Chapter 6
The Visionaries Need You!
-
They dream it - but you really make it happen
-
It takes a team. Not the Lone Ranger concept.
- The big head won’t get far without the neck
(or heads
will roll)
Did you ever see the Headless Horseman movie? The one who rides
around in the woods on the horse during the night? (I guess since he can’t see,
it doesn’t matter if it is day or night though, huh?)
Now imagine a head riding around on a horse without a neck,
or without the rest of the body. Maybe it could happen in a sci-fi movie, but
not in a business or ministry.
Visionaries dream the dreams, speak the dreams, share the
dreams, and desire the dreams to come about. But without you, the other leadership, administrator
and the support team (the rest of the body), not much will happen. The Lord has
purposely set it in place that His whole Body will be needed for His work to be
fulfilled.
You are a very vital part of the work, and without you doing
your part, the visionary may not see his or her dream come to fruition. And
without you realizing your importance and place in this part of the body, it most
likely won’t happen. Or at least not to the extent that the Lord knows it can be,
and wants it to be.
Without the neck to support the head, which will then allow
the head to move about, the head may end up just “rolling around”, or being the
Headless Horseman riding through the woods, trying to make the dream or vision
happen. (Or is this the real picture when we hear or say that the “heads will
roll”? A bit comical it is, I think.)
Visionaries need the administrators. They need the team. They can’t “move”
without them – in the natural nor in the spiritual.
When I was a younger man, I was with the second ministry
that I was blessed to work with, Mahesh Chavda Ministries. Early on in the job
as the administrator, I was a bit shaky and lacking much needed confidence. Since
1978, when I first met Mahesh Chavda in LaSalles-Peru, Illinois, I had a real desire to work with this ministry, but
after a number of what I thought were “closed doors”, it looked like it was not
going to happen.
(L-R) Andrew Maki, Art Maki, Bonnie Chavda
The Barn - 1995 in Charlotte, NC
The Lord had been the One who opened this door, in a very
clear way earlier, but the right timing had to come to pass, and both sides
involved needed to have confirming words that this was indeed the Lord. Unknown
to me at the beginning, I would serve with this ministry team for 14 years. A
good foundational building for the long term needed to be established, and it
was important that we each realized this, as much as we were capable of knowing
it.
We see in part, and know in part. So often the Lord needs to
give us confirming words of encouragement along the way, to help us keep going,
and do what is necessary to keep building the spiritual building.
Two prophetic words were spoken to me, one prior to my
coming on staff with MCM, and one during the initial years. The first one
occurred during the summer of 1990, in Kansas City, where I had gone with my
family to assist Mahesh Chavda at a conference, while on our vacation. Nine
months earlier I was supposed to have started with Mahesh Chavda Ministries,
but what looked like a “death blow” to the connection had taken place, leaving
me almost without a job either at Derek Prince Ministries or MCM. My family and
I were thus preparing to move from Fort Lauderdale back to either the Midwest,
in the land where Laurie and I grew up, or to Charlotte, NC, where things seemed
to be happening spiritually.
At the end of the conference where we were at in Kansas City,
I had gone up to the platform to help “catch” those who were “slain in the Spirit”
during the prayer time. Jim Goll, one of the leaders and speakers of the host
Kansas City Fellowship, and having a well known prophetic ministry, came over
to me at the end of the prayer time, and spoke this very encouraging word,
which put faith back into my heart.
“You are the very one whom this minister needs, to do that which the Lord wants to have done through him. There is not another at this time. It is you whom he needs as the administrator. You have what he needs. You are the man, not another.”
Five months later the Lord’s time came to pass, for me to come on full time on the team of Mahesh and Bonnie Chavda, as the Administrator. But during that long five months (and even during the times of doubt that still came later), I made it a point to re-read this prophetic word that had kept me hoping and waiting for the right time to come.
(L-R) Steve Martin, Mike Adams, Mahesh Chavda,
Jodie Goodman, Leslie Adams
Another encouraging word was spoken to me within the first
year in this position. Wanting to do the best I could, with my heart desiring to
see Africa, Israel, and the other nations touched that this ministry had an affect in, I had concerns that I still didn’t have what was needed for the job.
With only one year of college, no degree, and other “lacks” and skills that the
world says you need to be an administrator, the concerns seemed understandable
and justified.
Bonnie, who I considered my pastor in certain aspects,
believing she understood many things I was going through in trying to serve
properly, spoke a word to me “out of the blue”. As I was doing yard work around
their home, as part of my duties, she came up to me and said that my
administrative skills weren’t just something I had learned in the natural, but
was indeed a spiritual gift that the Lord had given me. I had a gift from the
Lord, which was in administration. (The Scriptures call it the “gift of helps”
as one description.)
That was the first time I had ever heard that. I thought the
administrative skills, knowledge and wisdom that I had were strictly due to my
upbringing, which certainly had its important part, or the “learning on-the-job”
that I had received in my prior fifteen years of management.
What this did was reveal to me that the Lord had placed me
in this spiritual position. It was His gifts given to me, for His purposes to
be fulfilled, that enabled me to do the job that needed to be done. My lack of
natural training was “overlooked” because His Holy Spirit, working in and
through me, gave me wisdom and understanding to support the visionary and the
ministry.
What I came to understand even more, as the Holy Spirit
continued to bring understanding to this gift in my life, was that this gift is
one of the foundational stones necessary to build a strong building, and
support the work placed upon it. He continued to show me the need that exits
within the body of Christ, requiring this gifting, and even more specifically,
those who are called to be the visionaries and whom serve in the apostolic
work, need this gifting.
The head needs the neck to rest on, move about with, and be
a connector to the rest of the body in the church, or the business staff.
Hey, the visionaries need you, the administrators, staff leaders and all the rest! Do your part!
Ahava ("love" in Hebrew) and shalom!
Steve Martin
Founder/President
Love For His People, Inc.
Love For His People, Inc. truly appreciates your generous support. Please consider sending a monthly charitable gift of $5-$25 each month to help us bless Messianic Jews in Israel.
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Note: To read the Intro, Chapter Listings and first five chapters, please use the Search Box in the top right hand corner of this Blog, and enter "Leadership Through Love." Be blessed in your reading!
1. A Gift for His Purposes
2. Use the Tools You Have, But Not the Staff
- Treasure the people, while digging the foundations
- Do unto them as you would…
- Bless and curse not: honor those who serve with you
3. Right Man (or Woman!) for the Job
- All are created equal – make the most of this!
- If the Shoe Fits, Have Them Wear It
- It IS Who You Know and Are Known By
- Hire To Complement Your Strengths
- if you are weak, then they are strong
5. Burn Candles At Both Ends? – NOT!
- Trust in Him at all times
- We all are given 24 hours each day
6. The Visionaries Need You!
- They dream it - you make it happen
- Head Won’t Get Far without the Neck
8. It Doesn’t All Depend On You
- The Lord is the Rock – Not You
- Whose strength - yours or His?
- Trustworthy managers and assistants
9. Practically Speaking…and Walking
- Handle each piece of paper once
- File so you can find it!
- Early morning – before the others come
10. Meetings – Time-manger or Time-waster?
- Do you really need all those meetings?
- Why Morning and Mid-Week?
- Prov. 24:6 “By wise counsel…multitude of counselors
11. Acknowledge Him in All Your Ways
12. Another Man’s Vineyard
- Follow & help fulfill their vision
- Faithful with another’s
- Learn and growth until your time
- The proper way of moving on
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