MUSINGS FROM A MENTOR (2)
I began to think of the major people who have influenced me .
C.L.Greenwood, the Pastor of R.T. was a great evangelist, I learnt from him, that PREACHING and Teaching must be ANOINTED. we all know as hearers, when a Preacher is anointed and when he isn’t.
Kevin J. Conner’s teaching on many subjects so expanded my life and understanding of the Word of God, he is probably the greatest influence on my life when it comes to the Word of God.
Frank Damazio (son in law to K.J. Conner). His teaching on Bosko and Discipleship totally and radically confirmed everything I had intuitively known all my Christian life.(MUCH MORE IN ANOTHER BLOG).
Kong Hee (Singapore) his vision and ministry to establish City Harvest Church was an inspiration to me.
Paul Yonggi Cho, it was a privilege in 1978 to go to Seoul and see his church and the Cell Ministry.
Ruth Heflin and her awesome teaching on Worship and praying for the nations.
Brian Houston, I thank God for the almost 6 years I served and worked under this great man.
Robert Fergusson (Senior Associate to Brian, an awesome teacher and preacher.
I suppose the list could go on and on. Some of the above you may say have a chequered history, but God used them to bless my life. I am not by listing them endorsing everything they have said or done, but thanking God for their influence on my life. How dare we touch the Lord’s anointed anyway, it is our responsibility like the Bereans to search the scriptures to see if the teaching lines up in the Word of God. I learnt the truth that like the Jews in the Wilderness that I had to have an “eye for the cloud” and see what God is saying and doing TODAY.
THE JOURNEY
I was in the ministry almost 10 years before I realised what I had been taught in Bible College was wrong, that a person is either a Pastor or Teacher, but couldn’t be both This was a life changing revelation. My greatest strength and gifting is without a doubt as a Shepherd (Pastor) but my ministry must include teaching (feeding the flock of God). This was liberating.
We saw our church in Sydney grow from 40 to 200, because I began to see I must build the church “according to the pattern” of the Word, and it worked. I also flew across to N.Z. to see the revival that was happening there, especially in the area of Praise and Worship. I stood in a church in Hamilton as we sang in the Spirit for about 45 minutes, I had never seen or heard such a thing before that time.
Soon after we met Mike & Viv Hibbert, who came and taught and trained us in the area of worship. and the truth of the Restoration of David’s Tabernacle. When we moved to Newcastle we saw the church go from 40 to 400 (in 18 months) because we took the principles and truths I had seen and God confirmed His Word. I am pleased to say it was not just hungry Christians who joined us, but regularly we saw people come to faith too,
After 22 years of Pastoral Ministry, the Lord clearly opened a new door into full time teaching ministry in a Bible College setting, and combining it with Mentoring. Twenty eight years later I am still doing it with ever increasing understanding not only of the Word but of Discipleship and Mentoring. This has taken me to around 25 different countries of the world.
My dream is (if it is what the Lord wants I will return to the nations. I know God has made me a Father, Paul said there were so few in the first century church and it seems to me the 21st century church is crying out for them too.
Constantly, behind the scene Margaret encouraged me and challenged me to press in and press on, I thank God for that.