My present staff of deacons consists of peculiarly lovable, active, energetic, warm-hearted, generous men, every one of whom seems specially adapted for his own particular department of service. I am very thankful that I have never been the pastor of a dead church, controlled by dead deacons. I have seen such a thing as that with my own eyes, and the sight was truly awful. I recollect very well preaching in a chapel where the church had become exceedingly low, and, somehow, the very building looked like a sepulchre, though crowded that one night by those who came to hear the preacher. The singers drawled out a dirge, while the members sat like mutes. I found it hard preaching; there was no “go” in the sermon, I seemed to be driving dead horses.
After the service, I saw two men, who I supposed were the deacons,—the pillars of the church,—leaning against the posts of the vestry door in a listless attitude, and I said, “Are you the deacons of this church?” They informed me that they were the only deacons, and I remarked that I thought so. To myself I added that I understood, as I looked at them, several things which else would have been a riddle. Here was a dead church, comparable to the ship of the ancient mariner which was manned by the dead. Deacons, teachers, minister, people, all dead, and yet wearing the semblance of life.

Spurgeon, C. H. (2009). C. H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography, Compiled from his diary, letters, and records, by his wife and his private secretary: Volume 3, 1856-1878 (18–20). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

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On going into the Tabernacle, one day, I gave directions about some minor alterations that I wished to have made, not knowing at the time that I was cancelling the orders given by the deacon who had the main care of the building resting upon him. When he arrived, in the evening, he saw what had been done, and at once asked who had interfered with his instructions. The reply was, “the Governor, sir.” The spirit of unquestioning loyalty at once asserted itself over any temporary annoyance he may have felt, and he said, “Quite right; there must be only one captain in a ship;” and, for a long while, that saying became one of our most familiar watchwords. I have often been amazed at the devotion of our brethren; I have told them, many a time, that, if they would follow a broomstick as they have followed me, the work must succeed. To which Mr. William Olney, as the spokesman for the rest, has answered, “Yes, dear Pastor; but it is because we have such absolute confidence in your leadership that we are ready to follow you anywhere. You have never misled us yet, and we do not believe you ever will do so.”

Spurgeon, C. H. (2009). C. H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography, Compiled from his diary, letters, and records, by his wife and his private secretary: Volume 3, 1856-1878 (19–21). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

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After one long illness, which kept me for many weeks out of the pulpit, I said to the deacons, “I am afraid you will get quite tired of your poor crippled minister;” but one of the least demonstrative of the brethren replied, “Why, my dear sir, we would sooner have you for one month in the year than anyone else in the world for the whole twelve months!” I believe they all agreed with what he said, for they have often urged me to go away for a long sea voyage, or to rest for a year, or for several months at the least; but I have always had one answer for them:—“It is not possible for me to leave my work for any lengthened period until the Lord calls me home; and, besides, there is a Scriptural reason why a minister should not be away from his people for more than six weeks at a time.” “What is that?” they asked. “Why, don’t you remember that, when Moses was up in the mount with God for forty days, Aaron and the children of Israel turned aside to the worship of the golden calf?”

I had one most touching proof of a deacon’s loving self-sacrifice and generosity. During a very serious illness, I had an unaccountable fit of anxiety about money matters. There was no real ground for apprehension, for my dear wife and I were scrupulously careful to “owe no man anything,” and there was no pecuniary liability in connection with the Lord’s work under my charge which need have caused me the slightest perplexity. I had fallen into one of those curious mental conditions that are often the result of extreme pain and weakness, in which the mind seems to lay hold of some impalpable object, and will not let it go. One of the brethren came to see me while I was in that sad state, and after trying in vain to comfort me, he said, “Well, good bye, sir, I’ll see what I can do.” He went straight home, and before very long he came back to me bringing all the stocks and shares and deeds and available funds that he had. Putting them down on the bed where I was lying in great agony, he said, “There, my dear Pastor, I owe everything I have in the world to you, and you are quite welcome to all I possess. Take whatever you need, and do not have another moment’s anxiety.” Of course, as soon as I got better, I returned to my dear friend all that he had brought to me under such singular circumstances. Even it I had needed it, I could not have taken a penny of it, for it seemed to me very much as the water from the well of Bethlehem must have appeared to David. Happily, I did not require any part of the amount so freely placed at my disposal, but I could never forget the great kindness of the brother who was willing to give all that he had in order to allay the groundless fears of his sorely-afflicted minister.

