2012

ZONAL LEADERS CONFERENCE CHRIST EMBASSY ABUJA ZONE WITH PASTOR VALE ODU-THOMAS Notes On The Zonal Leaders Conference
Pastor Vale taught extensively on the Cell ministry, soul wining and development. He also talked about Evangelism; the role of the Christian, Cell and church. He gave several examples and inspiring testimonies.

JULIET ATOI CHRIST EMBASSY 1/28/2012

ZONAL LEADERS CONFERENCE CHRIST EMBASSY ABUJA ZONE WITH PASTOR VALE ODU-THOMAS

28TH January 2012 Exodus 18 vs. 13 26 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from morning unto the evening. And when Moses father in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, what is this thing that thou doest to the people? Why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even? And Moses said unto his father in-law, because the people come unto me to enquire of God: When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one another, and I do make them know the statues of God, and his laws. And Moses father in-law said unto him the thing that though doest is not good. Thou will surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: thou art not able to perform it thy self alone. Hearken now unto my voice, I will give the counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou to the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God: And thou shall teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, ad the work that they must do. Moreover thou shalt provide out of the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands and rulers of hundreds and rulers of fifty and rulers of tens: And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thee self and they shall bear the burden with thee. If thou shalt do this thing, and

God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all these people shalt also go to their place in peace. So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in-law, and did all that he had said. And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifty and rulers of ten. And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. Acts 6 vs. 1 7 And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministrations. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, it is not the reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give our selves continually to prayer, and the ministry of the word, and the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor , and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priest were obedient to the faith. The cell system is not a Christ Embassy thing; its not something we do just because we chose to. It is a pattern obtained from the scriptures. The cell system is structured after the pattern set in the scriptures. If you want to grow as a church or cell and cover this world with the knowledge of the glory of God, you cannot do it alone, you need people. The strategy is to Win Build and Send. You can only raise people that you have won to Christ. You raise people by precept and by example, as a leader you train people by your life style, people hear what

you do louder that what you say. If you come for church services and meetings late consistently, your members will do the same, no matter how many times you tell them to come early. This is because they believe in you, and therefore to them all your actions are right. They imitate you just like children imitate their parents or those around them. The first thing about Evangelism is, you must know and be settled in the message that we preach, you have to know the message that has been committed to your trust. We dont bring a message of hope; we bring a message of life. The more you understand the message, your boldness increases. When you go out to evangelize and, preach this message dont do it apologetically. You have something the world needs, a message of life, so preach it with passion and boldness, passion persuades. The evangelism that makes you stand out before God must be planned. You must have your own evangelism plans, targets and results as a Christian. You must be concerned about the kind of results you get in soul winning. Be conscious of the great commission that has been given to you by God, initiate friendships for the sake of the gospel. The first thing you should do when you meet anyone is to find out if they are born again and if they are not get them born again, you dont know if you are the last person they will meet. See opportunities for soul winning; for instance if you hear that your neighbor is sick, instead of saying, evil has come to that individual or family, see it as an opportunity to prove Gods word and win souls. Have a soul winning plan, ensure you win at least a soul daily, or weekly or monthly. In the world today we have virtual identities electronic mail,

and the different social networks. We have friends in this virtual world, most of these people we have never met face to face, but we communicate and share ideas with them. This is an avenue to win souls, there are a lot of souls in this virtual world and around where we live, work school etc., and many are the valley of decision ready to be tossed either way. Make sure you have a personal target for soul winning, dont rest until you hit those goals. Dont just say I have tried, get the job done. Plan for each individual you are going to be reaching in evangelism and keep records of you exploits. In follow up, treat every card as an individual. Be committed to ensuring they grow and are retained in church. Church Staff members are a reflection of the Pastor, people always thing that what youre doing is what the Pastor approves, so be careful what you do. As a cell there must be a definite time for soul winning, you must create time to win souls, if not growth does not occur. A major part of evangelism is winning people and getting them to be committed in winning others to Christ. In our church services and cell meetings, we must teach our brethren how to win souls, giving practical examples frequently on; what to say, how to start up a conversation etc. we can do this by dramatizing etc. this will increase the level of evangelism and soul winning in the church, a lot of people want to win souls but they dont know how, this will teach them and prepare them for soul winning.

