The Brother up Next

By Braxton King

Author Braxton King has put together basic fundamental guidelines for a church in the process of making an earthly decision for the office of deacon.

King points out very vividly that there are divine requirements to be followed by the person seeking this office, along with the church requirements, before ordination can be conducted.

The men who must fill the shoes of deacon must be able to stand at a time when the rising tide of secularism is smashing in the walls of the church. They have inherited this responsibility because it is through lack of responsibility and trust in God that the church lays in grave decline and demise of spiritual obedience.

King has observed that the church has wallowed in fragments of Christian clichs and paraphernalia, causing people who look for answers at church to wonder through life with little meaning and fulfillment. The Bible message that they hear in many churches from men is so watered down that it has almost no relevance to what people face in real life.

The Brother Up Next seeks to turn the men of the church to the motive of being obedient to Gods word.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jun 7, 2011
• ISBN: 9781449716509

Braxton King

p>Braxton King is the author of four books: The Blackest of Times, Prosperity in the Building, Call of the Locust, and The Brother Up Next. He has a bachelor of science degree in organizational management from Paul Quinn College, an associate’s degree in arts and science from Mountain View College, and a diploma in Christian education from D. Edwin Johnson Institute, all in Dallas, Texas.

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Copyright © 2011 Braxton King

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-1649-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-1650-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011928113

Printed in the United States of America

WestBow Press rev. date: 05/26/2011

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Ebony Magazine | Dec, 2004 Issue

Masterlife Discipleship | Avery T. Willis, Jr.

Master Your Money | Ron Blue

Keeping Them and Finding Them | Gary McIntosh-Glen Martin

The Bondage Breaker | Neil Anderson

The Master Plan of Evangelism | Robert Coleman

Christian Worship | Franklin Segler

How to Increase Giving in your Church | George Barna

The Success Journey | John Maxwell

Laws of Leadership (The 21 Irrefutable) | John Maxwell

Making Disciples

The Power of One | Bob Russell

God’s Power to Help Hurting People | Colleen Birchett

Close the Back Door | Alan Harre

Conflict Resolution | Dudley Weeks, Ph.D.

Consultation | Elsie Barnett, Ph.D.

THE BROTHER UP NEXT

As the tidal wave of secularism raises its head and sweeps across the face of America, The brother up next, provides a solid foundation and building blocks for an efficient and effective church foundation in today’s environment.

The brother up next: (Effective Strategies for building leadership foundation in the local church. A study of a brother before he becomes a deacon.}

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

THE BROTHER UP NEXT

FOREWORD

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1 FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Chapter 2 SUCCESS, SUCCESS, SUCCESS

Chapter 3 ATTITUDE FOR BELONGING

Chapter 4 RESPECT FOR GOD

Chapter 5 OBEDIENCE/COMMITMENT

Chapter 6 DISCIPLINE RESTORED

Chapter 7 HOLDING UP THE PASTOR’S HAND

Chapter 8 POWER OF LOVE

Chapter 9 EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP

Chapter 10 POWER OF DISCIPLESHIP

Chapter 11 SPIRITUAL GIFTS.

Chapter 12 FAITHFUL STEWARDSHIP

Chapter 13 SMALL GROUP MINISTRY

Chapter 14 RELIABLE EVANGELISM

Chapter 15 IN-ACTIVE DROP-OUTS

Chapter 16 CONFLICT RESOLUTION

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

BRAXTON KING

FOREWORD

With my understanding the purpose of this book and the true spirit of the writer; I hereby give my respect and appreciation to him for his spiritual insight as a Christian believer.

Those who open this book to read can feel his personal effort and love for humanity. The wellsprings like running will help you to find perplexing questions and answers to many problems of life.

Dr. C.B.T. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Golden Gate Missionary Baptist Church

The author is serious about the material in this book. He shows evidence of study, and research to adequately discuss the intended subject. He seeks to write for the purpose of informing and inspiring the readers. He uses scripture reference to assist in giving clarification and simplicity to encourage the believer to grow in the word of God.

