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The only people whom God can really use are those who realize that apart from the Lord, we are weak and foolish. In this episode, John Bailey is joined by Joshua West, director of the pastors network, to discuss how leaders who come out of a background of addiction can recover and grow as well as how church leaders can walk alongside those who are struggling with addiction. The Holy Spirit renews the mind, and the church can provide a framework of practical love and accountability.
Key Points from the Podcast
• Introducing Joshua West who is the director of the pastors network and his testimony of God setting him free from addiction and bringing him into serving the church.
• True, transformative change in someone’s life only comes from genuinely grappling with the truth about what chains us to sin. Going back to what enslaves us comes from not being honest with how those things hurt us and others around us.
• As a pastor, how do you disciple and help those who are struggling with addiction? Real discipleship is what people desperately need in order to pair love and acceptance with renewing their minds so they don’t fall back into the patterns of the world.
• For church leaders, you won’t be able to know right away if people are genuinely following God or not, but their dedication to learning more about God and applying his desires to their lives will demonstrate it. That is especially important when helping someone who struggles with addiction.
• Having a group in church that celebrates recovery from a variety of life-controlling issues is an excellent open door for inviting that population to become more involved in church.
• Another critical step is recognizing when a person is ready to start serving in ministry and then recognizing when they’re ready to lead, but those stages will come slowly and must be entered with care and extra mentorship to protect that individual and those they serve.
• Meaningful sobriety and dedicated service to the community are two good signs that a person is ready to step into leadership, and they should have the humility to agree to accountability while they lead.
Bible verses referenced in the Podcast
1 Corinthians 1:26-27, Luke 4:18-19
About Joshua West
Joshua West serves as the Pastors Network Director at World Challenge helping equip and empower pastors all over the world. Joshua’s desire is to raise up ministers who will correctly and boldly preach the word with passion and integrity. The point of all his work and writings is to preach the gospel, glorify God and to teach sound doctrine.