.

Factor #35

The Overflow of Leadership

And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.

For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? Is not he that sitteth at meat? But I [Jesus] am among you as he that serveth (Luke 22:24 to 27). leaders have strength that others do not have. A leader is one who has an excess of what others lack. So others are able to draw from leaders without draining them.

Others grow stronger when they follow a leader. Jesus had strength that no other human being ever had. He used His strength to serve others and make them strong.

Leaders also have truth that others do not have. They possess a knowledge of the truth that others desire to hear, understand and obey. Jesus not only had the truth, He was truth (John 14:6). His life so applied and embodied truth that those who follow Him also live and walk in truth.

Leaders have a holiness that others do not have. Others gain holiness from the overflow of holiness in leaders' lives. When other people are in the presence of a holy leader, they feel the presence of God. Jesus had perfect holiness. When in His presence, His followers are also in the Father's presence (John 10:30).

When we as leaders become servants like Christ, we put on Christ (Rom. 13:14). As we follow Him, we put on His strength, truth and holiness. As we serve others in Jesus' name (Matt. 25:31 to 46), we overflow with the life of Christ through His Spirit into the lives of others.

Leaders must ask, "Do we overflow with God's Spirit into the

lives of others?"

A leader overflowing with the Spirit is anointed by God to lead. The anointing of the Holy Spirit refers to the imparting of God's power upon a person to minister and lead others. The anointing does not accompany a position but rather a calling. If a person occupies a position in the church without the anointing of God's Spirit, there will be no power to lead. Only when a person walks in God's calling, serving as Christ serves, does the anointing rest upon him or her as a leader.

Throughout the ages, great spiritual leaders have had times when they experienced the power of God coming upon them to lead. In the Bible, priests, prophets and kings were anointed to lead and serve God's people. Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the "Anointed One." As our Priest, Prophet and King, Jesus anointed Christians to lead by His power and authority. Without His anointing, there is no power to lead. Without His calling, there is no anointing. Without becoming a servant like the suffering Servant, we have no calling. Without taking up the cross and following Him, we will never become servants.

True leadership begins by serving as Christ served and results in a powerful anointing to minister as Christ ministered (John 14:12).

Leaders experience the power of His anointing to lead others when they serve others as Christ served. erve.

- Am I a servant like Jesus Christ?

0 Am I serving and walking in my calling?

• Is my motive to lead rooted not in a desire for position but rather in a desire to serve?

- to become a servant.

Pray...

- and humble yourself before God and others.

- for His anointing to become a servant leader.

Factor #36

Let Preachers Preach

For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe (1 Cor. 1:21).

hurches that multiply disciples have preachers who do not listen to man but to God. Preachers are called to live by the high standards of righteousness and holiness. God used preachers to scatter the gospel abroad everywhere (Acts 8:4).

The foolishness of preaching has been ordained by God to spread the gospel. The demise of denominations and churches is directly related to the demise of preaching. Preaching is teaching with tears in your eyes. Preaching is truth on fire. Preaching is the Word of God in your hand.

Preaching is the fire of God in your heart. Preaching is the gift of God wrapped in a voice filled with excitement and zeal. Preaching is the moral conscience of a city and a nation. There's a holy power behind preaching that the Holy Spirit uses to touch the hearts of people and bring conviction, repentance and revival.

If a church is to multiply disciples, the preacher must be constrained by the love of Christ to preach the gospel above all else (2 Cor. 5:14). To be constrained means there is a narrowing effect on ministry if you are a preacher. Paul emphasized that one thing became a priority in his life, one thing possessed him. What was it? He was consumed with a passion to preach the gospel so that the Jews and gentiles might be saved.

Paul was pressed on every side to do many things but the passion of proclaiming the gospel consumed him. There is a lesson in Paul's example for preachers whose churches are multiplying. The preacher cannot do everything in the church. He cannot do everything he is asked to do or expected to do in the church or the community.

When I began pastoring in Davenport, I did the preaching, the teaching, the pastoring, the counseling, the hospital visitation and the office typing. I had to do it all. I had to lead the choir and work with the youth. But as the work grew, I found that my prayer time and study of the Word was suffering.

I had to be constrained. Others had to be trained and equipped to teach, work with the youth, lead the choir and visit. Yes, all those ministries were important, but there was a priority for me on preaching.

I learned that people can love more than one leader in a congregation. As the responsibility of growing a church gets bigger, the people have to grow. More pastors may be needed, and lay leaders will need to be released. People will love and encourage them just as they do the preacher. God's man needs time to go to the mountain and pray; time to study and meditate on God's Word; time to soak in the presence of God; time for family and rest. The pastor also must grow with the church.

The church cannot become big without a big pastor. He must always grow.

It's time for preachers to decide what constrains them and to narrow down their ministries to proclaim the gospel through "the foolishness of preaching" (see 1 Cor. 1:21).