The book makes serious effort to get the attention of the men in the church to become more serious about the word as well as to strive to become servants of God, promoting kingdom business. There is a great need for strong men who would desire to become students of the word. The evident of spiritual mature men in the local church will enhance the growth of lay leadership and fellowship.

To God to be the glory, and may the readers of this book be encouraged and may they develop a deeper thirst for the word of God in this the present generation.

Rev. H.L. Hollomon, D. Min

Pastor of the Alta Mesa Park Baptist Church

PREFACE

The pastor and the chairman of the deacon board have been struggling with the idea that qualified men are hard to find. They are hard to find in a changing Christian environment. These men have to be qualified with the ability to lead men in an ever-changing environment of changing purposes. (Too often people in leadership positions forget that their leadership responsibility is not about them. It is about God and His children. It is about making disciples of all believers, and it is about knowing what the purpose of the church is.) The wants, needs, and desires of the congregation are not always readily identifiable. Yet, members become frustrated when they appear to be left out of the circle of needs.

Nothing frustrates a pastor more than finding that a group of men have failed when he (the pastor) has put his and the church’s confidence them. These men are failures in the church, yet successful at making a living. They are defeated and to in a state of complacency when meeting the needs of needy people. They are successful at putting bread on the family table, but they fail the faith that they teach. Yet these men boast before the church of how good God is to them. Without effort they breed failure when putting on a solid building fund program, yet they succeed when putting together a budget for the education of their children. They fail to give a tenth of their earnings to the church, yet they succeed when putting something back for retirement. They fail to lead God’s people in a manner that is pleasing to God.

The inability of man to properly lead God’s people can be as devastating as a Palestine locust. When unlearned, unrepented, untrained, and power hungry men come together throughout America, they can cast a giant shadow over the church. The unprepared deacon is as a locust when locusts come together to travel. They go in great numbers, occupy a space of ten or twelve miles in length and four to five miles in breadth, and are so deep that the sun cannot penetrate through them; they convert the day into the night and bring a temporary darkness on the land.

The brother who desires to be a deacon or leader in other parts of the church is a man of statute, responsibility, and influence. All three of these attributes are paramount in the ability of a brother to lead people. He must be able to observe the behavior of the congregation so that he can go underneath the skin to find the cause of the real problems when they arrive. Problems are present now, and they ever will be present in the church. The leaders who are able to handle the membership’s problems with a flare will be the leaders who win the members over to his church.

Many young men idolize the position of deacon, but they disrespect the depth of the responsibility for which it serves. Many young men see the deacon board as an opportunity to take up the money on Sunday mornings. They get a Sunday morning high sitting on the front pew and being recognized as deacons and leaders of the church. Others see the position as a job instead of a ministry. They see the position as a job for Sunday morning, and during the remainder of the week they concentrate on their own problems brought on by disobedience. The young man who serves as a deacon must never forget that the office of deacon requires a man to be sober and watchful at all times. He is never free to think and do what pleases only himself. He must never forget that he is a disciple of Jesus Christ who is complete in Jesus and mature in the word of God.

Many do not seem to be concerned with the immediate needs of the membership. They feel as if members should handle their own problem. But the New Black Spirituality is screaming that the responsibility of the deacon goes much further than the church on Sunday morning. It begs them to wake up from their slumber and listen to God speaking to them before He has to shower them with the consequence of disobedience. I believe that God will speak to many young men who desire to be a deacon through an article published in Ebony magazine some months ago. The article highlights many spiritual leaders, recognized throughout the United States, who spoke on The New Black Spiritual Experience.

Is there any thing such as the New Black Spirituality? Or is it a revival of things that happened years ago? Whatever it is, it is real and it gets attention. Almost without public notice, and with little or no fanfare, a new black spirituality has moved from the wooded area of the country to center stage. Not only that, but it is coloring and affecting everything it touches. When one has entered into an everlasting commitment to allow Jesus Christ to be Savior and Lord, he should become more like Him.

