The BiVo Minister Blog

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What does it really cost to follow Jesus and serve as a pastor? On this episode of the BiVo Podcast, I share some personal experiences of the cost and benefits of being a pastor!!!

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I picked this book from the public library in Cornwall, Ontario. I thought I would take a look at it and read it sometime later.

As soon as I started reading it, I knew that I would have to suspend the other books I was reading to finish this one.

It has been a very good and profitable read. I encourage you to pick up a copy. On this episode of the BiVo Podcast, I do a mini review of the book.

This book is filled with good stuff. However, if you are going to read just one chapter, read Chapter 2 – “What questions do I ask myself as a leader?.

Listen to the podcast to get the questions or better still buy the book!

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When I first learned about the importance of having a God-inspired vision, I thought I had discovered something quite powerful. And yes it has really made a big impact on my life. What I did not learn at that time is that it is even more important to learn how to communicate my God-inspired vision with the right people. And again very important to communicate it often.

In this episode of the BiVo Podcast, I share what I have learned about communicating my God-inspired vision with the right people:

• How to communicate your Vision
• When to Communicate your vision
• With whom to communicate your vision

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When I wake up in the morning and begin to run around doing what I have to do, I am often reminded that I need to be running the vision that is inspired by God not the one inspired by my ambition.

I am amazed at the amount of impact (positive or negative) that an individual can make these days. How a young man or woman can create a youtube channel and make videos that would have millions of subscribers and billions of views. With this, they could make millions of dollars in a year.

There are so many “shiny” projects and “not so shiny” stuff out there that we could be running after. How many of these pursuits are God inspired and how many of them are simply our ambition?

Don’t get me wrong. Having a God-inspired vision can look like having a big ambition. Think of Jesus’ great commission to His disciples to disciple nations.

I don’t think it is humanly possible for me to tell you or anyone else that you are following your ambition and not a God-inspired vision. What I intend to do on this episode of the BiVo podcast is to highlight some thoughts that can help you and I discern for ourselves whether we are running a God-Inspired Vision or just inspired by our ambitions.

Here are some thoughts:

• A God-Inspired Vision would be much bigger than you possibly can accomplish without God’s help
• It will draw you closer to God and make you more like Jesus
• It will be beyond you. You will need other people who would have to make sacrifices in order for you and them to fulfill the vision.
• It will draw other people to God and help them become like Jesus.
• You will face some serious opposition from people and otherwise.
• You will need to trust God for resources
• The vision will seem to impact you and your family more than anyone else.
• You would need God’s help always as you work on the vision
• You will become more humble as the work increases.

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I came to Canada in December 2000 to get a Masters of Engineering in Electrical and Computer Engineering. How did I end up as a pastor? How did I decided to leave all that training to pursue Ministry? How then did I decide to continue to earn money on the side as a BiVo Minister?

In this episode of the BiVo Podcast, I answer the question of how to capture your God-given vision by sharing my own story.

But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. Act 9:15

Our Lord Jesus Christ has a vision of bringing the Kingdom of God to earth and reconciling God’s lost children back to Him. It is this vision that we plug into.

Receiving your God-given vision is, therefore, finding out how you will contribute to this vision that our Lord Jesus Christ has. How do you see yourself in the big picture of what our Lord Jesus is doing?

Here are a few pointers

• Develop a deep-seated desire to please God with your whole life (Jesus has the original vision)
• Be convinced that whatever God desires for your life is the best that you can ever be.
• Spend time in Prayer and Fasting to verify and confirm the direction that you have received in your heart.
• Confirm the Holy Spirit’s direction with your spouse, other family members, pastor, and God-loving friends.
• Receive the courage to take the first steps as well as the courage to continue.
• Have respect for others who have gone ahead with a similar vision, and learn from them or their materials.
• Consistently spend time in Prayer and Fasting for direction as the details of the vision unfold.
• Enjoy the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ as He works things out within the vision.

