One of my favorite snacks is popcorn. If you spend much time around me, you’ll eventually find me snacking on a bag. I like all kinds of popcorn, from movie theater popcorn to popcorn popped in a pan at home. I like caramel corn, kettle corn, cheese corn, and even microwave popcorn. The list could go on, but I think you get the point.

Last week, I was making popcorn for the family when the inevitable happened; I burned a bag of it in the microwave. I didn’t just burn the popcorn a little; fire alarms actually went off at my house because of the smoke billowing out of the microwave from the burnt popcorn. Fortunately, nothing caught fire. Quickly my entire house was filled with the acrid smell of burnt popcorn. Windows were opened, outside doors were opened, and fans were turned on.

None of this took away the smell very quickly. We cleaned the microwave thoroughly, we even took the vent off and replaced the air filter (I had no idea there was a filter in there before this incident). Still, the smell persisted! It took most of a week for us to not notice that odor anymore.

As I thought back on the incident, I had to figure out how I could have burnt the popcorn. So many other times I have made popcorn in the microwave and not had this type of outcome, there had to be a reason. The reason comes down to this, I pushed the wrong button.

On our microwave, we have a group of “one touch” buttons that can be used for warming up food or cooking specific things like popcorn. As it turns out I had pushed the “potato” button that was right below the “popcorn” button then left the room for a few minutes. That one little mistake unleashed a smell in my house that greatly overstayed its welcome.

This incident reminded me that the details count. It’s a lesson I keep learning throughout my life. We care for one another in the details. It takes little effort to ask someone how they are doing, but to listen with compassion is a detail we often forget. Within that moment of listening are the richer and deeper details of life. In these times we find the extreme elation or crushing disappointments of life. Responding in these moments, to these finer points of life, makes all the difference in any relationship.

The ironic thing is that we often tell ourselves that we don’t have time to listen with compassion to the tone, affect or non-verbal communication from a friend. It’s as if we think the next thing we’re doing is always more important than the person right in front of us. Maybe we like to think of the next detail, rather than the one staring us in the face.

In Ephesians, Paul exhorts us to pay attention to the way in which we live our lives. People are watching, and waiting for someone to notice, these details make a difference. Consider verse 15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise. I don’t know what that means for you today, but I do think there are details that, if missed, could lead to missing out on a greater blessing for you and the people around you.

Ephesians 5:15-20

“15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

About the Author: Brian is husband to Dottie and father of two children (Emma 21; Nick 19). Brian has served as Executive Pastor at Real Life Church in Springfield, Il for 16 years. He has maintained a private counseling practice for over 20 years and has worked as a school psychologist for over 25 years. Outside of his work life, you might find him tinkering with old motors, spending time with his family, or fishing lakes and ponds.

What does the door inside your refrigerator look like? When you come to my house, you have ample options of salad dressings, steak sauces, and of course two to five different varieties of bbq sauces.

We have both Polynesian and regular Chick-fil-a sauces, sweet Thai chili sauce, Whataburger spicy ketchup, and the secret sauce from the hibachi restaurants! That stuff is good on… well, anything. But what about developing leaders in ministry? What’s the secret sauce that expands through church size, context, and denominations?

Time.

Time is the secret sauce in leadership. The good thing about this “secret” is that it does not matter the size of your church budget, how new your facility is, how gifted of a communicator you are, if you have eight people or 800 people, what your music preferences are, or if you are in the city or down a dirt road.

We all are given the same number of hours in a day. The struggle is that time is a limited resource. We cannot go buy more of it and Walmart pick up definitely does not deliver it to the curb. This is often one of the hardest things to give, but it has major potential of return on your investment…though it may not seem like it in the moment.

I don’t know about you, but ministry can seem like watching grass grow in August. In southwest Missouri where I live, that is the time when the rain has pretty well stopped showing up in the sky and as you look around everything looks grim and dry. But, with a little time and a sprinkler, you can see that green pop out if you routinely water and spend the TIME caring for your lawn. This is what I have found true in ministry.

In thinking about how to develop leaders we need to be asking ourselves: how can I include others in my everyday activities? In our church, we change the design of our stage depending on the focus of messages and time of year. I have two guys who are handy and like building things and they have been helping me with this.

In the moment a few weeks ago, we were just cutting PVC pipe that was painted black, drilling holes in 2×4’s that were painted black and fastening them together to make a jail. Nothing big right? I got some pizza and we all hung out for a few hours as our church was preparing to focus on what it means to live free in following Jesus Christ.

Then I got a message from the wife of one of those guys that said: “Thank you for letting my husband get more involved in things at church and helping him find a place he fits and can grow. The random things that probably don’t mean much to others have really meant a lot to him. The times of helping build sets at church to you guys going to pick out study books for Men’s Discipleship groups have been good. Thank you.”

Wow… some of that wasn’t necessarily spiritual things. We were just screwing boards together and having regular conversation. That is what building leaders is all about: spending time together to build relationships and using people’s skills for God’s work.

We need to pay attention to who God has around us.

Sometimes we can wish we had someone with a certain gifting in a certain role in our church… and we completely miss who God has placed right in front of us.

It doesn’t have to be complicated. It could be as easy as taking someone to lunch with you or asking someone to go with you to visit another person. It could be letting someone teach you something.

