The Shumaker Family's Blog

I wanted to share with you something that I developed on the different levels in a church.  I guess the only bad one would be the first one.

 

1.  The First Level – Those who do-nothing

            Churches are full of these types of people. They are good people.  They have been saved.  They just haven’t engaged themselves in the work.  Or maybe I should say they haven’t been lead to follow.  They haven’t been challenged.  Pastors and missionaries get frustrated because our churches are full of people who do basically nothing.  I know and understand the frustration all to well.  But I have realized that the problem isn’t really them, it is a reflection of leadership.  Yes, it is a reflection of my leadership.  I will say that 60% or higher of church members are in this category.

 

2.  The second level – Followers

            These people will make up about 25-30% of the church.  Every church needs followers.  They are workers.  They do exactly what they are instructed to do.  They don’t mind working.  They just can’t see the need.  They need to be told exactly what to do. 

 

3.  The third level – A solitary visionary

            Most of the time churches have very few visionaries.  These are people who can see a need and get the job done.  These people are a great blessing to a pastor or missionary.  They take a load off of the leader.  Their struggle is that they normally work alone.  They aren’t able to lead others to action.

 

4.  The fourth level – A leader – A visionary that leads followers

            Most of the time, unfortunately the pastor/missionary is the only one in this category.  A pastor can be a success if he is a success at this level.  His goal should be to train and go to the next level but many stay here.  If a missionary wants to be a success he has to be a good leader but he must move on.  He will not leave an indigenous church if he is only a leader with followers. 

 

5.  The fifth level – A leader of leaders – A visionary that leads other leaders

            For a missionary to be a success, he must one day arrive at this level.  There are a few pastors that have arrived at this level but most truly haven’t.  Most missionaries, unfortunately, haven’t arrived here either.  I am not saying that I have arrived here.  Actually, I am striving to train true leaders and I am not sure if we have gotten there yet.  I have some good followers and I have a few third level people but not many. 

 

 

I know that many of you have prayed for Ernest.  I was truly concerned that he might never recover from his head trauma.  A few weeks ago though, I went with two brothers to see him and pray for him.  When Gilbert waked into his room, immediately he said, “hey Gilbert”.  Then when I stepped into the room, he said, “good morning, Pastor”.  We were thrilled to see how he has advanced.  He is still having difficulty walking but he is doing better.  God has truly done a miracle in his life.

It is always hard to write and express the feelings and excitement in your heart.  God has greatly used Pastor Austin Gardner.  He is a great friend and a true man of God.   Since he has come, we have had four professions of faith.  God has been good.  Our people have received much help.  Last night, Bro. Gardner preached it straight about the strange women.  Some very hard things were preached but the people responded.  I truly believe that people can handle hard preaching if it is done in love.  Last night, the altar was full.  Oh, by the way, we had a 2nd

Burkinabé couple come to the altar and pray together.  This is truly amazing and wonderful.  I can’t wait till tonight.

Check out the update on Pastors Austin Gardners blog.

God is blessing in tremendous ways.  Thursday, I took our visitors to a game park to see elephants and other animals.  We had a good time.  Then on Friday, we went to Roungou.  God is still doing a wonderful work there because of the love and compassion of Salif.  Saturday night God truly blessed.  We started a conference on the family.  Pastor Austin Gardner preached on the strange women.  It was a tremendous message.  It truly helped our people.

The assistant pastor of Living Water Baptist Church, Konate Lansina, went to the altar with his wife.   This doesn’t sound like a big thing to you but to us this was a major stepping stone.    This was the first time a Burkinbe man and his wife have went to the altar to pray toghether.  The family here is very strange.  The relationship between a man and wife is strange.  A man almost never sits with his wife.  I have fought that in the past but it is something that is so engrained into their thoughts and customs it is hard to get out.  I tell them, “I love my wife and I love to sit by her.  I am not ashmed of her.”  In most churches the women sit on one side and the men the other.  The altar was full and people got help.  Praise the Lord.  We will continue tonight and tommorrow. Please pray for us.

