 All right. Good morning everyone. I hope you can hear me all right. I'm voice audible. Give me a thumbs up if it is. Is my voice audible? Okay. Let's begin this time with a word of prayer and then we'll get into our session. Father we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for giving us this opportunity to spend time studying a word and even as we talk about discipleship and small groups, we thank you Lord that Lord, even as we study your Holy Spirit will minister, speak to us, give us ideas, give us strategies to serve you better. Thank you. We submit this time into your hands. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right. So let me just present the notes. Our last class we covered in this chapter 24 right. We look at a few aspects from chapter 24. We looked at you know how to be a good leader, how to effectively minister. Right. Yes. We talk about leadership how it is so important to you know when as leaders we are to develop the ability to mobilize people to get everyone to participate get people to involve in leadership and basically raise up other leaders. Also in chapter 25 we looked at step one training cell members. So very importantly we look at how we develop relationship with members. Right. So in a certain group especially you know we look at people and we enable them our main goal is to take members and make them into leaders. Right. And how can we do that? We need to be able to build good relationships good friendships. Right. And then you'll be able to speak into their lives. Now we cannot speak into a person's life when we don't have a relationship with them. Right. And we looked at the example of Jesus. Right. He chose the 12 disciples he built a relationship with them. The Bible says you know when we look at the scriptures of the New Testament we see that whatever Jesus when he took them with him and he was friends with them and they saw his life. They saw the miracles that he did. They saw the way he walked in power and authority the way he had compassion on people and when they saw that the disciples opened up their lives to receive from Jesus. Right. They were ready to even come to a point of giving their life for the sake of Jesus. Right. So relationship is the foundation to bring the best out of people. Right. Peter probably saw himself as a fisherman. This is what I'm going to do. This is what I'm going to always be. But Jesus had other ideas and he had other plans. He probably saw himself as one despised as a tax collector ridiculed mocked by his own by his own people. But God saw something different. Right. So when we build relationships with people we bring out the best inside of them. Right. So remember we have to win their hearts before we can win their hands and the moment we win their hearts doing getting them to do things in their hands is a very, very simple task. Remember Jesus, what did you do? He won the hearts of the disciples and then he said, now you go and make disciples. That's the only thing he said. You go and make disciples and look at these 11 disciples and later they chose another person another disciple to replace Judas but look at his 12 disciples. They took the gospel across the world and they didn't have to do it but because of that relationship they built they were willing to use their hands. They were willing to step out and do the work. Right. So let's look at the second point. Step two is to develop ministers out of members. Right. When you develop that initial leadership initially develop that friendship then comes to test their willingness to serve. You take members, you give them opportunities. Right. You give them challenges. Challenge them to think like a leader. Challenge them to respond like leaders. Challenge them to do things in terms of being a leader. Right. So you take them from this place of just being members to a place of becoming leaders. Now during this period. Right. That's why the word here says develop them. So it's not a click of a button. It's not a switch where you switch on and the light comes on. You switch it off. Developing leaders is an ongoing process. Right. And in that process they will be many, many they will make many, many you know wrong decisions. They may falter, they may fail and they may also be very good at their work. Right. They may just have that inbuilt quality of leadership. And so we when we are raising up ministers to become members to become ministers some of the things that we can look for is outward attitudes. Right. Of course we know that God looks at our heart. But remember out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So what is their outward attitude? Do they spend time with people in the cell groups? Are they just walking in humility? Have they mentored new Christians? Right. And then if they've not mentored that you know maybe you could consider connecting people to them so they can just start ministry to people. They have to step out of their comfort zones. Leaders who have no heart for the lost or for mentor based discipleship groups which then become stagnant. So very important as leaders if we are if we don't have a heart for the loss if we don't have this attitude of hey right now I see this person I want to see him become a leader if there's no if that attitude is not there in the heart then what happens is this the cell group becomes stagnant. It stays the same. And it could just become a trap. How can it become a trap because you as a leader may just be doing the same things over and over and over again year after year but we're not seeing discipleship. We're not seeing raising up of leaders and that's what we want to see in ministry. So it's very important that as leaders when we look at people when we