​I heard this statistic while listening to a prophetic pastor named Larry Randolph.

Here's how many times important ministries are mentioned in the Bible.

Angels - 300 times

Prophecy - 170 times

Healing -100 times

Signs and wonders - 80 times

Miracles - 37 times

Tongues – 6 times

Prophets – 250 times

Apostles – 80 times

Pastors – 10 times

Evangelists – 2 times

FATHERS – 4,000 TIMES

Frequent use of a word signals the importance an author wants to emphasize.

The constant theme from Genesis to Revelation is often overlooked. 

GOD IS THE FATHER OF ALL CREATION 

God created humanity to be the highest creation of His heart. In this relationship, man was to be the father of all God had created. With God and in God, all things would be in perfect harmony. God would have a son, “to walk with in the cool of the morning.” The son would be constantly filled with the marvel of the one he calls Father, the one who created all things.

Yes, we know the tragedy. Adam chose another marvel, a created one called Eve. They left God. Eve was deceived, and Adam, knowing full well what he was doing, turned his back on God's love for another. God's heart did not leave the couple. This was the beginning of separation from the wonder of Eden because God's love was Eden. 

Evil, darkness and death would have swallowed the couple and the multitude of generations coming out of them. To save them from total loss, God the Father intervened throughout the Old Testament to keep humanity from being totally given over to darkness, the result of separation from God. 

In the end, He even came Himself. If I go too deep into this, I would never be able to stop writing. The highest sacrifice a father could make was to send his son to die for others. Jesus the Messiah did this. John 3:16, 17: “For God so Loved the world He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”

Well, that scripture says it all; however, upon receiving this “new life in Christ,” we too often fall short of the inner transformation this new life is to produce.

THE HIGHEST CALL IS TO BECOME FATHERS

Fathers of God also encompass women equally under the same calling. 

The Corinthian church did not lack the gifts of the Spirit, but it was not maturing. The apostle Paul reveals their greatest failure. Not to shame them, but to bring them to greater maturity! 1 Corinthians 4:15,16 “Even though you had 10,000 guardians (teachers, pastors, all ministries) in Christ you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me.”

In other Scripture, Paul emphasizes his apostleship, but not here. He emphasizes being a father to others. The fact that he uses what seems to be an exaggeration shows that you could have 10000 ministries/gifts, but none are as essential as being a father. As Larry Randolph said, "Father" is mentioned 4,000 times in Scripture. Everything else we've overemphasized in church is only a small fraction. It is easier to get someone to receive Christ than to bring that person to maturity. In my experience over the last 54 years in the Lord, I've seen few genuine fathers. Ministries are weak unless fatherhood is preeminent. 

I understand that much of the church's failure would not be so if spiritual mothers and fathers governed the church and the gifts and ministries were seen only as tools for growth in right and healthy living; this is Righteousness. Fathers and mothers teach young men and women about their relationship. How to raise children. New believers come out of a world of perversion, lust, greed and many other harmful entrapments that rule in the darkness. They need moms and dads' wisdom and oversight.

THE FUTURE

I believe heaven will not endorse someone who feels called to lead unless they have been properly fathered.

TO BE A FATHER ONE MUST BE FATHERED

Only those whose highest heart cry to God is ABBA will walk in true ministry. They may be out there doing the stuff, but the power inside them that leads will be deceptive.

Wonderfully, the Bible mentions Abba three times to mean “PAPA or DADDY.”

Ministries alone do not create a family. They can create an environment of attainment or achievement. This leaves those with natural ability to excel and others feeling less.

The bible does not say He put people into ministries; He put the lonely into families.

Under spiritual fathers and mothers, gifts are shown to be tools to help all grow. Gifts belong to the family, even though individuals may administer them.

A great scripture speaks about desiring and receiving spiritual gifts/ministries. 

1 Corinthians 14:1 “Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” John: “Who does not love does not know God, because God is Love.” These scriptures tell us to want love above all. Then John says God is Love.

