This week, the blog is sponsored by New Growth Press, and this post is written by Dave Harvey, author of The Clay Pot Conspiracy.
The first time I preached as a lead pastor, my hopes were through the roof. With all humility (I assured myself), this could be truly epic. My performance will give overwhelming confirmation that I am God’s man to lead our church into the future. My words might even kickstart a little revival. Heck, why not a big one! After all, real leadership means expressing urgent faith for monumental impact, right?
Five minutes into the message, I lost my voice. As bad as you might imagine this being, it was much worse. I rasped through fifteen to twenty minutes, then wrapped it up. I might as well have just walked around the church with a “Kick me!” sign strapped across my chest. I vowed to never let this happen again.
Next week, it happened again.
It’s funny, but I thought leadership was going to make me look better. God had other designs, including silencing one brand of confidence to cultivate another.
Ministry Is a Gospel Reenactment
Honestly, public discomfort and embarrassment are relatively mild on the scale of experiencing weakness. Some experience weakness from opposition and persecution, and some from major health setbacks. But mild or severe, one point remains incontrovertibly true: Gospel ministry flows through clay pots who suffer. Paul exhorts his protegee Timothy: “Share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God” (2 Timothy 1:8). Paul assumed that his call to ministry meant a call to suffer.“ I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher,” he says, “which is why I suffer as I do” (2 Timothy 1:11–12, emphasis added).
Like Paul, our present pain or shame is designed to produce leaders who embody the gospel message. This weakness is the glory behind a wonder. Our perfect and divine Savior was treated as a cursed criminal and subjected to slaughter right before his startling, triumphant resurrection. His victory now animates our present and future with life. Christ’s work is now wholly completed. Yet here’s the wonder beyond Christ’s work: The paradigm of dying and rising forms the pathway through our ministry and shows us the real source of power for ministry.
Our perfect and divine Savior was treated as a cursed criminal and subjected to slaughter right before his startling, triumphant resurrection. His victory now animates our present and future with life. Christ’s work is now wholly completed.
Many men sign up for pastoring pretty clueless over this reality that stands at the core of their call. Ministry becomes a gospel reenactment in the life of the leader where God puts us through many little “deaths” so that gospel life might flow out of us. It’s a series of trials where your kids see you maligned but you do not retaliate; where one sleepless night rolls into the next; where you keep loving when you feel like your heart is empty. Yes, the Lord is at work even in unexpected seasons where we grieve crippling losses, as we receive a “death sentence” and patiently wait to see what God will resurrect in its place. A stage for life is being set.
Carrying Death to Convey Life
It all originates in the larger conspiracy. Death is at work “so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Corinthians 4:11).
Do you see the plan? Leaders carry death to convey life. They suffer to thrive. God breaks his clay pot vessel to free his power.
It’s strange, isn’t it? We come into leadership thinking the kingdom advances through strong people using their amazing gifts to bear epic fruit. But God says, “Not really. When I want to shape a soul to lead, I bid him come and die. When I want my gospel to ring forth, I shatter the jar.”
To lead is to experience wonders—seven, to be exact. Each forms a chapter for this book.
Wonder # 1 – Store Treasure in Clay
Wonder # 2 – Make Death Produce Life
Wonder # 3 – Let Repentance Stoke Resilience
Wonder # 4 – Learn Love When the Church Wounds You
Wonder # 5 – Remember God Uses Enemies to Enlarge Your Soul
Wonder # 6 – Build Strong Teams Through Weak Leaders
Wonder # 7 – Run Together to Finish WellTogether they form a conspiracy that helps leaders embody the gospel. It’s The Clay Pot Conspiracy. And it is magnificent!
