November 28, 2010
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What's
Next for Kings I saw
something at our conference in Warsaw that amazed me. Of the 30-40
people that
were saved (at a business conference!), many represented very
successful
businesses that are already influential in the city. Our church
tradition is to
rescue dysfunctional people from their sin and misery. When we disciple
people
with a history of family abuse and drug or alcohol use, we are prone to
“re-parent” them and provide them with a safe haven and lots of
oversight,
fathering, covering, pastoring, etc. Kings view most of that kind of
outreach
as “control.” When
business people
(future Kings) get saved they often come to the Lord with functional
families,
healthy bank accounts, and a goal-oriented approach to being successful
in
life. The gospel for needy people is primarily about forgiveness of
sin. The
gospel for Kings includes forgiveness, but it is primarily focused on
Kingdom
purpose. Having a purpose in life and working with the Father is huge
for
Kings. We’ve written more on the “Gospel
of the Kingdom” in a prior newsletter that I think you will
enjoy. Why they came? – I believe
Kings are being drawn to
the Kingdom because they are hearing a new sound. The emphasis in the
Releasing
Kings conference was that we all have a purpose. For Kings, it’s
impacting our
cities and doing ministry outside the church. God has already done much
of the
business/wisdom discipleship in their lives. They come to the church
having much
better financial skills than pastors, and they have a better network of
influential friends in the city (government, business, entertainment,
etc.)
than believers in church. They are already bold and willing to take on
a large
vision – like impacting Warsaw. They won’t allow others to micromanage
them.
They manage their own lives and their employees and projects. For those
of us
in church, “making disciples of nations” still feels like a theory, and
we
don’t know where to start. My point is that God is adding people who
are well
able to take this land. The Kingdom team
is expanding - I’ve been in
church 40 years and
God is adding Kings to the team who have only been saved a few months.
They are
already at my level! My heart is so hungry for Kings expanding the
Kingdom,
that I’m welcoming them with open arms. My only question is, “How can I
make
them successful to impact a city like Warsaw?” It’s an absolute delight
to work
with these new believers. They receive salvation and the Holy Spirit
with such
ease that it’s stunning. They are ready to go to work! "The
workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a
denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to
receive
more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they
received it,
they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 'These men who were
hired last
worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us
who have
borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.' Matt 20:9-12 NIV How can we help
them? – As a pastor or
Christian brother,
what can I do to release these Kings? I’ve always thought in terms of
deploying
mature believers in business as Kings… helping them get started. Now,
God has
added a new dynamic. Kings who got started in business years ago are
getting
saved, and they are already successful! What’s different about our
approach to
them? 1.
Welcome them - Here is
surprise number 1. I’ve
always been a little intimidated to ask wealthy business people about
their
spiritual life. At the conference, people came up by the dozens for
prayer. We
were primarily focused on praying about their dream, business goals,
etc. But,
to be sure, I started asking if they had already invited Jesus into
their
hearts. Then… we just invited Jesus into their hearts. They were open,
hungry,
receptive… and I was amazed by their openness. The Holy Spirit touched
them
dynamically in terms of signs and wonders. It was a party. The love
dynamic was
amazing. I haven’t hugged so many people in years. One
night, after Hanna had just received the Lord, I asked her to help pray
for
others. She is a business woman who owns one of the nicest restaurants
in
Warsaw. She also has a pastoral gift. I wanted her to feel the warmth
of the
Holy Spirit on the people we were praying for and I wanted her to
experience
the love God was pouring out on them prophetically. With 30 seconds of
instruction, she was off and running… praying for other women, wiping
the tears
from their eyes. She instantly joined the team. She’ll do the same
thing in her
restaurant… so will Tibor, Darota, Robert, Monika, Christine, Maryla
and dozens
of others that were “invited” by the Lord. 2. Keep a Kingdom
focus - I believe the
second most important
thing we can do for Kings is to help them keep their priorities
regarding their
calling – reaching the city. If we try to plug them into our church
programs,
we will simply lose them. We need to help them mature in the sense of
getting
saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, and baptized, praying prophetically
for
other people, healing the sick, etc. What we cannot do is ask them to
sit
indefinitely in services and home groups… they just won’t. They are
wired to
build the Kingdom and they won’t tolerate the “introversion” that
exists in
many of our churches. For too long the local church has had a
self-supporting
vision for its own growth. Those days are over. We can equip the saints
for
ministry in the Kingdom and release their hearts… or we can languish on
the
sidelines, sitting in a stagnant church. Churches that “release
ministry” into
the Kingdom will prosper and flourish. 3.
What can we do? – We can
encourage these new Kings to
take on the Kingdom vision to touch our communities in a number of
specific
ways. Instead of managing their efforts as an extension of the church’s
ministry, we’re encouraging their initiatives in the Kingdom and
releasing
their hearts. God wants to manage this initiative Himself. He’s jealous
for
Kings and he’s jealous for the six other mountains of culture they
represent. a.
