Zero Unemployment

Posted by Bill on January 7, 2012

“Look around you! Vast fields are ripening all around us and are ready now for the harvest. The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life” (John 4:35b-36a).

Unemployment - not in God's economy Unemployment can be a debilitating experience. Several years ago in Poland, the nation’s unemployment was running high at an alarming 20%. Young college graduates were forced to leave home to search for employment in neighbouring countries. Unemployment hits some people very hard … robbing them of peace, satisfaction, fulfilment and joy.

Unemployment exists today in two realms; the material and the spiritual. Regardless of the circumstances in the world, the Lord promises to deliver every believer from material and spiritual poverty. Jesus promises, “Your Heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern” (Matthew 6:32b-33). If the Lord promises to deliver us from poverty, why are so many of His people living impoverished lives?

God’s promise to “give you all you need” is conditional upon … “if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.” Like a number of other promises the Lord has given for our well being, there are qualifying conditions that need to be satisfied before grace benefits can flow to us. Whilst material poverty may not be a choice, spiritual poverty is. If we choose to fulfil God’s conditional requirements, He will keep His promises – it’s as simple as that. And God has never reneged on a promise! He has an impeccable reputation of being a promise-keeping God.

Whilst it’s a tragic situation for people in life (in general) who are unemployed, it’s more tragic for those of God’s family (His Church). The church is the only institution on earth that can guarantee zero unemployment for its members. Reliable surveys show that in the church today, unemployment is running at around 90-95%! Scripture teaches that if believers are willing to step-up and serve, instead of sitting back to observe, they will be paid handsomely by the Lord. He says (above), “The harvesters are paid good wages.” Hundreds of years of political and traditional influences have kept spiritual harvesters from labouring in His field. Because many believers are not doing, many are not receiving.

Peter says, “God has given gifts to each of you from His great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God’s generosity can flow through you” (1 Peter 4:10). Many believers in the world either have no idea what their gifts are, or have chosen not to manage their gifts well. It’s no wonder many of God’s people are living in poverty when they could be enjoying His promised provisions.

Small Groups (or Home Groups, Cell Groups, Life Groups – whatever you chose to call them) are the ideal place for believers to discover, use and develop their gifts. Spiritual gifts are God’s special grace abilities, given to each of us at the time of conversion. Let’s lead others into the harvest field … where the harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life.

The harvest field is where God’s generosity flows freely, and it’s the place where there is zero unemployment.

A “brave-hearted” servant from Cameroon

Posted by Bill on December 31, 2011

“Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all” (Mark 10:43-44).

At the top of the Lord’s character criteria for leadership selection is humility. If our service for the King is to be judged honourable it must first be motivated by a heart that is humble. Going back to my Cairo years, we were constantly looking out for “fast” believers to join our expanding team of lay small group pastors. We used the word FAST as an acronym to help us in our selection for suitable leaders. FAST stands for

Faithful,
Available,
Servant-hearted and
Teachable.

All four elements of the acronym had to be sufficient in amount and openly evidenced before candidates would be considered for leadership. Disqualification from our leadership team resulted when just one of these elements fell below the standard required or was no longer present in a candidate’s life.

Pastor Sunday Sikod In June, 2006, four hundred and fifty fast lay-leaders kept the ministry and missions’ machinery of our church well serviced and operating effectively and efficiently. Without our fast leaders MCC would not be where it was at that time – a front-line, trail-blazing pioneering church. When it comes to fast leaders, Sunday Sikod was an outstanding servant-hearted model leader. I first observed Sunday through his ministry of hospitality at MCC – serving tea, coffee and water to worshippers in each of our four weekly services. Sunday’s charisma came from his humble heart and was evidenced through his gentle and quiet spirit, his genuine desire to serve, and his friendly smile.

