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| (I took this picture of Dan and Allie and the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul.) |
People need the Lord. Therefore, introduce people to the Lord. How can this happen?
1. Know the Lord yourself. Cultivate the God-relationship. Abide in Christ, hourly.
2. Teach people how to enter into the presence of God. Show them how to abide in Christ.
3. Tend the garden. The abiding person's life will bear much fruit.
That's it.
That's all a pastor-shepherd needs to do.
This is about the Presence-Driven Church, which is the only church worth living for. (During Jesus' time the Temple fell because the religious leaders shut the door to the presence of God.)
Pastors facilitate this. Pastors facilitate transcendence.
Our main job is to usher in the Almighty. We point people to the Glory.
When transcendence happens, no one notices the program, the preacher, or other people. Anything resembling performance seems out of place. Because all that is visible is eclipsed by what is not: God Himself moving through the church in power and meeting with His people in multifold ways.