MIDWEEK CONNECTION
Greetings Urban Life Family,
Following the sudden and unexpected death of Dr. Myles Munroe, Carol and I have been taken to a new level of sobriety in our responsibility as Christian leaders in the 21st century. In the final months of his life, Dr. Munroe declared some things that are earth-shakingly important for us to consider in the remaining years of our journey.
Back in July of this year, he prophesied over his own nation, that they were going to experience dramatic change in leadership. He actually spoke that there would be sudden and unexplainable deaths, which would usher in a new generation of leaders.
On another occasion, he said that true leadership prepares people to take their place. He urged all leaders to begin to mentor others, so that their organization, business or church would not die with them. He said true leaders don’t invest in buildings, programs and projects; but true leaders invest in people.
As you guys know, for ten years, that’s what Carol and I have tried to do in this city. However, what we encountered was a city that did not want a ministry that focused on people. Most people seemed to prefer being in a church that places the focus on buildings, programs and projects.
That’s why, as pastors, we became so discouraged in this city. How can you pass on a baton to a people group that does not want the responsibility? So yes, we considered moving on to find those who actually wanted to be mentored.
When we say mentored, we don’t mean "churched". Again, we are not interested in church as usual. That’s why we were having open discussions, inviting people into our home, and setting up more fellowship opportunities. That’s the reason our teaching centered on the relationships of marriage, family and parenting.
This year, God sent more people, even as others left. However, the new people that came and those who stuck with us, have become our ministry team. They are the ones we will pour into from this day forth.
Now we’re moving into another season and another year and we don’t know what God is going to do. We know HE’s not going to allow us to die with the baton still in our hands; not when we are actively engaging with those who are willing to take it and run.
We were extremely pleased when the Urban Life family gathered and kept things going while we were in St. Louis a couple of weeks ago. That’s how a leader measures success: Can the TEAM operate and prosper without the leader?
We must be honest and admit that at one time, we had become willing for God to take us out of the pastorate and place us in a whole new arena if that was what it was going to take to help us mentor others. We were just that desperate to find the person or the people group who would take the baton and run.
Dr. Munroe revealed that he had a dream that a famous man died and he saw the man in a coffin still holding his baton. He died without ever passing it on to a successor. I don’t want to be that man. And we have prayed and asked God to do whatever it’s going to take in order to prevent that from happening to us.
Recently, a couple in our hometown has requested that we mentor them as they launch forth into a new ministry there. We have begun meeting with them on a regular basis via Skype. Other mentoring and life downloading opportunity have suddenly become available as well. All of this is a dream come true for us. That’s what we truly desire to do.
So, like this special couple in St. Louis, if you want the baton, or if you want to learn how to pass on your baton to your successor, meet us at the Urban Life Family Center as often as you can. If you can’t get there, meet us online.
As we close out this year and move into 2015, we’re going to download and download and download.
We don’t want to stand before God with failure, because success without a successor is failure. There must be someone to carry on after we are gone.
That’s what matter most to us today.
It's all for the harvest,
Chris and Carol Green