Factor #36

Churches that grow release the preacher to preach the gospel without human restraint.

Ask yourself:

- What priority has our congregation placed upon the preaching of the Word?

• Does the preacher in our congregation have the support he or she needs to spend time with God and to do all that is required to preach the gospel?

Pray...

- that the preacher in your congregation is so constrained by the love of Christ that preaching the gospel become a top priority for his or her time.

- that your church will allow the preacher the liberty to preach the gospel without human restraint.

From a Busload to

Thousands in Sidewalk Sunday Schools

a young man, Bill Wilson caught a vision for bus ministry after he heard me speak in 1978. From one leftover bus from a recent Vacation Bible School, he launched a bus ministry in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Abandoned by his mother at a curb, Bill longed to reach the forgotten children of the inner cities of America.

He became the director of my bus ministry in Davenport, Iowa. One day he came to me and said, "I know you have always wanted to go to New York City. Now I am going to go there and represent you." His ministry at Metro Church has multiplied to reach more than 15,000 kids weekly through his Sidewalk Sunday School bus ministry.

Bill has networked with us at the Dream Center in Los Angeles, where his ministry reaches thousands of children weekly.

His ministry has multiplied around the world in far-flung places such as the Philippines and South Africa. From one broken-down bus in St. Petersburg, God has used the ministry of Bill Wilson to multiply disciples throughout the world - especially in children's ministry.

Factor #37

Live From the Inside Out

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his heart shall flow rives of living water. [But this spake (Jesus) of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.] (John 7:38 to 39).

,here is a whole new world for churches and Christians who will live from the inside out. There is no problem too big, no attack too destructive and no obstacle too massive when the flow in our lives comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit.

When the Holy Spirit directs all that the church and God's people do from the inside out, then what happens outside the house doesn't matter. The house is built on solid ground. When we flow from the inside out, we are strong and secure in God's leading.

The bigger my problem and the greater my battle, then the earlier I rise to pray in the morning. The Spirit within me takes control, and He that is in me is greater than anything outside of me (1 John 4:4).

You may protest saying that I am approaching life's difficulties too simplistically. The truth is, life is simple! The outward flow of the Spirit in prayer creates the strength and power to overcome the world (see Rom. 8).

Living within you is the omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God. Dwelling within you is the Holy Spirit, who by His very nature is God. So you can live from the inside out. As He flows from the inside out, healing flows into the soul, mind, heart and body.

Churches that multiply disciples live from the inside out. When they let the outside in, the infections of strife, conflict and dissension begin to fester.

Let's suppose you forget who you are in Christ and begin living from the outside in. When that happens you or your church will be reactive instead of proactive. You will be defensive instead of offensive for Jesus Christ. You will become a victim instead of a victor.

Living from the inside out depends on prayer and the Word of God. Without the Word and prayer, the rivers flowing from within will dry up. So will our strength, power and growth.

Whenever we allow something on the outside to become our source, the true, inner source of the Spirit will dissipate. I have heard people comment, "I tried to worship in that church but there was no life there." What they are saying is that the inner flow from the Holy Spirit is stopped up. Old wells with polluted water cannot refresh people and empower the church.

What stops the river, the wellspring of the Holy Spirit, from flowing through us and our churches? Sometimes our wells get clogged. Here are four things that can stop them up.

1. Unmet needs.

When church members have unmet needs, the inner flow begins to trickle and finally to stop. Churches that fail to meet the authentic needs of people for God's Word, for His presence in praise and worship or for His power in work and service find themselves turning to the world for methods and gimmicks instead of to Christ who meets every need.

2. Unfulfilled expectations.

When churches proclaim God's dreams and vision for their congregation and then depart from His ways, the people react in worldly ways, missing God's Spirit who fulfills every God given expectation.

3. Unhealed hurts.

Too often church people hurt each other and then fail to forgive and be reconciled to one another. Forgiveness flows from the Spirit within and becomes the healing balm for church hurts. Without the Spirit's flow of forgiving mercy and grace, unhealed hurts will divide and split churches.

4. Unconfessed sins.

James 5 instructs us to confess our sins to one another. Repentance and confession keeps the church healed and healthy. Without confession and repentance prompted by the convicting Spirit within, a church will depart from holiness and righteousness while compromising truth and tolerating sin.

When a church lets people, money, power or methods become its source instead of the indwelling Spirit, life ebbs from the congregation and multiplying growth stops.

Factor #37

Churches living from the inside out overflow with the Spirit's life into the lives of others.

• Am I reacting to the world or living from the inside out?

• Is my church flowing with life from the wellspring of God's

- for the power of the indwelling Spirit to flow into your life.

- for life to flow out of your church into the lives of God's people and those in the world.

Factor #38

Begin by Loving Souls

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

B

before we teach people how to win souls, we need to teach them how to love souls. Before we can learn how to win the lost, we must love them as God loves them.

