As I travel around the country preaching, I often ask myself, where are the young men with pioneer spirits?
It has been my heart’s joy to start churches all over Maine since moving there in January of 1996. The vision that I had when I left North Carolina of what God could do in this great state has come to pass nearly thirty years later.
It was my desire then and remains my desire now to see the Gospel of Christ preached throughout counties and towns of Maine. With God’s help and through the power of the Holy Ghost, we have seen a church planted in every quadrant of Maine.
Since moving to Maine, I have been blessed by God to plant two mother churches. Out of those churches, there have been six other churches with more started from them that continue on today. There are many things that I could discuss in an article on planting churches, but the one burden that continually stays on my heart is men who God uses to start the church.
May God use these thoughts to challenge those who read this to fully surrender and be that man! All it takes is one. God has the omnipotent power to take one man and use him to start churches worldwide. One man needs to be ready and willing to be used mightily.
FAITH
Above all, the man that God uses in church planting has to be a man of faith. The Bible states in Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” One might ask if I even need to write further on this topic after that verse. “But without faith it is impossible to please him…”
What an exhaustive statement that God reveals to His readers! This is an example of why I love the Word of God. This verse clearly reveals that if one will live a life that is pleasing to the Lord, then it cannot be done apart from faith in the one true God.
Most people reading this have experienced saving faith, but not everyone has experienced serving God in faith. I believe that the faith that God is speaking of in this passage of Scripture is the serving faith that is spoken of in this great faith chapter of the Bible.
It is time to think clearly on this and search our hearts to see if we have this type of faith. Christ’s words are powerful and uplifting even as I type them out – “if you have faith.” As we think to ourselves, and we inquire into our personal lives about this great truth, we will continue to study some ways that the Lord uses to increase our faith. May each of us say just as the disciples of old, “Lord, increase our faith…”
We receive faith as a gift, from the Word of God, and through prayer and fasting.The Bible says in I Corinthians 12:7-9,
“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal… to another faith by the same Spirit.”
This passage of Scripture is teaching about the gifts that are given in a local assembly so that the church will be able to profit. One of the greatest – possible the greatest – of these gifts is faith. When starting churches, this gift is desperately needed. God entrusts His servants with these gifts, so the work of God may continue to grow.
I have often gone through times of testing where I have wondered if I would make it through the valley, and then what seemed to be straight out of Heaven, the Lord granted unto me this great gift of faith. It is amazing to see the turn of events in my day when I get my heart right with God, and the Lord, in His mercy and grace, gives me what I need.
Has the Lord ever done this for you? Do you sense the Lord putting into your heart this great truth that all things are possible with God? My friend, not everyone has this!
I have been amazed to receive faith through the Word of God in my own personal life. The faith that increases in our life is in direct proportion to how much God’s Word is in our life. You can tell how full of faith someone is by how full they are of the Word of God. I am not saying that we do not all go through trials because that is part of the Christian life. I am saying that when we are saturated with the Word of God, our faith is increasing, and God is readying us for a work for Him.
In the year 1989, God took my life and changed it in a great and mighty way. I remember so vividly surrendering my life to the Lord. Oh, the Word of God was real to me as it had never been real before. My faith began to increase. I would lay on the floor and pray to be able to believe
God for a mighty work to be done wherever He so chose to send me. I would often catch myself imagining and dreaming of the vision that God had in building works all over the country. I could just envision many coming to Christ and being discipled in the Word of God. But that itself was the key – the Word of God. This vision never came to pass in my mind until I began studying deeper and deeper into the Word of God.
I beg of you today, if you are going to be that man that starts churches, make sure that your faith is increasing because you have been in God’s Word.
Read it, study it, memorize it, and meditate on it. You will never regret getting into the Scriptures.
PRAYER AND FASTING
The Bible says in Matthew 17:21, “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” This is a foreign concept to some of those reading this. For many years, I only understand faith coming by the Word of God. I never understand the way that God could use fasting as a way of stirring my heart.
In this passage of Scripture that was just referenced, the disciples had experienced a failure in their faith. They were not able to help the hurting father that came asking them to heal his son. While the disciples did not hold the power heal the boy because of their lack of faith, Jesus stepped forth and healed the boy immediately.
The disciples were confused and asked Jesus why they were not able to heal the boy. Jesus alluded to a form of faith that we must have if we are going to be successful in the ministry.
He specifically said, “this kind” cometh not but by prayer and fasting. The disciples could not perform this miracle because they did not have “this kind” of faith! After studying this passage, we have to ask ourselves what kind of faith do we have? Do we have the kind of faith that can move mountains for Christ? Do we have the kind of faith that can see churches planted for God’s glory?
When was the last time that you fasted and prayed for wisdom? How convicting these questions can be for anyone reading this! May the God of Heaven increase our faith as we serve Him in the respected places that He has called us!
