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Reasons for the Rise and Fall of Leaders

Scripture is replete with examples of how leaders rise and fall. One of the reasons why I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God is because it so honestly and accurately portrays the plight of human beings regarding their reasons for success and failure. It adequately portrays the dark side of the saints of old and is not like the common biographies of great people in history that are more hagiographic in nature than historic (that is, they don’t reveal the failures of the person).

How and Why the Body of Christ Must Unite For Community Transformation

John 17:20-23 says:
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

God, Politics & the Kingdom of God

View #1: The church should not be involved in politics but only concentrate on soul-winning; the rest will take care of itself. This has been promulgated in the Evangelical Church the past 125 years, especially in Pentecostal/Charismatic circles since its inception in the early 1900’s.

View #2: The church should demonstrate its spirituality primarily by getting involved through social and political action. With this view, the inner spiritual life and the supernatural are deemphasized. Many mainline liberal denominations represented by the World Council of Churches have taken this position.

Eight Reasons Pastors Fall

(Some of the ideas in this article I received from my friend Linda Lindquist-Bishop during an email exchange.)

#1: Churches are becoming complex enterprises which pastors are not equipped to lead.
The typical seminary training one receives to be a pastor usually only slightly touches on the practical things needed to oversee a church in the twenty-first century. Learning theology and how to exegete Scripture is not enough. Pastors have perhaps the toughest job in the nation.

Contrasting the New Testament Ekklesia and the Modern Congregational Assembly

As we examine the New Testament, we see that Jesus called for the formation of the ekklesia in Matthew 16:18. In Greek culture an ekklesia was the ruling body that governed the polis or city state. Thus Jesus didn’t create a new word but borrowed from a common political word to describe His goal for those who would be His disciples: that they would represent His kingdom will on earth with binding and loosing powers that would govern the heavenly principalities (Ephesians 3:8-10, 6:10-18) and thus transform earthly communities where each ekklesia was established. This is a great difference in function from the typical congregational idea of simply assembling together as found in Hebrews 10:25.

How I Received a Breakthrough Anointing in Prayer

The following is a chapter from Joseph Mattera’s latest book “Travail to Prevail: A Key to Experiencing the Heart of God”.

My Story

When I came to Christ in January of 1978, I was the kind of person that could read the bible for many hours, but I had a hard [difficult] time praying for more than a couple of minutes.

All that changed in June of 1978 when I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues. Within a few months I was able to pray for a long time without getting bored.

The Signs of an Emotionally Emasculated Man

In this day and age, it seems there is increasing pressure from secular contemporary culture for men to become effeminate. This has resulted in celebrating the “gay man,” “metrosexuality” (men who are not really gay, yet not masculine either), and other forms or expressions of manhood that do not resonate with the average American male.

Fifteen Reasons Men Don’t Attend Church

Perhaps the biggest need I have seen in the Body of Christ since entering full-time ministry in 1980 is the lack of male church attendance. This is especially true in Charismatic/Pentecostal churches in North America.

In many churches, male attendance comprises only 15% of the Sunday gender demographic. There are some exceptions to this: In our local church male attendance is typically 35%-40%, and Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, New York has a male church attendance of about 51%.

Twenty-One Common Mistakes Pastors Make

As a pastor for almost 30 years, I have learned much through the School of Hard Knocks. My goal with this article is to identify some of the most common mistakes made by pastors and leaders so others would not replicate them.

Ten Ways to Detect the Broken Places in Our Souls

All of us have numerous areas in our lives that are broken and out of place. This is the result of a chain reaction through multiple generations due to the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve.

Although all human beings have been confronted with the guilt of their own sin (whether they have heard the gospel or not, the Holy Spirit was sent to convict the world of sin; read John 16:7-8), those of us who are believers have responded to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and have received Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

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