April 2024
Absolute Certainties for Leaders
Section 1 Pastors and Ministers,
Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus! I’m thanking God for and believing that you all had a wonderful Easter weekend, as well as praying with you for continued revival in our section and in each assembly. God bless!
Section 1 News
Save the date for Steadfast, Florida Ladies Conference 2024! Register at- flupciladies.com
Announcing the 2024 Fl CM Save Our Children Offering goal!
The Toby's Top Dog Challenge is a great opportunity for our kiddos to get involved in the ministry of Save Our Children.
Visit https://www.fldistrictchildrensministry.com for resources and more information. There are printable resources and a downloadable video available.
Our section leadership is praying for 100% participation among churches in our section and $25K!
2024 Youth Rallies
8/9 - District Back to School Rally - First Apostolic Church Milton - Pastor Webb - Speaker: DJ Hill, YM President
9/27 - First Pentecostal Church Pensacola - Pastor Kinsey - Speaker: Petru de LaGarza, FLYM District
11/2 - REC Event more into tba
Bible Quizzing Update
APRIL Tournament Information:
April 13, 2024 AT 9:00 AM
Hosted by:
First United Pentecostal Church (Pastor John F. Hopkins, III)
11697 Normandy Blvd
Jacksonville, FL 32221
Material Coverage:
Beginners through Acts 6:8 (131 verses)
Juniors through Acts 9:30 (200 verses)
Intermediate throughs Acts 8:17 (270 verses)
Experienced through Acts 9:43 (336 verses)
Pastors, please feel free to submit a teacher from your local assembly receive the Fl District teacher of the month award. Submit photo and short bio to the CM Email: Fldistrictcm@gmail.com
Please submit any upcoming events you would like announced by emailing kherbst@firstpent.org
Absolute Certainties for Leaders
I have learned certain truths that I perceive to be absolutes for leaders and those who want to grow.
You can hedge on some principles, but these are rock solid, and you must submit to them, or it will derail your forward progress.
I have never seen anybody violate these certainties and then accidentally stumble into growth and success. In fact, I have never seen anyone even hedge on these and last long in kingdom work.
Everyone God uses applies these faithfully. It does not mean that they do not have struggles and that God does not apply the necessary pressure to forge in you a new appreciation of their importance, but everyone eventually realizes they must comply or be eliminated from the picture.
Forgive Everyone, Every Time, for Everything
Without the ability to forgive you simply cannot add value to others. I like what Martin Luther King, Jr said,
“Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a permanent attitude.”
You can’t use a list and decide which infraction you will forgive and which ones you will not; that is not the true forgiveness. Forgiveness is more valuable to the one who forgives than to the one who is forgiven.
The first person you will add value to through forgiveness is yourself. Nelson Mandela stated;
“If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”
Once you learn to forgive you can free yourself from the nightmares of the past to lay claim to the dreams of your future.
It is not an emotional decision; it is a choice that you must make. To forgive is to set a person free and discover the person was you. Buddy Hackett quipped,
“I’ve had few arguments with people, but I never carry a grudge. You know why? While you’re carrying a grudge, they’re out dancing.”
Bitterness is too heavy a burden for anyone to carry; it will weigh you down, keep you from your destiny. I have found that it is not the weight of the burden that wears you out, it’s the amount of time you carry that burden that wears you out. Promises are aborted, destinies are lost, and destruction follows an unforgiving spirit.
Realize that Everyday Matters
What you do everyday counts!
Integrate a daily focus with a long-term perspective. You must be intentional about what you do every day and know how it fits the endgame picture that you have in mind.
Acting on and implementing your rule of five is necessary for growth. Not only by acknowledging the things you must do every day but acting on those five things.
Our destiny is connected to what we do every day.
We need a compass to guide us to make the right daily choices. Your compass is your vision and values that guide your mission and purpose.
When your activities and your appointments every day begin to support your purpose then you are moving in the right direction for transformation and true growth.
The Key to Focus is to know what to do every day. Knowing how it fits your desired future is what we call perspective. Locating the one thing you need to do now and doing it is what focus is all about. Find it, do it and reap the benefit.
If you are going to fulfill your mission you must allow your compass to guide you every day.
Psalm 139:16 “Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you. The days of my life, all prepared before I’d lived even one day.”
Be an Encourager
When you learn to give encouragement, you have learned the asset and gained the ability that every successful leader must possess; to accentuate the positive.
Encouragement keeps people moving in the right direction.
