Areas of Focus: The Leadership Institute will focus on several core values as it relates to Kingdom Life and Ministry – Christ Like Character, Spiritual Gifts, Emotional Intelligence, Biblical Authority, Covenant Relationships, Hermeneutics (Biblical Interpretation), Homiletics (The Art and Science of Preaching), Soteriology (The Study of Salvation), and Discipleship.
Expectations: Every trainee will be expected to adhere to the core values set forth by The Leadership Training Institute (as set forth in the Word of God). These core values include:
Consistency: Attending all sessions and participating in all training activities regularly and on a consistent basis.
Commitment: Being dedicated and committed to completing all required course material and endeavoring to fulfill ALL expectations.
Communication: Being accountable for your own emotional, physical, and mental state to the degree that you are willing and able to share with leadership when and if you are unable to fulfill stated expectations. Also, participating fully in the verbal and non-verbal aspects of sharing, speaking, praying, and listening within the group context.
Humility: Possessing a teachable spirit at all times. Willing to be corrected.
Foundations of Practical Ministry
Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; (1 Peter 5:2)
At the CORE of ANY and ALL ministry is SERVING GOD, and SERVING OTHERS
Submission is the KEY to experiencing the power of God (the anointing) to minister to others.
In ministry, MOTIVES are of the highest importance! What are your motives?
Ministry flows out of our personal DEVOTION to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ Like Character
One of the most important aspects of Kingdom Living is CHARACTER.
What is character? Character is defined as the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual.
Christ Like Character is the FRUIT of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
Character is intentional. Colossians 3:12-15 – “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
God puts CHARACTER above GIFTING. Proverbs 28:6 – “Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.”
Emotional Intelligence - Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to recognize one's own and other people's emotions, to discriminate between different feelings and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior.
The model claims that EI includes four types of abilities: (The Ability Model)
Perceiving emotions – the ability to detect and decipher emotions in faces, pictures, voices, and cultural artifacts—including the ability to identify one's own emotions. Perceiving emotions represents a basic aspect of emotional intelligence, as it makes all other processing of emotional information possible.
Using emotions – the ability to harness emotions to facilitate various cognitive activities, such as thinking and problem solving. The emotionally intelligent person can capitalize fully upon his or her changing moods in order to best fit the task at hand.
Understanding emotions – the ability to comprehend emotion language and to appreciate complicated relationships among emotions. For example, understanding emotions encompasses the ability to be sensitive to slight variations between emotions, and the ability to recognize and describe how emotions evolve over time.
Managing emotions – the ability to regulate emotions in both ourselves and in others. Therefore, the emotionally intelligent person can harness emotions, even negative ones, and manage them to achieve intended goals.
The Mixed Model – (Wide range of skills and competencies):
Self-awareness – the ability to know one's emotions, strengths, weaknesses, drives, values and goals and recognize their impact on others while using gut feelings to guide decisions.
Self-regulation – involves controlling or redirecting one's disruptive emotions and impulses and adapting to changing circumstances.
Social skill – managing relationships to move people in the desired direction
Empathy - considering other people's feelings especially when making decision
Motivation - being driven to achieve for the sake of achievement.
Character Keys – Consistency
Christ was consistent in His prayer life. (Luke 18:1)
Christ was consistent in His faith. (Mark 11:22-23)
Christ was consistent in His words. (Matthew 12:36)
Christ was consistent in His devotion. (John 8:29)
Perils in Character
Scriptures for consideration:
Abstain from all appearance of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:22
A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue. Proverbs 17:4
The desire of a man is his kindness: and a poor man is better than a liar. Proverbs 19:22
A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold. Proverbs 22:1
Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12
Fundamentals of Spiritual Leadership
Track Objective: To train and equip believer’s to walk in spiritual leadership. To provide a biblical foundation for leadership in life and ministry.
1. Character - And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Romans 5:3-5
2. Discipleship - (Luke 6:40) Personal passionate, devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. From the Greek word mathetes - a learner, pupil, or disciplined one. It where we get the English word “math”. Discipleship is a “spiritual science” that must be adhered to and replicated in order to produce results.
3. Qualification/Evangelism - Acts 9:27 - Paul met the qualifications for leadership according to the Apostles.
- He preached the Word boldly.
4. Integrity - Acts 9:30. People should know you by your WALK.
5. The Fruit of The Spirit - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22-24
6. Formation of Christ - The Lord Himself should be formed in mature believers.
My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, Galatians 4:19
Church Government & Kingdom Culture
The objective of this tack is to examine the biblical pattern for Church Government. We will identify the fivefold ministry structure of Apostolic Authority, Prophetic Insight, Evangelistic Outreach, Pastoral Oversight and Instruction, Administration, and Helps. We will look at the biblical pattern of how a church is to function according to the New Testament pattern.
5 Fold Ministry Model.
1. Salvation? Matthew 28:19 Acts 2
A. Romans 10:8-10 - We are to primarily extend the reach of God’s Kingdom through Spirit-led (supernatural) evangelism. We accomplish this through active engaging the community through with the Gospel of the Kingdom.
