Tag: Ministry

I Ain’t No Professional Ain’t Cuttin’ It No More

I saw a sign in a restaurant the other day proclaiming “The Only Thing Worse Than Our Food Is Our Service.” Unfortunately, I’d already ordered the pancakes.

reverse-marketing-tic-toc-diner

By the way, the sign was right.

“I ain’t no professional” is a phrase I’ve heard once too often in my life in various capacities. I think it’s safe to say that if “You ain’t no professional then there ain’t no need to say it. Everyone already knows.”

The difference between the amateur and the professional is simple. The professional is willing to roll up his sleeves and go to work.

photo-courtesy of Unsplash - Matthew Wiebe

The word professional is defined by Google dictionary as someone “engaged in a specified activity as one’s main paid occupation rather than as a pastime.” This means the person is serious about it and is willing to work hard.

My profession for most of my life has been ministry. In some of my positions, I haven’t always acted professionally for various reasons. I sometimes I didn’t know what to do or who to trust and I often let my insecurities keep me from doing the work that needed to be done. In those moments, I was allowing myself to become an amateur.

The author of Proverbs 22:29 once wrote: “Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank.”

Some people want to reference the above verse and say that we shouldn’t associate with certain people. Believe it or not, they may be right, but not in matters of race, socio-economic status, or sports team affiliation. However, we should be careful with associating with those who are going to wastefully absorb our time and keep us from the professionalism we should strive to achieve.

In The War of Art, Steven Pressfield writes:

“Grandiose fantasies are a symptom of Resistance. They’re the sign of an amateur. The professional has learned that success, like happiness, comes as a by-product of work. The professional concentrates on the work and allows rewards to come or not come, whatever they like.”

It’s time to quit whining. It’s time to do the work that’s set before us. It’s time to be professional.

Dustin Lee - Unsplash 1

by Categories: Church and Christian Life, Creativity, Discipline, UncategorizedTags: , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Will The Real Minister Please Stand Up?

funny-priest

What do you think about when you hear the word Minister? Some may think of a person, most often a man, dressed in all black, possibly wearing a white backwards collar, who works professionally preaching from the Bible, ministering to the sick, and counseling the hurting. Others think of a missionary, in some remote country, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ to unreached people groups. Still others may think of a hermit monk, priest, or televangelist.

So, what is the true definition of a Minister?

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines a Minister as “a person whose job involves leading church services, performing religious ceremonies (such as marriages), and providing spiritual or religious guidance to other people: a member of the clergy in some Protestant churches.”

That’s a pretty good definition from the world’s viewpoint, but it’s incorrect.

thumbs down

In Ephesians 4:11-12 (NLT), Paul writes, “Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ.”

According to this scripture, the pastors, teachers, apostles, prophets, and evangelists are the ones who “equip” God’s people to do the work of the ministry. This can only mean that “God’s people” are the ones who do the work of the ministry.

Therefore, God’s people, those who have begun a relationship with Jesus Christ, who have asked the Lord for forgiveness for their sins, who have repented of their sins and made Jesus the Lord of their lives, are the Real Ministers in the body of Christ.

This means so much for all Christians everywhere:

  • It means that every Christian is responsible for the work of the ministry.
  • It means that everyone has a job to fulfill.
  • It means that pastors, teachers and leaders have a greater responsibility to teach others to serve and to lead.
  • It means that all believers in Jesus must live holy lives, not just those in vocational ministry.
  • It means we must all look for opportunities to serve.
  • It means that we are all interdependent upon each other.

So, greetings, fellow minister. It’s an honor serving with you.

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4 Things to Remember When Doing Hospital Visitation

visit 

I’ve been doing hospital visitation on a regular basis for over 20 years.  One thing that I’ve learned is that I’m not very good at it.  Even though I’m a pretty compassionate person, I struggle when trying to minister to those in the hospital.  Something in me clams up and I struggle with my words.

However, Jesus did say I was sick and you visited me, so it’s important to press on with the visit, even when I feel uncomfortable.

I spent most of the last three days with my mother who was hospitalized.  During that time, I pondered my own hospital visitation situation and realized that there are 4 things to remember when doing hospital visitation.

