Hi everyone. Just wanted to give you an update on both the worshipping servant project and what is happening with the Jones family. Over the 12 days we spent with Peggy’s family in Oregon I was able to work on 2 additional chapters to the book and was happy that the closing chapter was mapped out. There is still alot of editing to do and some rewrites but there are only 2 titled chapters remaining to be written. The response of support was amazing and I want to thank you all again for your partnership. The total pledged and sent amount was only about 1/2 of what was hoped for so I was not able to focus all of my time on it the last two months, but still, it was a fantastic springboard to get the long rested book project back in the air. My goal is to have the book completed and published by late fall / early winter. All of you who partnered with me will be receiving a free copy. This coming Sunday, July 12, I will hit the road for southern CA. to begin work at New Venture Christian Fellowship. Once our house here is either sold or rented I will return to get my prized possessions (no, not my guitars although they come in second) Peggy and the kids. I am hoping to launch a website this fall that will allow you all to keep up with the ministry happenings. Until then, I will continue this blog and try to give updates on my facebook page.
Here is the rough draft of the final chapter. Blessings and peace to you all. I love you guys!!!
The Cost Of Servanthood
It all sounds so good on paper. In fact, I have rarely met a person going into ministry that doesn’t have a core desire to serve like Jesus. So why is it so hard? A pastor that had the blessing to serve with tells the story of when he finished seminary. As each graduate stepped to the podium to receive their diploma, they were asked to hold out their left arm and receive a towel that was then draped over their forearm. The diploma represented the completion of disciplined work, steadfast commitment and academic excellence in preparing for the work of ministry. What they received after the diploma had nothing to do with what they accomplished in class. Instead, the towel signified how they would use the knowledge and abilities obtained during seminary. Their diploma was not a tool to use to make people sit down and listen to them as trained pastors. Instead, they were charged with becoming true Servants.
It makes so much sense in principle but then, ministry happens. As time goes on, the idealistic focus on being a true servant, too leave it all “out on the court” every day can begin to become burdensome. We begin to replace the mindset of servanthood with other factors. Often, these alternative motivations seem good but slowly and surely, we can find ourselves no longer being servants, but rather professionals.
I often think about the moments before my life on earth ends and think about how I would like to finish. I hope to look back and see that I spent every energy and every effort in giving my life away. Remember that Jesus said, “whoever loses his life for my names sake shall find it.” (reference) Amazing principle but so hard to live out. As I struggle to finish the race strong just like you, I am reminded of a few moments where the Lord has given me a glimpse of what finishing strong might look like.
I was recently visiting my inlaws and had a chance to see a bunch of folks who had been a part of the ministry of the Church I served at previously. As we gathered and talked I was able to see how the Lord was moving in their lives today and I was overwhelmed with the verse that says “He works all things together for good for those who believe.” (reference) My questions about whether all of the effort in that season in ministry was worth it, the doubts about my effectiveness while serving there that plagued me, they all vanished. They weren’t removed because I was receiving kudos. In fact, it was the opposite. I heard people talk about how God was moving and working in their lives, in their servanthood and my name was never mentioned. It was awesome! One of these examples was a guitarist who had come into the worship team knowing just a handful of chords and two or three strum patterns. Over the course of 2 years, he developed and frequently covered the lead guitar parts. After I moved away and took on a new calling, he also was called to another Church. After a year of serving on guitar, there came a time where they needed drummers desperately. His response was to serve in whichever way was needed so he bought some cheap drums and started to plug away. He has faithfully served on drums for 3 years now. Most recently, several new drummers have joined that Church and he finds himself being needed more as a discipler. He could have been territorial about his role on guitar, then his role on drums. Instead, he carried a spirit willing to do whatever was needed. Let me be clear, I do not believe in anyway that I was responsible but I will say that because that ministry instilled a “whatever it takes” value system, because I was willing to serve in whichever capacity was needed, he emulated that in a later ministry completely void of my direct involvement. Imagine if your team had a “whatever it takes” attitude, imagine a group of people who were willing to give up their role and take on another role in order to live out Mr. Bigweld’s (from the movie Robots) motto, “see a need, fill a need.” Does my friend miss playing guitar and drums, sure he does, but when asked, he would quickly respond and say that it “isn’t about me playing an instrument, it’s about being faithful to my Lord”
I truly believe, with every ounce of my being that the lack of that spirit is why so many Churches in America is so anemic. In fact, if you look at the 50 most effective Churches today that are actually reaching people with the gospel, I think that you would see that “whatever it takes” spirit throughout that ministry. Just imagine.
Imagining is the first step. You must develop a vision for servanthood. You must put specifics on what it looks like, tastes like, feels like, smells like. You must make it a non-negotiable value in everything you do, You must attack any principality head on that tries to take servanthood out of the picture in favor of personal desire.
As a leader, it is time to decide. Am I raising up servants or superstars.
As a someone who is involved in a ministry under a leader in your local Church, it is time you decide. Do you believe God? Do you believe His word? Do you believe that if you humble yourself behind the mighty hand of God that He will lift you up? Do you believe that He works all things for good for those who believe? Do you believe that the Lord is the One who defends? Do you believe that even the mistakes of man can’t disrupt His plan for your life? These are questions you must wrestle with and answer. If you can resolutely answer yes, then you can step into a role of servanthood and I promise you, based on the word of God, He will use you in ways far more powerful than any role you could create, contrive and manufacture on your own.
Are you willing to say, “Here I am Lord, send me” without dictating where He sends, how He sends, who you are sent with, or the details of that sending? I end this book with the beginning of man. Why did Adam and Eve fall? They fell because they chose the lie of a serpent, a lie that told them that they could know what God knows, that they could wield the power of the creator. They bought it, hook, line and sinker. They were entrusted to be servants in the garden. To manage the territory that they were placed in. They decided that the garden wasn’t significant enough. They decided that they need to go beyond where God had them into an area that they wanted. We do the same things today. I referenced it earlier but I will quote it again. A great pastor friend of mine always used to say, “error on the side of obedience.” Adam and Eve wanted the knowledge that came from the tree of good and evil in the same way as you an I have our own desires. If Adam and Eve would have chosen obedience, if we would just choose daily, hourly, moment by moment to be obedient worshipping servants, imagine what the Lord could do. I close with this prayer for you, the worship leaders and pastors and for everyone who is involved in worship ministries. It’s time to become servants.
Dear Lord, thank you for your servants. These brothers and sisters have chosen a difficult path and many of them are weary. I pray that you would renew them today. Lord, it is also my prayer that they would encounter a Servanthood revolution. I pray that we all would discover that to find our own lives, we must lose them. I pray that you would revolutionize Churches across this land with the power that comes when your manifest presence has a place in the hearts and hands of a worshipping servanthood community. Lord, we give your gifts, the ones you have entrusted us, back to you once again. We lay our agendas, into your hands again. Bring us back to that simple faith when we first met you, the faith that made us willing to do “whatever it takes” to fulfill your will. Thank you for what you have done and for what You are going to do. Keep us faithful to this commitment. In Your name we pray. Amen”
God Bless you, my fellow Worshipping Servant.
