So much for that bunny trail…
There seems to be a bunch of gifts in the middle of the tests. They show up in switch able order, but no matter what the numerical order they always end up in that middle area. These include (aside from administration) :
Wisdom
Pastor
Leadership
Miracles
Missionary
Personally I think this means that, I could fill these offices but don’t have the anointing/gifting for these callings. It’s kind of hard to accept the pastor & leader gifts. I mean to accept that I probably don’t have a gift or calling in these areas. I don’t quite understand what the gift of leadership/ being a leader is. I know there are people who walk into practically any situation and end up being the /a leader, I know it’s not that strong with me. There are certain situations with me where this does apply. This would be in youth ministry and especially outreach ministry/evangelism/mercy ministry.
It’s like this, usually (my husband &) I am one of few in a church (depending on the size) who are excited & interesting in evangelism/outreach. We usually end up working with those others who are. If there is a leader(s) of that ministry we become friends with them. This is of course because of having the same heart/interests. We find we have more to talk about with them. So then we get involved in the ministry. Many times out of this the evangelism/outreach leader starts/has different teams, so then they make me/us/my husband leaders of a team within the outreach ministry. If they don’t have such a ministry well let’s say we have headed up such a group. Ha, I laugh because the amount of people involved is always small percentage wise.
Then, you can “force” people to work with the kids. But, pastors never enforce/push/demand that people get involved with the evangelism/outreach ministry- they only “suggest” it (if that) .
So in a group (which is usually small) of people interested in evangelism/outreach/some kind of mercy ministry my husband and & tend to have high interest and pretty good amount of experience, plus I always have a ton of ideas, and my husband is usually favored by other leadership because of his faithfulness. Sometimes there are others who are the leaders because they have been around longer and have “seniority”. Also occasionally you get someone with a really strong gift of evangelism & preaching (maybe they’re prophetic as well). I can think of a few off the top of my head: M.M., P.S., S.S, M.C. & K.L.- OK the first two were anti-establishment types (which I often border-but don’t cross over, I realize God set up church & it’s structure for a reason, and people cannot become mature Christians without being involved in a church). This seems to often be the case with non-structural evangelistic types. They are social, love to travel and meet people, talk to & relate to lots of people and of various groups. So these guys (and some others I didn’t know as well) usually don’t want to be the leader of a group, they are too independent, and don’t want to take responsibility for a group. They don’t like structure, and the planning of things( like outreaches or meetings). They like everything to happen “spontaneously” and just to “be led by the Spirit” (these types drive my hubby up the wall). So anyway, they wouldn’t end up being the leaders of an evangelism/outreach team, no matter how anointed they are at actual evangelism.
S.S had/has a lot of gifts probably evangelism/outreach actually isn’t even her strongest in the mix (that is part of all this-”gift mixes”). Mainly she is a leader, apostolic I would say. She is called to lead, to create & lead teams. Since evangelism is there for her, she did well at leading evangelism teams- even though she wasn’t as anointed at actual evangelism (to what degree I can’t say). She has also lead (as far as I can remember) deliverance teams, outreach/mercy ministry teams. Like she led the team my husband was in that went out to minister after Katrina, and got to meet President Bush. She also led the singles group at a big church. She led a Bible study for people involved in the business community. Yea, so that was her main gift but she did evangelism & mercy ministry as well (as well as taught, and got involved in the prophetic). OK see if that isn’t Apostolic- I don’t know what is, I’ve always respected her highly. But she isn’t quite as inspirational as some others (to me personally) I guess because to me she lacks that “fun” part, seems kind of “dry” (although I respect serious). And maybe she didn’t seem to have that billion ideas always floating around that most apostolic leader types usually do. Or maybe she did, but she was a more quite, less dramatic, less outwardly energetic type. Yet, driven, wanting to do things with excellence, independent yet able and humble enough to work with other leaders/those over her. I see this as key to successfully coming into your position as a leader/where you have the authority to lead others in a church. You have to be independent but not too independent (unlike the mavericks who don’t like church structure and all). You have to yield to the authorities over you, yet they don’t totally kiss up- they keep their autonomy & ideas. I guess the leaders with maturity are the ones who come into their own and lead others with love.
Anyway, then there is K.L who has a strong evangelism gift but also teaching, leadership and administration, maybe pastoring (but he folded his church). He made a great assistant pastor (like I think my husband would). He’s a missionary now. Something was lacking in him being head pastor. He has a leadership gift but I don’t think he has the apostolic gift/anointing. Hmm I’m trying to “see” this. He is good at leading, teaching, watching over, encouraging, supporting a group of people. Yet he lacks that “bigness” larger than lifeness of the apostolic.
Meaning, there is a certain bigness, vastness, visionary component too it. There is a continual seeking pressing for higher & more that make these people seem driven. Not just for success and to stay there, but to press on into new places- which runs the risk of failing. In the natural sense this reminds me of the Martha Steward, Donald Trump, Steve Jobs, Howard Hughes, entrepreneur types. People who appear to have done something, but they cannot stay with that and be content. It’s not just about money success and power it’s about venturing out, conquering new things, taking new ground, reaching new heights, So there is a counterpart in the church- the apostle.
There is more to it than these characteristics- but I think this is a big part of what separates the apostle from just the leadership gift and that of a pastor. Besides, a pastor is over a group of sheep. The apostle is over many groups (or at least more than one). I think a leader leads and has to have new vision to keep bringing the people forward, but do they really have the vastness or scope of vision? Hmm the leader has vision but does he build? The apostle leads and builds- then puts someone else over that… and then seeks to build something new or more territory…
I think of SY another person I think has an apostolic gift. They led their youth group and they also created & led a youth ministry then was made up of kids from various schools, different groups within that group.. He lead them into who they should become, but he always had vision for expansion. Personally my opinion is that he could have/could be doing more and could have seen more of the apostolic if he had stepped out more from under his covering (the leadership over him) If he was willing to step out possibly on his own, I think God would have backed him up and provided everything to do the new works.
I Guess LB is apostolic too, though there are other reasons I think that held him back from some things. These are two who are very inspirational to me. Even though I may not (and don’t) agree with certain things (with some of their beliefs) I hate to say (don’t tell my hubby this, and I hate to say this ‘cause it sounds so wormy or something) but I am humbled in the presence of such gifting/anointing. I’m like a kid watching a superhero. Maybe it’s just me, but who wouldn’t want to have such a gift? Leading, building, inspirational, inspiring loyalty, independence, boldness, decisive, going forward, planning, achieving goals or always pressing on and starting over undaunted to rise again... So dramatic (although most are not emotional people type people), it’s like I get new energy just being around them, I get new hope, and that feeling like you can do something big- maybe even take a mountain- tear down one or build one!!!
Of course it’s not easy to be around apostles. They expect a lot, they are demanding, they aren’t very sensitive types maybe kind of rough or inconsiderate, they get in your business, they work you hard, the usually don’t “believe” in rest, they have their own plans they want you to follow- follow their vision (although that usually isn’t too hard ‘cause they make it interesting and exciting, they usually can sell anything). They can be kind of cold- they don’t go after people say like pastors, prophets or mercy types. If you are out of the picture, you’re out. They usually like working with the leaders under them not the “weaker” ones- to them they usually take the attitude of pull yourselves up by “your own bootstraps”.
So if you can keep up (by the grace of God) with them they are inspirational & challenging to be under.