Spurgeon, C. H. (2009). C. H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography, Compiled from his diary, letters, and records, by his wife and his private secretary: Volume 3, 1856-1878 (21–22). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

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Of late years, I have heard a great deal against deacons, and have read discussions as to their office, evidently suggested by no idolatrous reverence for their persons. Many of my brethren in the ministry bitterly rate them, others tremble at the mention of their very name; and a few put on their armour, and prepare to do battle with them wherever they go, as if they were the dragons of ministerial life. I have been accused of saying that “a deacon is worse than a devil, for if you resist the devil, he will flee from you, but if you resist a deacon, he will fly at you.” This is no saying of mine; I never had any cause to speak so severely; and although, in some cases, it may be true, I have never had any experimental proof that it is so. Not one in a hundred of the sayings that are fathered upon me are mine at all; and as to this one, it was in vogue before I was born. I pardon the man who preached from James 1:6 before that drunken Solomon, James I. of England and VI. of Scotland,—the temptation was too great to be resisted; but let the wretch be for ever execrated, if such a man really lived, who celebrated the decease of a deacon by a tirade from the words, “It came to pass that the beggar died.” I forgive the liar who attributed such an outrage to me, but I hope he will not try his infamous arts upon anyone else.

My observation of deacons leads me to say that, as a rule, they are quite as good men as the pastors, and the bad and good in the ministry and the diaconate are to be found in very much the same proportions. If there be lordly deacons, are there not lordly pastors? If there be ignorant, crotchety men among deacons, are there not their rivals in our pulpits? The Church owes an immeasurable debt of gratitude to those thousands of godly men who study her interests day and night, contribute largely of their substance, care for her poor, cheer her ministers, and in times of trouble as well as prosperity, remain faithfully at their posts. Whatever there may be here and there of mistake, infirmity, and even wrong, I am sure, from wide and close observation, that the most of our deacons are an honour to our faith, and we may style them, as the apostle did his brethren, “the glory of Christ.” The deacons of my first village pastorate were in my esteem the excellent of the earth, in whom I took great delight. Hard-working men on the week-day, they spared no toil for their Lord on the Sabbath; I loved them sincerely, and do love them still. In my opinion, they were as nearly the perfection of deacons of a country church as the kingdom could afford.

Spurgeon, C. H. (2009). C. H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography, Compiled from his diary, letters, and records, by his wife and his private secretary: Volume 1, 1834-1854 (255–256). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

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Deprive the Christian Church of her deacons, and she would be bereaved of her most valiant sons; their loss would be the shaking of the pillars of our spiritual house, and would cause a desolation on every side. Thanks be to God, such a calamity is not likely to befall us, for the great Head of the Church, in mercy to her, will always raise up a succession of faithful men, who will use the office well, and earn unto themselves “a good degree, and great boldness in the faith.”—C. H. S.

SINCE I came to London, I have seen the last of a former race of deacons,—fine, gentlemanly men, rather stiff and unmanageable, not quite according to my mind, but respectable, prudent grandees of Dissent, in semi-clerical dress, with white cravats. The past generation of deacons is to be spoken of with reverence in all places where holy memories are cherished; but, out of them all, my friend, counsellor, and right hand, was Thomas Olney. Never did a minister have a better deacon, nor a church a better servant. He was for sixty years a member, for thirty-one years a deacon, and for fourteen years treasurer of the church. He was ever remarkable for his early and constant attendance at the prayer-meeting and other week-day services. He had a childlike faith and a manly constancy. To believe in Jesus, and to work for Him, were the very life of his new and better nature. He was eminently a Baptist, but he was also a lover of all good men. The poor, and especially the poor of the church, always found in him sincere sympathy and help. His name will be had in lasting remembrance.

Among my first London deacons was one very worthy man, who said to me, when I went to preach in Exeter Hall and the Surrey Gardens Music Hall, “I am an old man, and I cannot possibly go at the rate you young people are going; but I don’t want to hang on, and be a drag to you, so I will quietly withdraw, and go and see how I can get on with Mr. Brock.” I think that was the kindest thing that the good man could have done, and that it was probably the best course for himself as well as for us. I went over to see him, some time afterwards, and he asked me to take my two boys that he might give them his blessing. He said to me, “Did I not do the very best thing I could have done by getting out of the way, and not remaining to hinder the work? I always read your sermons, and I send in my subscriptions regularly.” Dear good man, he died the next day.

