Kevin Upton is a senior pastor at the Junction Church in the UK. He is behind maaany church plants, but I wasn't aware of it when I met him. He was just a simple guy, smiling most of the time. He came as a guest speaker to the Bible college and that was it for me. His teaching made sense but I didn't understand fully. Few years have passed and I am where I am doing what I am doing and suddenly his words are more than comprehensible. Now I see why he said those statements. His own experience gave him the authority to teach us. The other day I found my notes and I felt like sharing those with you:
pluses&minues
pros&cons
opportunities&dangers
of
+ you lead people to the presence of God
- if focus is on you, they can come to you and expect miracle from you
+ your life becomes a faith walk
- your financial life gets very complicated /be aware of it and get ready ...or...your life of faith becomes a burden and you'll stop living it/
+ you become the center of people's secrets, joys, hopes and fears
- you love people because they love you
+ you will be welcomed by people - warmly
- you will be despised and rejected - without any warning /you must keep your heart soft towards people...even though it hurts/
+ you can take time off whenever you like
- you are never off duty /you can be on holiday, but.../
+ you can spend many hours studying the Word of God
- preachers end up studying the Bible just for the messages - they dry up /always read the Bible for yourself; build up your spirit/
+ people's lives are shaped by your words
- the more you shape people's life by your teaching the more they expect you to fix their problems /don't let people to have them everything 'now'...a mature person understands that things are in progress, things don't just happen/
