Drew Boswell

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Isaiah 61 “The Contentment of Following God’s Calling”

Isaiah 61 “The Contentment of Following God’s Calling” from Drew Boswell on Vimeo.

Today, after much prayer, discussion, and thought, we let the church know that the Lord has called us elsewhere. As I was delivering the message, I felt both anxious (in that I wanted to leave the church focused on Christ), and relieved. Pastoring of any kind (senior and staff) carries with it a weight that can not really be explained other than a sense of heavy responsibility. That weight has been lifted, and will return when we begin our new ministry a few months from now. So, for right now, we are able to rest, prepare our home for sale, celebrate with friends here, and anticipate what the future holds. Kimberly and my prayer has always been to make impact, wherever we are, for Christ. Please pray for us, as we begin this next stage of our ministry. We are always available to meet with you, and to just laugh and celebrate what God has done. God has allowed us to make so many friends over the eleven years that we have been here, and we don’t want those friendships to end.

Below is the outline of the message:
The Contentment of Following God’s Calling
Isaiah 61

I. The Power and Place of the Servant (v. 1a)
• 2 Corinthians 5:20
• Acts 2:37-38

II. The Purpose of the Servant (vv. 1b-3)
• Romans 3:23
• 1 Corinthians 15:21-22
• Romans 6:17-18

III. The Progression of the Saved (vv. 4-7)
• Exodus 19:6a

The Importance of Master Planning (Part One)

Buying the Right Diamond
In the summer of the year I graduated from college I was in the market for an engagement ring. My mother had a friend, who knew someone, that had a cousin (well, you get the idea). So I found myself in an office building being buzzed into a fourth story office. The jeweler only met by appointment, and I was the only person in his office for our appointment. We sat down and after some small talk, he began to explain what diamonds were, how they came to be, how they were classified, and why they were priced the way that they were.

I met with him for close to an hour before I ever even saw a diamond. We discussed my budget, and he then brought out a tray of diamonds in my price range. The jeweler and I began to go diamond by diamond holding them under a microscope, looking at them in light, and he would show the aspects (and the flaws) of each one.

It was because of this education, and one-on-one time, that I walked out (or was buzzed out) of his office feeling that I had made a great choice, had gotten a great price, and was proud to eventually give it to my fiancé.

The jeweler began with a high level of explanation of the diamonds, and then moved to price, and then to specific diamonds. He did not start with the diamonds; he began with an understanding of diamonds. There were obviously diamonds out of my price range, and with my budget there were some of lower quality that I could ignore. I am glad that he did not waste my time, or raise my expectations – we were able to move directly to what I needed, and to what I could afford. At the end of the day, I left his office feeling good about my purchase.

This same manner of thinking is needed in ministry. We need to start with why we do the ministry that we do (Why have AWANA, or Upward Soccer, or Royal Ambassadors? What are we trying to accomplish through these ministries? Could this be met in another way? a cheaper way? a less labor intensive way?)

Often times churches jump straight into programs because of a felt need (or because the church across town started it), without even thinking about why they are doing them. These new initiatives stand apart from other programming, competes for resources, and may even duplicate another ministry objective. For example, a church may have three programs that focus on discipleship, but none that focus on worship or evangelism.

Planning Your Crops and Master Planning
In agriculture you need four basic elements for crops to grow: nitrogen, lime, potash, and phosphoric acid. So in order for a plant to grow in a healthy manner these four things need to be present in the soil. So let’s say that you are a farmer, and have noticed that your neighbor has a very nice crop of corn, but yours is not doing so well. So you go and ask him his secret, and he tells you that he added a ton of lime to his fields. So you go and add lime to your fields hoping to save or improve the crop that you have. Things get worse! Wouldn’t it make sense that if he added lime, that you should also be able to add lime and have the same effects?

What is truly needed is for you to have a soil sample tested, where you would have discovered that you have plenty of lime (and now probably have too much), but your area of crops are low on nitrogen. Your neighbor planted a previous crop that left behind a nitrogen rich soil, where as you had decided not to plant a crop and just let it go fallow. Your neighbor has brought his soil into balance by adding lime.

Knowing what is needed in the soil to have a healthy crop before you begin allows you to know what steps need to be taken in order to keep a healthy balance. Evaluations and tests can be taken along the way in order to make small adjustments during the growing cycle. If you kept adding the wrong ingredients to the soil, you would actually cause your farm to become continuously unhealthy.

If we carry this principle over to ministry, we would call it a “master plan.” This is where concepts are established before the ministry of spiritual formation begins. Programs are then implemented based on this master plan, and basic goals are established.

Far too often churches launch a program, begin a ministry, or take some other step based upon what they see other churches do only to find out that it didn’t work for them in the same way. The reason is because they may have already had a ministry that met that need, so by adding another, it only duplicated an already met need (thereby weakening the church as a whole).

A Case Study
You bump into a friend in the grocery store and after some discussion the friend tells you about what is going on in her church. She tells you of this wonderful new program that they have started and the church is growing significantly (ex. 40 Days of Purpose, Upward Basketball, Royal Ambassadors, etc…) Being very excited about this information you rush to your pastor and convince him that your church needs to do it as well. Your church launches the program but does not have a very good result at all. Excluding poor leadership, poor advertising, or any other planning mistake, what could be the real reason for the programs lack of success?