There is no true love for the lost except the love that comes from the Holy Spirit. We do not learn to love the lost. No course or motivating sermon can fill us with true tears for the lost. Only the living Spirit of God can fill us with both love and tears for the lost.

What brings a church to the crossroads of both loving and weeping for the lost? Only when love and tears mix are God's people ready to be equipped for winning the lost to Christ. Here are some practical ways to allow God's Spirit to give your church tears and love for the lost:

1. Preach about God's love for the lost.

If we fail to emphasize the Great Commission and God's love for the lost from our pulpits, we miss the opportunity to place the highest priority in the church on soulwinning.

2. Recall how much God loved us when we were lost.

Past memories often become the power that gives rise to poignant memories which evoke genuine tears of thanksgiving.

3. Have big events that invite the lost to the church.

Such events will allow church members the opportunity to both invite and minister to the unsaved.

4. Pray for the lost.

Prayer meetings, small groups and special times of prayer and fasting for the lost open God's people up to the Holy Spirit, giving them the opportunity to be filled with love and tears for the lost.

There are precious times for weeping in the life of a church that desires to multiply disciples. One of those times is at the altar of repentance when the unsaved come to accept Christ and the saved come to confess their lack of love for the lost.

Another time of weeping happens when the Holy Spirit reveals the hopelessness, despair, loneliness, pain and hurt of the lost. Then we can weep with Christ for those who are outside of His kingdom and we can know His heart of love for the unsaved.

Only a love for the lost will prepare us to be equipped in soulwinning. And only tears for the lost will wash away our fears, busyness and apathy. Perhaps our churches today need to spend more time in praying, weeping and loving the lost before they rush into soulwinning seminars and classes.

Factor #38

Ask yourself Soulwinning begins by loving souls.

• Do I love the lost?

• Is my church weeping for and loving the unsaved?

- that the Holy Spirit will grow a deep love within you for the lost.

that your church will grow in its love and weeping for the lost.

Church on the Street U

pon arriving at Phoenix First Assembly, Walt Latray came to me saying, "Do you care if I take the buses that you use on Sunday morning to pick up people and bring them to church on Sunday night?" he asked me.

I replied, "Go ahead."

The first night he brought a busload, one drunk man sauntered to the pulpit and started preaching before the service. Later Walt said to me, "Well, I suppose you don't want us back next week."

"Come back next week, and bring ten times as many people from the streets," I replied. So in the next weeks he brought more and more. He filled up every one of the small missions in town with people who were being saved from the streets.

I said to Walt, "Let's get you your own place for ministry." So we bought him the first house for the Church on the Street ministry. He now has fourteen houses, two church buildings and is about to buy a warehouse that will house more people.

This man reaches 3,500 people weekly in his downtown ministry.

He reaches people out of the prisons and off the streets, putting people in the homes, restoring them and finding them jobs.

There are now Church on the Street ministries all over America.

Factor #39

Givers Multiply - Takers Divide

I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). ,he early church in Acts multiplied disciples with astounding success. By the way, it was filled with givers. That is no coincidence. Givers multiply while hoarders divide and decrease numbers.

A church filled with givers will multiply disciples. Consider the evidence of the early church.

• They had all things in common.

And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need (Acts 2:44 to 45).

• There was no lack as a result of their giving.

Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need (Acts 4:34 to 35).

As the church gave, it multiplied. But when the law of selfpreservation invaded the church, problems immediately arose. Ananias and Sapphira had promised God that if they sold their property they would give it all to God. They had consecrated their gift to the Lord. Be careful about what you Vow.

Many people run around making this commitment and that. They vow to God to consecrate a certain gift or talent or time to the Lord. Then they try to touch that which is sacred to God. The law of selfpreservation sets in and they try to possess that which belongs to God.

Ananias and Sapphira made a promise to God to give (see Acts 5). But they held back on their promise, giving only part of their gift while pretending to give it all. Such deceit is lying to the Holy Spirit. As a result of their allowing the law of selfpreservation to take priority over God in their lives, they died. Jesus said, "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt. 16:25 to 26).

Churches, like people, have only two lifestyles to embrace - giving or taking. Churches filled with givers are giving churches. Such churches give to their people and to their cities with such joy that both giver and recipients are blessed. The unsaved take notice of those who give without thought of selfpreservation.

However, some churches put up walls and protect what little they have accumulated. Like bank vaults, they take and hoard but rarely give and bless.

As long as people and churches give they will be filled, and the miracle of multiplication will continue. As soon as there are no more gifts to give or vessels to fill, the multiplication ceases.

When the early Christians gave all that they had to God, no one lacked anything in their midst. But when one couple decided to hoard what they had, life ceased. Instead of multiplication, great fear came upon all the church (Acts 5:11).

Each year our congregation gives away thousands of turkeys at Thanksgiving. I ask each member to bring a frozen turkey. This year we gave four thousand turkeys away. What a blessing we receive from giving to others! Giving is a way of life in our congregation.