For the moment let’s call it the New Black Spirituality. Like the old, it is rooted in, (as some call it) the Great Black Spirit that enables African-Americans to survive slavery and to change the color of America’s culture and America’s religion. But the New Spirituality, like the old from the wooded area, is growing. It is transforming and teaching things, and it is evolving (even as we read), seeking its truth, like the old spirit, in the heavens of our hope. We must stop here to remind you of a fact that is hard to explain. The new Spirituality differs significantly and sometimes dramatically from the old spirituality and is defined by (A) More excitement, more adventure, and elevated status of some ministers—similar to the status usually reserved for movie stars, (B) More new and independent denominations, some of them with their own missionary group in Brazil, Africa, and Europe, (C) More S-I-Cs, Sisters in charge, or, at least, out front, (D) More church members and more supporters of Pentecostal churches and the demonstrative, fervent Pentecostal spirit, (E) More Mega-Churches open almost all of the time and offering almost everything, including fast-food service, economic development corporations, and expert counseling on matters ranging from money management, to marital problems, to yoga, (F) More reverse integration, with more Hispanics and Whites worshipping at historically Black churches and more blacks supporting charismatic White preaching and (G) Finally and perhaps definitively, more rhythm, more shouting, more dancing, more hand-clapping, more foot stomping, more, some say, soul (including musical combos, drums, saxophonists, and trumpet players on or near the alter or the pulpit).

It has been said that Bishop Jakes, who has been called The Prophet of the New Spirituality, says the core message of the church has not changed, but there has been a shift in the direction of the church as community needs have changed.

Bishop Richard Allen Chappelle, Sr. of the AME Church says, If you close your eyes in some places where you are suppose to be worshipping, you can’t tell whether you are at church or a rock concert. He went on to say, We believe in holiness and sanctification, but somewhere along the line, we started trying to be like Eurocentric folks and lost our identify. What we have now is a Renaissance of Black Spirituality, or neo-Pentecostalism. Black spirituality is not new. It can be traced back to our roots in Africa. It’s just that another generation has ‘discovered praise dancing and shouting and unabated emotional outpouring during times of command worship. This generation of worshippers may be challenging the bourgeois members of the established church." I’m concerned that too many of us are trying to out hip-hop the hip-hoppers.

The Rev. Dr. Suzan D. Johnson Cook (senior pastor, Bronx Christian Fellowship Church) feels that in every generation, God moves several times with what we call a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit. She also believes those who are in tune with God and their assignment—that is the place where they are called to serve. These two energies, synergies and a wonderful spiritual birth, rebirth, revival can happen. She thinks that is what we are seeing in this generation.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan believes there is a growing new spirituality among our people that is gradually removing the barriers imposed by denominations, sects and different religions. He believes that the Old Testament teaches, The Lord, your God is one. The New Testament and the Qur’an teaches the same. So ultimately the whole process of Allah’s (God’s) movement through time is to bring humanity into oneness with Him and into oneness with others. He sees that process at work in the growing spirituality among our people.

Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie (First woman Bishop in the AME Church) had this to say: People are hungry for a spiritual anchor in this era of uncertainty. We have more economically than previous generations but have less time to enjoy it. Instead of family and friends, terror and violence have become constant companions. There is more literature and information and fewer readers graduating from public schools. We are driven by a consumer culture that is less satisfied even with the newest shoes, cars, clothes, techno-gadget and whazit" ON THE MARKET. She went on to say that our feelings have been bombarded with too many tragedies that have taken us too far from our comfort zones. We want community but live in the opposite direction. Instead of relating to people face-to-face, we stay at home, or order take-out and voyage on reality TV. We spend all night talking to people we cannot see on the Internet!

Bishop G.E. Patterson (Presiding Bishop, Church of God in Christ) has his own