Presented by Derek Morris
22 August, 2012 Rogaška Slatina, Slovenia [John Surridge, tedNEWS] Pastor Derek Morris is known to virtually all Adventist pastors in the world, mainly through his television ministry. He currently works with the Ministerial Association of the GC but, as he pointed out to the assembled pastors, he is originally from Bristol, England, and has a special place in his heart for the Trans-European Division.
After bringing greetings from other pastors around the world Pastor Morris got to the heart of his message for the day: ministry is not easy, the Great Controversy is real, and Satan is ready to disrupt our work whenever he can. But God is greater than all our challenges. By adopting a few simple biblical principles we can avoid being distracted by “misplaced devotion” and be more effective in our ministry.
Working from the book of Acts, Pastor Morris focused on chapter 6 where the rapidly growing church ran into a problem. There was a complaint against the Jews from the Hellenists: their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. This problem threatened to derail the mission of the church. How the disciples dealt with it was key to the future of the Great Commission, and it is key to us today as we continue that work.
Three key points emerge from the text, the first of which is “delegation”. Those who are called to a specific ministry should not be diverted or distracted by other needs, however pressing, said Pastor Morris. He illustrated this truth from his own personal experience. When he was called to pastor a 2,600 member church in Florida he was physically unable to deal with the administrative overload that some wanted to burden him with. Miraculously he found someone who was willing to take on the task and through the efforts of this one key person all 600 volunteer positions identified by his church’s nominating committee were filled.
This kind of thing doesn’t happen automatically, said Pastor Morris. One mistake that we often make is to delegate responsibility to the wrong people – and this actually creates more work for us. Acts 6:3 gives the characteristics that are essential in people to whom we delegate responsibility: they need to be of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and full of wisdom.
Although this might seem to be a tall order, Pastor Morris insisted that many of our members are not only willing to serve God they are actively looking for ways in which they can do it.
A second, and vitally important, principle found in the text is prayer. In Acts 6:3 the disciples said, “we will give ourselves continually to prayer.” Through a number of moving examples Pastor Morris told of how God had blessed his churches once they became actively engaged in prayer ministry. It’s not just personal prayer but it’s the way that we lead our churches into effective prayer that is important, he said.
A third principle from the text that can prevent us being led astray by misplaced devotion is study of God’s word – but not just study. “Total immersion” is a phrase we are familiar with in the context of baptism: Pastor Morris applied it to Bible study. Citing the example of H M S Richards who read through the Bible 160 times, Pastor Morris challenged the pastors: “Saturate your life with God’s word!”
When these three principles were applied by the disciples, the results were amazing: the word of God spread and the number of disciples multiplied greatly. Appealing as a pastor to other pastors, Pastor Morris admitted that these consequences may not always be immediately visible. “We are not responsible for how many people respond,” he said. “But if we preach the word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit then the word will spread and the number of disciples will be multiplied”.
In a final moving appeal Pastor Morris challenged his audience: “Don’t be too busy doing other things. Do you long for God to move you to the next level of effectiveness? Then don’t be distracted by misplaced devotion. Delegate, and saturate your life with prayer and the ministry of God’s word.” [tedNEWS]
tedNEWS Staff: Miroslav Pujic, director; Deana Stojkovic, editor; Dragana Selakovic-Duval, Frederic Duval & Tor Tjeransen, photographers
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