leadership development

Delegates at this year's Planetshakers Conference Brisbane enjoyed exceptional messages from some of the world's best preachers. I was fortunate to get a copy of Chris Hill's leadership session titled 'Adullum Discipleship'. It's an amazing message on the leadership development of David. Do whatever you can to get hold of the CD. In the meantime, here are some of the key points.

The leadership development of David can be tracked in six places:

1. Bethlehem - The Place of Initiation

> Bethlehem is a small town, but God calls forth His choice champions from small beginnings
> In this first city we see the beginning seeds of everything that God will do through David, because God doesn’t start in the big, He starts in the small.
> God puts the whole of a thing in the seed of that thing
> The Devil seeks to destroy people in the place of initiation because he sees what we will be; i.e. the lion and the bear are in the place of initiation
> God crystallizes the character of his choice Christians in the crucible of isolation.
> In dark places He develops the picture that you will become. In the dark room of the divine He dips you in process after process until He perfects the image that He wants, and then He shows you to the world.
> In Bethlehem he receives a prophetic word that he would be a king. God says things to us despite what we see. When we see our situation it’s hard for us to receive His revelation. You cannot allow your situation to speak louder than the revelation.
> In Bethlehem you receive a revelation of who you will be, before you get to be.
> He is Alpha & Omega, and lives outside of time. In David's life there’s a 20 year gap between the prophecy and the fulfillment. This is called 'process'.
> God speaks things as though they’ve already happened, because to Him they’ve already happened. But I live in time, so I have to walk all the way to the fulfillment.
> Process prepares me for what He has called me to be. When God deals with us He must do it through process. If He makes us immediately into what we will be, we mess up. For example, Saul was chasing donkeys and then became king - it messed him up. God didn't do that to David; He gave him twenty years to become what God has said.

2. Gibeah - The Place of Introduction

> David was faithful in Bethlehem; someone heard about it and then he was promoted
> Be faithful with what God gives you. Rock what you have here and other people will feel the ripples!
> David does something so powerful in Bethlehem that it opens the door for him in Gibeah
> Gibeah is the place of introduction, because David gets to serve what he will one day become.
> Gibeah is the place of exposure. God gives you opportunity to be exposed to people who are already doing what you will one day do.
> God has called David to be a king, so He exposes David to a king. God has David there not to rule, but to serve.
> At this point in his life, David has already killed a lion and a bear; he knows how to fight but God does not give him a sword, He gives David a harp.
> If God gives you a harp, just play. Shut up and play. Don't tell Saul what to do and don't impose your prophecy and your calling. Just shut up and play.
> Don't try to exert authority that God hasn't given you yet. God has you here just to expose you, to be a fly on the wall, to see how kings operate, to see how leadership is set in array, to see the palace.
> Don’t come in with your own agenda; who cares what you think – keep your opinion to yourself. If you have an opinion don’t give it yet, because your opinion hasn’t been processed by time.
> You don’t have any right to lead what you did not build, until God gives it to you.
> In Gibeah, God puts you in 'undercover' to be exposed to what you will become.

An outline of points 3-6 still to come

. Elah - The Place of Exhibition

> Elah is the defining moment when we go from obscurity to popularity; from playing a harp to running down the enemy.
> Elah is awesome, when God puts you on exhibit. In Elah, Jonathon will see you and fall in love with you, and the King’s daughter will fall in love with you. In Elah you move from chump to champ.
> Elah is the place of exhibition, but it is also the setup for execution
> It’s better to stay underneath the radar because when you get above the radar, then the enemy can see you. For example, Jesus was safe for thirty years while He was hidden in God, but the moment John the Baptist put Him on exhibition He became a target for the enemy.
> Exhibition is married to execution. The same voices that say "Hosanna" on Sunday, will say "Crucify Him" on Friday.
> Elah is a great moment, but a dangerous moment unless you have a strong relationship with God.