Spurgeon, C. H. (2009). C. H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography, Compiled from his diary, letters, and records, by his wife and his private secretary: Volume 3, 1856-1878 (15–16). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

More will follow tomorrow.

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This article is speaking of the internship that business students will work but applies very well to those of you heading into ministry.

The writer makes it clear that internships have become critical preparation for the job search after graduation. Nearly half of the internships are unpaid. The students now believe that the internships are almost mandatory.

The writer said that if you are going to work in an internship then be sure and do the following five things:

1. Go above and beyond. Try to expand your role to the extent possible. You want to leave that internship with a series of accomplishments that will support your job search. Find ways to add value to projects that you aren’t part of.

2. Ask for feedback.

3. Build your network.

4. Get a recommendation.

5. Turn your internship into a job.

Read more

I suggest that most people going into the ministry get involved in an internship. If you want to be a missionary you really want and need a mentor. If you are going to pastor there is so much to learn that you did not get in Bible College. You need experience.

I think these points are very good points and well worth your consideration.

You can learn more about an internship with Vision Baptist by clicking on the following links:

The program

Get Training to Plant a Church

Overseas Internship

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The students in the College in 1875 received these earnest words from their suffering President: —.

“Dear Brethren,

“I feel sure that you have all stuck to your studies diligently; and my prayer is, that the Holy Spirit may sanctify your human acquirements by a double measure of His anointing. Your power lies in His grace rather than in natural gifts or scholastic acquisitions. Without the Spirit, you will be failures, and worse; therefore, pray much, and see to it that your whole selves are: in such a condition that the Spirit of God can dwell in you; for in some men He cannot reside, and with some men He cannot work. Let the channel through which the living water is; to flow be both dear and clean.

“I feel in an agony when I imagine any one of you going forth to preach unendowed by the Spirit. The Lord alone: knows how I have the work of the College on my heart, and what exercises it has cost me; and, verily, if souls are not won, churches are not built up, and Christ is not glorified by you, I have lived in vain as to the master-work of my life. I am not able to discover any motive in my heart for originating and carrying on the College, but a desire to glorify God, and to bless this generation by the promulgation of the pure gospel. For this end you came into the College; do not miss it:, any one of you; and yet you will do so, it the Spirit rests not upon you.

Be not content till Pentecost is repeated among you.

“Yours very heartily,

“C. H. SPURGEON.”

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Keith is answering the question of how to get the nationals to take ownership of the ministry. This is the sort of discussion that might take place in a class at the Our Generation Training Center!

This is a real battle in the ministry. I have tried to teach ownership in the ministry to many of the men here. They understand the principle easily but don’t always want to live it and follow it.

It is easier for them (as for all of us) to be leaches. It takes a real man of God that is driven and not afraid to work to take real ownership. It will mean many times personal sacrifice for them.

Most missionaries can float, be lazy, work half hearted because they have their support. A national in a third world country can’t unless he stays a leach.

I did have a pastor, Konate, tell me this morning, “I am looking at some villages or small towns near here so that our church can start a work without any help from the outside”.

I have told them on many occasions that I dream of the day when our churches can start a work without any help from America. I guess he wants to take the challenge.

The work will never really grow if they don’t take responsibility. It will always be an inferior church like Paul said the Corinthians were.

You need to really help teach their people how to give. It is hard for Sippo to teach his people how to give. They will say he is in it for the money. Have special services where you teach on giving or print some material to give them.

I tell them that I can only support a few works. If they continue to take, we will not be able to do more. I have really preached hard lately about evangelizing the world. Trying to give them a burden for the lost. If they get a great burden, I believe they will begin to take responsibility or ownership.

Use examples of other churches. Not just American churches. They think that American church can do it but they can’t. Prove to them others are doing it.

Living Water Baptist Church just bought a moto for Pastor Konate. I lead them in that but I didn’t pay it. We had enough money in the bank to do it. The people got excited. It will be good example to use in the other churches.

You must create a desire in them. A desire for ownership. Some will never get it. In my case the majority don’t but a few will.

Don’t get frustrated, keep teaching, preaching. It is like hitting a rock. Doesn’t seem like it will break but one day it does. Many give up right before success comes.

