TAMPA — Hawaiian pastor Wayne Cordeiro lit a luau-style bonfire in the hearts of Florida Conference pastors at the Institute of Preaching Feb. 25–27 in Tampa.

Cordeiro was the main speaker at a conference that was also supposed to feature Bishop Ricardo Pereira of the Methodist Church of Cuba. Pereira was unable to attend due to a visa delay in his country.

The institute is an annual event designed to provide conference clergy with resources to improve their preaching and ministry skills. This year’s event began at Hyde Park United Methodist Church, then moved to Van Dyke United Methodist Church, and offered presentations by Florida Conference pastors Jim Harnish, Matthew Hartsfield and Sue Haupert-Johnson.

Cordeiro, founding pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship in Honolulu and a widely-read author, discussed his experience with church planting, devotional life, small groups, sermon preparation and maintaining personal balance.

Before launching New Hope more than six years ago, Cordeiro prayer-walked and prayer-drove the streets of Honolulu.

“The Lord said to me, ‘Ask me for the keys to your community,’ ” Cordeiro said. “ ‘Watch where people are going. Watch for the running of the fish.’ ”

Cordeiro told attendees he discovered these “keys” to be relationships, quality music, food, involvement, and communicating in a way that residents of Honolulu understood. To that end Cordeiro conducted “orientation sessions” that featured plenty of food, music and fellowship, and was able to elicit dozens of pre-Christians to participate. The pastor later conducted Sunday evening “leadership seminars,” through which he gathered 118 mostly unchurched volunteers to help kick off New Hope. An inaugural “church luau” was attended by 720 individuals; more than 8,000 now attend.

Pastors must constantly ask themselves why they are in ministry, Cordeiro advised. God wants to restore churches’ dreams, he encouraged.

Regarding devotional life, Cordeiro gave all participants a copy of his church’s “Life Journal,” a tool for Bible study, prayer and reflection. Pastors were encouraged to order additional copies and launch Bible study groups that involve church members meeting together for silent Bible reading before sharing their insights and prayers. “You don’t even need a leader for these groups. The Holy Spirit takes over,” Cordeiro said.

Cordeiro encouraged pastors to practice “offensive studying,” a consistent devotional life that is primarily focused on feeding the pastor “fresh bread” and often naturally springs forth sermon ideas, rather than “defensive studying,” cramming at the last minute in order to prepare a sermon. He also asserted that a pastor needs plenty of energy for ministry and should “keep in shape for the Kingdom of God.” The five “big rocks” of prayer, exercise, planning, reading and devotions are essential for each day.

Regarding sermon planning, Cordeiro advised pastors to plan their messages a year in advance. Pastors should first jot down issues their specific church needs to grapple with across the coming 12 months and then examine the whole calendar, starting with holidays and the launch of new seasons, before plotting out a six-week sermon series.