With all the versions of truth around us, it’s easy to fall into the pit of deception. We often forget that Jesus is the only and absolute truth. When it comes to ministry, there are many deceptions and misalignments that can lead us astray from God’s love. But we have to remember that everything we do aligns with seeking God’s Kingdom. We have to operate from this perspective to build a ministry with the Father’s love at its core.
In this episode, we talk to Mark Appleyard, a pastor and mentor. Mark firmly believes that as people of God, we must restore nations to the fullness of His image. He shares how he relentlessly seeks to revolutionize ministry to spread God's love. Mark also successfully created Anothen, a micro church that has changed over 15,000 lives.
Listen to this episode if you want to learn how to incorporate ministry and God’s truth into your life.
Resources
3 Reasons to Listen:
- Understand how to discern God's truth and love.
- Learn how to apply ministry in your work.
- Discover how the virtual micro-church, Anothen, was created.
About Mark
Mark Appleyard is a church pastor, business and leadership mentor, published author, and a global public speaker. He is also the founder of the micro-church movement, Anothen.
If you'd like to reach out to Mark, you can contact him on their website, LinkedIn, or send an email to info@anothen.co.
Episode Highlights
[03:08] What Mark Does
- Mark and his wife believe that God, through His people, can restore nations to the fullness of His image.
- They advocate for their belief through coaching business leaders of all sizes and working in micro-churches.
[5:34] What “Restoring Nations” Means
- The primary thing that Jesus did was not to defend but to reveal the Father.
- That said, “restoring nations” means inspiring people to be revealers of the Father's heart or love.
[8:00] Humanity’s Position in Revealing God
- There are indicators that we are doing very well and, at the same time, very poorly.
- We are doing poorly because of the election cycle, where we end up trying to manipulate other people's behavior.
- But when Mark sees what the people he connects with does, he realizes that we are also doing very well.
- Right now, there is a great opportunity for hope and expectancy.
[10:07] “To take hold of the opportunity of a lifetime, you got to take hold of it within the lifetime of the opportunity.” - Click Here to Tweet This
[11:26] Deception vs. Hope
- Deception is a crooked line making itself appear straight.
- Truth is Jesus; he is the straight line. Anything misaligned from Him is deceptive.
- You have to be hyper-intentional of what the truth would say, its inflections and tones.
[17:37] “If you don't spend time with someone, you will not know their voice and know who they are.” - Click Here to Tweet This
[18:04] How to Develop a Relationship with the Father
- Mark uses a tool called the S.O.A.P. model of journaling: scripture, observation, application, and prayer.
- Journaling regularly though this model changes the trajectory of your spiritual life.
- The real intentionality in that process zeroes the laser pointer of the Holy Spirit talking to you. It’s full of “me,” “my,” and “I” statements.
[21:39] Mark's Life Before Moving to the U.S.
- Mark grew up in a dairy farming community at Wilsons Promontory, Victoria, Melbourne in Australia.
- He did not become a believer until his late teens. Meanwhile, his business side roots from doing an apprenticeship as an electrician and running a small electrical subcontracting business.
- He ended up in ministry in his early 20s and was always co-pastoring until he encountered his spirit-filled life.
- Mark then went to Hawaii, where he met a pastor from North Carolina. Two years later, Mark joined him to serve as staff at Crossroads, United Methodist Church.
[27:46] Balancing Work and Ministry
- Mark believes that pastors are not the most influential spiritual leaders in the world.
- Pastors tend to hold the mortgage on what ministry is, and Mark wants to smash this idea. It’s all ministry; not one is more valid than the other.
- A person in business has a more significant influence because he has already demonstrated favor over towns, cities, and nations.
- It is saddening for Mark to see people in business building their own thing-dom instead of God's Kingdom.
[29:01] “There is ministry and there is work as ministry. It's all ministry, and one is not more valid than the other.” - Click Here to Tweet This
[31:27] On People in Business Who are Building Their Thing-dom
- Mark quotes Colossians Chapter 1 in the Bible, where it explains the supremacy of Christ. He also quotes Matthew 28, where Jesus says that all authority is given to Him.
- Mark refers to Corinthians 13 and 14, where it says to let love be your highest goal.
- Love is the central nucleus that everything else orbits. For love to be love, it has to be in a culture of freedom that does not seek to control.
[33:09] “Love has just become the central thesis around which everything else orbits. Love has become the lens through which we view everything.” - Click Here to Tweet This
[34:56] The D.P.R. Paradigm
- Mark introduces the D.P.R. Paradigm, which groups Christians as “decreases,” “polices,” and “releases.”
- Decreases are those who don’t submit to the authority of Jesus nor who access the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Polices are those who submit to the authority but don’t access power. They set up rules around them to manipulate behavior to look like the supernatural.
- Releases submit themselves to the old authority of Jesus and access the power of the Holy Spirit.
[37:42] Practical Application of Sharing God's Love
- If you want to run a business, then KPIs will be your primary metric of success.
- A Kingdom business's primary metric is K.R.I.s: key relationship indicators. These are honor, respect, dignity, and creativity.
- With K.R.I.s, we can operate from a position of Kingdom freedom instead of performance-based fear and competitiveness.
[39:39] “How can I find a way to speak life into someone? How can I see the real person as the primary goal rather than how can I manipulate them to get this deal? That's a Kingdom business.” - Click Here to Tweet This
[43:32] Creating Anothen
- Mark refers to John 3:3, where Nicodemus asks Jesus what he must do to inherit God's Kingdom. Jesus tells Nicodemus to be born again.
- The word “anothen” means “from above.”
- Anothen was birthed to help people think, speak, and live on earth in all aspects of life as it is in heaven.
- The institutional body of Christ is no longer working for most business leaders. They deconstructed everything that they built in the ministry to build something that genuinely has love at its center.
- Listen to the full episode to learn about the logistical birthing of Anothen in detail!
[52:17] Deconstruction of Work in Ministry
- The metric of ministry success for the longest time is how big your church is. The church building is a status symbol for pastors.
- While journaling and fasting, Mark discussed with the Lord to change the metric. The metric will be whether or not he was able to facilitate an encounter between God and people.
- They launched around two years ago and now have micro-churches in five countries and have already reached 15,000 people. As part of that, they were also able to develop a system of coaching and training micro-church leaders.
[59:09] The Micro-church Model of Ministry
- For Mark, having Anothen during the pandemic is not the goal but a by-product.
- He explains that the Christian community does not talk about scalability. Hence, the micro-church is a very efficient model of ministry.
[01:04:28] Insights on Local Churches Months From Now
- Research shows that there will be a 20% decline in open churches.
- Anothen has proven for five years that virtual discipleship is just as impactful as being in a room together.
- There’ll be a shift toward a leaner model of the expression and answers versions of the church we have right now.
[01:09:09] Business Solutions Coaching of Anothen
- He knows how to heed God's voice, and he wants to help business leaders learn to do the same.
- They refuse to sign contracts because they want to rely on mutual trust in building the Kingdom.
- There is no right or wrong answer on how much a client must pay.
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To growing and becoming all we are created to be,
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