Get me the needle

There is not a better feeling for a church planter than the feeling of people around you 'getting it' and saying so.

This past Tuesday in our Creative Team meeting (creative team/leadership/planning) we had a gentleman sit in who isn't normally able to be with us. He is a doctor going through his residency to become an Emergency room doctor. He and his family are wonderful additions to our church.

During the meeting we were discussing our structure and how we are getting much more organized and structured. It's a period of time for our church where we are starting to get our legs. A baby can't walk and a toddler can. There is an in between time when things are wobbly but the baby is 'getting his legs' under him. The legs that will help him stand strong in the future are strengthened early on.

As we were discussing the importance of some key leaders getting involved as well as some other lay people, the Dr. spoke up. He said something I want to share with you.

He said "I believe it is our job in this room to do whatever we can to take weight off of Tally's shoulders. He's doing far too much on Sundays and I believe we have to get to the place where he can just show up and everything is ready to go. He can come in and be the Pastor." He went on to give a great illustration. He continued "I am a doctor. If I'm with a patient and I reach over to grab the needle, it must be there for me. If I have to take time away from being a doctor to looking for needles, I am taking my attention off of my patient. He said "If Tally is running speaker wire, he's not talking to someone about their life. He needs to be able to freely be the Pastor."

He went on to mention that when he DOES have to look for a needle, he has to toss everything else around so he can find the needle. The Pastor out of his element is the same way. Not only does leaving the Pastor to shepard allow the Pastor to do things better but it also allows everyone else to do their task better.

Lesson to take away:
Eph 4 calls us to prepare God's people for works of service. If you are doing everything and not preparing others to do the work, you're out of line as a Pastor. You and I must (especially if you're a church planter) learn to reproduce yourself in the life of others.

- Start with smaller tasks and build up to larger ones.
- Constantly share your vision
- Share the needs within the body with those who are qualified to meet those needs.
- Create ownership of the ministry among the attendees.
- Know your people. Know their gifts, talents, experiences and strengths.
- Give it away.
- Let people fail (or do it not as well as you would do it-- besides you learned at some point too)
- Encourage people in their failure. As long as they are learning from their mistakes, they are worth keeping.
- If someone needs moved. Say so. Fairness isn't a biblical mandate. God gave us our gifts and talents. He didn't give me the talent of singing. (It's not a gift by the way) I pray someone is honest with me if I ever try to pretend he did. No matter how much I may 'feel' it is my talent... it's not.


Extra credit:
My friend Mitch has a good post about what the volunteers at Fellowship put together for their Adventure week with their children's ministry. You don't have the scale of talent or even the scope but you do have some... use what you have... that's called good stewardship.