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City Light Church Las Vegas | Jabin Chavez
The Call Of A Pastor | Jabin Chavez Leadership Podcast
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The Call Of A Pastor | Jabin Chavez Leadership Po…
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Hey, friend. And welcome to this week's Jaben Chavis Leadership Podcast. Today I'm going to be talking to the senior pastors about how to effectively lead your church from a place that is true to you, true to your personality, true to your gifts and to your callings. And I'm believing it's really going to help you today. So let's jump in together. You know, I think for pastors it can be very challenging in the times that we're living in to pastor our church when there's, when there's so much right here, not only for us to be exposed to, but also to our church to be exposed to. It can be really hard to find our own voice and, and really just even our own, like, call. In the midst of all that's going on in our world, there's a lot of online chatter and noise about what a pastor should be and what they should be doing and what people expect from a pastor. And I want to maybe start there for a second and just say this right off the bat. I think that they say the loudest boos come from the cheapest stands. So what I'm not doing is I'm not going to Twitter, I'm not going to threads, I'm not going to social media to find out what people are demanding of me. I'm just not doing that. And I think that a lot of times we can feel like, man, that must be the majority. The majority of people must be thinking that. I found that it's not the majority, it's the minority. And so I'm not going to lead from that. I'm not going to live from that. I'm not going to be scared of that. At the same time, I think we are just exposed and over saturated and have an over extra amount of information hitting us. And so I wanted to give you three things today that I think will help you as you lead your church. And here's the first one. You have to identify the call of the pastor. What is the call of the senior pastor to me? We could obviously go to first and second Timothy. We could obviously go to Titus, Hebrews 13. We're shepherding the flock and we're watching over people's souls. All of that really is important. But I'm always reminded of Acts, chapter six when they are raising up new leaders in the church. The apostles said we have to give our time to the word and we have to give our time to prayer. I just want to tell every senior pastor, I want to remind every senior pastor this the most important thing you can do for your church is be in the word, in prayer. It's, it's. It's the model we see in Jesus going up to the mountain. It's the model we see in Jesus when he would say, I do nothing unless the Father tells me. It's the model we see in the Old Testament as the prophets were caught up in the Spirit. It's the model we see in Moses as he went up to the mountain to talk to the Lord or into the tabernacle to talk to the Lord. You are a priest unto God, and you are a priest for your church. The priest represents the people to God and God to the people. Never forget that, Pastor. That is your call. Now, there's a lot of other things we need to do, and there's a lot of other responsibilities we have. But. But don't miss the main thing. Talking to God and listening to God. Talking to God. Listening to God. Talking to God. Listening to God. If you would commit to that, you'd get a lot more vision, you get a lot more sermons, you'd get a lot more grace, you'd get a lot more peace. What is the call of the pastor? Talking to God and listening to God. Now we're gonna have to make decisions for our people. We're gonna have to meet with people. We're gonna have to be shepher. But never forget the ultimate call of the pastor. We are going to give our time to the Word and to prayer. As you read the Book of Acts, you see the apostles praying, fasting, teaching, praying, fasting, preaching, praying, fasting in the Word, praying, fasting in the Word. I mean, that's all they did. They were preaching, they were teaching, and they built their life around preaching, preaching and teaching. Think about, think about that. They built their life around preaching and teaching, and they built their life around tough decisions. So they were in prayer, they were in fasting, they were in the Word, and then they were teaching, preaching and making tough calls. That's what a pastor does. Do we meet with people? Of course. Do we. Do we still go out to lunches? Of course. Do we still smell like the sheep? Of course. But preaching and teaching comes first. Everything else comes second. Think about Jesus. He had the multitudes then he had the. Just the followers of Jesus that we could call them disciples. And the crowds that were a little bit different, they were kind of tracking with him. Then he had the 70, then he had the 12, then he had the 3, Peter, James, and John. But out of that, he really had. Then the one John, then even closer than John the Father. There were layers of relationship. Not everybody. You're not gonna be able to pastor everybody. You're not gonna be able to meet with everybody. You're not gonna be able to marry and bury everybody. You can't be accessible to everybody. But you must have layers of relationship. You should be able to identify layers of relationship in your life. If you can't, that means you're isolated. So identify the call of the pastor. Teaching, preaching, prayer, fasting, seeking God, vision, shepherding. But built around. We cannot neglect the prayer and the word. Prayer and the word. Out of that flows everything else. Most pastors in the west and in America are neglecting that. And it shows. Number two. Identify your gift. What is your gift? You must be able to identify your gift. Here's why you need to identify your gift. Because you got to lead from that. I have the gift of faith. That's my gift. I have the gift of faith. I have the gift. Romans 12 of hospitality. I have the gift of hospitality. I'd lead from that. So I want people to feel really welcome, and I want people's faith to be really stirred. That's my gift. What else is my gift? I have a teaching gift. I'm just telling you, these are the gifts that I have. Am I prophetic? No, not really. Do I have the gift of healing? No, not that I know of. I have a gift of faith. I can believe God for big things. I have a gift to teach. I can open up scripture and just talk. I have a gift of hospitality. I go out in that lobby and it doesn't kill me. It doesn't zap me. I don't dread it. I love it. I love the lobby. I love shaking hands. I love making people feel welcome. I love giving out hugs. I love it. But it's a gift. What's your gift? Identify your gift and then lead from that gift. You are more than your gift. But never downplay your