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May 09, 2008

Help Wanted!

Dear Friends,
I am continually surprised by the God who calls people who are broken so that they will be lifted up and be a reason for others to be lifted up. I am learning my God is a God who takes a dirty rug and brings beauty out of it. This is hard to accept for a reasonable and sane, but may be the ability of God who brings beauty out of mess makes him one and only. It is a privilege to serve him.
There are many people, specially from this country who could do much better job than what I do and God chose me as I am continuing to live on the edge. The love I get from friends and God, everyday making me so thankful and filled with gratitude because I know none of what I get do I deserve . The weaker I am the more I am recognizing that I do not deserve what I am doing and how much thankful I should be for what God is doing in the people who are in my life.
Paul calls himself a Chief of sinners in 1 Timothy 1, as Dan Allender, pointed out clearly. But the amazing thing is Paul talks about a lot of sinful people who do not deserve to go to heaven and then moves to show how sinful he is,
8We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9We also know that law[a] is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
The Lord's Grace to Paul
12I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. 13Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus
15Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. 17Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.






And Paul continues to call himself a "chief of sinners" Paul is saying I am really one of the worst of those people he described in verses 8-11. He even continues to call himself blasphemer, persecutor and a violent man. Then, he says I still am the worst of the sinners. But because of the grace of God I am saved and even I am a leader. Many leaders think they are the best of all. I think the best biblical description for all leaders who are called by God is the "worst of all" or as Allender describes it "The Chief of Sinners." The more I see my sin the more it brings me to the bible. Some times in Bible studies and fellowship, people try to explain away the failure of God's leaders; or somehow they try to make it holy. The only difference I see from the saints of salvation history and the worst sinners are the gospel. Many leaders want to give a good appearance to the outside world by hiding their brokenness hoping no one will discover it. Good luck with that! Paul, and other leaders, however, did not ashame to embrace the deep sinfulness in their leadership. The only thing, according to Paul, that makes a Christian leader great is the fact that Jesus fell in love with the worst of all.
Culturally, it makes me cry when I see broken famous leaders try to cover up their brokenness at the cost of the joy that comes from embracing weakness.
Because I have been misunderstood culturally it is very easy for people to level me as if I do not know anything or as one church leader, years ago, put it in talking to me on leadership, "we are studying your status in our church to see what you deserve." Thankfully, people who hurt me without knowing, helped me to see myself in a more realistic way and to look at the bible and read more on leadership. Therefore, I thank the people who intentionally or unintentionally hurt me. Because God used that to help me see and embrace my weakness and boast about it. They made me look into the Bible if the CEO leadership style which puts one person above others really is biblical. Look what Dan Allender says about leaders in the bible:
I can hardly name a leader in the bible who didn't fail radically enough to warrant being removed from leadership...it seemed God loves to use troubled,odd, unpredictable people to not only lead others but also to make the gospel known.
I think that is very similar to what Paul is saying above. God really chose people through out salvation history who are very reluctant, afraid to lead, and who really know and embrace their brokenness and not afraid to admit it. When God chose a poor sinner who gets in trouble a lot because of his brokenness creates a story that gives glory to his name. As Allender, again points out clearly, " Leaders are primarily story tellers and story makers; and troubled people are called to be leaders because they create and tell compelling stories. Sane, reasonable, play-it-safe people are not sufficiently engaged in life to generate great stories. instead they sit back and wait a leader-storyteller to come along and get them caught up in a life worth living.

This does not mean leaders are out there looking for trouble. The world is broken enough around a true leader to give him enough ways to give him enough pain and trouble. I really love what I do. Most days end up with things I can not do because I was not able. I feel bad because I was not able to bless one more family today for the lack of volunteers or my weakness. But the same time I embrace and enjoy my limitedness for the God who cares for the poor is more than me to touch lives and provide needs. The families we are trying to help come from a broken world that remind me of mine and others sin around me. Thankfully, in the last four years I never had a problem to be reminded how imperfect and sinful I am. Some people tried to accuse me of my imperfection to hurt me, others did it because they truly love me. When I look back why God put a reluctant person like me in leadership because he wanted me to tell a story of his deep continuing forgiveness to the fool. I love you Jesus!

I am here because I am loved by Jesus. As I go forward, the only single hope I have and the strength and passion that gives me going is the fact that Jesus chose a person like me to go tell to the people I serve who are ashamed of their sin, ashamed of their country, ashamed of their family and tribe, that Jesus truly forgives those who do not deserve to be forgiven. He forgave me and continues to forgive me. Not only that, he chose me to lead and allow me to fail to constantly show how vast his love is. OH! I pray that many leaders in this country see the mission field that God brought from all over the world is the reflection of the weakness we have and as we are willing to be vulnerable we can cross and touch others. Because the church aggressively applied the CEO model of world leadership, to many people, who come from another countries the leaders are so unreachable. Therefore, many people think that the church is lead by so perfect and so high people. What a lie! I am praying that many people who know and serve Jesus, in this country would become vulnerable enough so that others will see the power of grace that calls the worst of sinners to do the best of all works. When leaders are able to do that Revival happens!

God's leadership model "chooses fools to live foolishly in order to reveal the economy of heaven, which reverses and inverts the wisdom of this world. He calls us to brokenness not performance; to relationship not commotion; to grace not success"

Paul, in his letter to Timothy, is saying that any leader can not be any righteous. Because any one in the kingdom who really chose to lead is a fool and a person who is living on the edge. Many leaders "know they are a mess. But they hope against hope that no one else would notice."
Help wanted! God wants to hire quality people. Fortunately, their quality is people who know they are the worst of all sinners! So that is why I am part ot it. Therefore, there is a place to a sinner and a weak person like me. That is why I love heaven! I am loved and ushered by the king of Kings! There is an opening for people who know that they will have the ability to accept the order of the true boss and the true leader.
What does this mean for cross cultural ministry? I think this is a powerful uniter. We all are broken. We all are "Limping" as Allender describes it. Therefore, we all need grace that God brings to us through each other. We embrace and enjoy our weakness, as leaders, in a cross-cultural world while God make us very thankful for choosing us to cross to each others world and love each other. That means no one is better or less than the other. All leaders, new and settled Americans, are working in the kingdom because they are loved and chosen while they are the worst of all and continue to be.
AMEN! WE ALL NEED TO BE PART OF THIS EXCITING GRACE FILLED JOURNEY WITHOUT TAKING OURSELVES SO SERIOUSLY! WE ARE NEEDED BECAUSE WE ALL ARE FOOLISH! WE ARE NEEDED WE ALL ARE THE WORST OF ALL!

LOVED BY JESUS!!!!

| By kishawork2 | 05:10 PM

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Posted by: Heidi Vincent at May 9, 2008 06:21 PM

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