We all have poisoners in our lives who do everything they can to poison our faith. We have self-absorbed people who are too fixated on their own stuff to help anyone else with theirs.
People who feed off of negative energy may get others to follow them, but they will always stay close to home because they are afraid of new horizons.
But we also have those who are life enhancers who inspire us to greatness. These people are convinced that a better day is coming and so from their life flows a positive energy that is infused into the weary until they become strong.
People will go farther than they think they could when someone else thinks they can.
Encouragement makes people better and gives them hope that today does matter if they follow through in doing the right things. We must learn how to empower people, motivate them, and lead them to become them to become extraordinary. Encouragement can turn a life around.
Find Your Voice and Speak Faith
When you possess a spirit of expectancy, you will communicate it by finding your voice and it will be evident in everything you say.
When you believe right will win; you develop a positive view of the future.
When you can declare your message with certainty; knowing that it will be accepted, then you will expect good things to happen.
You must be able to declare with certainty.
For example, “I have a destiny to fulfill. I have a contribution to make. I have convictions that guide my choices. I have a legacy to leave.”
You have seen what others cannot see and you are willing to help them find their voice and speak their faith until they become what God wants them to be.
2 Timothy 2:2 “And the instructions you have heard from me along with my witnesses, transmit and entrust as a deposit to reliable and faithful men who will be competent and qualified to reach others also.”
People need the voice of someone who believes that God is able.
Learn to speak faith instead of fear. Speaking faith empowers people. People need role models to follow.
Speaking faith makes you an elevator that lifts people to a higher level. It energizes them to function at their best once they reach that higher place. Too many people fail when the Lord promotes them because they think they have arrived when in fact they have only just begun.
Take the High Road
This simply means to rise above pettiness.
One of the greatest enemies to our legacy is a critical, petty spirit. I have seen great leaders fall into this trap and completely wipe out their legacy because they lost their ability to affirm others.
As we grow older, we become more fearful and insecure; however, when you take the high road, you remain confident especially when others are insecure.
So, keep your priorities aligned with the vision and purpose of something greater than yourself. Having a faith perspective gives you the ability to understand that the “highway” is really the best way.
Have an Attitude of Gratitude
Adversity comes to everyone regardless of their station in life.
The number one killer of passion is an unthankful spirit. So, we must learn to be grateful in the midst of adversity; if we do, fear will disappear, and faith will appear.
The only way I know to keep your attitude of gratitude is to express it. If you feel it but don’t express it, you will lose it.
You need to become intentional about this and do it everyday.
Have an Attitude of Learning, a Teachable Spirit
“If you stop learning today, you stop leading tomorrow.” -Howard Hendricks
Everyone makes mistakes and everyone fails. But when you make the commitment to learn from your mistakes and continue regardless of our failures you have made the most important decision of your life.
You learn much by watching others who do things extremely well.
Leaders train continually working hard not to be the best but to be the best that they can be.
Teachable people are joyful people.
They work hard to make a difference by improving themselves. Ask yourself this question; “What am I learning now that will make me better tomorrow?”
Commit to Inner Renewal
Consistent and continual improvement is the legacy of lasting and true leaders.
Their focus is always forward, and they keep growing regardless of the resistance they feel from within and without. This renewal happens daily because they do not neglect their daily routine.
When you are committed to controlling your choices, you make sure that no one crowds your time; keep your calendar from overwhelming your responsibility to continually renew your passion.
Stay focused and do not allow distractions to defeat your purpose or detour your intentions.
If you make this important commitment, you can be certain that you will stay fresh and full of faith rather than fatalistic doubt and fear.
Create an Atmosphere of Affirmation
Too often you see people who desire to influence others but end up poisoning the pond rather than cleaning the fountain.
They invariably allow their negative emotions to override their faith and they express their doubt and fear rather than their hope for the future. For leaders to bring out the best in situations and people they need to discover their voice of affirmation.
Find someone today to affirm; to speak an encouraging word; to believe in not just yourself and what God through grace has done in you but believe in someone.
Redemption not only works for you, but it is powerful enough to work in others.
Leaders recognize in others their potential.
They see them as a potter sees the clay, envisions excellence, and begins the lifting process to form in them the values that will transform their future.
They perceive people as rough diamonds that need the touch of a master craftsman; our words can become self-fulfilling prophesies, words like,
“I believe in you.” “You can do this.”
I want to say to the saints and ministers of Section One; “We can do this.”
Yours for the Kingdom,
Pastor Brian Kinsey
