World Evangelism Podcast

Authentic Spiritual Growth Beyond Traditional Models

• W. Austin Gardner • Season 1 • Episode 30

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Can mentoring truly transform your ministry and lead to greater spiritual growth? Discover the answer as we unpack the powerful role that pastors and missionaries play in raising up new leaders for impactful ministry work. Anchored in key biblical passages such as 2 Timothy 2:2 and Ephesians 4:11, we explore how mentoring can help believers transition from personal spiritual growth to taking on influential public ministry roles. We challenge conventional ministry models by emphasizing that every believer, not just church leaders, holds a vital responsibility in the mission of spreading the gospel. 

In this episode, we delve into the shared responsibilities outlined in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 2 and address common pitfalls like focusing on outward behaviors over inner spiritual transformation. We discuss the pressing need to shift from crisis management to fostering continuous spiritual development, advocating for genuine, heartfelt change rather than superficial compliance. Tackling the issue of hypocrisy within churches, we invite you to reflect on new methods of mentorship and training that encourage authenticity in faith. Join the conversation on the World Evangelism Podcast and be inspired to empower others to fulfill their God-given callings.

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W. Austin Gardner:

Welcome to the World Evangelism Podcast. I'm your host, austin Gardner, and I'm so excited to have the opportunity to be with you Today. I'll be talking to you a little bit more about mentoring. I've been trying to explain to you from a Bible and ministerial perspective the idea of mentoring, of men, training men, and our key verse we started in with second timothy, chapter two and verse two. The things that you heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also, and so we've gone over quite a bit of things and I would just like to talk to you, as pastors or missionaries or anyone that's involved in the ministry, that your priority ministry, especially that of the pastor and the missionary, should be the training of other men to follow Jesus and do ministry, so we teach them about Jesus and walk with him, but then we teach them what to do.

W. Austin Gardner:

The Bible says in Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 11, I think this ought to be one of those verses that you go to constantly. The Bible said and he gave some apostles and some prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Now I'll go into a little bit more of the verse, but you know, what God has done is he's given the church these different people with different gifts. He has given them to the church for the job of perfecting the saints, maturing the saints, growing up into spiritual maturity of the saints. And that's our number one job. We want to see people get saved. We want to see people get grounded in what the Word of God says, that we want to see them learn to have a personal, close, intimate relationship with God. We want to teach them how to let the Holy Spirit guide and direct their lives. There's a thousand things that go into the perfecting of the saints, but as the saints mature, they're not to be spectators, they're to be workers, and so they will do the work of the ministry. They will grow and they will get involved in doing the work of the ministry. In other words, the job of the pastor, the job of the missionary, is to grow people to maturity so that they can do the ministry. The job of a parent is to teach his child how to walk and feed himself and dress himself and live a life so that they will one day take over and do what we're doing and that's what we're called to do. As we get involved in mentoring, we are maturing saints to do the work of the ministry and then from that we see the body grow. It's for the edifying of the body. Too often pastors are like the main player in a three-ring circle, a circus. They're in all three rings and they're like everybody wearing every hat and everybody's watching them, when the real goal ought to be not what you can do, but what you can train others to do. It's not about what you're able to accomplish, but what can you train others to be able to do. We're to mature them and help them find a place in the ministry. Now, for a long time I just call this my priority ministry.

W. Austin Gardner:

For a long time I've talked about a triangle, triangle, and the base of that triangle is the b level. That's the private you that no one knows. That's the you in private, when no one's looking. It's your character, it's your identity in christ. It's who you really are. It's who you are without makeup on. It's the real you that only you and god know, and you don't even know so well. It's really mainly God who knows about that and that's who you are the be and see, we don't do to be but we are, so we do. We don't do to be, but we are, so we do. So the next level up is the do level, and that's private levels. Be and the personal level is do. So the next level up is the do level, that's private levels B and the personal level is do. It's what people can see you doing, the people that know you. It's a reflection of who you are in reality. But it could be with a mask on or makeup on, because we're not all. We do wear masks and we do try to please people. And then, above that, I call it the public ministry and that's serving. It's how people might know we do wear masks and we do try to please people. And then, above that, I call it the public ministry and that's serving. It's how people might know you, like they may have known me as a missionary or a pastor, and that would be my public level. But then, above all of that, is the priority level.

W. Austin Gardner:

The main goal of being a parent is to train a person to grow up into full maturity, to be able to carry on and do their own family. And so in our ministry, every ministry we ought to have in mind. I want other people to do everything I can do and do it even better, and I'm going to work at helping them do that. The Apostle Paul counted it his responsibility and his ministry to perfect every man, to perfect every man. So Colossians, chapter 1 and verse 28,.

