I used to work with a pastor that would say “people don’t really care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
That truth rang out loud and clear for me today. You see today I worked behind the camera on a project about…well of all things…it was me. My goal was to get some testimonials for an upcoming web site I’m working on. Although I was looking for testimonials about what I had accomplished over the years I really got so much more. You see the thing that stood out more and more wasn’t the things I accomplished but the time well spent on the relationships.
I know that today’s hectic pace can sometimes be overwhelming, but nothing can replace time spent investing in our teams. I was reminded of that today as I looked through the camera lens and listened to my friends say that it was the time and investment and even the belief in them that had the biggest impact on their lives. In this day when so much emphasis is placed on the production of ministry I would remind each of us and myself too that the true joy in ministry is seeing others accomplish something greater than themselves and knowing that God allowed you to be a part of it!
On the desktop of my computer I have this quote to serve as a reminder each day of the type of leader I desire to be…

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people
will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Maya Angelou

May this be true of all of us today…

I not a huge proponent of posting youtube videos but this U2 video hit me with an interesting perspective as to the responses people have in their faith. Watch it and let’s talk about it.

Growing up, I was always taught that worship was an activity that happened on the stage.  People with musical and vocal abilities would stand and lead us into a place where we can see and experience God.  Sure people can spend time with God during the week in devotions, but real worship only happened if it was led from the stage.  This was evident by how people would respond with a sincere and authentic desire to experience God in time we were together.

As I got older and went into ministry, I took what I had learned and applied it in the same fashion.  The stage was the platform that our church would use to define what worship was.  It had been this way for a long time so why mess with it.

But, over the years my perspective began to change.  The stage was becoming such a huge focal point in our church that people would fixate on it.  Everything revolved around the stage.  This created an expectation that the level of presentation from the stage would always deliver something big and creative.  The response of people following a service felt more like the discussion one has after leaving a movie.  “The opening was good, middle fell a little weak, and the end was a real disappointment…” It felt a lot like we had transitioned from facilitating an atmosphere of authentic worship to an environment of critics and performers.

That is when it hit me.
People in our church had started looking at the Sunday worship service just like a movie at the theater. What made it worse is that I was leading a ministry that facilitated this type of dysfunctional worship experience.

I am still in the process of figuring this all out, but it has been great to approach worship with the realization that the stage is just one of the places where we experience God.

What does it mean to make an impact?  Does it mean ‘making a difference’?  A change?  Does it mean having a reputation or a legacy?  It can be so many different things to people.  What if it meant something like this:

When you throw a stone into a still pond what happens?  The stone strikes the water and creates a perpetual effect that eventually impacts the whole pond?  What starts as a small splash becomes a massive disturbance in an otherwise quiet setting.  The rings of the splash start very small, but they grow.  With each ring, the effect becomes greater.  The strange part is that the greater it grows, the less it matters where it originated from.  It is affected by the momentum generated by the splash.  Each ring grows a new ring and so on.  The coolest part is that you usually do not see the rock after it makes its splash.  You see its impact.

The analogy of the splash creating the growing impact seems like something leaders could learn from to grow powerful momentum into their teams and ministries, but often times it seems like the opposite happens.  The leader wants to remain the most visible part of his or her creation.  The front man… the one in charge.. But what happens when that leader leaves the position?  What happens if no one has been taught to continue the pattern of ministry the leader started?  The impact is finished before effects can even happen.

I have been really challenged by this concept.  Perhaps it makes more sense to me than it does to others, but it seems right.  Making a difference by being the catalyst for growth and allowing others to use their gifts to take the lead seems like a healthy way to build and lead a team.  The leader becomes more of a “leader among equals” who enables and equips people to continue to make a difference.  The team member becomes a leader over time who then teaches someone else to be a leader and so on. This seems like basic leadership development to me, but I don’t see this very often in ministry.