INTERVIEW WITH DR. MYLES MUNROE DURING HIS RECENT VISIT TO ACTS CHURCH, FORTH WORTH

Anger!  Leadership is birthed out of anger!  I was angry at things that are not the way they should be.  Angry at the inability of the church to reach people like they ought to.  In life, purpose is defined by the thing that makes you angry.  Martin Luther was angry; Mandela was angry; Mahatma Gandhi was angry; Mother Theresa was angry!

 

FORTH WORTH – On July 19, 2007, Dr. Myles Munroe, Senior Pastor of the Bahamas Faith Ministries International, and his beautiful wife, Ruth, paid an unforgettable visit to The Acts Church, located at 5401 Trentman Street, in Fort Worth.  Hosted by the Senior Pastor and Mrs. Darrell Wilson, Dr. Munroe gave an expository teaching on leadership and “Kingdom Kolonia” which he described as “a kingdom outpost where a kingdom extends itself.”  He declared that his mission for the night was to “stir the sleeping giants in people.”  Along with his excellent diction and profound way of striking the minds of people with his rod of knowledge, Dr. Munroe used his life story from poverty to riches to spring into his message for the night.  He told his story of being one of eleven children that lived in a small two bedroom shack with their hardworking parents.  His family was so poor that most of the children spent their early years sleeping on the floor of the house with uninvited guests – rats and roaches.  When he was five years old, while seated on a pile of dirty clothes, he had a vision; He saw himself very successful, wearing nice clothes, owning nice cars, and traveling around the world in his private jet.  Dr. Munroe said he held onto that vision till it came to pass.  Also, a statement his mother said to him when she noticed he was spending too much time in front of the TV stimulated his intellectual fancy from that time till today.  “The more you watch TV; you will never get on TV.”  On hearing this, an insatiable appetite to read books was birthed in him.  He continues to read as many books as possible.
 
People in attendance were so absorbed in Dr. Munroe’s teaching that had a pin dropped on the floor, it would have been heard.  “Leadership begins with self discovery.  A leader can transform an army of frightened people into fearless people. A leader does not have stinking thinking. We came to earth to be the answer to a question; the solution to a problem” said Dr. Munroe, with a smile that seemed to affirm the need to soak in all he was saying. 

He gave three keys as to why the lion is the king of the jungle: attitude, belief in the potential of his creative skills; resources for the benefit of his objectives; and confidence in his ability to achieve his objectives and accomplish his goal.  He expressed the fact that many people are leaders trapped in a follower’s body.  To further buttress these keys, Dr. Munroe extracted the analogy from the story of the twelve spies of Israel who went to spy out the land of Canaan.  “Only Joshua and Caleb saw the good of the land, and their attitude saved them and their families.  You are not broke; your mind is broke,” he said.

After his sermon, I had the privilege to interview Dr. Munroe.  The following are the questions I asked and his responses to them.

YOU MENTIONED THAT YOU STARTED MINISTERING AT 15; WHAT SPURRED YOU ON?

Dr Munroe: Anger!  Leadership is birthed out of anger!  I was angry at things that are not the way they should be.  Angry at the inability of the church to reach people like they ought to.  In life, purpose is defined by the thing that makes you angry.  Martin Luther was angry; Mandela was angry; Mahatma Gandhi was angry; Mother Theresa was angry!  If you are not angry, you do not have a ministry yet.  I am still angry at the oppressive spirit that is a by product of colonization that exists in Third World countries.  I started with music by interpreting my teenage experience in songs.  I formed a music group that became a phenomenon and attracted children for God.  I worked for the government of the Bahamas for four years as an Administrative Secretary of Education.  I had a Bible study going on at the same time.  My passion was to see Third World countries gain knowledge in their lives and value to God, who later tricked me into being a Pastor (smiles).  With time, my Bible study outgrew my secular job.  I went to Oklahoma for a program.  One night, the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa was scheduled to speak but could not make it.  I was called upon unexpectedly to replace him.  I spoke at 7:30 pm that evening.  That was the only evening during the week of events that TBN and radio stations were present.  I preached my “kingdom” message and the rest is history.  I was at the right place at the right time!  The same message I preached is what I am still preaching today, though it has been refined.  From that night, radio, TV stations and book publishers approached me.  That is how my international ministry began.  If you refine who you are, the Lord will expose you when you are ready.

YOU HAVE BEEN PREACHING ON THE KINGDOM A LOT; WHAT SHOULD WE EXPECT FROM YOU IN THE FUTURE? 

Dr. Munroe:  I find it hard to imagine that there can be another message from me beyond the Kingdom message.  For me, the Kingdom message is unsearchable, it has no end; unfathomable!  The Kingdom is inexhaustible.  It is learning about the country of God just like one learning about the country of the United States of America.  Eternal exploration of a country is vast.  Even Jesus left many aspects of the Kingdom that he could not cover in thirty years for the Holy Spirit.

WHAT IS YOUR MESSAGE TO CHRISTIANS?

Dr. Munroe: My desire is for the universal church to identify and discover the message of Christ and begin to fulfill it according to Matthew 4:13.  A true minister of God that really wants to represent Jesus should preach nothing else but the Kingdom.  That is why Jesus preached without repeating Himself. 

My greatest fear is that the spirit of religion is lurking in so many churches today.  Instead of men and women of God preaching about and applying Kingdom principles to everyday living, they have given the spirit of religion the power to cloud the path of others.  I admonish everyone reading this article to read Matthew, Mark and John and reconnect to the Kingdom.