We give to the poor in our city and to those in Los Angeles and around the world. We give to thousands of pastors around the nation through our Pastors' Conference each year. We give through the Master's Commission to train and equip leaders for the church.

We give through more than two hundred ministry outreaches. We have discovered that as we empty ourselves in giving, God pours into our lives even more abundantly. We are now reaping in due season from our giving.

The law of selfpreservation leads to death in people and in churches. Ananias and Sapphira died instantly when they withheld the promised gift. A miracle is really a healing that is speeded up - the time span has been compressed, and healing happens quickly. With Ananias and Sapphira, the death process was speeded up. When they ceased to become givers, they experienced suddenly what all takers and hoarders eventually experience - death. The church that gives, multiplies.

Only givers multiply.

Am I a taker or a giver?

• Is my church experiencing abundance or lack?

• How can I grow joyfully and cheerfully in my giving?

Pray...

- to become a giver, not a taker.

- for your church to become a giving church.

Factor #40

Not Safe - But It's Good

And the news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch. Then when he had come and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; for he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord. And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul; and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came about that for an entire year they met with the church, and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:22 to 26, N.A.S).

I

n C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, one of the little girls, Lucy, is describing to a friend what the lion, Asland, is like. After she described this mighty lion who represents Christ in the allegory, her friend said, "Oh, I trust that I never want to see him."

Lucy replied, "You do not understand. If you ever saw him, you would want to run to him. And you would want to put your arms around his neck and bury your face in his mane and never want to leave him."

Lucy's friend mused, "Oh, you mean he's safe?"

And Lucy, with a horror in her eyes, responded, "No, he's not safe - but he's good!"

Observe closely this community of Christians at Antioch and you will recognize Lucy's philosophy in their lives. They were a rich, strong, Spirit-filled, blood-washed congregation of believers. God had given them a core of leaders, or staff members if you please, of such richness and depth that their names are recorded in the holy Scripture for our benefit two thousand years later. Imagine that!

One morning as this staff prayed together, the Holy Spirit spoke to them, "Take Barnabas and Saul and carve them away from your ministry. Carve them away from this church of Antioch for I have a special missionary purpose for them to accomplish."

Imagine how threatening this is! The Holy Spirit changed and challenged the status quo. His request was going to weaken the staff and the church. Saul and Barnabas were the best two staff members.

Saul was an intelligent genius. Barnabas, whose very name means "son of encouragement, was the most loving and tender of them all."

God has the right and the power and the authority to break into our personal lives, families, homes, churches or ministries at any moment, declaring that He has a fresh direction for His church. God's ideas are always good but rarely safe. Now that's threatening.

The Holy Spirit has declared Himself as the authority of change in our lives and our churches. No matter how close you are to God, God wants you closer. No matter how rich your prayer life is, God wants it richer. No matter how far into sin, how hard, rebellious and disobedient you are, God wants you. saved. And if you are saved, He wants you sanctified. And if you are sanctified, He wants you filled with the Holy Spirit. And if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, He wants you to be exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit. And if the fruits of the Spirit are manifested in your life, He wants to use you in ministry. There is one song that every Christian ought to sing:

Lord, lift me up and let me stand By faith on heaven's tableland. A higher plane than I have found — Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

God's higher ground is not safe but it's good.

Churches that multiply are not "playing it safe." None of the factors that you have read in this book are guaranteed to be safe. Multiplication involves risk. On many Thursday evenings in Los Angeles, I board one of our buses to make the weekly ride to Skid Row. On each bus, a team of four or five people from our church hits the streets to invite bums, prostitutes, drug addicts, the homeless, derelicts and assorted types of criminals to church. One street that I walk regularly on these visitations has the highest murder rate of any single street in the city. What we are doing is not safe, but it's good.

Each week I have the privilege of seeing scores of these "unsafe" people from the streets come to the altar at Laic and be saved, delivered, healed and set free.

The entire ministry venture in Los Angeles is not safe, but it's good. As this book draws to its conclusion, we still must pay over $1 million dollars for the property in L.A. and we have less than a month to raise those funds. For over a year we have invested people, time and money into over one hundred ministries in Los Angeles before we completely owned the property. We had permission to occupy and begin renovations and ministry before completing the final payment.

In some ways that is how we all do ministry. We may think we own our buildings, programs and ministries but we do not. Nothing ever done in genuine ministry is completely safe. All that we have and do belongs to God. Yes, we have taken enormous risks to build a ministry in Los Angeles. The land and facilities do not belong to us. But when we make that final payment, they still will not be ours - everything belongs to the Lord. We are called to be stewards not owners. We have permission to occupy but not to possess. Such an approach to ministry is not safe, but it's good.

