blog break
I've been pretty slow blogging lately, but I'm officially taking a break for the next week or so. Life is swirling and spinning and redirecting with little time for anything other than the essentials.
Taking a short break and will pick back up soon.
Labels: personal
serving for no return
We don't serve to market our church. We don't serve to grow ourselves. We don't serve hoping someone will come in our doors. We don't serve so that we can become the greatest. These are just subsequent results of our actions. They have nothing to do with our motivation.
My fear is that we pat ourselves on the back way too hard when we serve in the name of Jesus. The truth is people talk about who they want to be, not who they really are. And we are good about telling others how we served someone else. It's ironic we talk so much about our humble compassion.
We serve because of the compassion produced by a thriving relationship with God. In his book, Peppermint-filled Pinatas, Eric Bryant says, "Jesus wants our lives to be so transformed that we actually care for those around us and that the love we share for each other bubbles over into the lives of those not yet following Christ. Our love for others proves that God is real."
Is it that we have missed the point of serving and have focused on what return it can bring to us rather than what it can do for someone else? Are we serving with selfless motivation or with the hopes we may "build our church?"
Labels: christianity, leadership, ministry
self value
I know I've been really sporadic with new posts lately. My online time has mainly been limited to checking email and a couple of blogs.
God has been doing a lot in me and taking my trust in Him to another level. 1 Peter Chapters 1 and 4 has really been challenging me and encouraging me over the past couple of weeks.
Another thing God has just reminding me of is who I am in Him. My value as an individual is not found in who or how many I lead, the results of my ministry, or any ideas I have. It's not found in my doing, but in my being. It's something I know but need to be reminded of.
This has been a tough lesson, since I am highly driven and love leading, building an effective ministry environment, and developing others.
My tendency so many times is to value myself with what I do. But the truth is that is wrong. My self value is found in the extent of my relationship with Christ. Yes, I feel good about myself leading. Yes, I feel good serving. Yes, I feel good doing. But the feeling of worth based on these actions is intrinsic only because of the way God created me and my relationship with Christ.
If what I do defines my self value, then when my productivity is low or I feel discouraged in my work, then my self value obviously goes down. The converse is true as well though.
God has given me new life and now value is found only in Him.
Labels: development, leadership, ministry, theology
people are messy
Hurting people could care less about the things we as leaders often fall into the trap of worrying about. They just want a place to feel connected and loved. They just want a place they can be themselves, yet escape themselves at the same time.
I know all the junk I've had to deal with from working with students over the past 4-5 years. Depression, suicide attempts and successes, students getting kicked out of their own house because they are living for God, cutting, sex, teenage pregnancy, fights in church, throwing away pills. It breaks my heart, but there's nothing like seeing a life being transformed by God.
Even when the rough edges still remain, it's an incredible reminder of where someone has been brought from and where they are going.
About the only thing to say is "wow."
Labels: leadership, ministry
Serving in the community should be in the heart of any church plant, faith-based organization, church, and believer. We have a responsibility to "let your good deeds shine, so that others may praise our Father in Heaven," be "the salt of the earth," be like "a city on a hill," and do unto the least of these.
