The Plantation of a Leader

The leadership talk, today is brought by the conversation of Pastor Priji and Pastor Vaibhav on the roots, planting and foundation of a leader and the purpose behind it. They lay emphasis on the significance of the roots in different aspects of our leadership.

Transcript:

Pastor Priji: Welcome to this week conversation on leadership talk. This is a podcast that is devoted exclusively for pastors, leaders, business entrepreneurs, those that are pioneering something that God has created us for. God created each one of us for leadership, for dominion in our own environments. This podcast is devoted to helping you accomplish your God-ordained calling. And today we have a special guest with us, Pastor Vaibhav Kapoor. God has used him mightily in India and currently, he lives and pastors a church in South Africa. He is overseeing several churches here in India and through his leadership, he has raised many leaders, pastors, businessmen. His leadership style has been very unique and effective. this morning we are going to converse with him on how God had taught him and helped him and we are going to learn the same from him. Brothers and sisters, let us welcome Pastor Vaibhav.
Pastor, thank you so much for joining us in this conversation. Could you take a moment to greet our listeners?

Pastor Vaibhav: Thank you so much man of God. I am so humbled to be a part of this podcast. I would like to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to share and it’s my great privilege. Your podcast has been a blessing and I hope it will continue to be a blessing to lots of people. To our listeners we welcome you and we believe that today Lord will minister to you and help you to become a better leader and fulfil the will of God.

Pastor Priji: Amen. Pastor, we would love to know your story. How is it that you reached where you are today and what was instrumental in helping you reach here? Did you always know that you are going to be a leader one day or did you stumble upon this or were you an unwilling leader and God pushed you into this? How did you reach here? How long have you been in the ministry, in the leadership role? We would love to know your story on how the Lord brought you here!

Pastor Vaibhav: Well to show some light on it, I would like to say that from day one it was not a plan to become a leader. Initially, it was just about knowing the Lord, and as a new believer when you come to know the Lord, it is just about His presence, you just desire to have Him. But my belief and experience and what I have learnt about the Kingdom are that our belonging births our calling. It’s our identity that helps us to become or to do something. It’s not about doing for the Lord, it’s first about becoming. So when you operate from the position or place of belonging and who you are, that just births the calling inside of you. So if I have to share my side of the story or what I have experienced walking with the Lord, it was never any ambition or dream or vision that inspired me to become a leader or to serve the Lord in any capacity but it was my identity as a son of God. When I started realizing that I am not just a servant in the house of God, I am also a son, it automatically comes to you that you have to do Daddy’s business and the best example to Lord Jesus himself. He summarized His calling by saying, “This is my food, that I do the will of my Father.” So it was not the ambition, desire or dream to become a leader but it was the identity to work for the House.

Pastor Priji: How many years has it been since you had been in the ministry and what were the various stages that the Lord brought you through to be where you are now?

Pastor Vaibhav: I have been in ministry for 14 years. I would not put it as stages, the ministry is basically a journey, it’s a ladder and we always start from the unseen things, like putting up the chairs, cleaning the church, dropping people home after the meeting, distributing flyers, you start as a servant. You are not called to be a servant. You are called to be a son with a servant’s heart. Every successful leadership cannot miss the essence of servanthood. So it all started with small things, started with cleaning the pulpit for my pastor, driving him to the meetings, started with small prayers for people here and there, no limelight. The bible says, if you are faithful with little, God will give you more. When we mature at every level we qualify for the next. When we qualify for the next level is good, but f we jump we mess up. We have to be ready for the level. But we need preparations at the current level, what God has given to you today. We have to be faithful, joyful, patient. The most important thing for a leader is to discern how much is given to them. It is important to go step by step and be patient and let God promote us.

Pastor Priji: I think the feeling of being secure of where God has planted us, what God has given into our hands goes a long way in making sure we have the right foundation as a leader. How did God help you stay grounded and stay secure in your identity? This is something that so many leaders struggle with.