Our congregation in Phoenix allows me to travel across this country weekly, preaching and sharing about the Dream Center with churches everywhere. That was risky for our church. But we have experienced the greatest spiritual revival, greatest harvest of souls and greatest financial blessings ever in our church during this time of greatest risk. Not one person came to me and criticized the "unsafe" approach we were taking.

So how do I control the risks? My reply is, "I don't. If He can build His church, then He can keep it." I always want to be a part of a church that can sense the presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst. There is no set formula for multiplication. But there is an atmosphere for it. That atmosphere is charged with the presence of the Holy Spirit and filled with a people yearning to be used by Him. The climate of a multiplying church continually changes, con fronting people with unsafe and risky weather.

No record exists of anyone ever walking on water without a storm, some wind and a lot of risk. The territory between the boat and Jesus is miracle territory. And the only way to traverse miracle territory is by trusting the Savior not the ship.

We do not get miracles because we want them. We get miracles because we need them.

It's at that moment when you must walk on water through a storm, and you know it's impossible, that you cry out, "Lord, help me!" You desperately need a miracle.

And God says, "Good. I've been waiting for you to say that. I'm going to bring situations now in which you will be so desperate for a miracle that you will trust me."

What God is saying to you and me is, "If you'll step out of the boat, walk out on the water and take a leap of faith, I'll release supernatural power in just the right measure at the right moment." It's not safe, but it's good.

Factor #40

Ask yourself

• Am I more concerned with being safe than with experiencing the full goodness of God?

• Is my church taking risks with God to reach the world for Jesus Christ?

Pray...

- that God will give you the courage to take risks for His sake.

- that your church will follow Christ no matter how "unsafe" the journey might be.

Life Conquers Death

anny Shoemaker, a minister at the Dream Center, has terminal cancer from an inoperative brain tumor. He had started eight churches in Africa and wanted to go back. When he couldn't return, Danny became involved in the Dream Center. Danny and the Dream Center flowed together with a common destiny. The experts had pronounced a death sentence on both the inner city of Los Angeles and upon Danny. However, God defies the experts. He brings life out of death.

Today Danny Shoemaker ministers life to the lost and dying on the streets of Los Angeles. He rides the buses to Skid Row and traverses the mammoth Dream Center campus spreading hugs, encouragement and love to old-timers and newcomers alike.

He's actually giving his life in the inner city of Los Angeles.

No one but the Lord knows how many more weeks Danny will live on this earth. But Danny knows that he will live eternally. He is multiplying his faith in Christ into scores of other people.

Out of death, Danny brings eternal life, hope and love to a city once thought dead. Danny will finish strong!

Postscript

Table summary: The content consists of a single entry stating Finish Strong!

M

ost people who read this book have heard of Billy Graham, but what about Chuck Templeton? What about Bron Clifford? Have you ever heard of them? Did you know that they were also packing out auditoriums in 1945 when Billy Graham first preached to large crowds? I want to share with you some thoughts prompted by the book Finishing Strong by Steve Farrar.

All three of these young men rose to prominence in their middle twenties. One seminary president, after hearing Chuck Templeton - a brilliant, dynamic preacher - called him the most gifted, talented young preacher in America. Templeton and Graham became very close friends. They started preaching together with the Youth for Christ organization. Most observers thought that Templeton would be the one who would go to the top. One magazine wrote a feature article calling Templeton the "Babe Ruth of evangelism."

Bron Clifford was another gifted, young fireball evangelist. Many believed that Clifford was the most gifted, powerful preacher to come up in the church for many centuries. People lined up for hours to hear him preach.

When he went to Baylor University to give a discourse, they actually cut the ropes of the bells of the tower. They wanted nothing to interfere with his preaching. For two and a half hours the students of Baylor sat on the edges of their seats as he gave a dissertation on "Christ and the Philosopher's Stone." At age twenty-five, Clifford touched more lives, influenced more leaders and set more attendance records than any other clergyman in American history. National leaders vied for his attention. He was tall, handsome, dashing, intelligent, sophisticated and intelligent. Hollywood actually tried to cast him in the lead role for the famous movie, The Robe. He seemed to have everything.

Graham, Templeton and Clifford launched out of the starting block like Olympic gold medalists in 1945. Why haven't you heard of Chuck Templeton or Bron Clifford? The answer may surprise you.

By 1950 Templeton had left the ministry. He pursued a radio career. He became an announcer and a newscaster, telling the world that he no longer believed Jesus Christ was the Son of God. He became an atheist. By 1950, this future Babe Ruth of preaching was not even in the ball game.

By 1954 Clifford had lost his family, ministry and health. Eventually he lost his life because of addiction to alcohol. Financial irresponsibility left his wife and their two Downs syndrome children penniless. This once famous preacher died of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of thirty-five in a rundown hotel on the edge of Amarillo, Texas. He died unwept, unhonored and unsung.

Some pastors from Amarillo, Texas, got together and collected enough money to buy a cheap casket. They shipped his body back to the East Coast, where he was buried in a pauper's cemetery.

