God gave me the privilege of serving nine others that weren't listed in the last post: Joan, Karen, Elaine, Charlene, Megan, Cindy, Jodi, Jay and Marlin. While I had a role in bringing seven of them onto the Grace team, they too are following God assignments, I was just a pawn in what He was doing.
These nine servants of God and thereby Grace Church, do so, for that very reason. Each of them has a deep love for God and giving Him their very best each and every day. They felt led by God to serve Him at Grace Church and are being obedient to those assignments. As God gave me the chance to get to know each of them and serve side-by-side with them, I came to appreciate their love for God. In addition to being good people, I came to admire and respect the work they do. In my pre-Grace God-given assignments, I had the opportunity to fill the roles each of them fill.
Believe it or not, I was the facility person. When the furnace didn't fire on a wintry Sunday morning, I was the one crawling into the furnace rooms to diagnose and get the thing re-fired. I created the weekly Sunday bulletin, printed it, folded it and stuffed it. And one week I was the one that forgot to insert the clip-art images and instead published a bulletin with empty boxes. I processed the purchase vouchers and cut the weekly checks. I did the monthly payroll. I answered the phones. I was the computer troubleshooting guy. I accomplished a lot in each of those areas and also my share of mistakes. Having these experiences gave me a tremendous understanding, respect and admiration for the work each of my team members did.
Few of us were/are professionally trained for what we do, but that's nothing new in the history of God's creation, the local church. The first church staff's weren't professionally trained either. In addition to being individuals who love God and people I admire and respect, I valued their contribution to my ministry.
My strengths lie in analyzing problems/situations and breaking them down. When not in check, I over-analyze which adds a challenge to decision making. Working with this team, I came to value their opinions and intuition. I trusted what they could bring to the table to guide me. We would not have been as effective as we were had it not been for what each of them brought to the table.
I thank God for the opportunity to have impacted their lives and more importantly, how God used them to impact mine. So closes my almost 10 years at Grace.
