Wednesday, June 07, 2017

Leading by Biblical Preaching: An Example from Christ Fellowship-Miami


Pastors, lead from the pulpit, not the board room.

The articles in this series on biblical preaching have been so helpful! Many thanks to the writers. Here, I want to share my story, which reveals the power of biblical preaching to lead even if you’re not a great leader.

I am not a strong leader by nature, and early on at Christ Fellowship, mean-spirited people inside our church began to control me. They were on a mission to stop me from leading our church and were willing to do whatever it took to stop me. At the same time, pastors and denominational leaders from Miami were telling me, “Miami is unreachable!”

I realized I was up against a daunting challenge both from inside and outside the church. To say all this frightened me is an understatement! However, biblical preaching tore down the strongholds inside and outside, and biblical preaching poised our church to become a force for God in Miami.

When I first arrived in Miami over 20 years ago, I was excited about reaching our city for Christ. Miami is 97% lost or unchurched. As the leader, I would need to position Christ Fellowship to become a movement of God that could push back the gates of hell and advance the Gospel.

However, resistance within our church quickly rose up against my leadership. In fact, I soon discovered the church of which I had become pastor (then First Baptist Church) was led and controlled by committees. The people on these committees made it clear that I would not be the leader of the church. They were also experts at leveraging “Roberts Rules of Order” and the constitution and bylaws to imprison me from leading the church. But here’s the strategy that changed everything.... Read More

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