I have been thinking about John Wimber a good deal in recent weeks. He was approachable, relate-able and struck me as genuine... a refreshing change from so much hype and self-serving that seems rife in the Body of Christ today. Why this is so exceptional is a really good question... it probably speaks to our followership as much as it does to the types of leaders who are recognized and garner an audience and ongoing consideration.
Anway, here are some notes I took this morning from a John Wimber message... pretty close to verbatim:
Since you can't know all the answers and have a certain methodology or anything other than dependence on the Spirit. The Spirit (of God) is serendipitous, spontaneous and creative; He does things different ways all the time. It leaves you in a state of being vulnerable. You have to learn to be constantly on the verge of looking foolish. Constantly. You live all the time on the edge of risk taking, about to look like a goon at any moment. And I've formulated this theory along the way: In order for Him to look good I've got to look like I might not be at any moment.
I've got to constantly come and place myself at His use and do those things He gives me impressions to do, if I have understanding of them or not.
Now, that's called risk taking, F-A-I-T-H, risk taking. Learning to live vulnerably, learning to live as a learner rather than as a teacher.
One thing I admired about JW is that he was open and vulnerable concerning his mistakes. And that his consistent desire was to see the Body of Christ released into fruitful ministry. His platform, so to speak, was emphatically to see other empowered and let Jesus have His way in His church.