W. Austin Gardner:

The Bible said we preach Christ and we warn every man and we teach every man in all wisdom that we present every man mature, perfect in Christ. Our goal is to help them reach fullness of being who they are meant to be in Christ. So in our ministry we want to train everybody. So we're going to work with everybody as they grow in Christ. But as they go up the levels, some people will be satisfied just to be who they are and do the minimal things, be a minister but go to church and help a little bit. And then some will take a more public place where they might be a Sunday school teacher or a deacon or an usher. And then some will go all the way up to getting into priority ministry of leading and training other people. But as a pastor and a missionary I'm going to train them to do it. I'm going to train everybody in all the basics so that everybody I'm going to make sure my church has a ministry to train everybody to grow in maturity in Christ. Maturity in Christ means that they will become self-feeders. It means that they will learn how to read the Bible and learn for themselves. It does mean that sometimes they might not agree with you. It means that sometimes they will have studied and worked it out. And that's kind of hard on pastors sometimes. We don't want to accept that, but that's where we have to get to See, we are called to make disciples.

W. Austin Gardner:

We are called to make disciples In Matthew 28, 18 and 19 and 20, it says go into all the world and teach the gospel. That word teach the gospel there literally means go make disciples. I had a guy tell me one time when I was young. He said you know, we're supposed to disciple people before we baptize them and then disciple them after. And I was like, oh, come on, you know, win them to Christ, then baptize them, then disciple them. But you know he got to saying that. So I went and studied it and teaching them to observe all things comes after being baptized. But after we have gone into all worlds, teach them, but the very first time they hear the gospel, not if you get outside of here, the United States, and get where people have not heard. So we have to teach them. They have to understand their condition, they have to understand the gift that God offers. They have to understand so much. So it's about making disciples. In Acts, chapter 11 and verse 26, the Bible says that the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. So we go, win people to Christ. We're making disciples, we're getting people saved and they're called Christians.

W. Austin Gardner:

Discipling people doesn't mean that everybody will be a pastor or a missionary or a preacher. So we're training everybody to be all they can be. But everyone will pick along the line where they will end up going between them and the Lord. I can't be the Holy Spirit. Oh, have I tried Over the years? I have tried my best to be the Holy Spirit Boy. I'm so sorry. I repent of that wicked sin that was in my life. So I want to train people to be all they can be. Everybody ought to be trained to be all they can be. Everybody ought to be trained to be all they can be, and everybody ought to be involved in discipling and training people. Now I call discipleship those basic lessons. We first get them started and I call mentoring after that when we take them further on to full-time ministry or whatever.

W. Austin Gardner:

But that's arbitrary and totally chosen by me and not necessarily a biblical concept. You know, in the Bible there's not a lot of difference between a pastor and a deacon. I mean, if you ever read the qualifications of 1 Timothy 3, not a lot of difference. And so I really don't think there ought to be a lot of difference in a regular Christian and a preacher. Every one of us ought to be serving God with everything that's within us and every one of us ought to be fully surrendered to being the guy that God called us to be. I mean, that's who we are and that's what we're supposed to be doing, and I would challenge you to bear that in mind.

W. Austin Gardner:

Then the Bible, titus told the older women, the aged women, to teach the young women. In Titus, chapter 2, verses 3 through 5. So he told the older ladies you ladies have a ministry. It wasn't just a ministry of the pastor, it was a ministry of the older ladies. So it's a ministry of the older men, it's a ministry of the older ladies, it's a ministry of every older Christian to be teaching other Christians how to better serve God. Now I bring this to you Ministry is not about being a crisis manager.

W. Austin Gardner:

I think so often, many times, in the ministry, pastors almost see themselves like EMTs, like emergency vehicle technicians, people that can run to wherever emergencies are. So there's a family breaking up or a kid that's rebellious, or somebody's at the hospital, and we go running to them. And, believe me, I think we ought to do that. But more importantly than that, and above that, in every way, we ought to realize that we are excited about helping people that are trying to get their lives straight. We are definitely excited about that and we're excited about the opportunity to be a blessing to people that are having trouble or in a crisis.

W. Austin Gardner:

But we must learn not only to get them out of the ditch but to get them in the work. Out of the ditch, but to get them in the work. Not only to get them out of the ditch, but to get them in place to be involved in ministry. See, our job is not just to rescue the perishing, but it's to perfect the perishing that gets saved. They're perishing, then they get saved, then they grow into maturity. People that get their lives back together but do not know what to do soon, get bored and go back to the world.

