Ministry

Tony Robinson once said, "Leadership is learning to disappoint people at a rate that they can handle." The more I am in a leadership role the more I understand this quote. And it isn't so much that I just disappoint people all day, which at times I do, but it is being able to steer ministry in the direction that I see fit after prayerful consideration on my parts and my supporting staffs part. Thats casting vision, thats what a leader does.

And it isn't so much that people are mad at me when I have to disappoint them, it is that I feel like it is harder on me. I am not a fan of people being upset, I am not a fan of being in trouble (ask my mom, I cried when the dog got punished, much less when I did), and I am not a fan of letting people down. If I could I would make it so everyone could do and say exactly what they felt, however, that doesn't mesh with the direction of our ministry.

I once had a man approach me about teaching our High School girls about the importance of not having sex until they were married. I agreed with him that this was an important topic, which is why I have Amanda Silva (Our High School Girls volunteer) teach a bible study based solely on abstinence over the course of the entire summer. I didn't agree with the way in which he wanted to do it, he wanted me to teach from a non-biblical perspective using Tiger Woods as our model of what men are to women outside of wedlock, or in his case inside of wedlock.

First of all, as a Pastor I never want to teach something in the church that is not biblical. That is what I am hired to do, Make God look good and Christ well known to the next generation of students. Secondly, just because there is a pop-culture reference staring us in the face doesn't mean we have to jump on the band wagon and use it is an object lesson. Regardless, I told the man that we had planned to teach a series based on abstinence to our girls (and our guys) but I appreciated his input. He wasn't happy that I turned down his idea, but it didn't fit into what our ministry was trying to accomplish at the time.

Ministry is tough, it's about hard conversations, it's about letting people down, it's about failing but moving forward, it's about encouraging people regularly but regardless of your work they remain stagnant. But we are called to minister to others, we are called to spread the word of God using the gifts and talents he has given us, how cool is that?! I know I am kind of rambling but these were some musing that were on my heart today. As my buddy Ryan would say, Peace and Grace.