4. Nob - The Place of Salvation

> David’s whole world flips over. He was rejected by his biological father, and finally says ‘My father in law loves me. I’m going to be accepted and endorsed." and before he knows there is a spear coming at his head, from the very father he thought would replace the father who had overlooked him.
> What do you do when they promised you it would be ‘this’, but you got there and found out it was ‘that’? You run to Nob, the city of the High Priest, the place of salvation.
> David asks the High Priest for three things, which you need when in crisis:
1. A word from God for you
2. Bread from heaven for you
3. A weapon that you can fight with
> You need a spiritual leader who can lay down his own agenda to get bread from heaven for you
> Church needs to be a place where people can run to, to get the bread of life that gives them the strength to keep running. People don’t need three points and a poem, they need the bread of life that gives them the strength to fight the good fight of the faith.
> There’s a sword in the temple; it’s Goliath's sword.
> The weapon you take from your enemy will always be yours. When you have a victory, keep the monuments of that victory. You need to bottle that good feeling so when going through bad things you can take a sip of the joy juice!

5. Gath - The Place of Humiliation

> If you walk with God long enough, He will put you in a situation that makes you feel like you are knee high to an ant.
> David runs to Gath but the Philistines recognise him. David starts scratching the wall and acting crazy, so much so that the King says ‘…that dude; he’s not a threat.’
> “Aren’t you the mighty man of God?”
“Yes, but not today. Today I’m just scratching the wall and dribbling on my beard.”
> The Place of Humiliation – where you have to disguise your true nature and come out of your comfort zone, because that’s just where you are right now...but if you can walk through it you can get to Adullam.

6. Adullam - The Place of Cooperation

> David says "I can’t stay in Gath, so I’m going to make my place in a cave...It doesn’t look nice or pretty and it’s not the palace, but I’m going to be happy here."
> "It’s not what I wanted or what they promised, but I’m going to dig in here and treat this cave like it’s my palace. I’m going to treat this situation like it’s the very fullness of the promise of God."
> Dance in the cave. Sing in the cave. Worship in the cave. Decorate the cave. Put carpet in your cave!
> E.G. Bishop Jakes put a chandelier in his storefront church in West Virginia. Why? Because he had chandeliers in his spirit.
> If you can decorate the cave, others will be attracted to the vision you’re seeing, even though they can’t see it.
> 3 categories of people come to David at Adullam: 1. Distressed; 2. In Debt; 3. Discontented.
>The best place to disciple is in mean situations, in the cave; that’s the time to begin to call people to yourself. And don’t wait for Superman to come, because he’s not coming to the cave. At the cave you get the broken, busted and the disgusted.
> You get the messed up people in the cave. But if you can disciple them in the cave, they go from being the rubble to being the mighty men that will change the whole complexion of a nation. And you don’t have to wonder about them, because they’re not coming for the fish and the loaves because you didn’t have any fish or loaves in the cave.
> David works with 400 of the most messed up people. He turned the messed up into mighty.
> Stop looking at your situation and start zeroing in on their situation.
> Find a kid who nobody is patting on the head, who nobody is saying ‘I see a legend inside of you…You’re going to be somebody great.’ Just a drop of love makes them blossom, because nobody has given them any moisture at all. At the smell of moisture they will blossom and bloom, because they’ll appreciate you, so much so that they will run through troops to get you a cup of water.
> What you build today will fight for you tomorrow.
> The cave that you’re in becomes the creative place from which they will emerge. The situation that’s driving you crazy – God has put you there to slow you down long enough that you can disciple somebody else, because you really don’t have anything else to do anyway.
> Discipleship is working with what you’ve got. It is seeing what God is saying and speaking that, training that and raising that up until it emerges from the cave as a mighty army that cannot be stopped.
> Youth ministry is discipling what comes to the cave.


Apologies that the 'outline' became extensive in parts... Some things are too good to paraphrase!