Your
Leadership
Grip
Dr. Paul Ford
Church Resource Ministries
Your | Dr. Paul Ford Church Resource Ministries |
             
|  |  October 2007 This newsletter is a letter of letters – or better stated, a letter of notes – from four people. Have fun!
Africa Reflections – John Blake, new Grip/Birkman Blueprint intern who traveled with Paul to Uganda
A Paul Ford email to Dave Bruskas, our pastor, written enroute home from Uganda/w. Europe
Relationship #2: Sam then introduced me to Franco Ocaga (pictured), assistant to PAG’s national director, who gave up his whole Saturday just to spend with us (John Blake alongside) back in Kampala, the capital. That's a big deal because we found out mid-way through the day that he is the missions pastor of Kampala Pentecostal Church (KPC), a 17,000 person cell church (15,000 in cell groups)! He actually preached at the end of our day together in their Saturday night service, which he "forgot" to mention until minutes before the service. I will likely work with KPC at some point in this.
From Diana Clark in Manila, Philippines, who trains Filipino nationals for world missions with husband Robert:
In the U.S.: David Wetzler, president of ChurchSmart, after time with Paul and two teammates
I'm excited about our meeting recently with Hal Burke and Tim Roehl. The future possibilities for using this the Your Leadership Grip/Birkman Blueprint to help leaders is
Online newsletter coming: We are starting a slow move to an online newsletter over the next 12 to 18 months. We will always have a paper letter for those who prefer such, but postage and quality pictures move us online!
Please pray with us as we begin our yearly support-raising process. Normally, we prayerfully consider 12-15 people to personally contact about joining our financial support team. This year we offer the need publicly in this simple way:
Christians were not being released to play their God-designed parts because their pastors and leaders were blocking the door! And at least seven out of ten Christian leaders were not empowering others to use their powerful gifts because they themselves were not using their own gifts! The body of Christ was limping along as a result! How could we free Christian leaders learn to be nothing more than who God prepared them to be – and then release others to do the same in their ministries? At stake is body life evangelism worldwide…could the body of Christ ever be released with all the parts functioning?
The Grip/Birkman Blueprint process emerged slowly from 1997 on. It had to start with the leaders. How could we help each one make personal, more sober estimate of how God had designed him or her? Through a man who has become a dear friend, Dr. Roger Birkman, I began to experiment with a process that mixed both personality and interests with my area of focus, spiritual gifts, the only way God has made each of us to be POWERFUL in the Spirit on a consistent basis.
I began by working with several dozen groups of five to eight people, a mix of pastors, missionaries, and leaders of all sorts. And through these groups and the combination of my Your Leadership Grip workbook (the supernatural) with Roger’s amazing Birkman Method assessment (the natural), people began to grasp more clearly the essence of who they are. They also begin to understand WHY they had to come alongside individuals and teams and release them to their God-given roles. We – it was no longer I – began to see leaders multiply this vision. Four years ago, I trained the first group of fourteen Grip/Birkman Blueprint Coaches…but we would not market this process with major nation-wide promotions. We asked God to bring the right people, and we would build strong relationships and help those folk become good stewards of who they are in Christ. Consider now what God has done through these relationships
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Putting together a set of experiences in short-form, which actually pull apart my complete world in ways I didn’t believe to be possible, cannot be done in a few short sentences. Books could be written. Poems birthed. Songs wept. Uganda for me created a host of questions, established powerful and insightful relationships, and allowed me to grow alongside a friend who became a brother. 
have to be persuaded. They trusted the relationship, so they didn’t doubt the impact of the message. 
I am hand-delivering a letter for you from a pastor named Silvanus from Arua District, who asked if you would be open to coming with me next year to train pastors. In my training, I often make references about the power of who you are in Christ teaching/preaching-wise. After such a reference, Silvanus pursued me about you and how you prepare to preach from the biblical text. SO, be aware that this letter is coming...pretty cool! Such Pentecostal pastors in Uganda are seldom trained – about 10% have any training whatsoever. They desperately need Bible School/ seminary-quality Bible teaching and training to work with the biblical text. Maybe the Lord is opening a door here (hope hope!), but obviously it would have to be a God thing for you to consider...
led to relationally pursue, God has now opened up the whole continent of Africa to work with Pentecostal pastors! It has all happened through the one brother, Sam Abuku with YWAM in remote Arua, who used to pastor a 3000 member church for Pentecostal Assemblies of God (PAG) and is still closely aligned with all his PAG brothers. 
Director of Uganda's Pentecostal Assemblies, and also oversees the PAG movement for all of Africa. At Sam’s request, Simon Peter wanted to meet me in person, but left for South Africa the day before we came into Kampala. When Simon and I spoke on phone last Wednesday, he spoke of how highly Sam had spoken about the "Leader as Good Steward" training model. Now Simon Peter believes it is needed throughout Africa, and asked me to prepare to move in that direction. As Sam did, he ALSO sent me to Franco since he could not meet me in person.... unbelievable. 
almost unlimited. We know it's a powerful resource because it has already had significant impact with various mission groups worldwide and in Christian colleges/seminaries here in the West. After meeting the past two days with denominational leaders from around the country, I am convinced that there is a huge, untapped need in helping these leaders match pastors with the right skill set to the right church that needs their gifts and personality. Also, there are pastors who have burned out such that denominations have no idea how to help outplace them. The Grip/Birkman Blueprint could provide much help for this huge area of need in the body of Christ. It is time we not discard people committed to the Kingdom but help them discover God's purposes in their lives!