Pastor Rod grew up in Ohio and in a small baptist church. While at a party in high school he felt the Lord calling him to live a life of ministry. He was going to go to Akron university and study business but God called him to come to VFCC. He got a degree in pastoral studies and minored in youth. He knew that whatever God wanted him to do he would do it so he felt more of a generic calling to do ministry. Out of college he went to work as a youth pastor back in his hometown where he went to high school and he ministered to students in those schools. From there he went to Lancaster, then Reading and then finally in Hazleton Pennsylvania where he took his first senior pastorate.
His first passion has always been people and even though he ranks as a lion on the animal scale of personality he is very graceful. He loves to show that grace to people even when he has to be in peoples faces.
When it comes to discipling people he believes that one on one is the best way to minister. This could be with two or three other people also but he always wants some person in his life that he could mentor and pour into them. Leaders have grown from within his church by doing it this way. He beleives this is the most effective method to disciple. One of the programs that he uses to disciple people is called Follow. It was written by Daniel McNaughton and Bryan Koch. One of the important things to teach people is that there is a difference between being a church attender and what it means to be a follower of Christ. In this book there are seven attributes of what it means to follow Christ:
The first one is to learn to be with Jesus, meaning spending time with Him.
The second attribute is to learn to listen. We need to listen to God and follow Him. Not doing our own thing.
The third attribute is learning to heal. Everyone has something they have to heal from and until they do so they won't be able to help others.
The fourth is called learn to influence. We are called to be influencers and this will be towards Christ or away from Christ.
The fifth point is to learn to love. If we don't love everything we do is worthless. Love for people is what will motivate your ministry.
** Ministry is not about your personality or your abilities, it is about do you love people. In order to do pastoral ministry you have to love people. It takes a divine love to do ministry.**
The sixth attribute is learn to pray. Prayer is the key. Unless we have a relationship with God then everything is all rhetoric and social.
The seventh attribute is to learn to manage.
One book that pastor Rodney recommends for us to read is called Just Walk Across the Room by Bill Hybels.
** If we can get people just one step closer to God then we are discipling people. **
We are going to either bring people closer to God or lead them away from God. Leading them to God is called discipleship. This doesn't start only when people give their lives to Christ but it is along the journey. It happens along the way of bringing someone to Christ.
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