When you evangelize it isnt enough to just preach the gospel and leave, that individual is your responsibility, ensure he/she gets born again. The brother that got me born again insisted that I had to get born again there and then. I agreed just to get him off my back; it wasnt until he led me in the salvation prayer that I realized what I had done, now many years later am still a Christian , Halleluyah! As you go out each day, always have ministry materials (tracts, rhapsody of realities etc ) in your hand bag, car etc. Be ready to preach the gospel, and win souls. A sister gave a testimony, on how on a particular day she was at a bus stop in Lagos, Nigeria. When an accident occurred the sister said the Holy Ghost asked her to act like a doctor and she did. She went to the scene of the accident, and told the crowd that had gathered to give way they did thinking she was a doctor, she laid hands on the man that was involved in the accident who at that point was unconscious, she prayed for him and he regained consciousness. The Holy Ghost told the sister to turn this place into a church, she began to preach the word, twenty people gave their lives to Christ, and people got filled with the Spirit and started speaking in tongues at the bus stop. After the ministration, she gave everyone of them ministry materials, because she had them in her bag. She was prepared, she didnt get prepared at the bus stop , she was already prepared from home. That was why she could see the opportunity and act on the instruction that was given to her by the Holy Ghost.

For the souls that have been won to stay they must be given a reason to stay. Acts 15 vs. 36 And some days after Paul said to Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do. There should be a care system for new converts, because they are like new born babies. They can not do anything on their own, pray for them, teach them the word, visit and call them. After they get born again and receive the Lord Jesus, the devil comes to attack; with persecutions, etc. you have to be on ground to help strengthen their faith with the word and to teach them ,explain to them from the word that what they are facing is not new . When a church stops having first timers, very soon even the old members will start to leave. When a church has first timers consistently, the old members feel more secure and safe. Ensure to introduce the new converts to Foundation school, the foundation is very important, its the most vital part of the life of a new convert. If they can not come to the foundation school for what ever reason, take the foundation school to them. In the foundation school they will be taught our core values, what we truly believe and their questions will be answered. When new converts come in the cells or PCF their names should be sent to the Foundation school, so that they can anticipate their arrival, and assist the cell or PCF in ensuring they attend the school. Take your new converts to the foundation school meetings, until they are trained enough to begin to go them self.

The cell ministry is not just about the cell meetings, they are not the main reasons for the cell ministry. The cell is a place for training, it creates opportunities for ministry, being in a cell is being part of a family. In the cell the ministry of the Pastor is sent to the last person in the church, every body can get the love of the Pastor in a short period of time. When you are not in a cell you are the one losing, the most unfortunate person is that person that doesnt have any one praying for him or her. There is safety in the cell system. The cell ministry is beyond the cell meetings held. All the meetings held by the cell is important, to make your cell meeting effective, it is vital that you are conscious of timing. Dont drag your meetings; learn how to make your point clear, without unnecessary repetitions. During your prayer and planning meeting, invite people. People love to pray. Ask them to bring their prayer points. During planning involve your cell members in the planning process, commit them by their suggestions. There is no way a cell member will travel on the day his/her suggestions will be implemented, he/she will feel an obligation to attend the meeting. The more you teach what you have learnt the more you will understand it. Let your members teach during the bible study, let them teach the people they bring to the cell. The outreach meeting is a training meeting; plan all aspects of the meeting with your members. Delegate the different activities involved set up committees to handle Venue, ushering etc. Have a choir, even if its one person, and meet with the choir to find out what songs they will minister, what they will be wearing etc. same thing also for the ushers. Decide what type of out

reach meeting you want to have, the number of first timers you want to attend your meeting. Do a costing of the expenses that will be involved, try as much as possible to reduce cost, be creative you do not have to spend money on everything. In planning your out reach create a sense of occasion and excitement, let there be excellence in all you do as regards the meeting. As you do all these your members will be so expectant and excited about the meeting. The most important part of your preparations for you as a cell leader and as a cell in your preparation for this meeting is prayer. You can not take the spoils of a strong man expect you bind the strong man; the devil does everything he can to make sure souls dont come into the kingdom of God. You have to take time out as a cell leader to fast and prayer, have a prayer chain in with your cell members. Ensure you have a pulpit, dont use a table, a pulpit is a symbol of authority and a table is the symbol of an office. It doesnt have to be exactly like the pulpit in church, but ensure you have one. The fellowship meeting is a time for celebration; you celebrate you members, your exploits as a cell or PCF. Etc

