41: Episode 41 – Dr. Jake Roudkovski on Pastoral Leadership, Change, and Personal Evangelism

On this week’s episode, Mark and Andy get the privilege of talking with Dr. Jake Roudkovski from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Roudkovski serves as the Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program at NOBTS and is also a Professor of Evangelism and Pastoral Leadership. You will be encouraged as you listen to “Dr. Jake” share his story and his passion for sharing the gospel! 

Dr. Roudkovski mentioned a book he contributed to recently called Engage: Tools for Contemporary Evangelism. You can get your copy here.

Quotables

There were three major influences upon my life. One was the influence of communism, because it was a communist country… and part of communist ideology was to eradicate Christianity.

During World War I, my great grandfather was a soldier in the Russian military, and before one of the battles, a British chaplain led him to faith in Christ… and as a result, several generations of my family have been followers of Christ.

When Roman soldiers would meet each other, they would just put their hand to their heart, and then they would do a salute to each other. And what it represented, ‘My heart belongs to Rome and I am reporting for duty…’ And as he begins his day [Dr. Jim Henry], he says, ‘God, my heart belongs to You, and here I am, I am reporting for duty.’

Mark: You faced a change in a church, unlike any other, where you literally moved a church. A literal move of a building.

Even in denominations, we do not drift towards evangelism. We drift away from evangelism, and so you have to make yourself accountable for this.

“Even in denominations, we do not drift towards evangelism. We drift away from evangelism, and so you have to make yourself accountable for this.” –Jake Roudkovski on the Church Leadership Podcast
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Dr. Roudkovski shares five key elements of evangelism in his conversation with Mark and Andy. They are: Plowing, Sowing the Seed, Watering the Seed, Harvesting, and Multiplication.

Evangelism that does not lead to discipleship is not New Testament. Conversely, discipleship that does not lead to evangelism is not New Testament.

“Evangelism that does not lead to discipleship is not New Testament. Conversely, discipleship that does not lead to evangelism is not New Testament.” –Jake Roudkovski on the Church Leadership Podcast
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I’ve not seen a single church in twenty-five years of me studying church revitalization that has been revitalized without the leadership of the pastor.