The church must take the time to identify the key ingredients that are needed for healthy growth in specific ministries, and then establish a master plan to bring these things into fruition. Once this plan is in place, there should be continuous tending of the crop, to make sure everything stays balanced.

Next time we will look at an example of a master plan for a Children’s Ministry.

 

PS — If you are ever in the market for a diamond, please contact Tom Neville, the Source Inc., 334-265-7775, 60 Commerce St, #1401, Montgomery, AL 36104. After all these years he still operates by appointments, and is simply the best.

Happy Mother’s Day (two days late)

11:02

Church has just finished. She is apart of a mobile church and had sung on the praise team. She was standing there with a friend and out of the corner of her eye did not see her three-and-a-half year old son. He was not where he was the last time she saw him playing. She thought nothing of it and continued to talk with her friend. They laughed one last time and parted ways.

11:12

She has finished her conversation, and is scanning the room for her son. She begins to help putting things away and walks out into the hallway of the movie theater. Her son tends to wander, so she begins to walk down the hallway looking for him. She sees the other kids his age running and playing down the hallways and she begins to ask other kids and adults if they have seen her son. No one has seen him.

11:18

She begins to notice that the hallways are filling up with strangers coming into the theater to see showings of various movies and she consciously is pushing down memories of horror stories that she has heard over the years. Her heart is beginning to race and she is now in a half run, going in and out of all the theaters, frantically looking for her son.

11:20

She finds her husband who is serving in another part of the mobile church and he has joined the search. She is physically shaking and crying – eighteen minutes has passed and she has not been able to find her son. The church calls and “all stop” and all the members have joined the search. They search room by room and post people at the door so that people can focus on other areas. Dad runs to the parking lot and begins going down every row, looking for his son. He is now physically shaken and is greatly concerned for his son. Thoughts of his three-and-half year old son out among these cars consume his thoughts.

11:25

She is now yelling her sons name in the theatre, and she could care less what people standing in line to buy their tickets think about her. They are not even on her radar. She is weeping and yelling, weeping and yelling. There is nowhere else to search, and the knowledge of this is devastating. She feels her knees begin to give way. The fear is debilitating and the she is having a hard time thinking straight. Dad is outside searching the parking lot, and has finished searching all the rows of cars. Both mom and dad are beginning to think about the worst. Both would give anything to know where their son was. Both are sweating, crying, and praying to themselves. Over twenty minutes has passed.

11:30

A young teen searches the back parking lot, and she discovers the boy asleep in his car. He had walked to his car, climbed in, buckled his seatbelt, and went to sleep. Mom is told that her son has been found, and there is a huge sigh of relief. People begin to smile again among the church and friends who had joined the search – and some make their way to the parking lot to let dad know. The whole family climb into their car and make their way home (with the little guy still asleep in his car seat.)

Mother’s Day to me is where a person has someone (or had someone) who would move heaven and earth, pay any price, do whatever it took to know that her son was where he was supposed to be. Mother’s Day reminds us that there is someone who will become physically shaken when her child is not where he’s supposed to be (even after only a few minutes). Everyone needs someone who will yell, scream, weep, and cry out their name when they stray. Everyone needs someone who will love them unconditionally and is not concerned what other people think. Thank God for mothers, and how they influence our lives. I am thankful that they will stop at nothing in the expressions of love for their children.

Happy Birthday Isaac — 4 years old!



Isaac had a wonderful birthday party (his actual birthday was April 15th), and was surrounded by family and friends. We celebrated with games, cake and ice cream, and singing. Thank you all for your birthday wishes.

Struggling With Ambition

In ministry there have been words and concepts that I have struggled with — one of these words is ambition. Webster defines ambition as;

“1 a : an ardent desire for rank, fame, or power b : desire to achieve a particular end, 2 : the object of ambition <her ambition is to start her own business>, 3: a desire for activity or exertion <felt sick and had no ambition>”

Servant leaders are supposed to be humble and not point others to themselves but instead are to point others to Christ. Right? As a pastor of a small church, I have for a long time told myself, “What do you have to add?” People want to hear from the Andy Stanleys and Mark Driscolls, or other big name persons. What does Drew Boswell of small church USA have to say, and why would anyone care? My church produces cds of the sermons — but I would tell myself “other than the congregation, who is listening, or would care?”

My thinking changed when I came across a principle I am currently calling, “the principle of multiplication.”   It’s the idea that if I put 10-20 hours in a sermon, or 4-5 hours putting together a training workshop, or some other labor intensive work, would’t it be great if I could do something else with that same material?  So I have experimented with blog entries, taking parts of sermons and using them as articles, etc. I really liked the idea of the Bible being shared with the world via the internet. So, I started my web site. I have been amazed at how many people are listening, reading and taking serious the things that God has laid upon my heart. There is a huge desire to hear the Bible preached and taught, there is also a huge desire to learn how to preach God’s Word and lead in  church.

