Living for Leadership

By FRANK C. ETSELL

My parents, Pastors Wilson and Bessie Etsell, faced many obstacles during the early years of their ministry. They began their ministry in a small community in August 1934. One cold morning in October of that year, they found themselves sitting on a small trunk by the side of the road. They had no money and no place to live. Everything they owned was in that trunk. By faith, they overcame, and because of their dedication and determination, they developed many leadership qualities, which guided them throughout their lives. This is an account of their early years in ministry and some of the leadership qualities that contributed to almost fifty years of full-time ministry throughout Newfoundland.

One of the greatest challenges that Mom and Dad ever faced came in 1950, when I was thirteen years of age, and medical doctors at the General Hospital in St. Johns, Newfoundland, told them that there was no hope or cure for my condition and that I would only live for a few weeks.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 2, 2012
• ISBN: 9781449759988

FRANK C. ETSELL

Frank C. Etsell is the oldest son of the late Pastors Wilson and Bessie Etsell. In 1951, Frank was instantly healed of paralysis. After finishing high school, he attended Memorial University of Newfoundland and spent eight years as a high school teacher. In 1965, he left the teaching profession and went to work with a mining company, the Iron Ore Company of Canada, in Labrador City, Newfoundland. During the next thirty-two years, he held several management positions in the field of health and safety. Upon his retirement in 1997, he moved to Springdale, Newfoundland, where he now resides with his wife, Vivian. Frank has also held leadership positions with the church for most of his adult life, including more than thirty years as secretary of the Board of Deacons with two different churches in Newfoundland.

Book preview

Living 

for 

Leadership

Frank C. Etsell

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Copyright © 2012 FRANK C. ETSELL

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

All Scripture, unless otherwise indicated, is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., publishers. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-5999-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-6000-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-5998-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012912858

WestBow Press rev. date: 7/31/2012

Contents

INTRODUCTION

FORWARD

1. OUT IN THE COLD

2. DEDICATION, COMMITMENT AND COURAGE

3. A PERFECT FIT

4. ABUNDANT BLESSINGS

5. DARE TO BELIEVE GOD

6. CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

7. TRUSTING IN GOD’S PROMISES

8. DARK DAYS

PICTORIAL SECTION

9. MARKS OF A SUCCESSFUL LEADER

10. LEADERSHIP AND CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES

11. PATTERNS FOR LIVING

12. REAPING WHAT WE SOW (GOD’S LAW)

13. END OF THE RACE

NOTES

INTRODUCTION

Whatever you do in life, give it your best shot

I’ve wanted to write this book for some time, however, I just kept putting it off because it is a difficult job. However, during my teen years Dad often told me that I could do anything I wanted to if I put my best into it. He told me many times that whatever I did in life to give it my best shot. I’ve never forgotten that and throughout my life I have always put my best into whatever I’ve set out to do, so I’ll do the best I can with this work.

I held leadership positions during all my working life and I have also been in leadership positions with the church for about thirty-five years.

I feel honored to be able to write this account of the early years of my parent’s ministry. My parents, Pastors Wilson and Bessie Etsell, began their ministry in 1934 in Triton, a small community in north eastern Newfoundland. These were depression years and times were very difficult. By faith they overcame and because of their dedication and determination they developed many leadership qualities which guided them throughout their lives. These are qualities which are essential to anyone who aspires to be a leader in the church today. One cold morning in October of that year they found themselves sitting on a small trunk by the side of the road. Everything they owned was in that little trunk; they had no money and no place to go.

From that first assignment in Triton, until their retirement from full-time ministry in 1974, both Mom and Dad always gave their very best and God helped them overcome the many obstacles that they faced.

I was born in 1937 and from the time I was two years old I suffered with paralysis, which grew worse and worse every year until I was a hopeless cripple. I was paralyzed on my left side from head to toe and unable to do anything for myself. Mom and Dad had to do everything for me; it was very difficult for them but they were faithful in carrying out the duties of the ministry.

In 1950 doctors at the General Hospital in St. John’s, Newfoundland told my parents that there was no hope or cure for my condition and I would only live for a few weeks … but God performed a miracle in my life.

