May 10, 2025

8 Quality Characteristics #1: Empowering Leadership

Recently, I was at the conference office for a pastors meeting for two days, and the guest speakers on Natural Church Development, and they talked about eight quality characteristics that all churches should have. I would like to share them here each week.

Paul says in Ephesians 4:12, “for equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying the body of Christ.” Empowering leadership is what Jesus did for His disciples to expand the kingdom of God. The disciples of Jesus came from different backgrounds, where many were fishermen, a tax collector, and such. Most of them did not stand out in terms of social status, but Jesus empowered them with the Holy Spirit, as we find in Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…”

We see similar examples in the Old Testament as well. God called Moses out of the wilderness after 40 years to lead God’s people out of Egypt. God chose young boy David, over his qualified brothers, as the next king of Israel. A generation before that, God empowered Samuel in his childhood to be the spiritual leader for God’s people. God empowered Queen Esther to rise up in times of crisis for her people. God uses people for His work, He works through us.

I remember the time when I gave my first sermon, I was in sixth grade. My dad told me to give a sermon one day, which did not make any sense. I didn’t think I was old enough or qualified by any means to give a sermon, but he empowered me. He walked through the steps of what I needed to do, we rehearsed and prayed. It was a special moment for me. Empowering leadership will come in different forms, but it is an important characteristic that is needed for our church today. I know we all can be leaders, it’s time to empower you with the Holy Spirit.

#pastorsblog #waukeshachurch

May 3, 2025

After swimming, I went to the locker room to grab my shampoo to take a shower. While I was unlocking the combination to my locker, I heard two men on the other side talking to each other. Apparently, they didn’t know each other too well, but one common theme brought them together in a passionate dialogue, basketball. One was a young Afro-American in his 20s and the other was a Caucasian American in his 60s. They started talking about the Bucks playoff game from the night before where the Bucks lost to the Pacers. They were trying to analyze the game to see why they lost. They were getting excited and their voices got louder (not in an argument, just passionate). 

I went to go take a shower, and when I came back, they were still talking about basketball. In fact, another older man joined in the conversation. This man grew up watching Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Talk about the generational difference and the cultural difference! As I heard these men passionately talking to each other about basketball, I wondered to myself, what if that passionate conversation was about Jesus or the Bible, that would have been really cool.

It would be an amazing intergenerational experience for us to see different generations and cultures come together and talk about Jesus and ministry in church. Maybe talk about the Bible verses they read this past week, or talk about the people they prayed for this week, or brainstorm for ministry ideas they can do for the community. Paul said in Colossians 3:2, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” We tend to talk about what occupies our mind. If our mind is set on godly things, that is what will draw our conversations. I pray that we will always think about God and His Word and that becomes the center of our interactions with one another in church and in the community. 

#pastorsblog #waukeshachurch

April 26, 2025

Hyemi and I were driving around one day, and there was a dump truck ahead of us. I am always afraid of dump trucks, thinking that a rock would fly off and hit our windshield (which has happened to us in the past on a highway). So we went around the truck and came to a stop at the light. Soon, the truck caught up to us and shifted to the left turn lane and stopped right next to us. Its passenger side window was half open, and there was loud music coming out of it. It was opera music being sung by a male soloist. Hyemi and I looked at each other, and I told her, “I wasn’t expecting to hear opera music from that dump truck!” Yes, it was a stereotype, and I made a judgment according to its looks. Too often, we fall into that trap of judging the book by its covers.

Even the great prophet Samuel had a stereotype and judged by the looks when the Lord told him to anoint the next king of Israel. The Lord told Samuel, “For the Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7. As we remind ourselves that we should make judgments on other before actually getting to know them, we should also consider what God would see in our hearts. Consider the encouragement Apostle Paul gives us, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:1-3. I hope that when we encounter others, that they will see us in a worthy manner of who we are as followers of Jesus. 

#pastorsblog #waukeshachurch