You have to give them responsibility and ownership. Many missionaries don’t want to. They make them feel inferior. They don’t make them feel equal.

I was accused of being a ball-hog. It hurt but it was true. I was afraid things would mess up but they will never take ownership if I don’t give them a chance.

Pastor Konate did a great job in my absence. When I got back he stopped leading. He became the servant again. I had to have three different talks with him. I had to tell him that I needed him to lead. That I couldn’t lead the church like it needs to be lead. I told him he can though. He has seen the importance. That I need him. He has really taken ownership.

You can teach it, and you need to but I think it is as important to show them and give them ownership.

I want to tell you that it isn’t easy. I have struggled with this. Some of my pastors are leaches.

I have a few that seem to really get it. I hope that the ones that get it will be a testimony to the others and the new ones coming along.

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The American bubble that is mentioned is a great danger. The spending so much on time communicating back to the states and home is also a great danger. I am afraid that this modern technology can make it harder to adapt to the new culture and your new home.

Educators are thrilled to see more American college students venturing abroad — perhaps 300,000 this year alone.

Now if they can just get them to venture out of the “American bubbles” that can make the streets of study-abroad hot-spots like London, Barcelona and Florence, Italy almost feel like exclaves of Tuscaloosa or Ann Arbor.

They’re trying.

After decades of laissez-faire and faith that just breathing the air in foreign lands broadens horizons, American colleges and international programs are pressing students harder to get out of their comfort zones.

It’s happening in popular destinations as well as more exotic spots in Asia and Africa, where there are fewer Americans, but language and culture barriers make them even more tempted to stick together.

And it’s happening online, where one study found Americans on study abroad spent more than four hours per night communicating back home via the likes of Skype, Google Chat and Facebook.

Their tools: less free time, mandatory local internships, signed promises students won’t speak English, and even “Amazing Race”-style solo scavenger hunts — like one where wide-eyed Nebraska students were dropped off their first morning in China in a distant corner of their new city with $5 and instructions to find their way back home alone.

“Unless something is set up that really forces them to get involved in that environment, they really don’t,” said William Finlay, a University of Georgia sociologist who became so frustrated with the bubble leading trips to Italy that he set up a new, intensive program that takes Georgia students to work in impoverished South African townships.

“We push them to do things that are uncomfortable,” Finlay said. “Sometimes they get overwhelmed.”

Once reserved for a wealthy and adventuresome elite, it’s now reaching a wider, more diverse population which often has less travel experience.

But also like higher ed, study abroad is getting more expensive, and facing pressure to demonstrate its educational worth.

That’s harder on the short-term and summer trips — less than a semester — that account for most of the growth, and at the “safer” destinations of Western Europe that remain the most popular.

The danger is that it’s become easier to head off on what’s supposed to be a voyage of discovery and fail to immerse oneself in the local culture.

“People want real outcomes, said Mark Lenhart, executive director of CET Academic Programs, which sends about 1,100 students per year from feeder colleges like Vanderbilt and Middlebury to programs in seven countries. “They want to come home with big improvements in their language and a really deep understanding of the place.”

That means giving at least some students a nudge, says Lenhart, whose programs make students live with local roommates.

On his own study abroad experience in China years ago, Lenhart remembers the Americans sticking together, fueling each other’s griping about the amenities. When they’re sharing a room with a local and can only speak in Mandarin, they think twice about going to the trouble to complain.

Historically, most study abroad has taken place in so-called “island” programs, where Americans live, study and often party together. U.S. colleges like keeping a close eye on the education side of the experience, particularly if they’re awarding course credit. Island programs, educators say, remain popular and valuable for many students — particularly those new to study abroad.

Marie Hankinson loved her semester in London, but admits parts of the experience didn’t feel all that different from being back on campus at Syracuse University. She lived with four Syracuse classmates, took classes with fellow Syracuse students in a Syracuse-owned building from Syracuse-affiliated faculty.

“Our social circle was pretty much other people in the program,” says Hankinson, who says she met a few Brits through the local university union but rarely hung out with them elsewhere. Still, she says her time abroad was a great introduction to international travel that will push her to visit more exotic destinations in the coming years.
“I wanted to go abroad, but I’ll be honest, I wanted to speak English as well,” she said.
Many students want something different.

With little knowledge of the country or Arabic, he took a full year away to study in a Moroccan university where he was the only American.