MAY WE HEAR THE CRY OF THOSE DESIRING TO BE LEADERS:

“MAKE ME A FATHER”


DAN

While camping, I saw a picture of a very dark forest. A faint path led through the darkness. At the end of this path, there was bright sun and a clearing, a meadow. We are on this path. The choice we make will either bring us into the clear meadow or keep us in the forest. Our choice can mean entering our destiny as a church or living once again in the dark forest. The Bible says that without a vision, or knowledge of how to grow into the vision, the people perish. Many churches are experiencing a similar situation. Although this instruction is geared to our situation, I hope other churches can take this. It is universal.
 
This is about TRUTH, LOVE AND LIGHT. This is the nature of God, the nature the church must be living in TRUTH, LOVE AND LIGHT; this also is the nature of Christ we are to exhibit to the world. Christ in us is God’s Glory on the earth. John 1:4,5 “In Him (Jesus)was Life, and that was the Light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” We must ask God to show us the new man's heart. Is he more programmatic, or is he walking in the light?
 
Artificial intelligence is the counterfeit taking over the world. Soon we will not be sure of what is real. Robots will be indistinguishable from real people. AI is already replacing actors online and doing an incredible job. AI will become an intimate partner, communicating and performing all human functions better than most humans can. Publishers are alarmed. Do real people write the books with real stories, or does AI? What is true, or what is real love? These boundaries are being blurred beyond imagination. The only truth, real love, and light (understanding) will be God's Word. BUT we are his living word on earth. He calls us Living Epistles. We are to be heaven's address on earth.
 
NEVER HAS THERE BEEN A MORE IMPORTANT TIME THAN NOW FOR THE CHURCH. THE NEW PROSPECTIVE LEADER MUST BELIEVE ISAIAH 60 SPEAKS OF US. “ARISE, SHINE, FOR YOUR LIGHT HAS COME, AND THE GLORY OF GOD RISES UPON YOU. FOR BEHOLD DARKNESS COVERS THE EARTH AND GROSS DARKNESS IS OVER THE PEOPLE, BUT THE LORD RISES UPON YOU, AND HIS GLORY APPEARS OVER YOU. NATIONS WILL COME TO YOUR LIGHT AND KINGS TO THE BRIGHTNESS OF YOUR RISING.” THIS IS THE END-TIME CHURCH. THIS TIME IS NOW. THE WORLD DOES NOT YET SEE THIS BECAUSE IT IS BUILDING IN A PLACE THEY CANNOT SEE. IN THE PREDESTINED TIME, WE WILL EMERGE AS ISAIAH 60 PROPHESIED. WILL THE NEW MAN HAVE THIS VISION? THE MAN TO BE A PART OF OUR FAMILY AS PASTOR WILL DETERMINE WHETHER WE WALK IN GOD'S DESTINY OR A RELIGIOUS FORM. WHAT ARE THE QUALITIES WE MUST BE AWARE OF IN CHOOSING THIS MAN? SOME MEN ARE JUST MAINTENANCE MEN; OTHERS ARE VISIONARIES. PROVERBS 29:18 “WHERE THERE IS NO VISION, THE PEOPLE PERISH.” SOME ARE CONTENT IN THE PREDICTABLE; OTHERS WANT THE ADVENTURE OF BEING TRANSFORMED INTO THE GREATNESS ONLY GOD CAN GIVE.
 
THE NEW LEADER MUST BELIEVE IN THE ABSOLUTE SUPREMACY OF THE WORD OF GOD. WE DO NOT READ THE WORD; THE WORD READS US. THE WORD DEFINES US; WE DO NOT DEFINE IT.
The leader must not live only in the Logos of the Word, but also in the Rhema. Logos is the letters on the page; the Rhema is the spirit of God that brings the word to life. Logos, the Bible without the Spirit, is the most destructive book in the world. Millions of occultists, of whom I was one, used it to prove our beliefs. In church, the Logos alone is often a religious bully. Paul fought these people many times. It says we must clean ourselves up before we enter church, God's house. It ostracizes people who do not believe 100% as they do. They say I know God's word, and no one can tell me more.
 