Pastor Vaibhav: The only thing that helped me is that with position your identity should not change. What happens when leaders get promoted in ministry is that leaders are not what they were on day one. Day one was all about the relationship with the Lord, now it is all about the fruit of the ministry, successful crusades if the church is packed or not. The fruit of the ministry depends on the Lord. Growth comes from the Lord. One thing that I have understood is that calling should be fulfilled from the position of identity, not from the place of position. it is not the title, it’s how much we are rooted in Christ, how much we are at the feet of Jesus like a child who still pursues the heart of God, how much we are falling in love with Jesus each day. Experience can be deadly. It can lead to pride and separation from God. Goliath was experienced, David was anointed. Go to God every day and be real to Him. As a leader what has helped me are those moments when I became real with Jesus. To go to God as a beginner helps to carry with power.

Pastor Priji: How necessary is it for leaders to be extremely purposeful and intentional with their words, decisions, lifestyles, the way they raise disciples, or do a particular business and taking up the assignment of God in their lives?

Pastor Vaibhav: Being purposeful and intentional are the foundation of any leadership. Motives are very important. Anytime when our motive is not to build the Kingdom, sooner or later we will realize that we have wasted our time. Nothing is permanent but the Kingdom. It’s all about Him, it is about the One who sent me, the One who appointed me, it is all about the One who has ordained me for His own glory for His purposes. When a leader loses the purpose, the leader loses the entire integrity of the ministry. We need to be intentional about the heartbeat of God for the church. We are doing ministry because we have been called to do it and the purpose is the Kingdom of God.

Pastor Priji: I want to know that in the process of building, it is very natural to lose focus after seeing some bit of success and results. Many leaders take their eyes off the vision that God gave at the start. I want your help in identifying things that can be termed as distractions and what can we do to overcome these distractions? What can we do to remain focused and avoid distractions?

Pastor Vaibhav: Based on my journey, the enemy tries to bring two major distractions in front of people who are serving the Lord. The number one distraction is discouragement. Betrayal has been the biggest weapon that the enemy has used to destroy many anointed ones. Every leader goes through a season of betrayal. And I believe that is the moment which can either destroy your zeal or make you hard or make you lose your warmth which you carried. It can make a leader very professional. And at no time did God call us to be professionals but to be a representation. Another distraction is ambition. Sometimes the enemy tries to distract by taking away to bring discouragement and sometimes the enemy tries to give a lot in our hands so that we become ambitious. Ambition loses your focus and then leads to frustrations because you are successful or goal-oriented. This was never the heart of God. The heart of God is to become like Jesus, to preach Jesus, to represent Jesus. When you are Jesus centric there is no room for discouragement.

Pastor Priji: Pastor the pearls that you have been sharing, I wanted to ask can people who have been called for business, or leaders at corporates or academics, can the same principles be applied? If yes then what are the challenges we might face and how can we overcome them and not be discouraged?

Pastor Vaibhav: The bible never says that only preachers are called. The bible also says that those who are called to give must carry on giving, those who are called to pray must carry on praying and those that are called to preach must carry on preaching. Finances play a very crucial role in the Kingdom. Without resources, we cannot expand Kingdom. In the bible, we read how God has entrusted the principle of sowing and reaping.

Pastor Priji: Could you take a moment to pray for all our listeners?

Pastor Vaibhav: Leadership is all about creating an impact. We can serve our whole life and yet not impact anybody. Three things can help us as leaders to create an impact and bring more productivity in what we are doing. First, a leader should run away from leading a dual life. The purity of one’s life is important. We cannot have hidden sins. A lot of people live in public success but personal failure. Second, as leaders, we have to take charge of our soul part of our emotions. We need to be joyful in the Lord and have the joy of gladness. Last, I would like to say to all the leaders that the key to having a healthy leaders life is to have daily communion with the Lord. We have to take charge of our emotions and soul and let the Spirit blossom.

Pastor Priji: What is the best way for the listeners to connect with you?

Pastor Vaibhav: I am on Facebook, Instagram and also have a Youtube channel. We are going to launch our new channel with the name of Jesus Central. The website is jesuscentralinternational.com . We would love to connect.