Before travelling to The Philippines on a ministry assignment, Lyn Taleon, one of our cell groups zone directors, prayerfully selected Sunday from her team of coaches to function in her absence as the director of her zone. What was Sunday’s response to his selection? He said:

I am serving as one of the coaches, presently caring for five cell groups. Last December, I was invited by my Zone Director, Lyn Taleon, to act on her behalf during the time of her month’s absence. Sitting in for Lyn was for me very challenging, given the fact that I’m naturally not a bold and outspoken person. Also, I saw myself ministering to groups with people who appeared more knowledgeable, older and more inspired than me. I felt inadequate, and I was at the point of refusing Sister Lyn’s encouraging invitation. All I could see was defeat. Then I remembered the Scriptures that said, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, and love, and self-discipline (2 Tim 1:7 NLT).” God spoke to me clearly and I decided to take up the post. I submitted to Him in prayer and asked Him to lead me. I could not grade my performance but all I did was to work hard and honestly, and expected God to lead. Friends, through this I learnt that through God, everything is possible! He gave me a brave heart, strength and understanding because of my faith in Him. I have learnt that God rewards two things; faith and humility.

Friends, several months later, at nearby Hadayek El Maadi, MCC dedicated to the Lord the first of five new daughter churches (all were formalised before December, 2006). Who do you think was chosen to pastor the first new daughter church, known as The Church of the Redeemed? Sunday Sikod … the humble servant from Cameroon was the obvious choice! And, what was Pastor Sunday doing four days later at MCC, the mother church … serving tea, coffee and water of course! What else would you expect this humble “brave-hearted” servant from Cameroon to be doing?

Thank you for the part you have played!

Posted by Bill on December 24, 2011

On behalf of the CCI Team, a heartfelt “thank you” for the part you’ve played in helping us to cover so much good ground in 2011. We give all credit to the Lord for His perfect plan and power that has brought us to where we are … a little higher in our climb, and closer to reaching the summit of our potential in Christ. We’ve had our fair share of challenges, but these we’ve counted as joyous opportunities for learning more, that we may journey further with the Lord than ever before.

Friends, the view continues to improve as we patiently persevere to being the best we can in our global service to churches that are serious about seeing the Kingdom of God expand within their communities. Although, physically, we are a little older and slower, we are more fired-up than ever, expecting from the Lord every grace-endowment He has determined for us. We want it all! We want it for Him!

We take pleasure in wishing you and your family a joyous time together over the Christmas Season, and a wonder-filled New Year in your walk with the Lord.

As we look to CCI’s horizon, 2012 is going to be a more challenging and demanding year. But it will also be a more exciting, miracle-packed year. Care to continue on with us in our journey? It will change your life as it continues to change ours.

Through our lives and service, may the Lord be greatly glorified.

Bill and Beryl Joukhadar

Just Imagine

Posted by Bill on December 17, 2011

IMAGINATION_by_archanN

I joined the ministry team at Maadi Community Church (MCC) in May, 2000, hoping the Lord might build His church through me and my wife, Beryl (Matthew 16:18a). Even though I knew I was a weak vessel, I willingly gave myself to the Lord, expecting Him to do great and mighty things. I expected the Lord to establish networks of small groups that would care for God’s people, grow many lay-leaders, and engage in bold Kingdom expansion activities. Throughout my time at MCC, I exercised an “extra mile” commitment in everything I did. I poured my mind, heart, body and soul into this work. Not only did the Lord fulfil my expectations, He went one amazing step further by birthing five churches from our expanding number of small groups. What a surprise!

Why didn’t I expect the Lord to birth churches from our efforts? In my case, there are two reasons: Firstly, birthing churches was outside of my ministry experience, and secondly, I never imagined this possibility. My Egypt experience took me from being willing to dream dreams that “I/we” can make happen to the spiritual realm of imagination … dreaming dreams that only the Lord can achieve. I now know that the ability to imagine such things is a gift, offered by God to His children to help them “see” in advance His grand purpose for their lives! Through the exercise of this amazing gift the Lord performs His plans … “plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11b).

