From the desk of Steve Shultz:
Catherine Brown is not only prophetic but she is an apostolic leader and teacher. In her article here, she shares some key wisdom on leadership training to help build up others in the Body. As I read through this, it was like seeing generational lines coming together and impartation/gifts being passed on. It's a great word if you are raising up leaders in your own church and ministry as there is much to glean on here.
Also here's a great way to support THE ELIJAH LIST:
Yes, you CAN support THE ELIJAH LIST in a win/win way!
People ask me, "How can I support The Elijah List?"
Answer: You can help support The Elijah List's FREE EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION – The Elijah List articles are emailed or published online – 365-Days-a-Year – to over 150,000 Elijah List friends who read it through The Elijah List emails and website and on our Facebook and Twitter Pages.
By simply purchasing your prophetic books, teachings, CDs, videos, music and art directly from The Elijah List's online store – this enables us to pay employee salaries with the proceeds to keep the Elijah List FREE.
Ready to Make a Purchase? Just browse The Elijah List store at this link: www.elijahshopper.com, select your products, then proceed to checkout, and wait for your shipments to arrive. Thank you for your win/win support. Enjoy the benefits of your products!
Thank you for supporting us!
 |
NEW!
What Is God Saying for 2013?
by Chuck Pierce, Dutch Sheets, Garris Elkins, Bobby Haaby, and Denny Cline
Entire 2013 Elijah List Conference Set
|
Catherine Brown:
Moses and His Generational Succession Plan – Exodus 18
Generational Succession Plan
Kingdom leaders must recognise the need to raise up other leaders by developing them. Apostolic intentionality is required to put a generational succession plan in place. If you are not intentional about creating such a plan, your spiritual legacy will go to the grave with you, and all that you have worked for will die with you. A generational succession plan is a plan that will ensure your spiritual legacy continues for generations. God loves tri-generational blessings!
God's plan to save mankind is the greatest example of a generational succession plan the world has ever seen:
– In the miraculous and divine conception and birth of our Lord Jesus Christ;
– In the sinless and perfect life of obedience and love of our Lord Jesus Christ;
– In the atoning death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Legacy
A legacy is simply something handed down by a predecessor (or an amount of money or property left to someone in a will).
Lineage
In order to receive one's legacy, a person must first acknowledge and understand their lineage. Lineage means ancestor or pedigree; as Believers we have a royal lineage. We are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ:
"For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory" (Romans 8:15-17).
An heir is a legal inheritor and can possess their inheritance. In understanding and acknowledging lineage, there is a natural progression to accepting legacy. Without understanding one is a legal heir, there is a danger that legacy could be lost.
Leaders and Legacy Management
The first role of a legacy manager, i.e. the visionary leader of the church, ministry, or organisation, is to:
1. Establish/lay foundations
2. Thereafter to build and to advance God's Kingdom
3. To nurture the next generation of leaders, i.e. intentional leadership development to fulfill potential and Kingdom destiny. To nurture is to help grow. In order for this to take place, the leader must put in place:
– A plan
– A process (the journey of ongoing assessment of leadership potential, pitfalls, growth)
– A "platform" (a place for trainee leaders to experience leadership and growth)
Nurturing must make room for true delegation of authority and give room for the person in training to grow in skills, experience, and gifting. You will not know how people will react and cope with authority until you give them some authority.
What Should We Take Into Consideration?
Relationships
Relationship must be established between the leader and the leader-in-training; without relationship you cannot know what a person's gifts, strengths, and weaknesses are, nor can you assess how they are developing and maturing. The person in training should show fruit of maturity in discipleship in their life and witness.
It is important to see how your potential leader responds to others in relationships: e.g. family, ministry, etc. Does the person have a good balance in life and in ministry? Is the person accountable, submitted, teachable, loving? Is the person a team player? A team builder? Can they be trusted with power and authority? Can they prioritise and properly manage time and people? Can they set goals and achieve objectives? Do they have good personal foundations? Are they able to be under authority and operate in authority? Are they responsible and caring? Do they take care of their spouse and children?
Trust is an important part of relationship – you cannot promote a person you do not trust. It takes seasons of journeying together in order for trust to be both developed and "tested." Sometimes the testing of trust and power reveals tremendous character, but sadly there are times when it reveals the opposite. Whatever the outcome, the testing in the arena of trust is an important aspect of legacy planning and pruning.
Strategic/Visionary/Apostolic/Prophetic
The person you appoint must share your vision, values, and heart. You cannot teach "heart"; this is something that is modelled and "caught" through sharing of life and ministry as it bears fruit in the leader's life. A spiritual child should take on some of the spiritual DNA of their parents in like manner to a physical child inheriting some of their natural parents' genes.
Character and integrity should be evident in all areas of life and ministry, including stewardship of finances, and the person in training should be committed to prayer, personal devotion, and study of the Word.
Be careful to assess character, commitment, and calling before putting someone into a position of responsibility. Don't put a "round peg" in a "square hole." Don't put a family member in place if they are not equipped for the role. Instead, think about the skills, gifts, talents, and experience the person has for the job before you put them into place. If the person is called into ministry, they will have grace for every challenge that they face.
