What If We Stopped Long Enough to Let God Work in Us?
An invitation to pastors and ministry leaders
There is something I have been thinking a lot lately: we spend a tremendous amount of time helping other people become healthy, whole, and spiritually alive, but how often do we create space for God to do that work in us?
Pastors and ministry leaders are good at showing up. We preach when we are tired. We lead when the situation is complicated. We make decisions when there are no easy answers. We carry people’s needs, navigate staffing challenges, develop younger leaders, manage ministry expectations, and try to keep our own hearts healthy somewhere in the middle of it all. And sometimes, without even realizing it, we can become very good at doing ministry without actually depending on the Holy Spirit.
That is not an accusation. It is a temptation every leader faces. We have experience. We have training. We have systems, strategies, calendars, leadership tools and years of accumulated knowledge. All of those things are valuable. But none of them can replace our dependence on the Spirit of God.
Jesus told His disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit before they attempted to carry out the mission He had given them. That is a remarkable thought. They had walked with Jesus. They had heard His teaching. They had watched Him perform miracles. They had been given a mission. And still, Jesus told them to wait.
Leadership in the Kingdom of God was never meant to be accomplished through human ability alone. That is why I am excited about our upcoming Spirit-Empowered Prayer Gathering. This isn’t another leadership conference where you sit in a room, take notes for a few hours and leave with another stack of things you’re supposed to do. It isn’t designed to give you ten more strategies for growing your church or another leadership formula to add to your toolbox.
Our desire is much simpler and, I believe, much deeper. We want to create a day where pastors and ministry leaders can teach, reflect, pray, practice and encounter God. We want to make room for the Holy Spirit to speak into the places in our leadership that we don't always have time to examine.
Leadership begins with the leader
One area we’ll explore is wholeness. That word matters because what happens inside us eventually shows up in how we lead.
Unprocessed pain can affect how we respond to criticism. Insecurity can shape how we build teams. The desire for affirmation can influence how we use a platform. Fatigue can make us impatient. Disappointment can cause us to withdraw. Comparison can turn ministry into competition.
We can know all the right leadership principles and still lead from unhealthy places. That doesn’t make us bad leaders. It makes us human. But Jesus cares about more than our ministry effectiveness. He cares about our hearts.
“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.”
Psalm 139 gives us the beautiful prayer, “Search me, God, and know my heart.” That is not the prayer of someone trying to become a better public leader. It is the prayer of someone willing to let God examine what is happening underneath the surface.
Sometimes the most important leadership work we can do is not developing another skill. It is allowing God to deal with something in us.
Spirit-dependent leadership
We’ll also spend time talking about what it actually means to lead from dependence on the Holy Spirit.
We often talk about being Spirit-led in ways that can feel abstract. But Spirit-dependent leadership shows up in very ordinary moments.
It shows up when you’re dealing with a difficult staff situation.
It shows up when a young leader is frustrated because they don’t feel heard.
It shows up when you’re trying to determine whether someone needs accountability or simply needs rest.
It shows up when you’re tempted to promote yourself instead of trusting God with your influence.
It shows up when you’re exhausted and have to discern the difference between faithfulness and simply refusing to stop.
“What would change if we learned to bring these situations to the Holy Spirit before we simply relied on our experience?”
These are not theoretical leadership questions. They are the kinds of things pastors and ministry leaders face every week. We want to talk about them honestly. And we want to ask a bigger question: What would change if we learned to bring these situations to the Holy Spirit before we simply relied on our experience?
Prayer Gathering 2026
One of the things I want to emphasize is that PG26 is going to be intentionally different from a typical gathering. There will be teaching, but you won’t simply sit and listen all day.
There will be opportunities to reflect on your own leadership.
There will be practical exercises and assessment.
There will be guided prayer and ministry.
There will be opportunities to pray with and for one another.
There will be worship.
And there will be space to simply be in God’s presence.
Our hope is that the day will move in a rhythm of teach, reflect, pray and practice. Because sometimes we don’t need another sermon. We need an opportunity to actually respond to what God is saying.
Don’t rush the afternoon
We’ve also intentionally built the day so that the afternoon matters. I know how these things work. Pastors have meetings. Ministry leaders have responsibilities. There are always reasons to leave early. But we are asking you to plan to stay through the afternoon.
We want to create significant space after lunch for worship, prayer and ministry. We believe the encounter portion of the day is not an add-on to the teaching. It is part of the purpose.
We don’t want to simply talk about Spirit-empowered leadership. We want to give the Holy Spirit room to actually minister to us.
Maybe you’ve been carrying something you haven’t had space to process.
Maybe you’re tired.
Maybe you’ve been leading primarily out of responsibility rather than joy.
Maybe you’ve been dealing with disappointment.
Maybe you’ve been trying to solve everything yourself.
Maybe you simply need a reminder that you are a son or daughter of God before you are a pastor, leader, preacher, staff member, or ministry volunteer.
Whatever your situation, I hope you’ll come with an open heart.
Come as a leader who needs God
The greatest leaders in Scripture were not people who had everything figured out. They were people who learned to depend on God.
“Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.”
Paul said, “Our sufficiency is from God.” That is a powerful corrective for those of us who spend our lives trying to be sufficient for everyone else.
Come ready to receive.
Come ready to listen.
Come ready to pray.
Come ready to let God search your heart.
Come ready to be reminded that the work of ministry was never meant to be carried in our own strength.
Pastors and ministry leaders, we need each other. More importantly, we need the Holy Spirit.
So I’m inviting you to join us for this Spirit-Empowered Prayer Gathering.
Come for the teaching. Come for the practical conversations. Come for the assessment. Come for the worship. Come for the prayer. But most of all, come expecting God to meet you. Because healthy churches need healthy leaders, and healthy leaders are not simply more skilled leaders. They are leaders who have learned, again and again, to depend on the Holy Spirit.
Plan to join us and stay for the whole day. Let’s make room for God to do something in us before we ask Him to do something through us. https://abnwt.com/pg26
Corey Randell serves as the District Superintendent at the ABNWT District of The PAOC. Corey is known for his passion and ‘tell it like it is’ speaking style. He believes there are no impossible situations but that every challenge is an opportunity to witness the miraculous. His passion is to mobilize people to rethink church, reach others and encounter the power of God in today’s world.