In my small “Collins Gem” Australian English Dictionary, “imagination” is defined as, “faculty of making mental images of things not present”. I like this definition, but from a Christian perspective the following definition is better: “faculty of receiving from God mental images of things not present.”

In the Old Testament we learn of Joseph’s amazing gift of imagination. His brothers made fun of him and dismissed him as a “dreamer” (Genesis 37:5-11). The exercise of one’s imagination is something that is not usually encouraged in most families, work places, and churches. Living within the safe parameters of “do only that which is humanly possible” seems to be the norm for most people in the world. It’s the norm, alright, but it’s not all right with me! This near-sighted view robs us of the amazing hope that Scripture teaches we have in our relationship with the Lord – to open our spiritual eyes and see … and to reach out and take hold of everything the Lord has determined for us.

In July, 2006, I had the privilege of dedicating to the Lord the second of our five daughter churches at Ain Shams (an hour’s drive from Maadi) – the Interdenominational Revival Bible Church was born and dedicated to God’s great glory. I knew this young church had an exciting future ahead. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I could see this church growing and maturing into a fine adult church, and then multiplying many daughter churches that would grow and multiply many daughter churches.

Friends, my imagination has been sparked by the Holy Spirit and has taken me to many exciting new places in life. I can now see further, and I can now see more! My imagination runs hot with amazing possibilities. Do you know what I’m talking about? Do you have the gift of imagination? Are you exercising that gift? Just imagine! There’s a whole new world out there waiting to be seen and seized.

Exercise this divine gift – see and experience the amazing things the Lord has in store for you.

Stretching out for effectiveness!

Posted by Bill on December 10, 2011

“Expect God to lead you along unfamiliar paths. When He does, He will transform the darkness into light before you and make the rough places smooth. You can count on Him to do these things! He will not forsake you.” Isaiah 42:16

In his book, Be All You Can Be, John C. Maxwell says, “The difference between leaders, followers, and losers are: Leaders stretch with challenges; Followers struggle with challenges; and Losers shrink from challenges.” He also adds, “Successful leaders when challenged are like rubber bands – they become useful when stretched.”

An ongoing temptation for each of us in our leadership development is to settle into comfort zones when we reach plateaus along the way in our upward climb. There is a saying, “When you stop growing, you stop leading.” Another word for growing is stretching. We all want to grow but not all of us want to be stretched. We want the gain, but without the pain. Stretching costs – and it guarantees to disturb our comfort. Stepping out of the box is a risky move – it takes us along unfamiliar paths.

I’ve learnt in my life that to remain effective in leadership I must remain open to the stretching opportunities the Lord hand picks for me. In fact, leadership development demands that we search for stretching opportunities, not hide from them. A number of years ago I was invited to Cyprus to facilitate three small groups development discussion meetings. For me, this was a stretching opportunity. I remember working my tail off in getting ready for the new challenge.

Time spent in considering the three questions I was asked to address by my host church stretched my mind further than my experience to discover new principles. Throughout this time of preparation I asked the Lord for fresh insight. I asked Him to stretch my knowledge base and deepen my understanding – to take me forward along unfamiliar paths. I worked hard in going over existing information and researched new material. Carrying a piece of paper with me was useful in noting new ideas that flashed into my mind.

Friends, stretching opportunities seldom come to us at convenient times. They usually come when life seems fast and crazy. At such times, we may be tempted to let opportunities pass by, thinking “my plate is full.” However, I have come to realise that even though our plate is full the Lord may have in mind to expand (stretch) our plate … to grow us some more!

Long before the aircraft touched down on the runway at Cyprus I felt I had grown a lot more in my leadership development. Through my willingness to be stretched I made new and exciting discoveries that strengthened my small groups’ development presentations. Because I let the Lord stretch me a little more, I had more to share with others. Our willingness to follow the Lord along unfamiliar paths will stretch us and make us more effective.

Are you open to being stretched?