look at them members of our church or the cell group look at them develop them to become leaders and ministers right. So start small give opportunities and keep a check on them. Keep a check in the sense that you're not like you know always behind them. Did you do this but their heart attitudes how are they serving? Are they serving in freedom? Are they serving with all their heart? Is there humility? Are they able to you know take correction and apply the correction in their lives. All of these aspects matter. Step 3 in raising members to become leaders or ministers is to make the challenge. Now over time you've given them opportunities to minister to people within the cell group then you make the challenge for them. Hey why don't you start your own cell group. I see that you have grown and the things of God. I've seen that you've been learning, you've been studying, you've been connecting with people well so why don't you think about starting your own cell group and if they are ready to move and start a cell group feel free to release them right and we talked about this as believers and as children of God we must never hold back people but God has called us to release people into their calling and we may think hey this person has served with me for maybe 3 years or 5 years and sometimes in build such a connect that we don't want to let them go. Want them to be always with us because they are able to do everything. They are there for you they are getting everything done and sometimes we feel hey if I let them go then who's going to handle a lot of things within the cell group. That is a common thought that can come to our mind. The main goal is to see him become a leader otherwise he's going to be an eagle stuck in a cage and that's not what eagles are meant for. It is very important that as leaders we must be able to release people into their calling. Share what you've seen in him encourage him. Share what worked with him. Share that you worked along with them. He's a co-laborer remember the apostle Paul what does he say? He appoints Timothy as the pastor in the church at Ephesus and he writes to Timothy and he says Timothy is my fellow worker. He's my fellow brother. He's my co-laborer in Christ. I can only picture how Timothy would have felt because Timothy was with Paul since a very very young age and Timothy has seen Paul's ministry he has seen Paul grow. He has seen the way that Paul has given his life for the ministry and Paul is writing to the church believers and saying Timothy is a co-laborer. He has the same heart that I have and that is such a powerful word because what's going to happen is when the members in that church see Timothy they will have felt it will always be their mind that hey Paul said that they are Timothy is a co-laborer with Christ and so they will agree to be with Timothy. They will agree to be under his leadership and he has to be very encouraging. Step 4 help them to start their settle. Now if they have decided okay you have spoken to them and they decided okay I'm willing to start my own cell group work with them through the process until they can run it on their own. So this could be a lot of practical things number one is to help them to maybe set up a day and time for the cell group now that they've already been part of a cell group so they normally know how to handle a cell group but you just help them work with them, relate to them as a leader don't look at them as somebody who's under you you look at them as a leader okay now he's starting his own cell group so you talk to them as a leader because now they are starting their own cell group. Now a good cell leader does not do everything himself and he learns to delegate. Delegating work and responsibility is very important it is a sign of a good leader and we may know how to do it ourselves but we must learn to delegate. Okay Jesus what did he do? He chose he told his 12 disciples okay right in the middle of his ministry everything's going well he tells his disciples okay now you all go I'm going to send you all two by two to different places and when you go you will cast out demons you will heal the sick, you will cleanse the lepers, you will do everything that you have seen me do you will do. What is Jesus doing? He's delegating, he's giving them the authority he's saying you go and do it don't always be dependent on me because there'll come a time when I will not be there I'm going back to my father so you will have to do it and he delegates responsibilities and that's how even each one of us as believers as leaders we must learn to delegate it could be the smallest things so for example your cell group you delegate okay one person can choose the songs another person comes up with a quote out of the lyrics if required or sends the link of the song lyrics another person is in charge of prayer another person is in charge of ministry or the prayer requests that come in another person is in charge of maybe the snacks or anything that needs to be done within the cell group refreshments what's happening is you're delegating responsibilities a good leader makes the members to stretch themselves and taking them out of their comfort zone to reach higher goals stretch themselves as leaders when we raising up other leaders you will always see this not only in ministry but also in the corporate sector we see that in the marketplace your leader a good leader will stretch you because when we come out of our comfort zone we will reach higher places a good leader demonstrates and demands commitment as a leader you demonstrate okay this is what we expect and then you say this is what we want to see if you are committed to your ministry we are committed to as a leader this is the