The Rhema brings the written word to life. When you are reading God's word, the Logos, and suddenly it comes to life, that is the Rhema. The Rhema and the Logos are like a bird with two wings. It is a wise leader who can walk in his personal life and pastor in this balance. These are a few of the requirements of a pastor. It is the culmination of my life experience. It is the summation of what I have observed over 54 years as a Pentecostal Bible college grad. My life has been balanced by working in the church and outside its walls. I have worked in palliative care and operated a home for mentally ill adult women. I have worked in pathology, doing autopsies to determine the cause of death; I have owned and operated a successful business. I have served the church in the office of a prophet officially since 1982. I have learned much about life that Bible college did not fully teach.
 
Wisdom comes from God to all. Proverbs2:6-8: “For the Lord gives wisdom: from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding. He holds success in store for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk blamelessly, for He guards the course of the just and protects the way of the faithful ones.” This is not the word for the new pastor but for us who vote him in. We must check our hearts. Have we forgiven other leaders who have offended us? If our hearts are not clean and free from the past, we will lack discernment about who God has chosen. We can vote for the wrong man based on difficult, unresolved past experiences; it will be on us who do not repent of past leadership issues. Simply, leaders have hurt others and even churches. Our hearts and minds must be past this. Some say it is, but in reality, some resentment can still remain. Again, must search our hearts with utmost honesty. Are we free?

1.  The Word of God is an unfolding adventure that we must move within.
The best example is an onion skin, but with no ending. The revelation of God is forever. The book of Daniel ends by saying that some things are to be opened only at the end of time, when information covers the earth. What we learn in the past is the stepping stone to the next thing. The Word of God defines us, and it has no end. We will keep growing and evolving forever. The husband and wife who lead us must be open to the ongoing adventure of the Word's revelation. Growth is constant change, and at times change is a real challenge. I have had some great experiences in the past, and at times, when things are tough, I want to go back there in my mind. It is my wife who says, “I was not there, and I want to experience something with you today.” If we live in the past, no matter how good it was, we spiritually die in the past.

2.  God fed the greatest prophet, Elijah, with meat in the talons of ravens.
Ravens were unclean. This gave him energy to continue in God's plan. God showed Peter animals on a huge, unfolding tarp and said, "Eat.” The animals were unclean. I am sure there were even Ravens. Peter said no three times because the law said not to eat these animals. The Lord said I have made these things clean. Peter's heart was reluctantly changed. Because of this experience, God was able to send him to the Gentiles who, by their interpretation of the law, were unclean. At the council in Jerusalem, he testified that God filled them just as He did us. This was the first step in bringing the Word of grace and mercy outside of Jewish boundaries.
 
The disciples were with Jesus, saw a man casting out demons, and were upset because he was not one of them. Jesus said, “Leave him alone; I have sheep you do not know of.” Your denomination is not God's only work. The leader must see beyond the denomination. Many churches rejected God's move among the Catholics because they could not agree with their doctrine. God filled them with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke in tongues. Spirit-filled Protestants could have given them needed leadership but did not realize God had sheep they did not know of.
 
The Magi from a distant land knew of the baby Jesus before the religious Jews, and the first to be told in Israel were lonely shepherds. Jesus told the woman at the well He was the Messiah. She may have been the first person to be told this. She was a vile person by Hebrew standards, a Samaritan woman who had multiple partners, getting water from the well. She was also the first evangelist, A WOMAN! His own disciples were clueless about what had happened and wondered why Jesus was not hungry. His words were, "I have eaten food you do not know of.” He was filled with the wonder of meeting this woman. Will the new leader see beyond implementing, or will he be a “heart-person”?
 
