It’s not about me

I went to lunch with a friend today. That does not seem like much, but if I told you drove 7 hours Friday evening to have lunch with me Saturday afternoon; only to drive back 7 hours immediatley following our lunch…you may say wow! I did! He worked with me this past year with the youth ministry as the Jr. high leader up until he moved to California this past March to pursue an assitant pastor position at his home church. He is doing well and it was great to see him before I head back east next week.

He called me and told me he wanted to meet me for lunch at our usual spot…which was the Panda House Stir Fry! Absolutley the best stir fry ever and it is a BUFFET, so how could you go wrong. I thought he was kidding, but he wasen't he got in Friday evening and we had lunch at noon on Saturday…then just as he said, he started his trip back to CA at 1:45!

So why do I tell you that? Well, he asked me a question. He asked, "What is the most important lesson you have learned in ministry?" Without delay I said, "It's not about me!" Once I said it, my mind went back to Denver 2005, our area youth convention with the Wesleyan Church. I had 7 adult sponsors with me and 5 of them were complaining because they did not want to go to the concerts and the extra stuff they had going on. So I pulled them all together and told them that this was not a vacation for them…that their attitude needed to reflect a desire to be there and to participate because if the teens noticed that we didn't want to "be there" then they would not want to either. And then I told them, "This is not about you! It is about these teens and what God is going to do in their lives!"

We all have our times when we don't want to do something…I know I have been there. But as a pastor if every time I felt like not going to church and preaching or someone called and wanted counsel and I didn"t want to listen to them, then my ministry would fall by the way side. The truth is, I have felt this way many times, however I need to stop, pray and remind myself that this…the life God has called me to…is not about me! It's about the message, it's about a mission, it's about the masses, and it is about a Messiah; who loves and cares for the hearts of each person we come in contact with on a daily basis!

As I sit here my mind has gone back to my lunch today with my friend. I realize that when I told him that the most important lesson I have learned in ministry to date was "It's not about me," he already has learned that or at least is living it. He didn't have to come 7 hours to meet me for lunch…with gas prices as high as they are and getting in late Saturday night and having to be at church early the next morning…but he did anyway. Because obviously when it was all said and done, he knew, it was not about me.

Thanks Greg!