I must say that what God is teaching me right now is very different than anything He has ever tried to teach me. Let me try to explain. Almost all my life I have been in some form of Christian leadership, and most of that time I have been paid or some kind of payoff for me.
-In the second grade, PazNaz in my Sunday School class gave me responsibility in picking out a book to read and cleaning off "our" table after we were done with a craft.... That is leadership
-In grade school I went to "Indian Village" early because both parents were serving and I had personal responsibilities to gather pine needles for the fire (You see, it was not my fault that I grew up to love fire....)- Leadership
-Jr. High, I was a student leader getting to do and see things that not all the students were able to see... I even did things to subsidize the cost of my trips.- Leadership
-High School- Lead worship, taught lessons, was a student leader... Leadership
-College- Started a church plant "Church in the Park", Was a high school intern at PazNaz (Paid)- Leadership
-Youth Pastor- Glendora Community (Nazarene) Church (Paid)- Leadership
-Youth Pastor- Santa Rosa Nazarene Church (Paid)- Leadership
All that to say that I have been in Christian leadership in my life, and usually got paid or a payoff from it.
But what God has called me to do not in life is different, and I am humbled. I am volunteering full time at NewSpring Church and I am seeing something that I have never experienced yet in Christian leadership. I am seeing what church a volunteer goes through to serve on a consist ant basis without getting a paycheck (I must say though that the Body of Christ has stepped up to support us financially during this time!! Thank you). I could think of no better place to see this perspective! NewSpring Church does an amazing job with their volunteers. Everyday I see that they (NewSpring) have thought of specific ways in which I can serve TO MY GIFTEDNESS. I do not feel that when I go into the office that the staff is just giving me all the work that they don't want to do. They are getting to know me and having me do things that in my view are "big" to the church. For example, this week, I got the opportunity to call about 20 different churches in town (yes, this is the south, and yes, there are still like 50 more churches to call) and asked them where they are serving in the community and what they were doing as a local church to meet the needs in our city. The goal in the phone calls is 1) create a better relationships with churches and 2) find out any "holes/gaps" where all the church are not meeting needs. We want to find the gaps and work TOGETHER with the other churches to meet the needs. I must say that only being at Newspring for 4 weeks and making these phone calls was an honor. But, it was my gifting. There are other things that they could have asked me to do and I would have been the WORST person.
One major thing I am learning about Christian Leadership is this (Andy Stanley makes this point somewhere).
Ministry is like getting people on a bus that is going in a SPECIFIC direction. Some people who are on the bus are just in the wrong seat (Serving). That does not mean that they should not be on the bus, they are just in the wrong seat.
Does this make since? This might make some people mad when I say this, but take American Idol. There are people on that show (in the beginning) that think they can sing, but the whole world, but them knows that they clearly cannot!!! So, why do we in church get the person who is the MOST UNHAPPY person on the planet and have them be a greeter??? This does not mean that the current "unhappy" greeter should not be serving in ministry, but they might be better on the landscaping committee...... Get the point.
Find out where people are gifted and get them serving in that way. CHURCH LEADERS, lets move away from just filling the spot because no one is helping out. You are just creating unhappy people. That might mean for a season that you stop ministries, Jesus did! There is nothing worse than serving in an area that you hate, but nothing better than serving in an area that you love and are gifted in that area. This takes hard work and probably hard conversations. Keep the people on the bus, but lets make sure through the Holy Spirit's direction that our people are in the correct seat.
Thoughts?
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