Ministry Leaders Update 1-9-08

Get Real!

A new LDJ group that formed this fall was a north central staff that includes people from Red Cedar, Eau Claire and Sand Lake. The group landed on a book by Craig Groeschel entitled “Confessions of a Pastor”, and have started working through it. I heard about the book from Bob Streeter, pastor at Mt. Pisgah, who was impacted by its content. Groeschel subtitles his book “Adventures in dropping the pose and getting real with God”.

He makes some pretty real confessions like:
• I can’t stand a lot of Christians
• Most of the time I feel incredibly lonely
• I hate prayer meetings
• I feel completely inadequate
• I stink at handling criticism
• I’m afraid of failure

In the first chapter, after going through a whole bunch of reasons why he couldn’t stand a lot of Christians, he landed on some of the things he loves about Christians.

• He loves his weekly small-group Bible study. Why? Because they’re imperfect but they’re real. They have genuine relationship. They really know each other, but really love each other, too.
• He loves it when Christ followers sacrifice – when they give up something they love for something they love even more. That includes their time and money. They give to send kids to camp, train pastors in other countries, help needy people at Christmas and rebuild homes for hurricane victims.
• He loves it when God’s people pray – really pray, and believe in it, too.
• He loves it when people “get it”. When they start to really understand God’s grace. When imperfect people run up against a perfect God…and God wins.
• He loves it when people have the attitude of jumping in to use their spiritual gifts and are determined to make a difference in the lives of others out of response to the grace and love they’ve received.

Groeschel shares this great story we would all love to experience in ministry leadership:

A guy waited patiently in line to greet his pastor one Sunday after the sermon. “Pastor,” this eager, sincere Christ follower said, “I have only one thing to tell you. My answer is yes. Now, what’s the question?”

The pastor looked at him, confused, and smiling awkwardly, fell back upon the pastor’s safety net: “God bless you.” The pastor politely brushed the man off and turned to greet the next parishioner.

The next week, the same guy waited in line and repeated the same words. “Pastor, my answer is yes. Now what’s the question?”

The pastor pondered this enigma. Wanting to get to the bottom of it, he invited the young man to lunch. Over a midweek meal, the young man once again blurted out the intriguing mantra: “Pastor, my answer is yes. Now what’s the question?” Finally overcome with curiosity, the pastor asked, “Can you please tell me what you mean by that?”

The young man smiled and, with passion, began, “Pastor, I was hooked on everything bad, about to lose my family, sliding down an slippery slope toward certain destruction. Then Jesus intervened.” Tears welled up in his eyes. “Because of what Jesus did for me, my answer to you is yes. You are my pastor, and I’ll do whatever you need.

“If you want me to rock babies, I’ll rock babies. If you want me to usher, I’ll usher. If you want me to mow the churchyard, I’ll be there at 6 AM every Saturday. My answer to you will always be yes. Now, what’s the question?”

May you, all of your parishioners, and those who serve with you have that kind of understanding of grace, gratitude and passion to serve.

Dan Bickel
Wisconsin District Superintendent