'People tolerate anything except for Christians and Muslims,' says Pastor Jeff.
by S. Kiran
May 21, 2007
LONDON, UK (ANS) -- Emphasizing the need for religious tolerance among people of different religions, an American pastor has expressed his optimism on increasing religious tolerance but also called for more efforts for religious understanding between Christians and Muslims."People tolerate anything except for Christians and Muslims. The world, however, is becoming increasingly tolerant of almost anything these days", said Pastor Jeff Jenkins in an ANS interview during his visit to the UK last week.
Pastor Jeff Jenkins is the senior Pastor of the 2,000 member Shannon Oak Church in East Texas. His gifts include leadership, evangelism, teaching/preaching and nurturing people. He claimed his entire congregation was growing to be fully participating members of the body of Christ.
He said: "Our church is facing the challenge of moving beyond the walls of organized religion and entering into the realm of spirit-filled worship and mission. We're crossing a lot of boundaries that will enable us to minister more effectively. We're praying and seeking guidance from other leaders and God... a lot."
Pastor Jeff recalled it was his aunt who told him when he was 8 years old that he was going to be a minister. She saw a passion and giftedness in me at an early age, he said.
Jeff went on to say that he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior when he was 13. "At that point in time I knew I was going to preach and minister the rest of my life," he said. "I'm consumed with Christ and faith in God. It's everything to me".
Born to Ron and Gloria Jenkins, Jeff, 33 disclosed he was very sick while he was growing up.
Jeff graduated from Louisiana State University with a B.A. in business - and received a M.Div from David Lipscomb University. He said he started ministry while he was in college 1993. He maintained that he had had a complete support from all of his family members in his quest for becoming a minister of God.
When asked what was his ministry about he said, "Our ministry exists to make fully devoted followers of the Lord Jesus Christ".
He termed his wife as the most supporting person from among his family, friends and relatives in transaction of his ministerial work. "My wife is my greatest source of strength and support".
"My wife Sarah, 36 is from Greenville, Kentucky. I have three children including Shelby, 5, Hayden, 2, and Kennedy - 2 month old."
He said he had met Sarah at a Christian Youth Camp in Louisiana. She stays at home with our children and she helps me in ways."
When asked in his view what were the strengths and weaknesses of the Church he said the strength of the Church is the Holy Spirit and the promises of God. The resurrection of Jesus is the strength of the church. Her weaknesses are in the area of faith and courage. Her greatest weakness is willful and deliberate sin - and apathy.
ANS asked him if this was true that a significant number of people were not giving life to the Lord the Pastor said "No - many people are giving their life to the Lord - the ones who aren't simply aren't in touch with the reality of Christ and God's love. The biggest barrier to faith in God is the church. The church has messed up the reputation of God over the years."
Outlining the future ministerial goals he has set to serve the Lord even better he said he had set out several goals based upon one year, 5 year, 10 year and 25 year vision. "I also have daily goals and I have weekly goals and I have monthly goals". He said the goals as the stepping stones that help him get to the accomplishment of the vision God has given him for equipping the Body of Christ to become fully devoted followers of Christ and impact small town churches all over the world.
Commenting on increasing Christian persecution he said that the persecution would even increase as time nears the end. There will be a mighty deliverance from Christ and an eternal reward and kingdom reward for those who persevere to the end, he said.
He termed "knowledge" as the greatest enemy against youth today.. The youth are exposed to way too many options of truth and have been too overwhelmed with information that is beyond their ability to comprehend, he said.
He maintained that the youth lose hope for truth very quickly and become apathetic toward anything claiming to be absolute truth. "Because of this - anything goes. The solution to this problem will be a restoration of Spirit filled Christianity. It will take a great enlightenment from the Holy Spirit and a miraculous move of God for the tide to turn in our world's emerging generations".
When asked what the Church should do to draw the alienated and disillusioned youth to the Church he said: "Nothing, the church should build authentic relationships with youth where they are instead of drawing them to church. The church is missional and should go rather than inviting people to come. Relationships are essential."
In reply to a question, he said they evangelized using many means including marketing advertising, speaking to people, inviting people to events, serving the people of the world giving, praying, interceding. He dubbed building long term relationships with people is the key to effective evangelism.
"Politicians use whatever they can to make political gains. It's unavoidable. Every minister is affected by politics in many ways", he said when asked if the politicians tried to use the Church as means to advance their agenda.
Asked if he agreed to the notion that the children of church-going parents also turn out to be church-goers and vice-versa he said if both parents are faithful to the Lord then the child is more likely to remain faithful as an adult also.
Jeff said he had been to Ukraine, Argentina, the United Kingdom, Ghana, Dominican Republic and Peru. "I love ministering in the United States and feel called to minister here but I'm willing to go anywhere in the world that God calls me to go".
Expressing pleasure in becoming His minister he said there are rewards here and in eternity for serving God. The rewards of satisfaction from seeing lives changed, seeing fruit and by faith knowing God is pleased are beyond anything on earth. Asked if so many denominations were hindering Christians to unite on a single platform he said he was not sure. "There was a Catholic church for over 1500 years with a united platform and I'm not sure that did any good".
He went on to say that the denominations were not the problem with Christianity. "The problem with Christianity is that the body doesn't look much like the head," he said adding, "People in the world love Jesus - they just don't like His people very much."
"This means that the people don't look much like Jesus. Perhaps the church needs to be saved more than anything else."
He disclosed he took a large pay cut to go into ministry. "I could be making a lot more money in life along with a lot of other silly things that don't really matter. I'm very blessed as a pastor and have been given everything I need in life".
Replying to a question, he said the biggest problems in ministry for him has been in regards to fear and insecurity. The Lord has blessed me with great strength to overcome them though, he said.
Asked in what ways media could help inculcate Christian values in youth he responded that media couldn't do nearly as much as genuinely interested adults can do. "No one can influence teens like teens can. However, if adults are genuinely interested in teens than connecting with them regularly can help counter much of the media's influence. However, in America adults have a long way to go if they're going to compete with the media to connect with teens".
Jeff told ANS before serving God in his current capacity he played football and worked in sales and sales management for a wireless telephone company.
When asked if he was satisfied with efforts already underway to forge unity he said: "The church is already more united than she realizes. It requires more than effort... God unites us in ways that we're not even aware of...we just have a difficult time living up to our eternal unity".
Asked what message he would like to give to Christian brothers and sisters across the world he said: "Never ever give up searching for God's heart and power in life and never quit believing."
© 2007 ASSIST News Service, used with permission.
