I began my teaching and preaching career well over 40 years ago, and have served on the staff of a number of churches in a number of states. Since mid-2008, I have been off the staff of a local church on a full-time basis, although I did function on the staff of the Greater Houston Church in Houston, Texas on almost a full-time basis during all of 2011 and nearly half of 2012. In November of 2012, we moved to the Los Angeles area and I assumed the role of Director of the Pacific School of Ministry in January of 2013 as a part-time staff member. I accepted that role with a verbal agreement that serving in this role would be for a two year term, to be reviewed at the end of that period. Near the end of that time, it became obvious that two years was the right time to move on, which we now have done. As of mid-December, 2014, we are living in the Dallas, Texas area, where I am also a part-time staff member, teaching in various settings the church leaders deem to be most helpful. In the 2014 Newsletter section, I describe our time in LA in some detail, and am thankful for having served there, even for a brief term. What’s not to love about Southern California (besides the traffic!)?
Going back to the beginning of my work in the capacity of a full-time teacher, I was blessed to be the Director of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Academy from its inception in early 2008. From that point through 2012, I taught most of the courses in our eleven course curriculum for the Ministry Track students and in our eight course curriculum for the Shepherding Track students. After completing these curricula, I also taught several continuing education courses. We have conducted several graduation services for quite a number of students who have completed their respective curriculum in one of the two training track programs. In early 2012, Rolan Monje succeeded me as the Director of the program, and started teaching some courses himself. (See the article “Rolan Monje Named New Director of APLA” in the Articles Section.) From this point forward, Rolan will be bringing in other teachers, as well as teaching his own courses. I am most grateful for the opportunity of having worked with all of the brothers who helped design the program, and for having the privilege of teaching the students alongside Rolan. All of the young men and women who participated are as my own children, in my heart of hearts.
I also have enjoyed the blessing of working in a similar capacity with the Ukraine Institute of Ministry, although I will be making fewer trips to Kiev in the future for several reasons. For one thing, after a teaching trip in 2013, we are almost through the curricula for the two training tracks (Ministry and Shepherding). For another thing, the current political uncertainty makes it impossible to predict whether the opportunity to continue teaching as an American will even exist. Time (and God) will tell! Please join me in praying for the Ukraine. We have several churches in the country and the one in Kiev numbers over 2,000 disciples. They are a wonderful group of God’s children and will always reside deeply in my heart, even if I am not afforded the opportunity to teach them on any regular basis again. In the 2014 Newsletter, I describe the one trip I was able to make in late 2014 – another special trip, as all trips to the Ukraine have been.
My other teaching will continue to be done primarily through producing written and recorded (audio and video) materials. In the past several years, Toney Mulhollan of Illumination Publishers International, has helped develop and publish a number of my teaching materials in both audio and video formats. Adding these to my available books and booklets, my repertoire of teaching material has increased fairly rapidly. You will note a link on this web page that will take you to my materials on the IPI website. In 2012, I finished a comprehensive book on the topic of church leadership entitled “Dynamic Leadership” with a subtitle of “Principles, Roles and Relationships for a Life-Changing Church.” In 2013, a Spanish translation of this book was finished and first made available at the Latin American Conference held in June in Panama City.
Two of my books, “Dynamic Leadership” and “Romans: the Heart Set Free” were translated into Russian during 2012 and 2013. We have Max and Elena Nikitina, Family Group leaders in the Moscow church to thank for this work. Thus far, they have paid for all of the translation costs themselves, so it is obviously a labor of love. Since they attend the Shepherding Track of the Kiev program, I have been able to develop a personal relationship with them. They are a delightful young couple. As the Dynamic Leadership book was in the process of being translated, Elena shared a heart-warming and heart-rending story of German Utyonov, who spent his last days translating the book. He had been reached out to by Finn disciples and baptized in 1991. He fell away several years later, but then got restored in 2009. German was a professional interpreter, having translated from English and Finnish into Russian. He had three children, and was struggling with cancer during his last few years. He was already bedridden when he agreed to translate the book. He was inspired by his work, hoping to finish the translation before he passed away. He said, “The book is so important for us.” When his friends asked him how he was doing, he answered, “I am happy, because I am in Christ!” Although he was getting ready to meet God, he did his best to finish translating the book. It was his last endeavor before he went home with Jesus at the age of 47.
