Smith - The Wind and the Rudder : How to Live in the Power of the Spirit Without Becoming Weird

ABOUT DAN SMITH

Dan Smith has been a pastor for 36 years. He currently serves as the Senior Pastor of Vineyard Community Church in Camarillo, California, and oversees fourteen churches in the greater Los Angeles area.

He is available for speaking engagements, and can be reached through his email address, . He can also be contacted by phone at (805) 795-7587.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book is the fruit of God working through many people in my life. They have contributed greatly, both personally and professionally, and I am eternally grateful to each of them. I would like to recognize them here.

My wife, Jane, has provided a safe and peaceful place to live and work. Her love and encouragement gave me a solid foundation and helped me to see this project through to the end. She was an enormous help to me as my first editor. I love you, Jane!

My daughters, Stephanie and Lindsey, along with Lindseys husband, Brent, are some of my biggest fans, and their love and encouragement has been a tremendous help and source of strength.

My associate and friend, Mike Flynn, who has authored five books himself, was a great help in editing the manuscript, and in providing practical suggestions along the way. Mike, I hope to keep learning from you and look forward to enjoying more times together at Starbucks.

My friend, Dr. Marque Ireland, invested much of her time in reading portions of the manuscript and made many helpful suggestions, especially with Chapter 2. Her comments and corrections as a theologian have enabled me to represent the Holy Spirit more accurately, and have made this a better book.

To the wonderful people of the Vineyard Community Church in Camarillo: You are simply the best people any pastor could hope for, and I couldnt have done any of this without your love, prayers, and encouragement.

I especially want to thank Bert Waggoner, who, although he carries the enormous weight of leading the Vineyard movement, took the time to read the entire manuscript, and to offer valuable insights and analysis. I can think of no one I would rather have written the forward to this book. Thank you Bert!

I also need to express my heartfelt thanks to Vinson Synan, Todd Hunter, Jeremy Begbie, Jason Bridge, Phil Guthrie, Ray Batt, Aaron Dunn, Roy Bach, Rick Wright, Rick Taylor, and Patrick Baligasima. They all read the manuscript and gave me both great encouragement and helpful suggestions.

Special thanks to Doug Addison, who not only read the manuscript, but introduced me to Drew Rivera at Destiny Image. Your ministry continues to bring joy and freedom to many!

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for laying such a firm foundation of faith in Jesus. You introduced me to the Wind and provided the rudder for my life. And thanks, Mom Williams, who was such a prayer warrior and source of inspiration.

I will always owe a debt of gratitude to John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard movement. Thanks, John, for modeling humility and love for the whole Church. You taught me so much and impacted my life profoundly. And thanks for the costly price you paid to give birth to and lead this movement.

Finally, I want to thank Drew Rivera and the team at Destiny Image for believing in me as a first-time author, and for working with me to make this dream become reality.

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit Galatians 5:25

IT WAS ONE OF THOSE tension-filled days in our home. Youve had them, Im sure. It seemed like everything I said came out wrong, and what was worse was that everything my wife, Jane, or my daughters, Lindsey or Stephanie, said also seemed to come out wrong, or be taken wrong. If our home were a big piece of machinery, it would have sounded horribly noisy, like metal scraping against metal, desperately in need of oil or grease. It was as if everyone had gotten up on the wrong side of bed, and the whole day had gone like that. Finally, some time in the early afternoon, I had to go to the store for something, and, to be honest, was relieved to get out of the house and to enjoy, for a little while, the peace of being by myself in the car.

When I returned and pulled into the driveway, I paused before I turned off the motor and prayed a simple prayer: Lord, help us. Help us change the atmosphere in our home. Even before Id finished that short prayer, the words ice cream popped into my mind. It all took about five seconds. I went inside and announced to the family, Lets get out of here and go get some ice cream. Immediately everyone was on the same pageno disagreement here! Within five minutes we were in the car and on our way to the ice cream store, and just like that, the entire mood of our family had changed! We had been rowing; now we were sailing.

There are two distinctly different paradigms for ministry in the church of Jesus Christ. The first paradigm, with which we are all too familiar, is characterized by hard work, long hours of planning, digging for ideas, running to the latest workshops or seminars that promise great results, and often pressuring people to serve in ways that help fulfill someones vision. This is rowing, and is common in an environment where there is little wind of the Spirit.

The second paradigm for ministry also involves planning and effort, to be sure, but of a different kind. This mode of operation takes seriously the partnership dynamic of people working in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. It is more heavily weighted toward prayer, sometimes with fasting, and consciously learning to become sensitive to the impressions given by Godmore generously than many realize. This is sailing, and is more common where there is some movement of the Holy Spirit.

A friend of mine, Tom, is a Senior Vice President of Information Systems for a national corporation. He and his staff had been struggling for days to find a solution to a software problem that had all but paralyzed their department. Then one day, as Tom was driving in his car thinking about what to do, it occurred to him that he really hadnt prayed about the situation. So right there, in his car, he asked God to show him what to do. By the time he got back to work, everything started clicking. Suddenly new ideas started coming, creative energy began flowing, and the problem was solved within hours. First they had tried rowing; then came sailing. Sailing is better than rowing!

THE SPIRIT AND MOMENTUM

John Maxwell says momentum makes everything go better and makes everyone look better. Sports teams know this, which is why, when a basketball team begins to rack up points, the opposing coach will often call a time-out. He understands the importance of interrupting the momentum of the other team. When you have momentum going for you, everything seems easier, progress happens more quickly, people are more supportive, your weaknesses are overlooked, your strengths are magnified, and favor seems to come naturally. No wonder Maxwell calls momentum The Big Mo! Political campaigns know this, which is why they spend so much time, energy, and money trying to develop it. At a certain point, a wave of energy seems to build, people are more and more inclined to get on board, and it becomes almost impossible to stop.

Before the Day of Pentecost, the disciples were simply waiting. They knew Jesus was alive because He had revealed Himself to them several times since His resurrection. But they didnt know much of anything else. Where do we go from here? What do we do now? So, in obedience to Jesus instructions, they simply stayed in the city, waiting and praying. Then it happened: Boom! It is significant that the Spirit came like a violent rushing wind (Acts 2:2 NASB). What better picture of momentum and power could the Spirit Himself have given Luke as he inspired him to write this account in Acts. Momentum is what the Spirit produced on that memorable morning, as that divine wind carried the disciples for years throughout the known world, expanding the kingdom with explosive force and changing history forever.