As a leader you have to realize that you were anointed to lead, but your cell member were not anointed to follow. No one is anointed to follow the anointing is on the leader to lead. This means you have the ability to train and lead your members, never complain about them, speak Gods word concerning them and pray for them. Ministry materials accelerate growth, you must make sure you make the materials available to your members; our vision is communicated in our ministry materials, as they listen, read and use these materials they catch the vision. What would have taken you hours to communicate will be communicated in minutes by our man of God Pastor Chris. If you want your members to mature fast expose them to ministry materials. Get your members involved in partnership, teach them the importance and ensure they are involved in it.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWER SESSION. 1. How do I grow my cell from seven to twenty members? In cell growth you have to remember that the body makes increase by what every joint supply, you cannot grow the cell alone you need you members. To increase to members of the cell from 7 to 20 you need an addition of 13 people. Let take a 30 percent success rate; When you invite 3 people for your meeting, out of those 3 at least 1 will honour your invitation. 13 first timers are required for the cell to hit 20 members. 133 = 39 people; if one, out of 3, in the 39 people invited for the meeting attend, you will have 13 people attending your meeting. (39/3 = 13). What you do is to divide the target of reaching 39 people by the current number of cell members in the cell, that is; 397= 6 persons per cell member. As the cell leader you have to have a higher target, so you can work on eight to ten persons. You have to get a list of at least 30 people to follow up and invite for your meeting, you follow them up consistently and invite them for your meetings, pray for them, share the word with them. After a while you will notice those that respond more and better to you, give these ones ministry materials, invite them to pray with the prayer chain in the cell. You make them members of the cell by compulsion, in a little while

they will start attending you meetings. All you members should do the same with people on their list .The type of invitation and follow up, where the cell member or leader can not remember the names of those he / she invited is ineffective. 2. What is the Importance of cell Report submission? If you dont submit your report, either there is something you are not doing right or you dont like the results you have. If you had 200 people in your cell meeting, you would want to write a report and submit, you would want everyone to see your result. Submitting your report is very important, because it creates an opportunity from the Pastor to be able to help you with the challenges you face in your cell. When I see a cell report, I can deduce what the problem is with the cell by looking at the report; if all the activities in the cell are carried out by the cell leader, even if he has just one other person in the cell, then thats a problem. He/she needs to learn to involve his cell members in the cell meeting activities. If a cell with four members met for three hours, then the meeting must have been boring, because there is no way four people can have an exciting meeting for three hours. Cell report submission is important.

3. Sir, what would you say to a cell leader who says he/she has tried everything to grow the cell and it doesnt seem to be working. Success is achieved through patterns; there is a set pattern for success for the cell system. If this cell leader has been following these set patterns he/she should not fret. He should continue in that pattern and its just a matter of time before he begins to see results. Let him/her mix faith with patience, faith always works so dont give in or give up because of the present results. James 1 vs. 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4. What do I do to have an effective out reach meeting? Decide what type of out reach meeting you want to have, the number of first timers you want to attend your meeting. Set you targets. Delegate the different activities involved in the program to members of the cell or PCF and set up committees to handle them, e.g Venue, ushering, counselors etc. Have a choir, even if its one person, and meet with the choir to find out what songs they will minister, and meet with the other committee handling the other aspects , find out what has been done, their plan etc. what they will be wearing etc. same thing also for the ushers. Create a sense of occasion and excitement in planning you meetings

 Do a costing of the expenses that will be involved, try as much as possible to reduce cost, be creative you do not have to spend money on everything. In planning your out reach create a sense of occasion and excitement, let there be excellence in all you do as regards the meeting. As you do all these your members will be so expectant and excited about the meeting. The most important part of your preparations for you as a cell leader and as a cell in your preparation for this meeting is prayer. You can not take the spoils of a strong man expect you bind the strong man; the devil does everything he can to make sure souls dont come into the kingdom of God. You have to take time out as a cell leader to fast and prayer, take out time to pray as a cell and have a prayer chain in with your cell members. Ensure you have a pulpit, dont use a table, a pulpit is a symbol of authority and a table is the symbol of an office. It doesnt have to be exactly like the pulpit in church, but ensure you have one. When you plan your out reach create a sense of occasion and excitement. Decorate and arrange your venue excellently.

5. Sir, how should I handle offense from a superior in church in a way that will not result in you insulting the anointing? Pastor Chris has taught us to have vertical relationships. If you feel offended by your superior, dont discuss it among your colleagues or those you lead. Take the matter to a more senior person; if its your cell leader that it concerns, take the matter to your PCF leader, if it is your PCF leader take the matter to your pastor. And once you do that leave offense, and dont think action will be taken at the time you want or the way you want. After you have reported the matter forget about the offense. 6. Sir, we have noticed that some of our first timers, when they visit the Group church stop coming to our church (satellite church). What do we do sir, do we go and bundle them back or do we leave them there since it is the same vision. This issue is not new or unique to your satellite church alone, it happens all the time, in many of our churches. There is no need for you to go and bundle them back. It is better for people to come to your church, and see the work you have and are willing to join in the work, instead of having to follow up and try to bring back people who have left for the Group church.