We must lay down our personal standards and allow God to show something new or confirm something that is not new but still has God's anointing or presence. Can this man see beyond what he may have been taught? Can he hear from God beyond his doctrinal teachings?
 
3.  The house of God is not a physical place.
This truth is found when the Bible teaches us about Jacob's ladder. Jacob was running from Esau, who had ripped off his inheritance, and he rested with his head on a rock as a pillow; in a dream, he saw angels going up and down on a type of ladder. Jacob called this place the house of God, or gateway to God. We are the house of God, not a building. We do not ask people to clean up their lives to enter this place. We love people the way they are, and as they grow with us, we see God changing them not to our image but to His. 

Cultural teachings pertain to the culture we live in. One shoe does not fit all. 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 says women are to be silent in church. You are to ask your husband questions at home, not in the company of others. Women should not cut their hair and must wear a covering to show submission to their husband. Women should have no authority over men. This means no women on church boards or in any form of leadership or authority over men. These scriptures are addressing a highly sexualized culture, a matriarchal society. The temple prostitutes shaved their heads and wore seductive makeup. By using sexual allurements, they made the male population captive. Male temple prostitutes grew long, effeminate hair. Paul said women are to be different; men do not have hair like prostitutes. Paul gave this hard instruction because that culture was different and demanded a need for change, breaking free. In Paul's teaching elsewhere in the Word, women were not treated this way. Historically, in Jesus' time on earth, men had long hair, and some of the holiest and most intimate times Jesus had were ministering to, and being ministered to by women.
 
During the Jesus People movement in the early 1970s, people from the hippie generation were rejected at church doors because they had long hair and wore sandals or went barefoot. One church said We cannot let them in because they will dirty the carpet. This pastor said to his board Then we will remove the carpets. There was Chuck Smith in California. It was a church that did not reject the Jesus people but was changed by them. There is a movie out there starring Kelsey Grammer. I cried through it. It is called The Jesus Revolution. Interestingly, the Jesus people were deemed by churches as unclean, like the Raven. God sent them, and the church rejected them. God WILL do this again and again. Will the new leader reject what God brings to our doors because it does not fit his cultural experience?
 
4.  Stuck on elementary teachings. 
Hebrews5:12 to 6:56. Please read this. Paul is talking about leaving the elementary teaching. He says these teachings are milk. He admonishes that the church cannot absorb anything substantial. What are the elementary teachings Paul is talking about, telling the church to leave these things behind? He says, “Therefore let us leave the elementary teaching about faith in Christ and go on to maturity, not laying the foundations of repentance again from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instructions about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrections of the dead and eternal judgement and God PERMITTING we will do so.” Wow, almost everything I have heard from the many denominations, over and over, is elementary. As a pastor, I did not know there was more than the elementary teachings. If the church moves on from these teachings, then what is this permission gate in verse 6:3 that God talks about? Does our new perspective leader know what is required to pass this gate? Does he know only the elementary teachings, perhaps with a more persuasive style? The author of Hebrews goes on to say that the powers of the ages to come are entrusted to those who meet the requirement to pass. 

5.  Is there rest in his soul?  Hebrews 4:9.
Zeal without wisdom will destroy a fellowship. I was taught that when we work, God rests, sits back, and lets us go till we run out of gas. When we rest in Him, He works. We are to pursue and desire His presence before activity. You were saved for Him first. A man who is “driven” for God will wear himself out through his own efforts and the church's. Then this leader leaves, and the church is left in limbo. The leader cannot see the fellowship as a step to greater things. The Word is adamant: we are to strive to enter His rest and cease from our own works. 
 