Networking - Encourage them
to network with one
another for business reasons (new ways to create wealth) and ministry
reasons
(new ways to reach the marketplace). They love to minister to other
Kings, and
they will lead many others to Jesus and into a healthy relationship
with
churches that have a Kingdom emphasis. There is a grass roots revival
feel in
these relationships. Most of us are hooked up on Face Book and by
email,
sharing ideas and making new friends. b. Vision - Regarding
identifying ways to reach
the city, we merely need to give them a little time and a little
Kingdom vision
for their specific mountain. They will come up with ideas, specific
plans, and
finances in ways we never dreamed possible. We just need to ask them,
1)
“what’s your dream”, and 2) “How can I help you make it happen?” God is
busy
writing on their hearts as we speak. c. Visit
their businesses – as
pastors and believers, we recognize the ministry of Kings when we
switch from
inviting them to services, to going to their businesses. That’s where
Kingdom
ministry occurs. The church can equip, but the ministry will occur in
Hanna’s
restaurant and Darota’s clothing stores. Help them touch the nature of
the
ministry of their business. d.
Ministry - Encourage them
to gather other
Kings for ministry. We’ve shared ideas for starting a Kingly small
group on “Ingredients
for a
Kingly Small Group.” I think the most important point is that
it is not a
house church independent from the church, and it’s not a small group
controlled
by the church. It’s just Kingdom ministry among Kings. Most Kings are
too busy
for a weekly home group (unless it’s their idea). They need the freedom
to
choose who comes (their circle) and what they talk about (might be
business,
networking, ministry to one another, etc.). It’s not like a Bible
study. It
won’t look like church; it will look like business. They will dream of
new ways
to create wealth and reach the city. The will make plans and schedules
and
budget and assign tasks. They will pray for one another and pick up on
the
prophetic… the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Rev 19:10). e. Celebrate
their victories in church.
Hold them up as examples of saints equipped, who are doing ministry in
the
Kingdom, impacting our cities, and taking the mountains of our culture.
f. Resources – Help them to
tap the resources
available to Kings. In Poland, we’re in the process of loading our
materials onto
a Polish website www.ReleasingKingsPL.com.
We’ll translate newsletters, our books, and maintain an offer to help
in any
way we can. We’re also working with pastor Andrzej and Maja of
Storehouse
Church to help in this whole birthing process. We communicate regularly
with
Maja’s assistant, Maria who is was our translator at the conference and
has
facilitated our efforts since. We’ve never been this way before! The
conference slides http://www.releasing-kings.com/Conferences.html English
newsletter http://www.releasing-kings.com/Newsletter.html Archived
newsletters http://www.releasing-kings.com/Releasing_Kings_Newsletter-backissues.html How to write
a business plan - http://www.releasing-kings.com/Write-Your-Business-Plan.html Small groups
- http://www.releasing-kings.com/Starting-a-Group.html Vision
brochure - http://www.releasing-kings.com/support-files/10-02-06ukraine-brochure.pdf Kingdom
Business Academy (Poul Dalgaard) - http://www.pex.dk/ Releasing
Kings Website in Polish www.ReleasingKingsPL.com If I were pastor – I would visit all those Kings and make sure they were saved, spirit-filled and water baptized. Next I would train them to:
PS: the
reason pastors should refrain from leading outside the church mountain
is
simple. Some fraction of businesses will fail. If you’re the one who
gave the
counsel and a business fails, you not only lose face, you take on some
measure
of financial and legal liability for your bad advice. PS: You
may
also enjoy the video
version of this newsletter.
Desire to Destiny is available now at our store along with reviews. Not sure what your dream is? This book will help you pull the curtain back on your future. Newsletter - If your newsletter comes incomplete (filtered), you can always catch the latest version in our archive along with 200 others. 1800+ people from around the world get Kingly encouragement from our weekly newsletter. Invite a friend to subscribe - they will be blessed. How to Start a Small Group - Kings are increasingly getting involved in Bible study or mentoring groups to facilitate their "Release." Here are some helpful suggestions www.Releasing-Kings.com/Starting-a-Group.html. We've also updated our Vision Brochure with graphics to show how to become a King and how you can help Release Kings. Lastly we've created a guideline to help you take your dream to the next level by considering the elements of a business plan. See Write Your Business Plan. French Translation - Releasing Kings is now available in French thanks to the efforts of Cees Bakker and Support Ministries in the Netherlands. In France, copies can be obtained from Editions Menor or Librairie Chretienne CLC. The Title in French is “Libération des Rois pour le ministère dans le monde du travail”. Cees is also the guy who made the Dutch translation possible - available through his website. He can be contacted for Releasing Kings conferences in France and throughout Europe. Facebook - I'm posting more information on Face book at http://www.facebook.com/john.garfield1
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