commitment that you will have to show right and very important a good leader does not tolerate complacency he can lose a fire and stirs up people God does not tolerate blue warm hearts it's very important for a leader to stir up people he says stir up a passion for your name stir up the gifts that are in you don't become complacent remember that people are going through different kinds of seasons there may be some who are weak and weary they are going through a terrible dark season in their life they just feel downcast, weary, tired all of that is there but as a leader we develop the ability to stir them up to rekindle the fire so for example if there is somebody in the cell group who says you know what I've been looking out for a job for the past six months and nothing has happened I've been doing everything right I've been reading God's word, I've been declaring in faith, I've been walking in faith but I don't see anything and it is very easy to lose heart there is nothing wrong in that, remember there are people but as a leader you kindle the fire you stir them up you say hey don't worry they are standing with you you know you can get anxious as to why nothing has happened but remember in your waiting God is working so let's stir up ourselves that's the heart of a leader, a good leader stirs up the other person gives them a push, you can put their feet off the ground and it's very important to do that now we may get different reactions so the person who you are speaking to may say but I've prayed for six months for a job, why is it not happening, what did I do wrong where did I go wrong, I'm a believer I've been trusting God's word and doing everything that God has asked me to do why is this happening to me, these are questions that will come up but as a leader of course we answer those questions, we help them to understand that sometimes God works in mysterious ways but we continue to trust in God, so we encourage them we build them up and we help them to rekindle that fire, it's very easy for a fire to go off remember the devil can come and just he can just make us feel weary, downcast and make us feel like whatever we are praying for there's no response and he can do that he can just pour some water on that little bit of fire and burn out that fire inside of us but remember God's word is living, it is alive it is sharper than a double-edged sword when we speak God's word, when we speak to our situations, no matter what it is we can hold on to the promises of God and say God I know that you are with me so we encourage people, all of our goldsmiths says this people sell them improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy if people are, if they don't have somebody that they can look up to, then they can hardly improve and here's the best thing, as believers you and I have people around us, men and women of God that we can learn from but we also have Jesus, the great hybrids, the great mediator whom we can go to, we can learn from his own life, what did Jesus do, in this situation what did Jesus do or what would Jesus do Lord I don't have anything at home I feel my hands are empty, go back to what Jesus did Jesus said cast all your burdens on me, I will care for you look at what Jesus did, he took the five loaves of bread, two fish he said thank you Father and he multiplied it so we pray on those lines, Lord this is what you have done and so as believers we raise up leaders, we encourage them, we put a heart of commitment, we help them to stretch themselves and eventually they become good leaders and you know here's another aspect that we can talk about, sometimes the other leader can become better than what we are, it's okay when they are under us, okay we keep telling them we can do this, do this, but what happens when they become a leader and they get better than us God our heart, right, discipleship the whole point of discipleship is to make the other person better than who we are, that's what it is, right Jesus said go and make disciples whatever I did you will do and greater things than these Jesus didn't say if you can just do how much I did that's enough, no, it's a grave of these you will also do that's the heart of a leader, right, any questions any thoughts, let me just check if there's any questions on the chat, okay the questions any questions, if any of you have a question or you've posted a question just stop me because I'm posting the I'm presenting the notes so I won't be able to see the question, just stop me and ask if you have any questions, right so let's get into the next portion and we'll look at the leader as a coach now when you hear the word coach or coaching the word coaching has many many thoughts, many things come to our mind, we can look at a coach as a leader of a team football coach, soccer team coach, cricket team coach, right so we have coaches now what does a coach do or why is a coach needed so let's look at a few of them, one, why coach people when a coach, when we have a coach you build a stronger team, the coach by nature knows each person and their abilities, right so for example you look at a soccer team, right now the coach knows who can go, who can be forward, right who can do what, okay so if it's penalty shootouts, it's using this example, right it's penalty shootouts, so the coach knows who to send and the coach also knows who can run faster, who is built stronger who is tactful in the mind who can plan, execute better, he knows who's who the coach knows every, probably there are 11 people in the team, he knows the abilities of all 11 of them so what the coach does is he uses their strengths and covers the weaknesses so the strengths are used and the team itself becomes a strong team, right