#1  –  Pray.  The Holy Spirit is a much better Comforter than any of us, so pray and let Him do His work.  Thank Him for who He is in front of the people who need to remember it the most.  If for some reason you can’t pray with the hospitalized or their family, pray by yourself for them and for you as you visit them.

#2 – Bring a small gift.  After visiting my mother for the first day, my wife suggested that we bring her the shampoo and conditioner samples from our hotel room.  We weren’t using them anyway and it allowed my mother to wash her hair with real shampoo.  Whether it’s shampoo, facial tissue, a magazine, or a drawn picture from a child, it could make a huge difference in their hospital stay.

#3 – Know when to leave.  Unless you’re family or considered part of the family (sometimes even then), don’t overstay your welcome.  Understand that while you’re trying to bring someone encouragement, you may be wearing them out.  People are in the hospital for a reason and you might be stealing their sleep time. 

#4 -Use discernment when using anointing oil – Some people don’t understand the symbolism.  To some, it just seems like you’re putting grease on their heads.  Your prayers are more important than the oil.

Remembering these 4 things will help me.  Maybe they’ll help you as well.

By the way, my mother’s doing great.

by Categories: Church and Christian Life, Difference Makers, Health and Fitness, UncategorizedTags: , , , , , 2 Comments

We Need Each Other

As a young worship leader in college, I started dating a girl who later became my wife.  As she and I grew in our relationship, we discovered that we loved serving the Lord together.  She helped me with church productions and I served on the drama team that she led.  When our relationship became very serious, I grew frightened at the idea of a lifelong commitment, so I broke up with her.  After a few months, I realized that my life was empty without her.  I knew that we had to spend the rest of our lives together.  God meant for us to be together.  We needed each other.

Two years after we were married, we went to serve as missionaries in Central Asia.  We soon found that our personalities clashed with many of the other Americans there.  We felt like we had made a terrible mistake in moving around the world to serve with these people.  However, we were still learning the language and we needed their help to survive.  They needed teachers for their school and they needed help in planting a church.  As difficult as it was for us all, we forced ourselves to get along.  For whatever reason, God had us together for that season.  We needed each other.

A couple of years later, back in the U.S., I found myself working in a small church with an older pastor.  As a young man with lots of energy, I worked hard and tried to implement lots of positive changes to the church’s ministry.  I soon discovered, after falling into bed one night in total exhaustion, that my efforts were pointless.  The pastor and I were not working together.  After some time, we managed to improve our communication and started to involve each other in worship planning, special projects, and ongoing ministry.  It took a long time for me to understand that God had placed both of us in the same church and therefore we could accomplish much more if we worked together.  Even though we were from different generations, we needed each other.

In all of my formal ministry training, no one ever taught me that I needed other people.  My professors taught me about systematic theology, music history, and pragmatic choral procedures, but I never learned that most ministry does not take place on the stage in front of people.  Hence, I never realized, until I was serving in ministry, that it’s mostly about people.  I thought I had to do all the ministry myself.  I thought I had to be a Christian Ministry Superman.  But it’s not about me.  It’s not about you.  It’s about the Lord.  It’s about pleasing Him.  And I’ve come to understand that I can’t do it alone.  Even if I worked twice as long and twice as hard, I would still need help.  There will always be one more service to plan, one more soul to win, one more drummer to be find, one more set to build, one more message to plan, etc…  I will never get it all done by myself.  You will never get it all done by yourself.

We need each other.

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Why Pastors Shouldn’t Do Ministry

That’s no typo.  Pastors shouldn’t do the work of the ministry.  Check out my reasoning below:

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.  Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.  Ephesians 4:11-12 NLT

The role of a pastor is to equip THE PEOPLE of the church to do the work of the ministry.  Most of us who participate in this type of work call it MINISTRY, but I’ve heard that a better term for it might be ADMINISTRY.  This would be defined as the necessary administration, coordination, and education that must be completed in order for the people of God to complete the work of the ministry.

By the way, even though it’s not their main function, it’s good for pastors to engage in ministry themselves on a regular basis.  It frees their minds, helping them experience what it’s like for those that they are equipping.  It also affords them an outlet to utilize gifts and talents, which sometimes seems buried under administration.

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