W. Austin Gardner:

Now I don't know if I'd want to argue that point with you, but I would say that many churches are full of people that get saved, come for a while, find out, there's nothing more to it, and they seem to get disgruntled and leave. I'm not questioning that they were saved or lost their salvation, but I am questioning whether or not, as pastors, we help them grow on to be all that they could be. Sometimes I think we are good at giving temporary help, but we are very bad at helping growing servants to help them be all that God's called them to be, servants to help them be all that God's called them to be. So let me just quickly go through some of our biggest mistakes and let me leave that with you today. And when I say these are big mistakes, I need to tell you that I have made all of these mistakes and I have been so guilty of so much you know, and I look back over my life and I'm wondering good night, I wish I'd have matured quicker and understood, and I still need to mature.

W. Austin Gardner:

But we have often worked on the exterior of a man rather than the interior. We try to get them to look the part, even if they're not the part. We try to get them to act like they belong to Jesus when they don't necessarily belong to Jesus. If you recall, I've talked to you about the be do, serve train. Be is who you really are. Do is who you are with some makeup on or your mask on. Serve is what you do in the church or in the ministry or in public. And priority ought to be training people.

W. Austin Gardner:

Most, many, many, many churches work too much on what people do. We work on what people do, not who they are. So our preaching becomes don't do this, don't do this, don't do this, do this, do this, do this. If you're doing expository, sequential preaching, that becomes quite difficult to do Because he doesn't hit on our pet peeves, he doesn't hit on our culturally relevant points. For too long we have majored on the minors and minored on the majors. How little preaching is done about who Jesus is and the person of Jesus, how little preaching is done on who God is and what God does, and how much is put on what we do. And so we work on people. When the Bible, the whole book of John, was written, the Bible says so that they would know that he was a son of God. That whole book of John was written. The Bible says so that they would know that he was the Son of God. That whole book was not written about anything else, but that Jesus would be known as the Son of God. And so when we read the Bible, sometimes we forget that God's purpose was to magnify Jesus and to preach Christ.

W. Austin Gardner:

We're more concerned about what they do and how they serve than who they are, what they do and how they serve than who they are, what they do and how they serve than who they are. We have helped them clean up the outside, but what we can't see hasn't changed. We basically got a pig out of the pig pen, gave him a bath, put on some perfume and talcum powder, curled up his tail and put a ribbon in the tail. But he may still be a pig. When they need external prodding, that might indicate that internal prompting isn't taking place. I hope you'll take that into heart. For too long I've said you need to change this. You need to change that. We might want to think about that.

W. Austin Gardner:

We preach against sins that they commit without getting the truth into their hearts. That will cause them to change. It's the Word of God and the Holy Spirit that changes lives. We teach them to act like Christians, even if they have not become Christians have not become Christians In all honesty. We have failed to give them good, solid Bible, teaching good, solid Bible, preaching about who they are and how they live it out, and they'll live out who they are.

W. Austin Gardner:

Instead, we've spent a lot of time telling people what to change and it's got to be by my set of rules, by the way and then, on top of that, I think we are unwilling to be transparent because we're prideful people. When they sin, we judge. They're afraid to talk to us, so they hide it until it explodes. If they were to mention they had a problem, we would destroy them. I've seen it happen so often A young man comes forward and says I've been struggling with porn and he is dismissed and thrown away. We need to be transparent. Our people need loving accountability, not judgmental criticism. Our people need to have loving, loving accountability, not judgmental criticism.

W. Austin Gardner:

I have a lot more to say about this and I'm going to say it in the in our next time that we get together about mentorship in a week, but I just want to challenge you to consider this. We are not the holy spirit. We cannot do the work of the holy spirit. It is not how loud I yell or how much I fuss that changes people. It's the Holy Spirit of God working in our hearts.

W. Austin Gardner:

Too many of our fundamentalist churches have caused people to go into hiding and lie and become very adept hypocrites because they must please us more than they please God. Something about that has got to change. So I want to challenge you to take that to heart. However, the Lord's dealt with you, whatever you think about it, and let's see what we can do to better train people. Thank you for being with me on the World Evangelism Podcast. Thank you for listening. I hope you'll share it with some other people and maybe it'll be a blessing to you. My desire from the bottom of my heart is to inspire missions and empower you to do all that God's called you to do. God bless you and I will talk to you next time.