Considering the tenor of this thread, I probably should be exercising my better judgment, but here goes...
What ministries has God opened for me? Well, my primary ?church? ministry is serving as Finance Director. It is a salaried position. I am a department of one, which means I touch every penny of income/expense in all our various ministries. But I don?t mean to imply that I do all the work myself. In reality, I simply support the work of all our ministries. Except for our semi-annual business meetings when I talk ?budget?, it?s mostly a ?behind the scenes? position, which is just the way I like it!
Other than simply working with numbers, which I believe is one of my giftings from God, the thing I like most about my position is that it often allows me to be the bearer of good news to hurting people. Yes, first and foremost, it means I have the opportunity to present the Gospel. But some of my most poignant interactions with hurting people come through our school. I have had parents burst into tears of gratefulness when I present the good news of the financials to them. That?s a truly humbling experience! My most memorable experience has got to be the lady who came in to get a statement of her school tuition obligation to prove expenses for her Section 8 rent. The bulk of her child?s tuition is paid through a low-income scholarship program. I told her that I would certainly give her a statement, but that I didn?t think it would help her case. So I printed up the statement showing her balance as $13. She started jumping around, praising the Lord so loudly that the rest of the staff in our suite of offices came running to see what was going on. As it turned out, she didn?t realize that the scholarship award had gone up, although our tuition hadn?t. So she was expecting a bill around $500.
I am also a Sunday School teacher to a group of ?single? women. Most are widows or divorcees, but some are married women with husbands who do not attend church. Years ago, I joined this class in the latter category. One day, the teacher asked for volunteers to teach a lesson a month. The lady next to me poked me in the ribs and said, ?You should do this?. Well, I wasn?t too keen on the idea, but for some strange reason (Holy Spirit?) I gave a half-hearted wave in lieu of actually raising my hand, so two of us became co-teachers with our official teacher. The other lady dropped out, but I continued with my once a month lesson. I found that I got more out of the lesson as a teacher than I did as a student. Fast forward a couple of years, when the teacher asked me to take over the class. I agreed, and taught it for a few years. But it started to wear on me, so I informed the class that I was thinking of disbanding (it?s a small class) after we finished the current series of lessons. Well, to my surprise, they all offered to co-teach. So now we are all teachers! And just like me, they have found that they learn more as the teacher than they do as the student. Praise God!
I also serve on our media team. I run the screen in the Sunday AM service. When I signed up, it was supposed to be a once a month position. Well, that didn?t work out. So we are a team of two. My counterpart runs the screen in the Sunday PM service. To be honest, I volunteered only to help out by filling an empty spot. Even though I do not have a ?burden? for this job, God has blessed. When I first started, it used to make me physically ill when I didn?t have the words I needed or the video didn?t work. But now, I get a bit of a kick when the platform goes off-schedule. I even minister to the rest of the media team when things don?t work out right. My stock phrase is, ?Well, this is simply another lesson in forgiveness!? A good friend sits in the choir. He can always tell by my body language what is going on. When the worship leader goes off-schedule and sings a verse I am not expecting, I lean in toward the monitor to find the verse he is singing. If I don?t see it, I blank the screen. Or when the video doesn?t work, I just make the ?oh well? signal with my arms. In conclusion, even though I do not have a burden for this position, I still find satisfaction in it when it goes as planned, and can see the humor in it when it does not. If someone really wants to fill the position, I would give up my chair in a heartbeat, but in the meantime, I?ll simply enjoy the blessings God gives me through it.
As to my outside activities, I have what I call my ?pool table ministry?. I call it that because most of the connections I?ve made with my son?s friends are those who come into my game room to play pool. My computer and radio is in that room, so I?m there most evenings. Many of these young people are what I affectionately call ?strays?. I call them that because they have been thrown away by their families. I also have had a few ?floppers??those who don?t have a bed to sleep in, so they flop on my couches. But I?m happy to report that I haven?t had any of those for awhile because they have moved up in life. I get to present the Gospel to them, mentor them, or simply share with them the songs playing on the Christian radio station I listen to. What I have found is that these young people just want to be treated with dignity. And that?s what I try to do for them. I endeavor to show Christ to them through my living testimony. And they have blessed me in so many ways! For example, one young man brings his tractor over to either mow my pasture or grade my dirt road. He tells me that he does it because he is bored, but I know he does it to do me a kindness and he knows how much I appreciate it. Another young man brought me a plant to put on my desk when he found out I moved to a new office. And they are quick to do an errand or the heavy lifting for me. So again, what I meant to be a blessing to others has blessed me much more richly?
And I would be remiss if I didn?t mention my Saturday morning routine. I meet with my former Sunday School teacher (yes, that same one!) for breakfast and fellowship, and then prayer time. She actually initiated this to mentor me. But it has turned out to be so much more. We are now on the level of equals, meaning that I bring as much to the table as she does. And the prayer time! God has taken her outreach of mentorship to a whole new level. He has turned us into Prayer Warriors! Goodness, I can?t even think about it without tears coming to my eyes. It?s intense. It?s draining. It?s exhilarating! And it feeds my soul in such a way that I can?t even describe it. Sometimes I can do nothing more than go straight to bed when I get home?
My personal testimony is this?I accepted a staff position to be a blessing to my church. I welcomed some young people into my home. I accepted an invitation to breakfast from a person I liked and respected. But God took those things and made them into something so much more. His ways are higher than my ways, and He has blessed me immensely. Praise be to God!
