Be Fearless and Faithful

Regaining Health and Optimal Usefulness

“If a broken leg is set wrong, what must you do to set it correctly?” Sam Nadler began our August 2023 Developing Healthy Messianic Congregations conference with this question. The leaders acknowledged that at times, something must be re-broken and then reset in order to regain health and optimal usefulness. Sam’s voice reflected the compassion in his heart, knowing that this can be painful and difficult for both leaders and their flocks.

What is Hindering your Growth?

He encouraged them to “Be brave. There may need to be changes to grow. Proverbs 28:1 tells us that ‘the righteous are as bold as a lion.’ Be fearless and faithful.”

Leaders and their teams attend our leadership development conferences because they want to grow. They want to learn what is hindering that growth. And they want to engage in healthier, even more biblical, practices.

The Why and How of Discipleship

Sam offered the following outline, briefly detailing each point at the outset of this online seminar, and then further developing them as the conference progressed.

Sam makes it a practice to phone the leaders registered before the conference takes place. He wants to discern what each congregation represented hopes to learn from our seminar. A theme emerged: They needed to communicate the “why” of Discipleship, and they desired to learn the “how” of actually doing it.

“Implementation is the big key too”

Twenty-eight people from around North America registered for our August 26-27, 2023, conference. We appreciated hearing a West Coast rabbi’s takeaway: “My congregation said, ‘Sam gives a LOT of information!” But they’re also saying, ‘OK. What’s next?!'” They understood Sam’s repeated message: “The blessing is in the doing, not in the learning.” (See John 13:17.) They are ready to become disciples who make disciples.

Another congregation leader told us, “My big takeaway is that we have a lot of discipleship that we need to be doing. For 17 years, you think you’re doing stuff, and then you realize, maybe we need to re-break something and re-set it. Implementation is the big key, too.”

Why Word of Messiah Exists

A Canadian congregation leader gave us this takeaway: “Elements of discipleship have been lacking in our congregation, and it’s not been as systematic as you’ve presented it. This gives us a vision to build disciples as we move forward.”

Pray for these leaders to “be brave” and do the biblical thing. In Sam’s “Developing Healthy Messianic Congregations” book, they have an orderly, written reference to guide them in days ahead. But the conference, and the book, are not the end of the story for these leaders.

Sam generously makes himself available for continued mentoring. He often says, “The reason Word of Messiah exists is to edify, encourage, and equip the Body of Messiah as we see healthy congregations established, developing, and reproducing.”

Please Pray

Please pray that these congregations follow through with implementing (for now) at least one prayerfully selected area. (Sam challenged them to “make disciples,” evangelize, and re-evaluate their membership process, among other things. He also gave them effective tools to be more organized in making decisions.)

Pray for more Messianic leaders to be developed, for more Messianic congregations to be planted, and for each assembly to do the work of evangelism, and for Jews (and Gentiles) to receive the Good News of salvation in Yeshua the Messiah.