gift. Your life is bigger than your gift. Your ministry is bigger than your gift. But never downplay your gift. Once you identify your gift, then begin to hire for people outside of your gift. My wife doesn't have a teaching gift. My wife doesn't have a faith gift. She has other gifts. She has a hospitality gift in that she really cares that people are connected and joined into the life of the church. But she could be in the lobby. She doesn't have to be in the lobby. I have to be in the lobby. I don't like being in the green room. I Like being out there with my church family again. It's different gifts. She's seeing a hundred things on the weekend that I'd never see. It's her gift. She's. She's putting out fires that I never even smelt the smoke of. That's her gift. She's 10 steps ahead of me in so many other ways. That's her gift. She has a discernment gift. That's off the rails. That's her gift. I don't have a discernment gift. I love everybody. I'm hospitality. I'm faith. She's discernment. It's a gift. Lead from your gift, by the way. That's why you got to hire outside of your gift and bring in guest ministry. That is not your gift. So, like, I've had this year, three guest speakers. I wouldn't say any of them have a teaching gift. They're amazing preachers. They've got amazing anointings. I wouldn't say they're Bible teachers. I'm a Bible teacher, so I don't need another Bible teacher to come in. I need a different gift flow to come in. Your gift can be polarizing, and that's okay. Somebody walks in and goes, oh, my God, that's my pastor. And they never leave. Another person walks in and goes, God, I'll never be back. And they never come back. That's okay. It is better to lead from your gift than to lie to yourself and tell yourself, oh, no. If I was more like, so and so. No. Lead from your gift. I want to say this again. All the biggest churches that I know, all the biggest pastors that I know that I'm friends with, they're all so. They all lead so authentically from their gift. Chris Hodges is not like Craig Groeschel. Craig Groeschel is not like Steven Furtick. Steven Furtick is not like Jensen Franklin. Jensen Franklin is not like Ed Newton. Ed Newton is not like Ashley Woolridge. On and on and on. They're all so different. They're all so different. But their gift has created their tribe. Identify your gift. So you got to know your call. You got to know your gift. And then the third one is identify your personality. Your personality can create preferences, and it is just good to know that because your preferences might not be best for the church. So they're like, when I worship, when I'm getting ready for church, I'm not listening to elevation. I'm not listening to Bethel. I'm not listening to, you know, modern worship. I'm listening to the gaithers. My number one song on YouTube that I streamed last year was a Gaither song. That's crazy. Pass me not, O gentle savior. That was my number one song last year. Hear my humble cry. That was my. That was my number one song. While all others thou art calling Please don't pass me by Savior, savior, Hear my humble cry man, what a great song. Listen, I don't sing that at church. It's not what our worship is. Our worship is loud rock and roll, elevation, worship. But I know my personality. Some of it sneaks in every once in a while. But I also know that my personality is creating preferences that might not be best for the church. So if you're an introvert, be an introvert, but recognize it. If you're an extrovert, be an introvert, but recognize it. And recognize the strength and weakness in it. See, this is. Personality types are so important. Not for you to go, okay, I'm an enneagram 5. That's who I am. Okay, I'm an enneagram 1. That's who I am. Okay, I'm an enneagram 8k. That's who I am. Okay, I'm a. I'm an achiever. I'm a this, I'm a that. Okay, that's who I am. No, it's also important for you to see your personality type and go, okay, I need to work on the opposite of that too. Because my greatest strength is my greatest weakness. Within my personality are strengths, and within my personality are weaknesses. I need to be true to my personality, but I also need to recognize the weaknesses of my personality. So just recognize it. Don't kill it. Just sanctify it. You know, I think about Paul. We see a picture of Paul before Christ and after Christ. And here's what I think about Paul. He was zealous. He was zealous to persecute the church. He was zealous to build the church. He was zealous to. So zealous that he would kill people. And he was so zealous that he would lay down his life for the Gospel. Paul. Paul never lost his zeal. That's who he was. He was a wild man. He never lost that. He just sanctified it. So figure out who you are. Figure out your personality, your personality type, figure out your preferences, and then just make sure that you're not building a whole ministry around your personality and your preferences. Some of them will work, and some of them will be helpful. Some of them will be harmful. And you just got to know that, you know, it's like, I am an introvert. So I'm not very social. And I can tell myself, oh, man, it's too much for the church to do another event. Amen. It's too much for us to be out another night. Oh, man, it's too much for us to do that dinner. There's just too much going on. There actually isn't. I'm an introvert, but there's a ton of extroverts that would love to have something to do. Does that make sense? So I can't lead simply from my personality. I have to recognize it. It's a part of me. The same way that I said, you're more than your gift. You're actually more than your personality. You're more than your preference. Identify, work on these things. Figure these things out. Watch how it will begin to bring clarity to your ministry. So I'm leading from my call as a pastor. I'm leading from my gift, and I'm leading from my personality. I'm also just seeing both sides of it, two sides of one coin. And I'm seeing the strengths and the weaknesses. I'm identifying where that's really helping us and possibly where it's hurting us. And then I'm leading from that. I'm telling you, outside of your personal walk with Jesus, the greatest gift you could give your church is self awareness. If you could just be self aware, everything around you would grow. I promise you. All right, I love you. Hey, don't forget, we're streaming every Sunday. New sermon every Sunday night, new leadership podcast every Wednesday, new worship drop every Friday right here on the City Light Vegas pages. I love you so much. I'm praying for you. And, hey, I don't know if you heard yet, but we've got Pastors Roundtable, and It's coming up November 2 and 3. All the information is in the description in the show notes, so make sure you get it. We'd love to have senior pastors with us November 2 and 3. Love y'. All. See you soon.