We have guys that love to build things with wood in our congregation. I’ll go over to their house and learn the process of building a cutting board or even ask their advice on a project I’m doing around our house.

Do I have Google and Youtube where I could look that same information up faster? Yes. But spending a little extra time can reap a huge investment of a deeper relationship with someone you lead.

Isn’t that what Jesus did while He walked with His disciples? He let them participate by using their talents and possessions for His Kingdom work. That’s why time is the secret sauce in leadership development.

How can you use yours to raise up leaders in your church? Be authentic and patient with this and you will be amazed by what God does in your church. I have.

About the Author: Tim Reese is the pastor of Ava General Baptist Church in Ava, Missouri. He and his wife Lyndsey have two wonderful little girls. They’ve been in ministry together for the past 14 years. Their ministry focus is to meet people where they are and help them on their journey with Jesus.

Psalm 85:6 “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?”

Revivals and awakenings have been interwoven into the history of our country. From the 1730’s with Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield, to the 18 and 1900’s with people like D.L. Moody, Billy Sunday, and Billy Graham. Even recently we have seen revival starting at Asbury University and spreading across the country.

To define “revival” I’ll go back to what observers said about Jonathan Edward’s Northampton, Massachusetts church in 1734.

They said, “It pleased God… to display his free and sovereign mercy in the conversion of a great multitude of souls in a short space of time, turning them from a formal, cold, and careless profession of Christianity, to the lively exercise of every Christian grace, and the powerful practice of our holy religion.”

That’s about as clear a definition as we’ll ever get! During a revival, the Lord revived the hearts of men and women. He supernaturally transforms believers and non-believers in a church, region, nation and they are taken hold by a sudden, intense enthusiasm for Christ. People sense the presence of God powerfully and from that flow conviction, confession, and a contrite heart that leads to repentance. These revived people become difference makers in their world.

They desire prayer, they thirst for God’s Word, and they enthusiastically share the Gospel. They are a people focused on giving glory to and receiving glory from God. They live for His glory alone.

Do you believe we need revival?

In our movement? Country? World? What I mean is this, do you believe we have adopted a formal, cold, and careless profession of Christianity that needs to be transformed by the Holy Spirit into a lively exercise of every Christian grace, passion for Christ and a desire to see lost souls won to His kingdom? Today Christianity is prevalent, but not powerful. I believe we need to be revived.

G. Campbell Morgan said, “Revival cannot be organized, but we can set our sails to catch the wind from heaven when God chooses to blow upon His people once again.”

We can’t force or manufacture revival, but we can pray and prepare for it. J. Edwin Orr said, “Whenever God is ready to do something new with His people, He always sets them to praying.” If we desire revival, we must first be a people of prayer. We must become a movement of prayers. Praying that God would do what we cannot. That He would awaken men, women, boys & girls to their need for Him.

But we also must prepare. We must be ready. Those who God uses to spark revival are those people who hunger for His glory above all else. I believe that if we want to see revival break out in our hearts and an awakening happen in our communities we must be a people who live to give God glory and seek to receive God’s glory.

Will we seek the glory of God above all else?

When our greatest desires become: pointing people to Jesus, living to seek and save the lost, sharing what God’s given us to show people His love. When our greatest fears become: people going to hell, not being good stewards of what God’s given us, dying before we make a difference.

When that happens a revival will have taken place in your life and an awakening will come in our community.

D.L Moody was an evangelist in the mid to late 1800’s. He preached to over 100,000,000 people in the days before tv and live stream. He also founded Moody Church, Moody Bible Institute, and Moody Publishers.

Henry Varley, who was a British revivalist and good friend of Moody, once said to him: “The world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.” When Mr. Varley said that, Moody took it as a challenge and said to himself: “Well, I will be that man.”

What stood out to Moody was the qualifier in Varley’s statement. It wasn’t, “The world is yet to see what God will do through an amazing speaker, top notch leader, organizational guru or theological genius.” The qualifier is this, that a person would be fully and wholly consecrated to God. Maybe you’re like Moody and right now you’re thinking, “I’m not the speaker, leader, genius, but I can be he one who fully gives them self to God.”

When I look at what God accomplished through Moody, I am invigorated to think about what He could do if each person reading this became bound and determined on being that fully consecrated person. Will you be that man? Will you be that woman? Will you make a decision today to quit holding out on God and to seek His glory above all else? Your community, your church, your neighbors and family, our world needs you to be all in living for the glory of God alone. Young or old. Man or woman. Pastor or farmer. Banker or homemaker.

You can decide today that you will be that person so the world may see what God will do with and for and through the person who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.

About the Author: Jeff Roth is the Senior Pastor at Skyline Church in O’Fallon, IL and GB Regional Coordinator for the Midwest and California.  At 17 years old Jeff felt God leading him into vocational ministry. Since then his goal has been to point people to Jesus by helping them understand the Word of God and apply it to their life. Jeff has been married for 16 years to his wife Alicia. They have four kids: Addie (14), Boyd (9), Judah (4), and Ellie (2). They also have a sweet goldendoodle named Honey. In his free time, Jeff enjoys sports, running, coffee, and movies.