The Spirit of Faith Newsletter
October 1981

Bill Bailey Ministries was the name of Dr. Bill's ministry before Word of Faith Ministries.

Main Article "What is a Pastor?" Many people say, "I don't believe that we really need the pastor's ministry today, after all, we have good teachers and we have our Bible tapes, right?" WRONG! God would not have given the Body of Christ the gift of the pastor if it were not needed. Eph. 4:11 says, "And He gave some, apostles, and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers..." Why did He give these gifts? "For the perfecting (maturing) of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ (vs. 12) In other words, without the FULL Five Fold Ministry in operation you won't mature properly as a Christian! I believe that all of us want to mature spiritually, but how can we if we reject part of God's provision for our growth? Some might say, "Well, Brother Bill, I do have a pastor; and he's pretty good too! Of course, if he's not taking care of the church grounds... cleaning the bathroom and such, why, we'll fire him and get somebody else!" Hold on! You just told me that you don't know what a pastor is!

God set that pastor there supernaturally. He is a gift to you and your church so that you will grow up into Christ. Don't mistreat your pastor! He's not there to mow the lawn and clean the bathroom. What is he there to do? To train you in the Word! Now, would you rather have him spend his time getting into the Word of God and prayer so that he can teach you good solid food from the Word, or would you prefer having him drag in tired and preach some cold, sloppy mess? It's up to you! You do your part, then he can do his!

Speaking of the pastor's ministry, that of "governments," W.E. Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words says, "...denotes steering, pilotage...said of those who act as guides in a local church." The pastor is the leader of the local church. The Helps Ministry aids him in bringing his vision for that church to pass!

Listen to the "Spirit of Faith Broadcast" this month for our special series on the local church with our guests, Larry Boyd, Pastor of New Covenant Church, Winston-Salem, N.C., Debi Early, Co-pastor of New Covenant, Hayden and Cindy LaFon, pastors of the Joy Cathedral, High Point, N.C. Joy and I will be interviewing them on these very special programs!

Items of Interest in This Issue

Radio Schedule... Announcement of the Piedmont Believer's Convention at the Ramada Inn in Clemmons, NC... Itinerary... Radio Map... Tape Offer... Notice of upcoming East Coast Believer's Convention in Charlotte, NC