Apr 01 2009 08:14 pm
Posted by Gary under Uncategorized
For Heaven’s Sake–Speak Up!
by Gary Shockley
This past Sunday morning I was the guest preacher at a church about an hour away from home. Kim and I were out the door and in the car by 6:30 am to arrive for their early morning worship service. Three services later and we were back in the car heading home. I don’t get to preach every Sunday—especially three times—so I was pooped!
My physical weariness was overtaken, however, by the glow of being with a vibrant community of faith. Better still, I got to speak one-on-one with three young adults who impressed me as having ministry gifts—the kind that could possibly lead to church planting. Seems I can’t go anywhere without having my “church-planter-radar” up and running. How else will we ever find 1,000 people called to plant new communities of faith? Instead of recoiling at my question, “have you ever considered full-time ministry?” each leaned forward and said something to the effect of, “you know I have given some thought to that BUT I didn’t know where to go with it.”
It strikes me that in the Anglo community especially we seem to have an aversion to “speaking into” the life of others. I don’t know if we’re afraid we might scare folks or that we’re unduly concerned we might get their hopes up prematurely. Whatever the reason we tend to keep what we sense God may be doing in others to ourselves. In doing that we might be robbing the kingdom of some high potential church planters and pastors!
My non-Anglo church friends tell me they seek to identify ministry gifts in the children and youth of their faith communities and “speak into” their lives while they are young. They confirm these gifts by encouraging these young people to preach, share their faith, teach, lead worship and participate in other forms of ministry. The church acts as a kind of incubator for ministry. Isn’t that cool?
I’m in ministry today only because my pastor, but more importantly, key lay people in the church saw something in me and spoke into my life. I had never preached a sermon, taught a Sunday School class, sat in on a meeting, or shared my faith with anyone but they saw something in me and spoke up about it. In a sense they drew my calling out of me.
I was asked to take a part-time student pastorate in an inner city church while I was in college. I knew nothing about everything it takes to be a pastor. Once again God brought people into my life to affirm my calling and patiently work with me to build the skills I needed for ministry. One Sunday morning Ted Sikes, a vice-president for a local bank, walked into the sanctuary with a video camera and taped the entire worship event. After worship we met in my tiny office to review the play by play. It was embarrassing. I was horrible! Ted said to me, “Gary, my goal is to help you become the best pastor your next church has ever had!” He didn’t expect perfection from me. He just expected me to be open to God’s plan for my life. I owe a great deal to him.
How many young men and women do you interact with on a regular basis and think to yourself, “She/he would make a great pastor!” What’s holding you back from speaking into their hearts? Our unwillingness to step out in faith in this regard might just be one of the reasons our church has been in steady decline. Pray about that. Ask God to help you identify those who are being called by Him then, for heaven’s sake, speak up!