rather than focusing on what the person cannot do a good coach will focus on what a person can do with their strengths so that the team gets stronger and helps people to enable people to rise to new levels and new challenges, to rise to new levels to rise to new challenges, right and that's what we want to see a coach helps people to rise to new levels then we can tell a person now I'm not sure if you have watched this movie I forget the name, it's a Christian movie facing the giants it's a wonderful Christian movie which talks about American football and how this team was a college team which lost all their team all tournaments, they've never won for more than a decade and how this coach was going through his own personal challenges and he was almost going to lose his job and how he sought God and God just strengthened him he enabled the entire team through godly principles, he used the entire team he used the strengths of the team, he's college going students and he raised up a team that was able to get to the national level and win at the most prestigious of all college university tournaments the same people, the same team that lost years after years, same they were able to rise up to a new level we coach people to begin to attract people and attract people who desire to be coached so there's a difference there are some of them who want to be coached, some of them who don't want to be coached so if you want to be coached when they come, as a leader you're there to teach and to coach them so what is coaching, what does it really mean? coaching is the process of equipping people with tools, knowledge and opportunities they need to develop themselves and become more effective it is the process of equipping people with the tools, knowledge and opportunities they need to develop themselves and become more effective, that's what coaching is sometimes, sometimes when we are ministering to people all they need is a little push all they need is a word of encouragement sometimes all they need is a little bit of teaching other times there are people in ministry all they need is an opportunity they're waiting for that opportunity they just need that opportunity, give me one opportunity they want that door to be open to somebody, a young boy or a youth who is praying for an opportunity to lead the worship there's no opportunities yet but when the opportunity is given they can do really well there are sometimes young people who like to teach and preach I remember this happened quite a few years back I began to somebody told me about David Guzik he writes these commentaries, he's done a commentary of the entire Bible and I just happened to open up Enduring Word, that's what his website is so David Guzik is a powerful teacher of God's Word so he's from the entire commentary of the Bible he's putting in the historical facts, some geographical facts very very interesting when I got my hands on it, meaning when I went online and began to read I was so grateful because there was so much material that we could learn from that somebody, hey why don't you, you know, since you're teaching why don't you go to this website Enduring Word and remember this person just told me that and it was a tool that really built me I learned so much and continued to learn from that and it just equipped me so much, all it was was a tool and with that tool I've been able to learn and grow so coaching, coaches don't develop people, they equip people to develop themselves, you see that mentors develop people, they keep teaching them okay do this, do this, do this, but coaches they equip people to develop themselves, so basically by saying, why don't you do this why don't you use this material or use this website or you give them an opportunity you have to do, so for example your pastor may come up to you and say, next Sunday at the youth meeting you preach now he's not telling you what to preach, you're saying you preach so you have to go back prepare yourself, come up with a sermon come up with a sermon notes and points to practice the sermon probably, come up with good examples and you have to prepare you have to do it, you have to spend time with God and you will have to speak, that's what coaches do they open those opportunities and they help you to equip yourselves to develop yourself okay, so yes mentor this mentoring and this coaching, some of them may overlap but coaches they equip people to develop themselves, say hey you can do this you can do it, you can run the hundred meters, you can run a 400 meters we may tell ourselves hey I can't run, but the coaches say you can run, you try it, you never tried it, but you can if you try it you can, some of you know many people have come and said to me, you know I can't read the Bible because when I read, probably I read one chapter and I'm this tired it's alright, so one of the things I always tell young people especially is when they're reading the Bible always imagine it that's powerful right, so you for example you're reading about Jesus, how he changed water and the wine, so you're looking at a, you know you're reading you're imagining it, looking in your mind's eye, you're making it into a movie you're imagining what's happening, okay you see a young Jesus 30 years old, right, you see a feast everyone are just, you know, enjoying their peace and you see a young Jesus, he's sitting with some of his friends, it's just a wedding nobody knows who's, Jesus hasn't revealed himself as a messiah right, nobody knows who he is, they just know him as a carpenter's son so he's there, everyone know his brothers, his sisters they know his mother as well, he's come for the wedding and then there's chaos on the back, what's happened, there's no wine, wine