While many focus on evangelism and church planting, catching fish is the easy part. What you do with the fish is what sets one apart as a disciple maker, leader developer, and church planter. With that in mind, we chose Steve Fitzpatrick as our Vision Author of the Month!
After receiving our request, Pastor Steve Fitzpatrick (on his way to Nicaragua) penned the following article. You see, Steve does not just talk about leadership development, he does not just write about it, his leadership development book was literally birthed in the trenches around the globe. You may equate Steve to a spiritual midwife. He assists in the church birthing process by equipping the leadership. Please keep Steve in your prayers as he travels around the world to do the work of the Lord.
Kathy Smith, Director of Vision Publishing
Character, Conduct, and Content
Steve Fitzpatrick
“Starting churches seems to be the easy part,
The difficulty is in developing the leaders to shepherd those churches.”
I consider it a great honor to be asked to preview my book for you – and that you would consider reading and using it. After I complied and wrote this book I started thinking about how to market it. So I went to Amazon to see how many other books like this there were on the market, and with whom I was competing. Books on Leadership? As you can guess the list was boundless. But then when I narrowed the search to exactly what this book was, a book based solely on Biblical principles on how to develop leaders around the world, I was stunned. I could find no other book on the market in this category. That made me nervous. Had I totally missed something? But then I came back to the core reason why I even wrote the book and realized, no, this is a much needed help to pastoral leaders everywhere. Let me quote from my preface now as I describe what the book is all about.
This workbook has been a lifetime in development. I have taken topics that I have taught, preached and developed in seminars around the world and compiled them in this format. A few years ago I was just finishing a seminar with Pastor Aguayo in Lima, Peru when he said to me, “Why don’t you put this material into a book format and I will help you get it into print.” After publishing this book first in Spanish, this new and edited version is finally in English.
For years I have been training pastoral leaders and strengthening local churches in over 40 countries. I can clearly see that God is moving around the world. In country after country the church is exploding with new believers. Statisticians tell us that currently there is someone being born into the Kingdom of God at a rate of one every two seconds. Praise God for that as it’s nothing short of miraculous. But with the explosion of new believers in the Kingdom there is also a corresponding problem that must be addressed.
A few years ago I was heading to one of my seminars being held in Argentina. I was travelling in a taxi with Pastor Gonzalez when I casually asked, “So, what’s been going on in your ministry lately?” To which he responded, “Oh, last week we just opened another church in a nearby town.” So I asked him, “Wow that’s great, so how many churches have you opened altogether?” Amazingly he said, “Praise God that was the 200th church we’ve started!” I was astounded, and I guess my dropped jaw told him so. “But, Steve,” he said, “you’ve got to realize that this is what the Holy Spirit is currently doing throughout Latin America. Where in years past we suffered great persecution, and getting people saved was so very difficult, now that has changed. I have the faith today that I can go to any town, start preaching on a street corner, and in a matter of two weeks birth a church. Starting churches seems to be the easy part, the difficulty is in developing the leaders to shepherd those churches. And that is why I am so thankful for your efforts. We need help in training leaders!”
I have come to realize that the training of leaders needs to cover three basic areas; character, conduct and content. Character is who you are. Conduct is how you function in your ministry. And Content is what you believe. If you, as a leader, can have basic training in each of these areas then you will be much better prepared to serve the Lord in the ministry to which you have been called.
With these thoughts in mind I have prepared the following material in a catechismal format. For centuries this format has been used to educate students. Catechism is simply instruction through the use of questions and answers. With a catechism format this book can then be used by an individual for personal study, by a group with an informal leader, or in a classroom setting with a formal instructor. Unless otherwise stated all scripture references will be from the New International Version. However you choose to use this workbook I trust that you will be blessed and further established in your faith and leadership gifting.
Pastor Steve Fitzpatrick, Herald of Faith