In 1945 all three of these young men with extraordinary gifts were preaching for the purpose of multiplying the church by thousands of people. But within ten years only one of them was still on track for Christ.

In the Christian life it's not how you start; it's how you finish. A recent survey shocked me, it reported that only one out of ten who start in ministry at the age of twenty-one serve the Lord to age sixty-five. They fall away from ministry due to immorality, discouragement, liberal theology and a love for wealth and the things of this world.

You may be saying "Pastor Barnett, this is really an interesting story - the statistics are intriguing - but I cannot relate to it because I'm not in the ministry." May I rock your boat by suggesting that if you are a Christian and are serious about Jesus Christ, then you are in the ministry. All Christians are in ministry (see Eph. 4:11; Col. 3:23). Whatever your profession, you work for Jesus. Jesus said that you are the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matt. 5:13 to 14). You are the only thing flavoring and saving this world. We are coworkers with Christ.

Here are my questions to you:

• Will you finish strong for Christ?

• Will you be a multiplier for Him throughout your life?

• What will keep you from being one who leaves the race?

You see, those who finish strong are the exceptions. Why? Because when it comes to finishing strong, there are so many odds against you. The devil is against you and so are the flesh and the cares of this world. You could become your own worst enemy as you place your personal wants and desires above seeking the kingdom of God. Although not impossible, finishing strong is improbable. You will be required to make some tough choices.

The church needs Christians committed to the call of Christ and the Great Commission. Such Christians will choose...

• marriage and family over divorce and brokenness;

· teaching children God's ways not the world's ways;

people over policies and programs;

• enlarging instead of reducing their circles of love:

• risking much for God rather than playing it safe.

To finish strong, we must choose...

• to multiply not just add disciples,

• to stand for truth when critics are the loudest;

• to release not control people in ministry;

• and to pray and fast and pray again.

Multiplication is the last great end-time revival. Reaping will come quicker than we can sow. Harvest time will require more work and workers than we can imagine. And the risks will be greater than anyone has ever undertaken. God continues to ask the soulwinning, soul-searching question, "Whom shall I send?"

Those who finish strong are needed more than ever as the church multiplies disciples in the last days. Multitudes await the gospel. Will you be the multiplier proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ who goes to the waiting masses?

I urge you to respond to God's call, "Here am I; send me." Go and finish strong for Christ!

Phoenix First Assembly - Ministries List

A Child's Heart Puppet Ministry

Adoption for Christmas

Adult Choir

Adult Christian Education

Aerobics

AIDS Ministry

Alvin R. Booker Library Americans for Decency

Assembly Homeschoolers

Athletes International Ministries

Audio

Audit Committee

Banquets

Baptismal Service (W.M's)

Bereavement Ministry (Heaven's Connection)

Board of Directors

Bookstore

Boys & Girls Missionary Crusade

Bread Basket Ministry

Brunch/Speakers Fellowship

Building Maintenance

Bulletin Board

Bus Mechanics

Bus Ministry Castle of the King

Celebration Productions

Centurion Careers

Child Care

Children's Choir

Children's Church (1st to 6th grade)

Christian Education (1st to 6th grade)

Christian Men's Network

Church In the Son

Church On the Street

Church Architecture Ministry

Church On the Street Men's Homes

City Conquest

Coffee House

College & Career Prayer

College & Career Fellowship Families

College & Career Cross Examination Community Service Ministry

Construction Volunteers

Conventions & Visitors

Cops Ministry

Corporate Prayer Ministry

Costuming Ministry

Creative Media Productions

Crime Victims Ministry

Crisis Hot-Line

Cross Country Worship Team

Custodians

Day Care Visitation Teams

Deacon Ministry

Deaf Culture Ministry

Door Greeters

Drama For Productions

Early Childhood Ministry (Infant - Kindergarten)

Exaltation!

Excel

Executive Paging & Information

Fashion Share

Financial Planning

Fine Arts Festival

Fitness Center

Food Commissary (W.M's)

Forsaken Not

Funeral (W.M's)

Golf Cart Ministry (Mobile Greeters)

Gospel Car-Go

Graphic Art

Grooming Ministry

Grounds Keepers

Gymnasium

H.U.G.S. (G.E.D Preparation Class)

Handicapped Ministry

Handyman Ministry

Hard of Hearing Ministry

Helping Out Ministry

Helping Hands

High School Bible Clubs

High School Discipleship

Homeopeners Ministry (Master's Commission)

Hospital Visitation

Human Video Ministry

Hurting Parents Ministry

Husbands' Bible Study

Illustrated Sermons

In Touch & Job Board

Information Rack Ministry

Inner City Camp (I.C.C.)

