Our world desperately needs Jesus-centered leaders!
We trust this brief interview with Peter Lim (Arrow Class 22) who serves as lead pastor of 4Pointes Church of Atlanta will encourage and equip you to be led more by Jesus, lead more like Jesus and lead more to Jesus.
Peter, what’s one practice that helps you to be led more BY Jesus?
I want to be more led by Jesus by trying to hear directly from Jesus himself. So, I have been immersing myself in the Gospels since June 2019. I read and mediate on the Word to create space to hear directly from Jesus.
I find we get so caught up in reading things about Jesus, whether it’s books or articles, but I want to go back to the source itself, the Bible. Part of my desire is to assess how much of what I understand of Jesus is based by my culture, traditions and history.
I want to lean into Jesus, his life and his gospels and hear his words and see his ministry.
I want to lean into Jesus, his life and his gospels and hear his words and see his ministry. Share on XHow are you seeking to lead more LIKE Jesus?
We minister most often to the dechurched (those who have walked away from the church) and unchurched. They come with a lot of suspicions, questions and hesitations. So we try to create a safe space for them to come, to freely ask questions and to invite them to let us journey with them in their exploration of Jesus.
When I look at Jesus and his ministry, it was filled with grace and compassion. Jesus reached out to people who were generally not accepted by religious leaders at the time. He reached out without judgement or rebuke. He had an incredible amount of grace and compassion. I want to be like this.
How can we lead more TO Jesus?
We are a “home” for the spiritually homeless, so creating a place of safety and hospitality is a great starting point. More than anything else, we want people to feel like they belong and that they don’t have to try to belong—because they already belong. We want people to feel safe to freely explore Jesus and Christianity.
I also believe it’s very important to give space to people for the Holy Spirit to work. We often can try to facilitate or use “formulas,” but we end up getting in the way of Jesus.
It’s very important to give space to people for the Holy Spirit to work. We often can try to facilitate or use “formulas,” but we end up getting in the way of Jesus. Share on XHow are you leading differently as a result of the Arrow Leadership Program™?
The DNA of the things I learned in Arrow permeates through the ministry we do. Arrow helped me understand the idea of vision better and clearly. We as a church really strive to do everything with clear vision and mission. In fact, everything we do is now filtered through our mission.
I would say discipleship is the biggest takeaway I learned from Arrow. One of our church’s core values is discipleship, which I feel stemmed from the focus on mentoring in Arrow.