has run out, you know you also think about certain things, right, okay, so the Jewish weddings lasted for about seven days and so the wine was over so probably it was almost towards the end of the wedding that Jesus and his family have come, but it's an embarrassing thing when you know that wine is over, it's a bad name through the family and then you look at, you're just picturing it the whole thing so Jesus is there, he says okay go fill the water pots this is his first miracle, he says go give it, imagine the worker, so what you're doing is you're imagining it and so when you're reading the Bible, it doesn't become boring it doesn't become a task or an actual aid to the Bible no, it becomes interesting there's a simple glimpse that you can do people, when you look at the old Testament, look at the people coming out of Egypt or Daniel in the limestone, think of Joseph when you're reading those stories, powerful powerful stories, picture it in your mind's eye and then you get interested to read, right, and many of them have been able to learn it, it was a simple thing a simple suggestion given that many of them have applied it and used it to develop themselves and so there will be times as cell group leaders and leaders in the church, people will come and say these things give them the right, what would be the wrong thing to say at this time I can't read the word, people you would say I can't read and the wrong thing to say would be cast out that spirit of laziness and all of those things, it's nothing, there's no spirit of laziness it's just that, you know, there's so many distractions so how do we get them to focus on the word give them some suggestions, right so giving the right suggestion at the right time, some of the things you and I can do when we are coaching work one on one, take advantage of coachable moments, this is the most powerful thing that we can do and we see this a lot happening parents and children, right a lot, I do this a lot with my kids and I always wait for good coachable moments and give it to them, give them and so for example you know you know once one of my kids came up to me and I said, how can Jonah be in the belly of a fish, how come he didn't get swallowed and I knew okay, so what I'm going to say now is going to be with him for a long time it's going to go into, because what we say as parents is it's very important, so what do I say it's a coachable moment, what I say imagine if I say, you know don't worry that it's an old testament, God just protected Jonah and anyway Jonah came out right, so it's alright, I've lost a coachable moment but he used that moment and you take advantage of that moment and you say okay God, give me the right words to say now, so I remember just sharing with him what happens when we disobey God, you know we want to do something on our own, we go away from God God has a way of bringing us back and he does miracles, he protected, there's a wall of protection around Jonah, but if you look at Jonah, he knew he did wrong he confessed his sins, he asked God to forgive him and that's when God spared his life so when we sin also, we ask forgiveness how will we have Jesus, we have the cross and we ask forgiveness God will forgive us and that's a coachable moment and we say okay if I sin, I know if I go back to God, ask forgiveness, he will forgive us and he will restore us by possible moment and these moments, there will be plenty of them coming to you as leaders, plenty so work one on one, take advantage of those coachable moments sometimes you may not know what to say ask the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit give me the right word give me the right thing to say at this time and the Holy Spirit will minister to them die people to learn for themselves let people learn for themselves, don't sin to share our experiences, to share the things that work, good lessons and places where we have failed we are here to help them, we are here to give them feedback, give them information, give them tools but we are not here to spoon feed others, especially if you're raising up leaders, they need to learn it for themselves Jesus didn't say okay, we'll make teams of 2x2s and then I'll stand at the back and you all speak I'll just stand and watch you all, he didn't do that he let them, he said go go do what you have to do, go and preach, go and teach but I will guide you on how to do this it's been a long time he guided them, so as coaches we guide people to learn for themselves because if we keep doing it, it becomes a habit and then what happens is it's just going to remain that way he'll do it for me, so that's not what it is we must be able to, good coaches help people to learn for themselves, orchestrate resources and opportunities not only equip people to learn but intervene with others on their behalf, meaning so for example, you have somebody in your cell group to start their own cell group, maybe you're in church you say hey, can I join your cell group I'm interested to join a cell group, what you can do is you can also say hey, we also have another new cell group it's a wonderful cell group, it's a wonderful leader and we are looking for people to connect with this cell group, so why don't you connect with this cell group it's a wonderful place, I can connect you to the leader so what are you doing, you're orchestrating opportunities so then you speak to this life group leader and say I met a family on Sunday they're interested to be part of life group, here's their number can they call them, connect with them, what are you doing with this opportunity, or I could have ended this by saying yeah sure, you could come to my life group, this is my number called me before coming, what's happening