Building Blocks and Roadblocks of Influence
We all have the potential of influence. Influence is defined as a person or thing with the capacity or power to have an effect on someone or something.
God wired us for influence. This influence is of God, not of ourselves. He transforms us, equips us, empowers us and positions us to serve Him. In the course of seeking where God wants to use us, we can start with a few primary building blocks.
Building blocks
Prayer
This one is so obvious that we can easily fail to highlight it. If influence is God’s doing, we must hear from Him. Prayer is our position of trusting God for guidance. It is the evidence of our dependence. The convictions needed to step into ministry opportunities are forged through prayer.
Prayer takes time and silence. Extended time in the presence of God is the answer to the usual doubts, objections and criticisms that accompany most new ventures for Christ. Through prayer, we find the courage to trust Him as we persevere through the difficulties.
A spirit of restlessness
Pastor and author John Piper writes that effective leaders possess a spirit of restlessness, a discontent with the status quo. It is this spirit of restlessness that fuels the urge to change things, to move, grow or remedy something.
In Romans 12:11, Paul exhorts Christ-followers with the words “not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.”
Following a 40-year career of reaching and discipling men of influence, I expected to roll into my final years content with what I had learned and taught about discipleship. The reality is just the opposite! I am increasingly restless about some changes needed in discipleship:
–that we find better ways to engage people as disciplers.
–that we adjust discipleship to address the conflicting values of the culture.
–that we emphasize heart transformation instead of mere behavioral change.
–that mining the depths of the Scriptures is more profitable than books and blogs.
–that we call people to Lordship in this age of narcissism.
To be restless is good—it moves us to action.
A pursuit of all that God saved me for
In Philippians 3, Paul listed the credentials that could have given him confidence before God. He counted them as worthless compared to knowing Christ. He sought “to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” (Philippians 3:10 NASB).
Paul continued in verse 12: “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.”
Paul was determined to realize everything about God’s purpose for him. His life was being transformed so that his life could be used.
When we are passively indifferent to the reasons that God has redeemed us and transformed us, we miss out on some of the most incredible opportunities in life.
The mission of God requires that believers leverage their lives for His glory. (Willis & Coe, Life on Mission)
A like-minded team
An African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”
A like-minded team provides an advantage for planning, creativity, endurance and progress. It changes the landscape of every ministry.
I once attended a conference in Dallas for NFL athletes and their chaplains. We met to discuss ways to expand the ministry in the NFL. One afternoon 30 of us played paintball in a remote wooded valley with a creek running through it. The first game was every man for himself. The men had five minutes to scatter among the trees and boulders before the firing could begin; the last man standing unpainted won. We regrouped for the second game and the men were divided into two teams identified by an armband. The last team with a man standing unpainted won.
When the athletes were asked to compare the two games, they stood in awe. It was so obvious that when the men played alone, they were cautious, defensive, in tedious survival mode. When they played as teams, they were bold, sacrificial, tactical and aggressive.
The same is true when we take on ministry opportunities. Share the vision, share the load, share the joy,…expand the impact.
Roadblocks
Anything we do in serving God will be met with roadblocks that can diminish our effectiveness. A few stand out–
Fear
God addressed fear in almost every Old Testament leader. They feared the magnitude, the unknowns, the hurdles and the responsibility of the task before them. God never changed what He asked people to do because of their fears; He assured them that He would go before them.
We are no different from the Old Testament leaders. We are too easily stopped or slowed when consumed with wondering how it will go, what people will think and what it will cost us.
I recently spoke with a man who had stepped out of ministry activity for a few years, then returned to a ministry that God clearly convicted him to take this spring. After a few months into the task, his progress was threatened by several conflicts between people. He wondered how things could take this turn when God obviously opened the door.
I referred him to a verse I had read that very morning. The apostle Paul spoke of traveling soon to visit the church in Corinth. Writing from Ephesus, he said “a wide door for effective service has opened for me, and there are many adversaries.” 1 Corinthians 16:9 (NASB)
I am not sure if Paul was speaking as a “matter-of-fact” or in a comical tone! We rarely connect effective service with “many adversaries,” but they often go together. The difficulties inherent to good opportunities are no surprise to Him, or a reason to be hindered by fear.
Unsettled priorities
When we fail to lock in our priorities, it leads to an inability to say “no” to good things.
God gave me the friendship of a wise businessman (Paul) about the age of my dad when I was in my early 30’s. He understood ministry and its pitfalls. Paul recognized my eagerness to add new opportunities to a full schedule as the chaplain of the Cleveland Browns, Indians and Cavaliers. He countered my eagerness with a simple statement: the need is not the call. The presence of a need or a significant new opportunity did not mean that God was calling me to take it. I listened to Paul, but not well enough.
Why do men shoulder too many opportunities at their family’s expense? Our wives and children make sacrifices for us to be involved in ministry, but God does not call us to sacrifice them.
An opportunity with the potential of impact touches something in the soul of a man. We are wired to move, fix and change things. When we see God accomplish the supernatural in a ministry, it is nearly addictive. We want more. Without settled priorities, men are in danger of their ministry becoming their mistress.
Fear keeps us from taking opportunities we should take; unsettled priorities tempt us to take opportunities we shouldn’t take.
Distorted perspectives
Our perspectives can easily become distorted. For example, when we become passionate about a ministry, we can become critical of others who don’t share the same commitment to our cause. We can use human criteria to elevate one ministry over another. Men often let ministry involvement become a substitute for their personal time with God.
Another distortion of perspective occurs when men take their significance from their ministry. If we measure our significance by the size of the impact, we will chase the wrong things. In God’s economy, the size of a ministry doesn’t equate to a level of significance.
The first temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 587BC. The Book of Haggai describes the rebuilding of the temple over 70 years later (@516BC). When the temple was finished, the older leaders were discouraged that it was not as majestic as the first temple. The prophet Haggai put it in perspective, reminding them that the real glory of the temple would be a result of the presence of God, not the size of the building.
We are quick to measure the obvious results and miss that it is God’s business what he does with it. Consider the one cancer patient you encourage: he or she adopts an attitude of hope, triggering a ripple effect as family and friends turn their focus to Jesus. Think about the man you invite into a small accountability group: he recommits to leading his family, perhaps his son turns to Jesus, who then becomes a ministry leader on his college campus, leads a friend to Christ who becomes a missionary to Turkey… Wait until heaven for the full results.
If we take care of the depth of ministry, God will handle the breadth. (John MacArthur)
Go to YouTube, type in “dominoes falling” and check out the action. Ministry with people is like a chain of falling dominoes. You may tip just one domino, but a whole chain of them will be toppled as a result. The same is true of ministry in the service of Jesus.
We each have our unique set of roadblocks, either inherent to a ministry opportunity or unique to our own personal circumstances. God will navigate us through them if we are willing to walk by faith.
NEXT STEPS—
Interested in understanding how God has prepared you for influence? Check out INFLUENCERS, In His Service, a free pdf. download for individual or small group study. (Found in the Catapult Ministries website, under Influence/Resources) It is a helpful guide through the Scriptures to investigate how God has wired each of us for His service.