As we approach Spiritual Leadership Conference, I’ve asked a few of the conference speakers to participate in brief interviews regarding what is involved in launching out by faith. I believe you’ll find their perspectives both helpful and faith-building.

This interview is with Dr. Tom Farrell. Dr. Farrell has served as an evangelist since 1979. We are looking forward to his session at Spiritual Leadership Conference on “Preaching that Pleases God.”

What is an area in the past five years in which you’ve launched out by faith, and how has God blessed?

In the last five years we have launched out in three specific areas of ministry:

• Caribbean Project, evangelizing the Caribbean Islands and helping to plant churches and Bible institutes. One Bible institute has been started in Nassau, Bahamas, and a second will open this fall in Grenada.
• Advanced Ministry Training Internship Program for male Christian College graduates. This one year intensive mentoring program puts young preachers in three independent Baptist churches for three months each, involving them in every aspect of ministry. There are two one-week modules during which leading pastors spend a day with the interns equipping them for ministry. The men travel with me in evangelism and then finish the program on the mission field of Uganda. Most all of the graduates have launched out into full-time ministry.
• Elijah’s Harbor Retreat Center for preachers and wives who need to be refreshed and refocused for ministry. We were privileged to help start this center. Many pastors have been encouraged and helped, and some have stayed in ministry because of this program.

How have you seen Satan target leaders who launch out? What is your counsel to others to overcome those challenges?

Any time you launch out, Satan will oppose. Someone said, “When God’s people say, ‘Let us rise up and build,’ Satan will rise up to oppose.” Paul wrote, “Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us” (1 Thessalonians 2:18). (more…)

Every spiritual leader, including the pastor (actually, especially the pastor) needs personal and spiritual accountability.

I have gathered a team of godly men with whom I meet (sometimes on the phone, but often in person) on a regular basis for accountability.

These men know they have access into every area of my life—and they take the access. They ask me probing questions regarding my walk with the Lord, family time, reading, and my thought life. They don’t hesitate to point out imbalances they see developing in any area of my life.

These men pray for me as well—for my personal needs, for my family, for specific challenges and needs in my life and ministry.

It seems that every time I mention the need for a leader to develop an accountability team or to seek out mentors, someone will ask, “How do you select such men?” This is a great question, especially considering the vital role of accountability in a Christian’s life. (more…)

As we approach Spiritual Leadership Conference, I’ve asked a few of the conference speakers to participate in brief interviews regarding what is involved in launching out by faith. I believe you’ll find their perspectives both helpful and faith-building.

This first interview is with Dr. Kevin Folger. Dr. Folger serves as the senior pastor of Cleveland Baptist Church in Ohio. I’m thankful for his friendship, and I’m looking forward to seeing him here in Lancaster next month.

How long have you served in your current position of ministry?

The end of this month marks thirty-five years that I’ve been serving at Cleveland Baptist Church. For seventeen years I served as an assistant pastor, associate pastor, and (for the final five of those years) as a co-pastor. I became the senior pastor of Cleveland Baptist on September 3, 1995, so I will complete my eighteenth year in that position this September.

What is an area in the past five years in which you’ve launched out by faith, and how has God blessed?

In 2009 we completed a one million dollar capital stewardship campaign that allowed us to pay off all of our debt, to finish the remodeling of our auditorium, to turn two homes on our property to mission homes, to update twelve buses in our fleet, and finally to complete a master plan of the property. (more…)

When we first launched the Spiritual Leadership Conference twenty years ago, it was obvious to me that there was a need for emphasis on a biblical model of leadership.

Not the kind of leadership where pastors write and circulate mean letters about one another. Not the kind where leaders are known for sharp criticism. Not the kind where we lift ourselves up.

We wanted a conference that was based on a common understanding that we need the Holy Spirit’s filling in our lives. An understanding that if we would walk in the Spirit as leaders, we would not fulfill the lusts of the flesh expressed through carnal leadership. An understanding that it is only by pride that contention comes.

God has blessed the emphasis of spiritual leadership in this conference. This year, in particular, I’m praying that God will bring about revival in our hearts through the conference. I’m praying that the spiritual leadership in our churches will come to a new dimension by the grace of God.

In this growth points video, I share three aspects of the conference that are emphasized every year: spiritual leadership, servant leadership, and soulwinning leadership.

(If you cannot see this video in your RSS reader or email, you can watch it here.)

Much of the conference will be live streamed at lbclive.tv. But I invite you to personally join us. We’d love to serve you in any way that we can. We do have a few dorm rooms available yet, and we provide airport transportation as well. (more…)

Part of the joy of ministry is that of enjoying it with fellow laborers in the work.

In the secular workplace, friendship with coworkers is often a corny topic. When your expected ambition at work is to support your family and perhaps also further your career, who cares if you enjoy time with your coworkers?

But the work of the ministry isn’t the same as the work of factory. Should not those of us who have a common bond in Christ also have a common strength in relationships?

Ephesians 4:3 says “yes!”

Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.—Ephesians 4:3

If you desire unity of the Spirit and a bond of peace, you will have to take the first word of that verse as an action item. Friendship requires endeavoring. You must give it specific attention and invest your energy in it.

Healthy churches and healthy ministry teams have healthy relationships. How can we develop these friendships? (more…)