so we're not orchestrating an opportunity for the others or for example, there's something that I have a resource that I have that has really helped me you share it with others, share it with the other leaders and the people who you're ministering to now it could be something as simple as a document or how to prepare a PPT, very simple thing so orchestrate all of these resources and opportunities open doors for new experiences as coaches we must encourage our people to take risks and these risks taking should be intelligent ones and not just random risks but take good risks now especially if you are in a cell group it's not going to be much of risks taking but when you grow into higher levels of leadership you may have to take risks especially making decisions so you help them to do that as a leader and as a coach some of us may feel hey I'm not a coach, why am I learning about all this, remember that coaching is an aspect of the cycle so there will become opportunities where sometimes people don't want to be mentored, they just want a suggestion, what should I do they don't want to be mentored every day, they don't have time for it what should I do, this is what you can do you're giving them a one line suggestion or one line answer to their question just look at a few coaching strategies before we close, forge a partnership meaning build trust and understanding so that people want to work with you build trust, build partnership, build understanding inspire commitment get people to be committed, focus on the goals that matter for them, tell them hey gotta be committed to what you're doing because what you're doing is it matters in the kingdom of God the bible says be faithful and small and bigger things will come to you so you're inspiring them to be committed it's very easy to lose commitment especially when we don't see growth and we don't see things changing in our natural life, in our physical life but you can encourage them by saying hey what you're doing is you're building God's kingdom you're great as a reward in heaven, nobody may reward you here but your reward in heaven is great inspire commitment, grow your skills, build new competencies to ensure people know how to do what is required so even as you're looking at the spiritual aspect, it's also important to look at the technical or the tactical aspects of growing your skills we talked about right, people's skills, so as a leader we need to keep developing our people skills, our counselling skills these are skills and competencies as leaders we must need to continue to build and grow on promote persistence to build stamina and discipline as a leader, it's very easy sometimes where we get into this monotonous routine where we have life group we have self-group, prayer group, Bible study group it's just become a routine but it's very important to be persistent fan into flame, build stamina, build discipline sometimes we just don't want to do, don't feel like doing it I would share this as pastors, sometimes we don't feel like praying because we're tired we feel very tired sometimes but tell ourselves, we have to pray we have to spend time in God's presence we build stamina, we build that discipline and over time we're able to overcome these challenges that we may slip discipline is built over the years so it takes a lot of effort to become disciplined it's not like it's not discipline is not important, it's very important and so we need that discipline but as we keep doing it in small aspects in our life we know that we can just become stronger and be more persistent in the things of God nothing in the world can take the place of persistence talent will not, genius will not, education will not we have talent, no persistence many, many, many people who are very talented in terms of singing and music they probably go for classes and you know after a couple of classes they say hey, you know I don't feel like doing this or there's no, there's no determination to learn or there's no persistence and many people, they have a wonderful year for music, they sing so wonderfully talent but without discipline and stamina it's not going to help you know many people who are very well-learned but they've got nothing, why no discipline in life and so it's very important to promote persistence, be persistent, scriptures teach us about persistence, persistent widow went on knocking until she got a response finally, shape the environment, build support remove barriers, open doors for people shape the environment, it's not like you're saying okay I will look, I will make everything perfect for the person who is going to start their life no, you're just building support there could be barriers that you could help them remove these could be simple things or there could be doors that you can help them open help them, shape their environment and then when you release them into leadership, let them handle their own environment, let them, they're always there to give advice and counsel let them be able to fight their own battles, don't go searching for their battles and fighting it for them don't force control or manipulate people nobody can force anybody to be someone they don't want to be, don't force, don't manipulate let them do what they have to do, as I said let them fight their own battle, let them walk their own walk of faith, but you're always there to encourage and strengthen, if you want to be a good coach be coachable, right, so we'll go, we'll stop here and in our next class we'll get into mentoring another Christian, we'll look at different aspects of mentoring, right, so thank you so much for being here, have a good weekend and I'll see you on Wednesday for our next session, thank you God bless you all.