A new edition of my practical exposition on Acts is also now available, entitled “World Changers.” A ministry training school outside our movement of churches has just ordered this book for one of their classes. Under the Articles tab, you will find a fairly lengthy Appendix from the book about the establishment and nature of the Kingdom. It has some rather unique material in it that not all have considered and with which all may not agree – but it is in-depth and interesting! A new edition of “The Power of Discipling” was printed in the last part of 2010 and very recently, a smaller format of “Love One Another.” I have many ideas for books that likely won’t come to fruition until my public teaching role slows down, but I do plan to write several books in the next couple of years, hopefully at least two in 2015. One of these will take me into a new writing genre, a book of weird humor (the only kind I have). One particular humor author has influenced me more than any other, by a wide margin, and I think my approach will be similar to his. I doubt I will enjoy nearly the same amount of success that Patrick McManus has enjoyed, but it will be fun to delve into another type of writing. I may start out with a web site that is fee based to begin publishing the humor material an article at a time, or I may just publish it in book form first. This project is obviously just in the planning stage now, but the approach will soon need to be settled upon.
The international part of my work has decreased in 2013 and 2014 by design, allowing me to focus on my role in Los Angeles. God has blessed me to be able to travel all over the world for many years now, and it has been the ministry highlight of my life. To all of those who have heard my teaching or participated in it through my printed and audio/video materials, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me the opportunity to hopefully influence you to know God’s Word better and to love him more. Why he chose to bless me with these opportunities and with the multitudes of friends I have made in the process, I cannot explain. But I can explain that I am supremely grateful to him and to those with whom my path has crossed. Please keep me, my family and my ministry in your prayers. Thank you for doing that, for without doubt, God’s use of me has been the result of many prayers! God bless!
—Gordon Ferguson (February 2015)
No person is ever satisfied totally with the way he or she is as a human being. Actually, that is a good thing since none of us is exactly like Jesus yet! But many people are not simply unsatisfied in their quest for growth; they are very dissatisfied with who they are as a person. Therefore, the question logically comes: “How did I get this way?” While an answer to this question is a legitimate pursuit, a better one must follow, namely, “How can I change?”
We get the way we are in two basic ways. One, we are born with certain qualities, or certainly tendencies in many areas of both capability and character. While inheritance is not the total issue, nor the final word in who we become, it unquestionably plays a fairly major role. Two, we are molded by our environment, particularly our closest relationships in that environment. Within these two general areas, many possible combinations of inheritance and environment work together to make us who we are at a given point.
Our basic tendencies which are inborn can be positive or negative. Our outside influences can also be positive or negative. In between the two extremes, neutral tendencies and influence are possible, but the extremes are the most important to understanding why we are as we are.
If I am born with a “bent” toward a given quality or ability, my “discipling” (atmosphere, influences) can alter it in a major way. Suppose I have a bent toward mathematics. A strong atmosphere for mathematics by parents and/or teachers can produce a highly skillful mathematician. On the other hand, a negative atmosphere toward math can stifle the bent almost entirely, while a neutral atmosphere would allow it to go in either direction.
The same principle holds true in a character tendency. If I have an inborn tendency for being an unselfish servant, my discipling can affect it significantly. Parents who are themselves unselfish and who actively direct their child toward serving will undoubtedly end up with an unselfish child. On the other side of the coin, selfish parents who train their child in selfishness (consciously or unconsciously) can stifle the positive natural bent in the child’s character. A more neutral environment can produce either general direction (“Allow” is a better word for this influence than “produce.”)
Now let’s apply the principle to negative abilities or character qualities. A person without aptitude for math will never develop math abilities in a negative atmosphere for math. Conversely, a very positive atmosphere for math can significantly alter the person’s ability to do well in the subject. The earlier the emphasis and the more intense the positives are applied, the more the skill can be developed. For example, the person with little or no aptitude for learning new languages has already learned one foreign language quite well–his mother tongue! At any age, a person with high aptitude can learn a new language. At a very young age, with proper training, a person with a low language aptitude can learn a new language. But the older this person gets, the more difficult to offset the lack of aptitude and lack of early training.
