#29: Willie George - 40+ years of ministry

Leadersheep Podcast

At age 20, Pastor Willie George began an outreach with Sunday School buses and quickly learned how to hold the attention of rowdy, unchurched kids. In the decade that followed, his groundbreaking techniques brought him to national prominence as an authority on children's ministry. In 1982, he created a wildly successful, nationally broadcast kid's television program, The Gospel Bill Show. In spite of his success as a traveling minister, he longed to build a local church where youth and children's ministries would be showcased. Since 1987, Church on the Move in Tulsa, OK has been a leader in effective ministry for children and teenagers, with outreaches like Dry Gulch, U.S.A. and Oneighty. Today, the effectiveness of his vision is revealed in the amazing second-generation leadership team at Church on the Move. The same communicative skills that marked Pastor Willie George as a children's minister have positioned him as the Senior Pastor of one of America's most innovative churches. Pastor Willie George and his wife, Deleva, have four children and ten grandchildren. GUEST LINKS Twitter Facebook Churchonthemove.com LINKS MENTIONED Church on the Move - Easter Service 2016 40 YEARS OF MINISTRY You can’t design what you are going to do in your ministry. You have to let God guide you. Having Your Own Spiritual Walk With Jesus: Your walk with God is NOT your ministry. You don’t have to be regimented with your time. Take advantage of the little bits of time in your day. Why not pray instead of always listening to music on your drive somewhere? A lot of people learn to work and move a crowd, but that doesn’t mean they have a great relationship with God. If you aren’t built on something solid, the very weight of the structure you create will collapse you later on. Don’t put your ministry above your relationship with God. The Importance Of Your Family - Priorities: Keep your spouse second to Jesus. Life’s priorities: 1. Relationship with God 2. Spouse 3. Kids 4. Job Your relationship with God only enhances your relationship with your spouse. Your relationship with your spouse enhances your relationship with your kids. Your relationship at home only makes you better on the job. You have to make time for your spouse. Guard your day off. Don't make kids compete with the church or put them in the spotlight. Let them have a chance to be ordinary kids. When your kids are interested in something, make that your interest - Gives you a platform to speak into their lives. Never lose touch with your kids. 3 John 1:4, “I have no greater joy than to see my children walk in the truth.” Steer your kids towards their gifting not what YOU want them to be. Being Yourself In Ministry: It’s impossible to take something from someone else and it not add something to you, affect you, or altar you in some way. Don't try to be an exact replica of someone else. Be you. You have to be authentic. What is the biggest challenge you are facing in your current situation? "Knowing that one day, I will step on this campus (COTM) and not be the MOST influential person." Looking back over your last 40 years of ministry, what would you NOT change? Commitment to build everything on the WORD. A lot of people are trend guys. Jesus qualified people, modeled things, and released people. When you release people they release you. All release is two-sided. Everything you need to do and every decision you need to make is in the WORD. Do A LOT of reading and learn to dig. Have a great base in the WORD. What study tools do you recommend? Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible Vine’s Expository Dictionary Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament The Companion Bible - E. W. Bullinger Encyclopedia Judaica Kenneth S. Wuest Translations Donald Grey Barnhouse Matthew Henry's Commentary