Intercessory Prayer InterNet Ministry

Jewish Ministry

Journalism Volunteers Ministry

Journey Out Ministry

Joy Puppets Ministry

Junior. High Discipleship

Junior Deacons

Junior Bible Quiz

Kitchen

L.A. Connection

Loma Gail Women's Home

M.A.P.S.

M.I.R.A.C.L.E.S.

Married Visitation Ministry

Mary Magdalene Ministries

Master's Commission

Medical Lending Closet Men for Jesus

Men's Life Bible Study

Men's Prayer Meeting

Mill Avenue Outreach

Mission Church Builder

Missionaries (W.M's)

Missionary Sponsors (W.M's)

Missionettes

Missions (Foreign)

Missions - Mexico

Moms on the Move

Moms

megawatt's - Senior Men's Ministry

National Street Ministry

Native American Ministry

Nurseries (Infant/Toddler)

Nursing Home Ministry Offering Counters

Orchestra

Overcomers (Christian 12-Step)

Pact

Pastor's School

Pastoral Care

Pointe Man Ministry

Political Action Ministry

Prayer Chain (W.M's)

Prayer Bunch (W.M's)

Premarital Encounter Enrichment Program flppendix 1

Print Shop

Prison Ministry

Prisoners of Hope

Promise Keepers

Publications R.Y.1

Refiners Institute

Repairers of the Breach

Revolution

Rodeo

Rose Again

Royal Rangers

Samaritan House (Used Clothing)

Saturday Morning Evangelism

Saturday Morning Soulwinning Society

Security and Traffic Control

Security - Night time

Senior Deacon & Home Visitation

Senior Discipleship Bible Study

Senior Adult Ministry (Trip Coordinator)

Senior Fire Institute

Service Set-up Ministry Set Free Ministry

Shiloh

Shiloh Prayer

Sign Language Interpreting

Single Parents Ministry

Son-Beams (Adult Mentally Retarded)

Soulwinning Mail Out

Spanish Ministry

Special Kids Ministry

Special Dinners (W.M's)

Special Forces (Master's Commission)

Speed The Light

Spiritual Gifting Ministry

Standing Firm

Street Evangelism

Sunday Night Live

Sunday School Guides & Greeters (Children's)

Sunday School Guides & Greeters (Adults)

Super Stars Program

Teen Night

Teen Bible Quiz

The Master's Garden

Together Forever Marriage Seminars

Tots (Sidewalk Sunday School)

Truth Ministry

Ushers - Early service

Ushers

Video

Volunteer Pastors

Volunteers Ministry (Day Care)

Weddings (W.M's)

Wheelchair Ministry

Widows Ministry

Wives Prayer Meeting Wives' Bible Study

Women's Ministry

Women-to-Women Evening Bible Study

Xplosion Outreach

Young Married' Ministry

Youth Choir

Youth Fellowship Families

Youth Missions

Youth Drama

Ministries at Los Angeles International Church

Adopt-A-Block Ministry

After Service Feeding Homeless Ministry

AltemaUve Music Ministry

Asphalt Ministry Audio Tape Ministry

Audio Team

Basketball League

Boxing/Karate Ministry

Breakers For Christ

Buisnessman's Ministry

Bus Ministry

Bus Maintenance Ministry

Cambodian Children's Choir

Cambodian Ministry

Carnalas Lorider Bike Ministry

Christian Counseling

Church on the Beach

Classic Car Ministry

Clothing Ministry

Clown Ministry

Community Cleanup Program Cooking Ministry

Creative Decorations Ministry

D.C. Productions

Detox Ranch

Discipleship Program

Dog Ministry

Drama Workshop

Dream Center

Filipino Church

Filipino Visitation

Fishing Ministry

Free Community Gift Shop

Fundraising Ministry

Gangstaz for Christ Ministry

Gay Ministry

Ghetto Cruiser

Golfers for Christ Graffiti Cleanup

Healing Ministry

Hip Hop Ministry

His Hand Extended

Hispanic Ministry

Home School and Tutoring Ministry

Hope For Hollywood's Homeless

Hospital Visitation Ministry

Human Video

Illustrated Sermons

Incense Ministry

Inner City Soccer League

International Friendship Cruises

International Dreams Christian Car Club

Jesus Christ Productions

Junior Church Ministry

Juvenile and Prison Ministry King of Kings University

Korean Ministry

Laic Band

Laic Book Store

Laic Chaplain

Laic Flower Shop

Laic Praise & Worship Team

Laic Prayer Tower Ministry

Laic Singers

Laic Youth Ministry

Ladies' Fellowship

Letter Writing Ministry

Literary Program flppendix 2

Los Angeles Multi-Purpose Program (L.A.M.P.)