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Vision is your conviction of what the future looks like! It is a glimpse of what your future or that of your team looks like.

Here are a few thoughts about vision for a BiVo Minister

We don’t create our vision, we receive it from God. – We find in scriptures that God has a good plan for His people, that God has a good and perfect will that we can know and that we are co-laborers with Christ – These scriptures show that we can safely seek and discover what our Lord Jesus has planned for us.

It is different from ambition, “a great idea”, something cool, “what ought to be done” or anything that is simply about you.

For the follower of Jesus, your personal vision is how you plug into the declared vision of Jesus. The vision of Jesus is that the Kingdom of God would come upon the earth. That the will of God will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.

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One of the chapters in the book “Developing the Leader Within you 2.0” by John Maxwell is titled “The Indispensable Quality of Leadership: Vision”. In today’s episode of the BiVo Podcast, I share a few of the lessons I learnt from this chapter.

I’ll start by defining Vision – Vision is your conviction of what the future looks like! I believe it is a glimpse of what your future or that of your team looks like.

• Make sure the vision is clear – If vision isn’t clear, then the mist in your mind will eventually become a fog in your organization.
• Find People that will help you with the vision – “When we find our vision, we find our way. However, there is another discovery that is equally important – the people who will join us on the journey to fulfill that vision.”
• Share the vision as often as possible – When done right, it can never be too often – Without [vision], a team’s energy ebbs, people begin to miss deadlines, team members’ personal agendas begin to dominate, production falls, and eventually team members scatter.
• Actively seek to be with people who can enlarge you and your vision – Are you actively searching for people who can enlarge you and your vision? Is it one of your top priorities? If it’s not, it should be.
• Know that the vision is progressive – There is always more to see if you prepare yourself to see more.

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Pastoring is leadership! In pastoring, your goal is to encourage people to be all that God created them to be. You are called to encourage them, inspire them and influence them to accept the gift of salvation and become salt and light of the earth.

As BiVo Pastors, we must learn to increase our level of influence with the people we serve. In this episode of the BiVo podcast, I share a few tips on how to do just that. The entire discussion is based on John Maxwell’s 5 Levels of Leadership that I introduced in episode 31 of the podcast.

Here is a summary of the tips. Please share your thoughts in the comment section at the end of the post.

If you are a pastor, you are at different levels of leadership with all the different people you are serving. Run through a few of the key people in your church family and try to determine what the level of your leadership with them is. Then use some of the tips below to begin the process of increasing your level of leadership.

Take note that you can get the definition of the levels of leadership from the previous podcast episode here.

1. Level 2 – Permission – Genuinely love the people you are leading and show it to them. I find that listening and empathy is very important here.
2. Level 3 – Production– Get some result! As a pastor this will be inviting your neighbors to church, embodying the messages you preach, lead a successful Lifegroup, etc! Building the kingdom of God
3. Level 4 – Personal Development – You expose the people you are serving to resources and opportunities that will make it possible for them to replace you! You consciously work at raising leaders and experts! Be observant so that you can discover the natural, spiritual and ministry gifts of the people around you, then do whatever is within your power to develop these gifts
4. Level 5 – Pinnacle – This level is given to you after years of consistent delivery of results as well as years of developing new leaders!

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The BiVo Pastor or Minister must be a very good leader because ministry is “influence”. Dr Maxwell defines leadership primarily as “influence” in his book titled “Developing the Leader within you 2.0”.

In todays episode of the BiVo Podcast, I share my thoughts on the concept of the 5 Levels of Leadership. Here are the 5 levels.

1. Position
2. Permission
3. Production
4. People Development
5. Pinnacle

It’s neat that they all begin with the letter “P” so that we can easily remember them.

If you would like to know more about the 5 levels of Leadership or read the book, here is the link to it. (Full disclosure – The link to the book is an affiliate link. This means that I get a little commission when you purchase through this link at no extra cost to you of course)