6. Paul said there must be fathers among us.
1 Corinthians 4:14 “I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. Even though you have ten thousand counsellors (pastors and all leaders), you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel; therefore I urge you to imitate me.” This connects with Hebrews and the elementary teachings. Has the man become a spiritual father, and his wife a spiritual mother? Again, is he driven for success, or has he learned to be at rest? In the future, all leaders must at least desire to be spiritual fathers/mothers. Only mothers and fathers can produce maturity in the church. Spiritually, only fathers and mothers can produce children. This is essential in spiritual warfare. A spiritual father has more authority in the church than anyone else. A church without real fathers/mothers is open to being attacked by unseen spiritual forces. A real spiritual father says” If you want to enter this church, you have to come through me!” This is the real power of God recognized by the spiritual forces waging war against the church.
 
7.  Husband and wife.
In Ephesians 5, the marriage between a husband and wife is the closest earthly picture of Christ and His church. This must be a leader's strongest desire, next to wanting to know God. It must be the heart and beauty of the church. In this atmosphere, those without husbands or wives feel safe. As the relationship between husband and wife goes, so goes the church. This is not often taught to the men in leadership. As a man loves his wife, they have a ministry. It is the beauty of unity in God. The church receives the benefit from this. As a man is surrendered to the Lord above ALL else, even his wife, his wife gets the byproduct. As a woman, as the daughter of the King, she is so blessed to be with the Father; the man gets the byproduct of this wonderful encounter. How does the new leader stand on marriage? Again, as I have said about spiritual warfare in fathers, I must bring this into the leader's relationship with his wife. They are the same bird with different wings. If this is unbalanced, the enemy has the right to slip past and hit their own children as well as the church. 

8.  The fivefold ministry of Ephesians 4:11-13.
Sharing the pulpit. Building ministries without Bible school credentials.  At the heart of these ministries is reproducing them within the local church. Is the new leader someone who sees this, or someone who leaves behind what he thinks are the important things only for those with denominational credentials? Will he be committed to raising or allowing Bible teachers in his church to teach on a Sunday morning? Evangelists to grow? Will he train pastors who grow within the church to pastor? Does he realize he is not the center of all things but only one part of the church's ministry? The fivefold ministry should be reproduced within local churches. Good pastors burn out because they feel they are to do everything. They just cannot. Often, true treasures of giftings are hidden in the local church but untapped because one must have recognized credentials. Some churches see this and are growing, and the pastor is not overworked.
 
I Corinthians 14 begins with: “Pursue the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.” The chapter focuses on gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. The greatest gift in the church is encouragement: love in supernatural action. This is what the gift of prophecy is. Will the new leader be willing to teach and implement this? Does this man know how essential the prophetic gift is, as 1 Corinthians tells us?
Does he believe God can raise prophets in the church? Does he believe that the Old Testament is valid today concerning prophets?
 
The office of the prophet. This will be a hard question: if he believes the Old Testament is valid, then where does he stand on the reality of prophets today? Amos3:7 “Surely the sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants ( some translations say His friends, the prophets).” Would he be willing to ask God to help him recognize and confirm that there are prophets in his church?
 
Like all ministries, the gifts have been abused and misinterpreted. To disregard them because of this is a huge mistake. It takes a wise man to father ministries in place. It will at times be messy. It will require great brokenness and surrender to the Lord. To “institutionalize” them is to end the gifts as God intended them. Growing in the midst of the church family, with spiritual fathers and mothers nurturing, is the best place for ministry to develop.
 
There's more to know about a new pastor. These are just a few things that come to mind. The last thing is about the unsaved. The saying is, “It is easier to catch a fish than to clean it.” In other words, it is often much easier to get someone to come to the Lord in salvation than it is to bring them to maturity. This takes the whole church, especially spiritual parents. It is a true heartbreaker when you bring someone new to the church, and then, suddenly out of the blue, the pastor, the supposed father in the church, leaves in an improper way. People leave because of disagreements, with no regard for how this affects new believers. I believe this grieves the Father in heaven deeply. I believe He will judge such behaviour.
 
God longs for us to be a family. From Genesis to Revelation, He is called the HEAVENLY FATHER for a reason.
 
Dan