Recently, I have received two separate e-mails from pastors in other countries asking me to come and teach their pastors theology, and to preach the gospel. I have been so blessed by God. I have been able to go to seminary, and even complete my doctorate. I am not saying this to brag, but to point to what God has done in my life. I have been so blessed — yet there are so many who need help! How many pastors in the world would give their right arm for a seminary education? Wouldn’t it be sinful if I did not respond in some way?

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. [20] And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, [21] who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.(Luke 16:19-21 ESV)

I checked airfare costs — $1,600. That’s really all that is stopping me from telling people in the Phillipines, Australia, India, Africa, “the utter most” and sharing with them what God has lavished upon me. 1,600 dollars is what it will cost for me to share the gospel, and equip pastors. I am praying that God will continue to move, and I am seeking to stay faithful. Wouldn’t it just be wrong for me to ignore their pleas. The rich man would have seen Lazarus every time he left his home. I see those who need help every time I boot up my computer and my heart is heavy.

In this picture, these are two of the teachers in a school in Honduras that I gave a teaching workshop at last summer. We discussed learning styles and they were given the assignment to put together a visual aid to teach the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. They were so excited to learn about how to teach a lesson. I was blown away with their excitement and willingness to receive the information. They will take this information and apply it to the teaching of orphans.

God has given me a gift, and treasures beyond my ability to count. I am seeking to be ambitious for the sake of the gospel, not so that I may be great. It has been through this process that God has shown me that I have a gift, and that I should use it for all that it is worth to reach as many people as I can with that gift (I didn’t say it was a great gift, only that it is my gift). God does use men (and women) and he has said in Genesis 12:2, “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” God blessed Abraham so that he could bless others in God’s name. I believe that God has given you and me a gift — be ambitious to maximize it for His glory!

Please pray about how you can help me in equipping pastors, churches, and sharing the gospel around the world (and at home). I have copied one (of several) of the e-mails that I have received so that you can read it;

Dearest Beloved Pastor and Family;

Greetings!
It is my honor and pleasure to take this opportunity to write as I came across your ministry over the Internet. I believed that my letter is a big surprise to you yet, it is with great joy to share my ministry work here in the Philippines through letters. I believed it is not by accident but by God’s grace He really made it possible.

Let me introduce my name, ministry, and family and a little background about my work here in the Philippines. I am Lloyd J. Labus, 30 years old, married and I was blessed with one Son and I am grateful that the Lord nurtured him into His Divine ways. I am an independent minister of the Lord for the great commission. I have started this very rewarding missionary work way back 2001 as its started from one of the indigenous family in one of the small mountain village here in Davao province, until it grew up to many families in an adjacent and neighboring villages. The Lord moves in a tremendous ways through miracles until I finally was able to put up 10 indigenous churches that right now I oversee.

I am engaged in church planting, outdoor meetings, home bible studies, pastoring church, handing out Gospel tracks to bus terminals, hospitals, prison cells, as well as feeding children. My vision is focus on tribal and indigenous cultural communities and less fortunate in our societies, as I found it more interesting to served the Lord despite of hardship for the sake of paramount need for soul’s harvest. Hence, I am glad to witness it with my own eyes that lost souls are save for Christ.  I just cannot afford to see them die without Christ.

This ministry that I have is self-supporting, self-propagating, and self governing. I run this very rewarding missionary work by faith through the generous contribution of our poor tenant brethren who love the Lord despite of their poverty living conditions.

This place of ministry that I engaged in is thickly populated with muslims and paganism a religious belief coming from  the  ancestral religious taboo, were people are used to worship stone and etc. there are always strong pressure on our part because me and my family are being harass, mock, and even harm, my heart bleeds seeing them lost yet, despite all the pressures that we encountered, hardship that we faced, we are not discouraged we are seeking God to our fervent prayer that somehow God will open up their minds and hearts to the genuine truth that we both preach and live.

As I came across your website over the computer, I was prompted to write assuming that you can help us with sound, accurate, vibrant, spirit filled messages and enriched wisdom to your teaching materials, as the Lord surrounded us with many gifted and willing men and women who are ready to take the gospel of salvation to the unreached souls in all provinces, cities, rural areas, mountain villages here in Mindanao even to the entire island of Philippine archipelago.

To do this, I believe we need also prayer support from you, who are willing and be able to endow us with spiritual cover and mantle of authority to put their shoulders to wheel with us and stand with us in this great calling for us to lay down our lives for our brethren. I strongly believe that we are one in the body of Christ; I do hope that you are open to welcome us as part of your family ministry there though we are here in the Philippines.

How we really wish as well to see you personally and it is our honor and privilege should you have time someday to visit and share the gospel here in the Philippines. You are very welcome to visit and see our work personally here in the Philippines and it is a big blessing for us to work with you together in the Lord’s work. Lastly may God bless and your family and all your Divine undertakings rest assured that we will keep in touch with you with our prayers and reports of our work here in the Philippines.

Looking forward to hear from you soon…………

Sincerely yours,

LLOYD J. LABUS

Native Tribal Pastor

Prk narra magugpo east
Tagum city, Davao Del Norte
8100 Philippines

"For by grace you have been saved through faith." Ephesians 2:8

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