He was grateful his program didn’t mollycoddle him. Moroccans were welcoming and he resisted the temptation to hang out with his compatriots.

“I know Americans pretty well. I didn’t go there to learn about them,” he said.
Hug, who now works for a Chinese freight company, says his last two employers seemed especially interested in him because of the self-reliance he showed studying abroad.
For students who aren’t so driven, a creative push from an educator can help ensure they learn something about both themselves and their host country.

In China, students from Beloit College in Wisconsin are assigned to become a regular at some local spot, — a park, a restaurant, a corner shop — returning there repeatedly to get to know the neighborhood and people there.

University of Nebraska professor Patrice McMahon won’t go so far as her colleague who dropped students off on the far side of a city in China. But she does give ice-breaker assignments — getting their picture taken with a monk, or taking a note card with an unknown Chinese word around town until they can figure out from locals what it means.

“Our students are from small towns in Nebraska,” McMahon said. “They’re really nice kids. But they haven’t had a lot of opportunities to just figure things out.”

The people who run study-abroad programs say not every student responds. But most welcome the push. “I always ask them, ‘Did you make some friends (in the host country)?’” said Kelsi Cavazos, study abroad adviser at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Most have, “but they always say it was hard to break free of the Americans.” The technology bubble can both help and hurt. Fifteen years ago, study abroad programs misjudged cell phones as a danger, assuming students would use them to stay tethered home, says Mary Dwyer, CEO of IES, a nonprofit consortium that sends students abroad for 200 colleges.

In fact, cell phones have transformed study abroad by helping students meet and mix with locals. Technology’s also handy in emergencies, and using it to report back to friends and families can facilitate reflection— the modern-day travel diary. But technology can also be a crutch, and suck up valuable time.

A University of California-Santa Barbara researcher found one group of students averaging 4.5 hours per day online, and 83 percent of their contacts were with other Americans, either at home or in the country they were visiting. Other studies paint a somewhat less alarming picture.

Still, some educators are taking needles to the technology bubbles. One Australian program makes students leave their iPods and sometimes all electronic devices back home on field trips, to help them focus on their experiences.

Others — dumbfounded to see students busy posting pictures when they should be taking them — purposefully choose day-trip destinations where they know students won’t find Internet cafes.

“You could say there’s a spiritual shift,” said Sonja Bontrager, who leads her students from Carson University in Kansas on a semi-formal “technology fast” during the early stages of their travels in Guatemala.

She says the ritual bonds the group together and makes them pay more attention to their surroundings. She remembers the group huddled under shelter during a rainstorm at forestation project. Normally, students with time to kill would turn habitually to their smart phones.

Without that option, one noticed a column of unusual ants, and soon the whole group was on hands and knees examining the ground. “It just makes people more aware,” Bontrager said.
When the connection home is set aside, “it’s not that they’re just left with emptiness. It’s that other things can come in.”
In many cases, it isn’t the students who are to blame for the tether — it’s parents.
“I wish parents would say, ‘You’re going abroad for the semester, let’s not talk every day, let’s talk once a week,’” Lenhart said. “If they could cut those ties a bit, it would serve them well.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2011/09/25/overseas-studies-gets-students-out-their-american-bubbles/?test=faces#ixzz1Z4STTSdh

We are constantly looking to improve what we do in our overseas study at the Our Generation Training Center. We have been guilty of allowing too much “island or bubble” study. We also know that they have used technology as a way to hide out. But it has been helpful and many have returned to the field as missionaries over the years.

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Acts 20:26–27

This is one of the marks of our modern time—that many are guilty of merely “nibbling” at the truth of the Christian gospel.

I wonder if you realize that in many ways the preaching of the Word of God is being pulled down to the level of the ignorant and spiritually obtuse; that we must tell stories and jokes and entertain and amuse in order to have a few people in the audience? We do these things that we may have some reputation and that there may be money in the treasury to meet the church bills.…

In many churches Christianity has been watered down until the solution is so weak that if it were poison it would not hurt anyone, and if it were medicine it would not cure anyone!

Lord, don’t ever let me be guilty of watering down the truth or playing to the crowds, concerned about my “reputation” or “money in the treasury.” Amen.

Tozer, A. W. (2001). Tozer on Christian leadership : A 366-day devotional. Camp Hill, PA.: WingSpread.

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