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 God put it into the heart of every person to live for a purpose. We all want to be on a "crusade." It is just the way we were created. The question, however, is are we on God's assigned "crusade" for our lives, or does the crusade we've chosen flow from another source?  Maybe we should ask ourselves a few questions before we launch out in great zeal:
 1. Does my little crusade bring destruction or does it build others' lives?
 2. Does my little crusade bring confusion or does it bring peace?
 3, Does this little crusade flow from a pure heart or (BE HONEST NOW) jealousy, envy, hatred, anger, etc.?
 4. If I was standing in front of Jesus right now (and we are, hahaha), could I look Him in the eye and say that I was doing His will?

 I read another article today about "abusive leadership."  It just amazes me today the frequency of these articles and books when 99% of the Christian leaders I meet are anything but abusive. In fact, I find far more of them being abused by the people they lead (hahaha). What amazed me was again the lack of any Scripture that people were encouraged to use in judging leaders.  He opened the article with, "My personal experience and theoretical inferences have revealed five indicators of those who abuse power,"  and not one scripture included. It would seem to me that opinions are not the basis of evaluating a leader or any other person. In fact, if I were to overlay his 5 indicators with Moses (the most humble man who ever lived), Jesus and Paul, they would have all failed in his opinion. The Word of God is the standard. Opinion is completely in the realm of "offense."  No pastor, no deacon, no leader in a church can live based on the opinions of people. They will either become a people pleasing politician or a chameleon that can never present Christ -- who is the same yesterday , today and forever.  As leaders, we all have different styles and personalities. Chose to live the Bible. You can not please everyone, but by living the Word you will please the Head of the Church.

  Last October, Dr. Cho looked at all of us in a board lunch and said, "You all need to preach healing more and stronger." Every one of us in the room believes in healing, have received miracles of healing and preaches healing. I smiled as I came to understand what he meant. We grow so comfortable with the truth that we walk in that we no longer preach it as strong as is needed for the new ones to also learn it. The basic truths of Salvation, The Holy Spirt,  prayer , healing, etc., need to be emphasized to the new generation. The basics are still the foundation stones that everyone must build upon.

 I had an interesting time in prayer the other day.  I am not one of these folks who has "encounters" with God every minute, though I do believe that He is real and that we do have incredible experiences in His presence (and I have had many). As I was praying, I learned a very interesting thought. The church has grown so large and in so many ways by the Holy Spirit but now I felt God say that from this point on, the growth would come only as I prayed more. I looked at my calendar and thought  "Ok God , what do I not do so I can pray more?" I am still figuring that one out, but I am determined to pray even more.

   I read the website of an old friend today and I wanted to weep.  What has happened to us in the ministry today?  Everything we know, we learned from the Bible, yet we leave it out of our sermons, websites and books.  Are we ashamed of the Word of God (Mark 8:38)?  Everything we are, we were made by Christ, yet we leave His Name off anything we do.  Are we ashamed of Him (Mark:8:38)?  Do we have such a desire to market ourselves and our products and to be accepted by the world that we have forgotten that all we are and should ever desire to be are His servants?  Have we become ashamed of the Gospel (Romans 1:16)?  Our words, our ideas, our personalities will never change the world.  Only the Gospel has that power.  None of us is perfect and it is easy to find ourselves on the slippery slope.  But we can remember who we are, who made us and who is our source of authority.  Enough of marketing; let us return to simplicity of ministry.