Pastor Austin Gardner arrived last night.  He came with Bro. David Lundy and Bro. Scott Lance.  We with our leaders today and Bro. Gardner motivated and challenged them.  We are planning on visiting Roungou this Friday and also starting a family conference on Saturday.  I am excited to have such wonderful men of God with us.  Please pray for our different services.

I have been helped and trained through the years by a good friend of mine, Pastor Austin Gardner.  He has taught me many different principles but one of the greatest things I have learned from him, is that I must think like a coach.  Pastor Gardner looked at me in January 2008 and told me I was a ball hog.  I never liked a ball hog when I played sports because you can’t win and be a success with a ball hog on the team.  I have learned that in the past.  A missionary can’t play all the positions, he can’t be a ball hog, but he must lead. 

 

I played many different sports growing up.  Basketball, soccer, football, cross country.  I have had many different coaches.  I played on winning teams and losing teams.  I want to share some thoughts on what makes a good coach and will make a good missionary.

 

1. A coach is only successful when he makes others a success.
2. A coach can’t win ball games.  He must lead others to win.
3. A coach always takes the blame and rarely gets the credit.
4. Game time is a reflection of what the coach has taught and instructed behind closed doors.
5. A coach must create unity.  (I have been on teams that should have won lots but didn’t because of a lack of unity.)
6. A coach must continually develop his players.
7. A coach will not always be a best friend to his players but he will always be there when they need him.
8. A coach will have to discipline and be hard at times. 
9. A coach can’t expect perfection but they must not accept less than 100% effort.
10. A coach should never focus on one or a few players.  When the star gets hurt, what will you do?
11. A coach needs to remember that it is supposed to be fun.
12. A coach must really know the game.  (I had a few coaches when I was younger that I thought were good.  I realized while playing in college that they knew very little about the real game of basketball.)
13. A coach must continue to learn.
14. A coach must know how to communicate with his players.  (I had a coach in college that knew the game very well but he wasn’t a successful communicator.  Because of this we struggled.)
15. A coach must lead by example. 
16. A coach will spend a lot of time with his players.  He must make an investment.  (Most coaches at the high school level get paid only a little for coaching for the time they spend.  They do it because they love it.  They go the extra mile.  My high school coach figured out that he made 32 cents an hour.  Big pay.)

Just a few days ago the Summit was held in Pigeon Forge, TN.  I did a little video for the meetingt and thought I would post it.  Here it is if anybody would like to see it.

I wanted to take this time to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.  God has truly blessed us here in Burkina Faso and we are forever grateful.

Last night, we had our Christmas Eve services.  We actually had three different churches having Christmas Eve services.  Unfortunately I can’t be at all of them.  I truly love the way we (our church family) celebrate Christmas together.  We started about 9 PM and finished after midnight.  We had about 85 present at Living Water Baptist Church.  We had 11 different groups sing specials and the youth did the Christmas Story.  At the end of the play, they quoted the birth of Jesus by memorization.  It was a pleasant surprise.  God Blessed and we truly felt like we celebrated the birth of Jesus together.

I wanted to tell my wife Happy Anniversary.   It seems hard to believe that nine years ago today, we were married in Jefferson, GA.  I have took my wife on a serious adventure these last few years.  It hasn’t always been easy but she has always been the woman that I needed.  She has stood by me when others haven’t.  She has encouraged me, when others did me wrong. She has always followed me, as I follow God.

I thank God for the godly wife that He gave me.  I don’t deserve her and I am forever grateful.

I love you darling.  You are the best.  I don’t know how I would have survived these last nine years without you, beside me.  I look forward to more wonderful years serving God together.  It is wonderful.

We had a wonderful and blessed time last Thursday night.  We started the service at 9:00 P.M. t with over 60 young people/adults and much to my surprise most of them made it until the next morning.  They left about 7:00 A.M.  I must admit that I was a wimp and left about 4:00 in the morning.

We had many teachings on the will of God.  I was moved as I thought about God’s will.  There was a time that I lived for me.  I lived for my dreams and my passions.  I lived for money and things.  It was all about me.  Then I got saved.  God changed my life.  The me decreased and Christ became my passion.  He became my all.  It wasn’t about my dreams and passions but it was about His will, His passions.

I praise the Lord for how He challenged our people.  God did a great work.  Thanks for your prayers.