Maps Team

Marriage Ministry Matt Crouch Video Department

Medical Clinic Ministry

Messianic Fellowship

Metro Kidz

Mission Hotel

Music/Vocal Arrangement, Composition, Production, & Performance

National Filipino Ministry

New Member Visitation

Newcomers' Ministry

Our Daily Bread

Outreach Coordinator

Overcomers' Ministry

Overseas Ministry

Pastor Phil's Biker Church

Phone Bank Ministry

Photography Ministry Plumbing Ministry

Prayer And Healing Ministry

Reach for the Stars Ministry

Roller Hockey Ministry

Russian Ministry

Russian Bus Ministry

Sailors For Christ

Servants For Christ Motorcycle Ministry

Set Free University Studies

Set Free Posse

Short Term Youth Mission

Skid-Row Ministry

Songbird Productions

Sound Team Ministry

Spanish Ministry

Surfers For Christ

T-Shirt Ministry Teen Talk

T.V Production Studio

Under the Influence (Band)

Unwed Mothers Ministry

Voice & Piano Coaching Ministry

West Coast Flava

Wheelchair Ministry

Wheelchair Basketball League

Wheelchair Hockey League

Young Warriors

Youth Basketball League

Youth Bible Study

Enlarge Your Circle of Love!

For more information about the Los Angeles International Church and "The Dream Center" housed on the campus of the former Queen of Angels hospital, please call or write:

Los Angeles International Church

P. O. Box 26629

Los Angeles, C.A 90026

Phone: 213-207-2750

The Dream Center welcomes inquiries from youth and adult groups wishing to come and do mission work at the church. All prayers, contributions and inquiries about ministry and financial support are welcomed.

For information about upcoming Pastors' and Leaders' Schools, or about the SoulWinners Training Course used to train leaders and workers, call or write:

Phoenix First Assembly

13613 N. Cave Creek Road

Phoenix, A.Z 85022 to 5185

Phone: 602-867-7117

If you enjoyed Multiplication, here are some other titles from Charisma House that we think will minister to you...

Hidden Power

Tommy Barnett I.S.B.N: 0-88419-771-9

Retail Price: $13.99

Here at last is an honest and practical book that will show you kingdom principles you can start using today. Kingdom living comes down to one godly principle-give yourself away. Feed the hungry, put clothes on the poor, win them to Christ and start seeing miracles and blessings right before your eyes.

Nevertheless

Mark Rutland

I.S.B.N: 0-88419-847-2

Retail Price: $9.99

With one unassuming word, Jesus freed us and revealed the love of God. Jesus captured the awesome power of this word in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus prayed, and heaven and earth rejoiced. If you want to confuse the enemy-say Nevertheless. Should terrible events threaten to overwhelm you and rip at the foundations of your soul, remember you still have an answer... Nevertheless.

The Leading Edge

Jack Hayford

I.S.B.N: 0-88419-757-3

Retail Price: $17.99

The Leading Edge contains twenty-four power-packed suggestions from Jack Hayford's best columns written for Ministries Today, with additional information and suggestions. Take an in-depth look at his leadership persona and identify rock-solid leadership skills that can help shape an individual into a great leader.

To pick up a copy of any of these titles, contact your local Christian bookstore or order online at charismawarehouse dot com.

Tommy Barnett shares a wealth of wisdom and insight on every page. The forty multiplication factors he shares in this book will teach, motivate and inspire pastors, church leaders and business people who are serious about growth in their church or business.

-Dr. John C. Maxwell, Founder Injoy, Inc. San Diego, California

Tommy Barnett is a man I greatly respect and admire. His ministry is doing a great work for the Lord.

-Joe Gibbs, President and Founder Joe Gibbs Racing Charlotte, North Carolina

Tommy Barnett is the most passionate and compassionate pastor I know. He's my friend, too...but I would encourage leaders to read Multiplication even if I'd never met him before. The fruit of his love for people commands our attention.

-Jack W. Hayford, D. Litt. Founding Pastor, The Church on the Way Van Nuys, California

Multiplication brings new light, understanding and a road map to God's blessings and answers to prayer.

-John 'Yteets Chairman and Chief Executive Officer via Dcorp (formerly The Dial Corporation) Phoenix, Arizona

God Doesn't Do Division

In more than twenty-five years of ministry, and as pastor of one of America's largest and fastest growing churches, Tommy Barnett has discovered the key biblical factors for multiplying your effectiveness. His forty factors will help you to multiply your potential—not simply add to it, subtract from it or divide it. For pastors and church leaders, Christian businessmen and anyone else interested in getting more effective results in their own ministry or marketplace. Multiplication will teach, inspire and motivate.

Tommy Barnett pastors Phoenix First Assembly of God, one of America's largest churches with 15,000 in weekly attendance. He's the cofounder of the Los Angeles Dream Center, whose total outreaches minister to more than 30,000 people each week. In high demand as a conference speaker, Barnett has also appeared on The 700 Club, T.B.N's Praise the Lord and Focus on the Family radio program.

Christian Living/

Practical Life/Leadership

I.S.B.N-10: 0-88419-899-5

I.S.B.N-13: 978-0-88419-899-4

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