All posts by Rod Denton

Generations Leave a Legacy

IMG_0548 (Reduced) - Copy Rod, Sue’s Mum Lenora (aged 90), and Sue on the occasion of their enrolment as soldiers with the Salvation Army, January 15th 2012.

It was while I was preparing the funeral service of my wife Sue’s mother, that I was impacted by the importance of generations. For Sue’s mum had just been promoted to glory (a Salvation Army term) and with her passing at the age of 96, she would be the last of her generation.

I decided to reflect on this thought at the funeral service as Sue and I would now be members of the remaining senior generation in our family line. It was a defining moment and …

Mentors of Mine – J Oswald Sanders (1902-1992)

Rod Denton in Leadership, Mentoring

J Oswald Sanders 1983 Rod and Sue (slightly pregnant) with Mr Sanders in 1983 on one of the occasions he visited our home in Melbourne.

My first appointment in full time ministry in 1980 was at Blackburn Baptist Church in Melbourne. It was the largest Baptist Church in Australia and I was given charge over the children’s, youth and young adult ministry, quite a challenge.

Even at this stage of my life, I had begun to develop the philosophy, ‘to grow the ministry, focus on growing leaders’. Consequently I searched for two key books on leadership and on making disciples that each leader would be required to study. My two books were ‘The Master …

Mentors of Mine – Ray Stedman (1917-1992)

Rod Denton in Leadership, Mentoring

Ray Stedman & assoc Pastor 1982 - Copy Rod with Ray Stedman & his associate pastor Ron Ritchie
Palo Alto, California 1982

In the early 1970s, I heard of a visit to Adelaide by Pastor Ray Stedman from Palo Alto in California. He had recently written a book called Body Life, described as “the ground breaking book that inspired a return to the principles of the New Testament Church.” I was hungry for reality and went to hear him speak and came away deeply stirred as he spoke of his journey to restore the church’s real meaning and mission.

I was not disappointed. So much so that I went back to the church where I was worshipping and …

Leaders EMERGE – They Don’t Just Appear. Identifying the Stages of Leadership Emergence.

Rod Denton in Leadership

Leaders Emerge

Where have all the leaders gone?
Could there be any more desperate cry than this in our world today?

We have facilitators, administrators, managers, academics, coordinators and people with various titles and qualifications, but very few leaders. So we are left to recruit staff from elsewhere, or raise up volunteers who are given leadership positions and a roster of helpers, or we overload the few leaders that are around. These options often result in a gradual decline or at best a plateauing in our churches and the few leaders that remain, ultimately burn out. We send those in leadership positions to quick fix courses that end up achieving little because …