Advance the Church Regional Meeting Fall ‘01
October 8, 2010
Session #1: Chris Atwell, Portico Church, Charlottesville, VA
“The Men Who Multiply”—The Traits of a Leader of a Multiplying Church
4 Qualities: Inspire, Involve, Instruct & Invest
We need to personally ask the question: “Am I the type of man who multiplies?”
I. A man who Inspires because he is captivated by the gospel:
Are you absolutely enthralled by the love and grace of Christ?
-“When was the last time you preached the gospel to yourself and believed it?”
Inspiring men look at everyday circumstances and preach the gospel to themselves.
He recognizes his own faults and is amazed that God would choose him.
James 1:20 “The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
—Atwell had to preach this to his congregation in the midst of a personal struggle with anger
What does produce righteousness? Romans 1:17 “The righteous shall live by faith.”
What is it that you do not believe about the gospel that you fall into sin like that and can’t see the way out?
We are trapped between workaholism and sloth:
What makes you precious?
The slothful says: “I am not precious, so it does not matter what I do.”
The workaholic says: “I work forever to make myself precious.”
II. A man who is Involved with people:
Many men want to play the role of church planter rather than live the life of shepherding people.
We are not called to be promoters or program coordinators but shepherds.
We are not called to be promoters or program coordinators but shepherds.
Pastors and church planters should “smell like sheep.”
Acts 2:42—koinonia: fellowship, koinos: in common
1 John 1:3—koinonia with God
2 Cor. 13:14— koinonia is a gift from God
III. A man who Instructs his people the gospel:
Romans 10:14-17
We need to be preachers, not just conversationalists
After 20 centuries of gospel preaching, why do we think we’ve “graduated” beyond that in the 21st?
IV. A man who Invests his life to equip others for the gospel:
We have to be trained to be elders; it is not natural
We will not be satisfied with things that grow our own fame; we will take obscurity, poverty, anonymity, normalcy, if it means that the cause of Christ is advanced and people are equipped to make great the name of Christ.
All the well-known dead people who have reached us are a small thing compared to the millions of unknown pastors who inspire each of us and others
A man who multiplies is going to be faithful to preach the gospel and invest in people even if he must do so in obscurity
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