Crisis
Difficult times are a tremendous opportunity for character testing and refinement. Every leader-in-training needs to experience crisis and learn how to manage and respond through it. In order to reach the mountain tops, we cannot bypass the important lessons and principles that the "valleys" of life and ministry teach us. They give opportunity for "back bone" and resilience to be developed in us. Crisis management teaches us faith, strength by grace, God-reliance, and much more. In times of trial, we learn how to endure. Our minds are trained to stay focused on task and we can become more Christ-like in character as we pass through difficulties.
Manage Transition From Day One In Ministry
Transitory period for legacy succession in ministry should include:
1. Intentional development of leadership potential in upcoming/emerging leader(s).
2. Purposeful delegation of authority and responsibility to leader(s) in training with support from the apostolic leader. A type of "co-regency," like the King David and Solomon model, may be a viable Kingdom/Biblical example of two generations working together in a period of "hand-over." Mentoring is still required at this stage.
3. After a suitable period of training, the emergent leader should be fully released into their assigned position in the ministry and into their authority and anointing. The mantle, anointing, and authority of the new leader should be affirmed by the outgoing leader and the incoming company whom the leader will serve.
Moses and Jethro – The Generational Succession Plan (Exodus 18): The Need To Raise Another Generation – Too Much Work For One Person!
The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, "What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?"
Moses answered him, "Because the people come to me to seek God's will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and laws."
Moses' father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you." Exodus 18:13-19a (Photo courtesy: breadsite.org)
The Strategy
You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to Him. Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people – men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain – and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied. Exodus 18:19b-23
Moses did exactly what his father-in-law had suggested. It took a father figure, i.e. spiritual parent, to point out the need for a generational succession plan. Apostolic fathers and mothers are strong advocates of raising up the next generation of spiritual sons and daughters.
Tactical Implementation of the Strategy Breakdown:
– Don't stop leading! Jethro encouraged Moses to continue to be an apostolic leader before God on behalf of the Israelites.
– Moses was to teach other potential leaders what he knew.
– Moses was to show them how to live; as an apostolic father, he would become a lifestyle model which they could imitate.
– Moses was also to instruct them in their duties and obligations, teaching stewardship and responsibility.
– Jethro told Moses to choose "capable men." Moses needed to make an assessment on the potential for leadership in others and then nurture and develop them. In the quality of selectiveness, Moses chose those who had exhibited some competency in leadership prior to being appointed into a position of responsibility.
– The character of the leaders-in-training was of utmost importance, i.e. they were to be honest, trustworthy, and God-fearing.
– Each appointee was to be assigned to a particular sphere of influence; some were given delegated authority over tens, some fifty, others hundreds, and finally those with the capability and character to take care of thousands.
– The leaders were given delegated authority and could serve as judges, but Moses was to remain on hand to give counsel, wisdom, and insight to his team and to deal with the difficult cases. This was a time for generations to operate together in gifting, calling, and experience.
– The leaders were to learn how to serve. The Lord Jesus taught that leading is NOT about lording it over others.
As a result the load would not only be lighter and the team operating in apostolic grace, but there would also be a whole new generation of leaders raised up.
Perhaps We Might View the Process Along the Lines of:
Affirmation – recognition of leadership potential.
Activation into leadership – release in relationship by mentor to leadership development and discipleship.
Revelation and teaching – impartation of knowledge and understanding.
Lifestyle modelling – a powerful tool in developing others in character and leadership potential. Effectively, we are saying, "Do what I do," not just "what I say."
Impartation – when we pray and lay hands on another, we impart revelation and anointing, release gifting, and call forth a mantle/pass on a mantle (see Elijah and Elisha in 2 Kings 2:15: "The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, 'The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.' And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.").
Delegation into a specific sphere/role – assigned duties within context of calling and gifting.
Release – into fullness of office/mantle/calling.
The father or mother of the house makes spiritual decisions that will affect the next generation! As leaders, we have a responsibility to PASS IT ON!
So now I charge you in the sight of all Israel and of the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God: Be careful to follow all the commands of the LORD your God, that you may possess this good land and pass it on as an inheritance to your descendants forever.
And you, my son...acknowledge the God of your father, and serve Him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever. Consider now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a temple as a sanctuary. Be strong and do the work. 1 Chronicles 28:8-10
Catherine Brown
Founder/Director, Gatekeepers Global Ministries (GGM)
Co-Founder, Scottish Apostolic Network
Email: admin@gatekeepers.org.uk
Website: gatekeepers.org.uk
Catherine Brown is the founder/director of Gatekeepers Global Ministries (GGM) and is a sought-after national and international preacher and teacher. She is presently leading a global evangelism and discipleship mission entitled "GGM 7 Million Souls" and is working with her team and valued partners from many nations to achieve the vision objectives. She operates in an impacting apostolic/prophetic mantle with a strong revival thrust on her preaching, serving the Church and the lost through Christ's Gospel of love. She has ministered in Europe, Africa, Israel, and the USA and has had the privilege of seeing people saved, baptized, healed, and delivered in the glorious outpouring of the Holy Spirit, with signs and wonders following. Catherine's passion for Christ and His Kingdom is contagious, and wherever she ministers people are envisioned, equipped, empowered, and mobilized. Catherine is married to Stephen and they have four lovely children and live in the West Coast of Scotland.