FORWARD

Whatever you are, be a good one. Abraham Lincoln

I have pastored churches for almost two decades. If I have learned anything, it is the work of the Lord deserves our best efforts. Leadership in the local church is exciting, worthwhile, challenging and at the same time full of pressures that demand a response and preparation. It has always been my belief that God allows people, events and sometimes heartaches to come into our lives to teach us, even prepare us for His ultimate plan. Life is a great teacher. As we live life and learn lessons, it is imperative that we pass these lessons on to the next generation. Sometime ago my friend gave me the first two or three chapters of a manuscript for a book he was writing about leadership. The read was enjoyable and the promise was laid for something bigger. My friend and neighbour, Frank Etsell, grew up in the home of leaders. He has also served in leadership positions for more than four decades in the local church. Over the course of that time, life has prepared him to offer some unique perspectives on giving your all in leadership. In my many conversations with Frank it is obvious that his relationship with his parents and their positions of leadership was a major shaper of his own ministry.

In ‘Living for Leadership’ Frank Etsell takes the real life experiences of his parents, their perseverance in the midst of obstacles, and love for God and people, and connects them with practical, timeless leadership principles for the modern era.

We live in a time when the work of the Lord has fallen into some disrepute. The embracing of solid biblical leadership principles is most certainly one of the answers to the issues we face today. As you read this book, enjoy the life story and learn from it at the same time. Lead where you are and lead well!

Pastor L. R. Foster

Senior Pastor, Springdale Pentecostal Church

Dedicated to the memory of my mother and father whose leadership both in the church and in our home helped mold my life and prepare me for service to God and to His church.

1. OUT IN THE COLD

One cold, damp morning in October 1934, a young man and his wife of a few months, sat gingerly on a small trunk by the side of the road in a little fishing community in north eastern Newfoundland, Canada. The trunk contained all their possessions, a few changes of clothing, a few books and their Bibles.

Four months ago the young man, who was just twenty years of age, had given up a teaching career to enter full-time ministry with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland. Sitting there on the side of the road with his young wife that day, he had a very difficult decision to make. They had no money and no place to live. They had nothing except what was in that little trunk.

As the young couple sat there, many thoughts raced through their minds. What will we do? Where will we live? Where will we get food? Should we give this up and go back teaching? There was no doubt in the young man’s mind, however, that he had been called by God to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. He and his wife had made a commitment to God when they had dedicated their lives to Him. However, sitting there on that trunk, they wondered, Is this for real? The situation looked very bleak. In their hearts though they felt confident that God would see them through this ordeal and they made up their minds, We won’t quit now.

This young man and his wife had moved to Triton in August 1934 to preach the gospel. There was no church building, no residence, and no congregation. This was the beginning of the Pentecostal ministry in the community. When they first arrived in Triton, arrangements had been made for them to stay with a family in the community who gave them their front room for their living quarters. This gentleman, a man of another faith, owned the general store in the community. Things had gone fairly well since their arrival; they were getting to know people, and a number of people were coming to the services. They were comfortable where they were staying, that is, until last night.

Last night! It seemed so far away now as they sat there on the trunk thinking. Last night, without any warning, the owner of the house told them that they would have to move out the next day. I’m losing many of my costumers because I have the Pentecostal preacher staying in my house. I’m sorry, but I have no choice. You will have to leave.

They moved out in the morning and here they were sitting on the trunk by the side of the road. It was cold!

That was how Mom and Dad began their ministry with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland. It wasn’t easy, but, God saw them through and He supplied their every need. The first two or three years of their ministry set the tone and helped to establish the parameters that would be their guide and inspiration for the next fifty years of full-time ministry. They proved God in the little things as well as the big things, so it was not hard for them to trust God in any situation.

During those early years God prepared them for the greatest battle they would ever have to face. God knows everything. He knows the end from the beginning and He knew all about the dark days and struggles that would come. God uses all sorts of things to develop leaders. Everything that Mom and Dad went through helped develop the leadership qualities that would serve them throughout their lives. They acquired a faith in God that enabled them to depend upon Him, a faith that would take them through the valleys and over the mountains for the rest of their lives.

It takes real strength, dedication and complete surrender to God to be able to carry out the will of God in the face of struggles. Mom and Dad had made a commitment to God and they were dedicated to His service. They were completely dependent upon God and they firmly believed the promises of the Bible. My God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). They believed what Jesus said, And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life (Matthew 19:29). The apostle Paul states that we are all in a spiritual battle. We are not fighting against human opponents,