PIONEER SPIRIT
The man that God uses must be a man with a pioneer spirit. As I travel around the country preaching, I often ask myself, where are the young men with pioneer spirits? Where are the men who will go into a new area, remove rocks, turn the soil, cut down trees, and plow on for the glory of God? Sadly, I do not see many of them. If a church is to be built, a church must have men with this.
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“A man that God will use for church planting is a man full of the Holy Ghost.”
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The book of Acts teaches us this great truth. In Acts 17, the text teaches us that a person with a pioneer spirit travels. As churches are started, it is the pioneer spirit that allows men and women to go into the next towns! We must be filled with the Holy Ghost and have the spirit of Caleb when he boldly stated, “I want that mountain!”
Not only does this spirit involve travel, but it also involved tenacity. When a man goes into the next towns, there will not be a “red carpet” rolled out. A man with tenacity and a pioneer spirit cannot expect it to be easy. A man with a pioneer spirit has to be willing to step out of his comfort zone and live in such a way that he is head-on for Christ!
FULL OF THE HOLY GHOST
A man that God will use for church planting is a man full of the Holy Ghost. Ephesians 5:18 says, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” Being filled with the Holy Ghost is not an option as a Christian. This verse is clear to state that it is a command.
I love the tense of this verse, which teaches us not just to be filled once, but to be filled continually.
Preachers of the past have said that we are leaky vessels and continually need to be filled. How true this is in my life, and I am sure that you wholeheartedly agree!
The planting of a new church can be accomplished in the flesh, but there will be no reward for the church planter. We must be men who are filled with the Holy Spirit because this is a spiritual work to be accomplished in the fullness of the Holy Ghost.
After thirty-one years of being in the ministry, I often sense that there is a great misunderstanding of this vast doctrine among the brethren. I am aware that there are many varying beliefs in our world today, and a vast majority of them are wrong, but this should not scare us away from what the Bible truly teaches.
My preaching is different when I’m full of the Holy Ghost. My teaching is different when I’m full of the Holy Ghost. My witness is different when I’m full of the Holy Ghost. My church planting is different when I’m full of the Holy Ghost.
We must concern ourselves with this great truth and ask ourselves this question – are we filled with the Holy Ghost? The arm of flesh is strong, and many are more dependent on their outlines, personalities, and gimmicks than the fullness of the Holy Ghost. May the God of Heaven arrest our souls that we may realize that we must have this fullness!
Allow me to share my testimony with you. I am a second-generation Christian, and I had the privilege of growing up in a time when these truths were emphasized in my Bible college days and in the tent meetings where I was present. The fullness of the Holy Ghost was actually taught so strongly that I believed the preachers were referring to a “second blessing!” I remember first beginning to preach and yearning to be filled with the power of the Holy Ghost.
I knew that I did not have it, and I struggled for months with no evident anointing on my life. I would plead with God in the mountains of North Carolina, and I would beg the Lord to fill me, but the major problem was this – there was too much Todd and not enough God.
To be filled with the Holy Spirit, there has to be nothing else in the vessel except for the Holy Ghost. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost, and when we are filled with things such as anger, bitterness, and sin in one of its thousands of forms, that hinders the Holy Spirit from working through us. Before I could be filled with the Holy Spirit, I had to deal with the “old man” [my flesh] to make certain that I could be totally filled with the Spirit.
I remember the night where I felt the initial filling of the Holy Spirit. It was my eighth time preaching, and it was a struggle going up to the pulpit because I had been a miserable wretch the other seven times before. I longed for God to take control of me and of my message that night, and that is precisely what God did. I have never gotten over what I experienced
that night when I opened my Bible in the Maple Grove Baptist Church of Canton N.C. I sensed from the very beginning of the sermon that something was different. God had brought me to the end of myself, and now that I was totally empty, He could fill me. And fill me He did! Once you taste and see that the Lord is good in the filling, you will never want anything else.
The fleshy sermons and the sermons that try to appeal to the intellect do not even touch the surface of a message ordained and filled by God. That experience was over thirty years ago, but my ministry was changed forever because of it.
I wonder how many reading this have a similar story. Or perhaps you have never felt the filling of the Holy Spirit. My heart is warmed when I read stories and books of men in bygone days who have experienced the same thing. If we are going to see churches planted all over this world, it will be accomplished by men who are filled with the Holy Ghost. We all need to make for certain that we are filled.
Our communities need Christ. Our country needs Christ. The continents of the world need Christ. May we be the men that are filled with the Holy Ghost, so that we can go to the needy areas with the Gospel message empowered the Holy Ghost! Only with this will we make a difference for the Lord Jesus Christ! “Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless His Holy name!”
I pray that these Bible truths will increase church planting in New England and around the world.