17.
The Art of Influence
I was the ripe old age of twenty-two when I answered the call to go to Paterson, New Jersey. There was a medium-sized church on North 9th Street called “The Pentecostal Lighthouse.” The church was a non-denominational community that had been solid for over eighteen years and had grown steadily during that time.
I met with the entire board of the church—eight men and women who all had a relationship with their senior pastor that was built on trust and one of the strongest displays of loyalty and respect for the man who had led them that I have ever seen since being in leadership.
I had spoken to many of them personally, and they each said the same thing about Victor Coetzee (kout’-see). He was a man that exemplified what it meant to be a leader.
The ages of the board of directors ranged from about thirty-five all the way to seventy. They each had a story to tell of how Victor Coetzee had impacted and influenced their lives. He had been there for them through crises, walked with them through tough ministry decisions, and took responsibility for when things went wrong.
Pastor Coetzee had led them for over seventeen years. The church was only about fifty people when he took over the reins of ministry there. In those seventeen years, he led them to over four hundred people. This growth for some may not be the most impressive. We have churches now that go from a few hundred to thousands in six months to a year.
However, most of the over four hundred people who attended the Light- house were a solid core of individuals that had been trained and given a strong foundation of teaching to endure life’s trials to come out stronger. The church had persevered and weathered many storms. Pastor Coetzee had led them to truly become a lighthouse for God on the solid Rock, much like its actual position on the hill in the north side of Paterson.