Now, let’s apply the principle to a much more sensitive area–that of character qualities. Suppose that I am born with strong tendencies toward selfishness. A selfish environment will strengthen the tendency in a major way. Clearly, two negatives do not a make a positive! However, a positive atmosphere of discipling (parents’ example plus their training of the child) can significantly alter the natural tendency toward selfishness. Again, the earlier and the more intensely the training is applied, the more significantly the change.
When negative tendencies are met with negative atmosphere, the depth of negative character traits goes farther than when positive tendencies are met with negative atmosphere. Changes later in life are possible in either case, but the will be quicker in the latter, and probably more complete. Once growth occurs for a person in either case, a positive atmosphere will likely sustain the changes. A neutral atmosphere will likely sustain the status quo for the positive/negative combination, but probably will not for the negative/negative type person. A return to the negative atmosphere may offset the growth for the positive/negative background person and it will almost certainly destroy all progress for the negative/negative background person.
Thankfully, a person’s own convictions and resolve push virtually any negative atmosphere into the neutral zone. The goal must be to change the atmosphere and the character, and to keep it changed. Success in changes will never be permanent by accident–it takes planning and perseverance. A neutral influence is never an acceptable goal. Satan is strong, sin is real, and we cannot approach righteousness without a serious commitment to it.
The question remains: “How can I change?” Whether we started with negative or positive tendencies, the wrong training took us in the wrong direction. Depending on the degree of negativity in either tendency or environment, the changes may be easier or harder to effect and maintain, but the changes are possible. “All things are possible with God!”
The actual path to change is fairly simple (but not easy). In the case of a child with positive tendencies, he needs mostly direction in which to channel and develop the tendencies. In the case of a child with negative tendencies, he needs a balance of correction and direction. His natural direction must be continually corrected and changed into the right direction. When this approach is applied frequently and consistently, the changes will occur at some point.
Therefore, an older person who missed the early training has to once again become a child (Matthew 18:1-2), and accept the needed correction and direction from God through His Word and through his people. Lasting character changes without God’s principles and God’s plan of discipleship are an impossibility!
The conclusion of the matter is all of us need to develop an accurate view of our weaknesses, develop long-range and short-range plans for change, and put the plans into effect daily. Disciplers are needed to help us see our weaknesses accurately, to formulate practical plans on a weekly basis, and to then help us with the follow-through on a daily basis. If we have deep convictions about our weaknesses, deep desires to change, a plan to help us change behavior, and a strong prayer life to allow God to change our hearts, we will change both character and actions. We will become more and more like Jesus.
At this juncture, our two basic questions have been answered, at least in a general way. Now, one last question remains: “Will you change?” No matter how you got this way, you can change with the help of God. The only issue now is how badly do you want it. Let’s go after it!
—Gordon Ferguson (July 1994)
It is the purpose of this column on the web site to provide biblical answers to questions that are difficult, and for that reason, perhaps debatable. But since they are asked at times by those with questioning minds, they deserve to be addressed. While my intent is not to be controversial in this column, neither is it to avoid challenging topics. When different answers are given by brothers who are well-grounded biblically, that should tell us two things: one, not all biblical subjects are made totally clear in Scripture; and two, since that is the case, we had best avoid dogmatism on such subjects. Some topics are clarified quite well in the Bible, others have little or nothing mentioned about them (thus remaining a mystery), while still others have only enough mentioned about them to allow us to reach tentative conclusions. It is the questions falling into that third category that this column will most often address.
Since these questions may require some detail in answering them, new questions and answers will be added at a rate that my present teaching schedule allows. My original plan was to add a question of this type once or twice per month, but I have been unable to accomplish this due to a very packed schedule (and due to raising my gift of procrastination to an art form level!). However, feel free to send in questions that you would like to see answered. They may or may not find their way into this column, but they will be given due consideration. May you enjoy the reading and be prompted to dig into Scripture more deeply for yourself!