B. The simplest form of evangelism is inviting someone to church. A recent study shows that 80% of people attending a church never invite their friends.
C. We are call to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. This is a powerful witness of the resurrected Christ.
2. Discipleship? John 15:8
A. Discipleship is an integral part of Christian development and maturity. Through discipleship we are acclimated into Kingdom Culture. Everything produces after it’s kind - Genesis 1:11 (zera)
B. When we don’t reproduce disciples we become stail in our Christian life.
C. We grow from glory to glory. 2 Corinthians 3:18
3. Activation? Romans 1:11
A. We are activated in our ministry assignment and calling.
B. We receive an impartation of wisdom, knowledge, and spiritual gifts.
C. The gifts inside of us are stirred by the Holy Spirit through our initiative.
4. Equipping? Ephesians 4:12
A. We are trained and furnished in the house of God to effectively walk in our calling.
B. We receive character development in the context of Christian community. This includes accountability relationships. 2 Corinthians 7:1
C. We learn how to serve the church with our gifts, talents, and treasures.
5. Releasing? Acts 13:2
A. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
B. We are to be released to function in our specific ministry assignment.
Developing A Supernatural Culture
Track Objective: The purpose of this course is to develop a culture of consistently walking in the supernatural through devotion. This course will help you to become more in tune with the Holy Spirit in order to manifest His power in and through you.
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10
1. The Holy Spirit is the agent and enabler of the supernatural life. (see Romans 8:11)
2. We experience greater manifestations of the supernatural as we die to ourselves. (see Galatians 2:20)
3. Prayer is a means for releasing God’s supernatural power. (see James 5:16) The word effectual implies “heartfelt and persistent” prayer. This prayer releases the energy of God.
4. God’s Word is the source of all supernatural power. (see Romans 1:16) The Holy Spirit and the Word of God come together to produce manifestation. (i.e. healing, deliverance, breakthrough, etc..)
5. Supernatural living requires persistence and diligence. (see 2 Timothy 2:15)
6. Ultimately, actions activate the miraculous. The more you act on the Word of God in bold faith, the more you will see God’s miraculous power. (James 1:22)
Principles of Homiletics:
Homiletics comprises the study of the composition and delivery of a sermon or other religious discourse. It includes all forms of preaching, viz., the sermon, homily and catechetical instruction.
It may be further defined as the study of the analysis, classification, preparation, composition and delivery of sermons.
The Three Types of Messages (Sermons)
Expository preaching is a form of preaching that details the meaning of a particular text or passage of Scripture. It explains what the Bible means by what it says. Exegesis is technical and grammatical exposition, a careful drawing out of the exact meaning of a passage in its original context.
Topical preaching is a form of preaching where a preacher uses passages to support a thesis about a particular topic. Instead of sticking to a certain book or section in a book of the Bible, it remains true to a topic or subject within the Bible. In other words, the preaching is done with several texts throughout the Bible. This method requires the people jump around quite a bit throughout the preaching in order to keep up.
Textual Preaching is a form of preaching involving preaching through a section of the Bible (or section of a book of the Bible) straight through. It is similar to the Expositional method except that entire books are generally not covered. In other words, a preacher may do a month long series covering a section of one particular book of the Bible. This section will have a main theme or thought flowing through it. For example, a preacher may preach on the first two chapters of Luke leading up to Christmas. Here are some reasons that make this method popular:
Principles of Biblical Hermeneutics:
Biblical hermeneutics is the study of the principles of interpretation of the Bible. While Jewish and Christian biblical hermeneutics have some overlap, they have distinctly different interpretive traditions.
The early patristic traditions of biblical exegesis had few unifying characteristics in the beginning but tended toward unification in later schools of biblical hermeneutics.
Literal
Encyclopædia Britannica states that literal analysis means “a biblical text is to be deciphered according to the ‘plain meaning’ expressed by its linguistic construction and historical context.” The intention of the authors is believed to correspond to the literal meaning. Literal hermeneutics is often associated with the verbal inspiration of the Bible.[16]
Moral
Moral interpretation searches for moral lessons, which can be understood from writings within the Bible. Allegories are often placed in this category. This can be seen in the Epistle of Barnabas, which explains the dietary laws by stating which meats are forbidden but is interpreted as forbidding immorality with animals.[16]
Allegorical
Allegorical interpretation states that biblical narratives has a second level of reference that is more than the people, events and things that are explicitly mentioned. One type of allegorical interpretation is known as typological, where the key figures, events, and establishments of the Old Testament are viewed as “types”. In the New Testament this can also include foreshadowing of people, objects, and events. According to this theory readings like Noah’s Ark could be understood by using the Ark as a “type” of Christian church that God expected from the start.[16]
Anagogical
This type of interpretation is more often known as mystical interpretation. It purports to explain the events of the Bible and how they relate to or predict what the future holds.
Pre-text (Historical) - of or concerning history; concerning past events.
Text (Grammatical) - conforming to the rules of grammar or standard usage.
Context - the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed.