Bill was visibly frustrated as he briskly strode into Dave’s office.
“Hey Bill, what can I do for you?” Dave asked pleasantly.
“You can accept my resignation,” Bill snarled.
“What?” Dave replied, in confusion.
“That’s right, I’m done,” he continued.
“OK Bill, I see that you’re very upset; why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”
“Five Smooth Stones is what’s going on!” he said,
“You mean the Christian Rock Band?” Dave asked.
“Come on Dave, what else would I be talking about?” he shot back.
“OK, I just want to make sure I understand what the problem is?”
Bill’s expression twisted as he explained, “It’s really pretty simple, I’ve been teaching Sunday School in this church for almost twenty years now, and it’s been like pulling teeth to get anyone interested in this ministry; especially the kids. We never have any budget, we fight to get teachers, and even when you get some kids in the classroom, you fight to get them interested in anything to do with God. But let some guys with guitars show up, and all of a sudden, we’ve got money to upgrade the sound system, we’ve got an army of volunteers to set up the stage, and the kids are acting like its Christmas Eve.”
“So you’re upset that everyone is excited about this band coming in?” Dave asked in confusion.
“It’s not that I care about the band,” he responded, “I just wonder why no one is excited about working with this ministry until some group of hot shots they’ve heard on the radio comes around. Is this really even about ministry, or is it just a meeting of the ‘Five Smooth Stones’ fan club?”
“OK Bill, I think I understand where you’re coming from. First off, as the Superintendent of the Sunday School, no one understands better than me about the struggle to keep this ministry going, and to get people excited about it; but having a nationally known Christian band just volunteer out of the blue to come, and give a concert here is a blessing, not a curse. This will give us an opportunity to reach the kids in a way that we’ve never been able to before.”
“Will it Dave?”
“Will it what?” he again asked in confusion.
“Reach the kids,” Bill replied.
“I don’t know, but don’t you think that it’s worth a try?” Dave pled.
“I don’t know what I think anymore,” he said. “I’m beginning to doubt that I’ve ever reached any of the kids that I’ve taught over the years.”
Dave’s face fell, “Come on Bill, you don’t really believe that, do you?”
“No really; I’ve watched them come in, and sit through my class like it was detention. They do there time, and then they leave,” he responded. A few years later, when you see them on the street, they either don’t know you, or you find out that they’re living with their girlfriend or something.”
“You know that isn’t every kid’s story,” Dave defended.
“I know, but the good kids seem to come from good parents. They’re fine when I get them, and they’re fine when they leave,” Bill asserted. “I just can’t see where I’ve made any difference in their lives.”
“You’d be surprised.”
“You’re right Dave, I would be.”
Just as Bill finished, an assistant knocked on the open door, and exclaimed, “They’re here!”
“You mean the band?” Dave queried.
“Yup!” the assistant chirped.
“Send them in,” he directed.
Bill rolled his eyes, and said, “I should go.”
“No Bill, you should stay and meet these guys,” Dave replied. “It may make a difference for you.”
With a heavy sigh, Bill grumbled, “I don’t see how, but whatever.”
As two members of the band stepped into the office, Dave quickly moved to the doorway and extended his hand. “Hey guys, we’re excited about you being here. I’m Dave Roberts, the Sunday School Superintendent’ and this is one of our teachers, Bill Walker.”
Bill smiled weakly, and shook the guy’s hands as well.
“It’s a pleasure to be here, and to see you guys again. I’m Chris Smith, and this is Tom Howard. The rest of the guys are unloading our equipment.”
Dave looked confused, as he asked, “So you’ve been here before?”
“Oh yes Sir,” Chris replied. “As a matter of fact, Mr. Walker was my Sunday School teacher.”
The men exchanged a look of shock before Bill turned to Chris, and confessed, “I’m sorry, you do look familiar to me, but your name doesn’t ring a bell.”
Chris smiled knowingly, “Back then they called me Willie.”
“O Lord,” Bill exclaimed. “Little Willie Smith! Of course, I remember you now!”
“It’s been a long time since anyone’s called me Willie,” Chris chuckled.
Dave exuberantly asserted, “So you guys have some history together?”
“Oh yeah,” Bill nodded. We’ve definitely got some memories.”
Sheepishly, Chris nodded in agreement, “Yeah, some pretty bad memories really.”
Again, confused, Dave asked, “Bad memories?”
“Willie, I mean Chris, was going through a tough time back then,” Bill defended.
“It’s true,” Chris affirmed. “It was probably the lowest time in my life. I was here living with my Aunt, while my parents tried to work out their problems with the law, and each other. I was pretty angry, and I definitely didn’t want to be in church.”
With a look of satisfaction, Dave said, “I guess things changed after you got to know the people here.”
Chris grimaced slightly, “I wish I could say that was true. Honestly, I was hateful to everyone here, especially Mr. Walker. This is part of the reason that I wanted to come back; to apologize, and to let you know that you didn’t waste your time on me.”
Bill’s voice was noticeably softer as he continued, “As I remember, you went back to your parents. I guess they got their issues worked out.”
“Not really,” Chris replied. “My Aunt sent me back because she said that I was unmanageable. Things got a lot worse after that. My father eventually went to jail, and the courts took me away from my Mom. I was raised in a Foster home after that.”
Dave almost seemed to be pleading, “So,I guess they got you back in church?”
“No, they were good people, but they weren’t church people,” he said.
“So how do you go from where you were to a Christian Rock band?” Bill asked.
“By the time I was taken from my mother, I was so angry, and depressed that I was thinking about killing myself. I had actually planned it out, but then I remembered something you showed us in class,” he said turning toward Bill. “Do you remember the string that you had that stretched all the way across the room, with the little piece of string hanging from the middle of it?”
“Oh sure,” Bill nodded. “I still have that in my classroom to teach kids about how short this life is compared to eternity.”
“Well it works,” Chris declared. “I remembered that picture in my mind, and I realized that killing myself might end the pain of this life, but that it would simply be trading it for an eternity of pain. That depressed me even more, but then I remembered when you taught about the prodigal son, and you said that no matter what happens you can always come home to Jesus. I couldn’t think of anything else to do, so that night, alone in my bedroom, I asked Him to come into my life, and to help me. And He did.”
Dave could see Bill’s eyes filling with tears, as he exclaimed, “Wow, what a great testimony.”
“You know Chris gives his testimony at every concert, and we’ve seen hundreds of kids give their hearts to the Lord,” Tom added. “Many of them talk about how someone once told them about Jesus, but that it wasn’t until they reached the bottom that they were willing to call out for help. As a matter of fact we wrote a song about it for our second CD.”
“Wow!” Dave gasped.
“Yeah, it’s called “Believing for the Harvest,” Chris added. “I thought of how Mr. Walker’s ministry had touched my life, and I knew that he’d probably never know about it. It struck me that there are a lot of faithful servants out there who pour themselves into kids, without ever knowing whether they’re making a difference. I guess I wanted to honor their service and their faith.”
Pulling out a CD from his case, Tom said, “I just remembered that Chris wrote a little dedication for the song that we put on the CD cover. It says, ‘This song is dedicated to Mr. Bill Walker, and to diligent servants like him, who are faithful to sow and water, knowing that they may never get to witness the harvest. They will never fully understand the impact their lives have made until they get to their Father in Heaven’.”
Bill could no longer contain the tears, as Chris warmly embraced him, “Thank you Mr. Walker.”
“Thank you Willie,” he whispered.
As the two men separated, Tom stepped up and hugged Bill as well, “I want to thank you too Mr. Walker.”
“For what?” he queried.
“Well, Chris is the one who led me to the Lord, so I figure that I also owe you some thanks.”
“God bless you son,” Bill cried.
As the men separated, Chris declared, “We really need to go help the guys set up the stage; maybe we can get together afterward, and talk some more.”
“That would be great,” Bill said as he wiped his eyes.
As Chris and Tom headed out the door, Dave turned to Bill, and smiled, “Where were we?”
Bill smiled sheepishly, and replied, “I believe that I was saying how excited I was about tonight’s outreach, and how I can’t wait to get back into class on Sunday morning.”
Dave’s expression grew more serious, and with his voice was filled with emotion, as he said, “God bless you Bill.”
Tears once again began to flow, as Bill choked, “God bless you Dave.”
Bjcorbin's Blog 
Successful Ministry
Posted in Commentaries, tagged ministry, successful ministry on June 16, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Over the course of several months the Lord spoke to me about what it means to be “successful” in ministry. During that period of time I was exposed to many types of ministry, in a variety of settings, and with numerous different ministers. While my initial impression was that defining what is successful ought to be fairly simple, my journey to a conclusion proved to be more involved than I imagined.
The Lord first challenged me on this subject at a large, conference type, event. A tremendous amount of prayer, and preparation, had gone into this event; and numerous individuals had indicated that they would take part in it. But when the day arrived, almost no one showed up. Understandably, the sense of disappointment was tangible, but in the midst of it I heard the Lord say, “I’m not disappointed”, as He directed my attention toward the small group of attendee’s. He reminded me of how all of heaven rejoices at the repentance of a single sinner, and He seemed to be challenging us to pour into these few souls with the same zeal we had for ministering to a crowd.
I realized that our unfulfilled expectations had caused us to feel as though everything had changed, but that God’s expectations for us hadn’t changed at all. I concluded that, to God’s way of thinking, the chance to touch even one heart warranted all of the effort that had gone into the event. This seemed to birth the question within me of what God views as “successful” ministry.
As with all things, Jesus is our model for ministry. But as I meditated on that I gained an interesting perspective. While the eternal ramifications of what Jesus accomplished through His death and resurrection are undeniable to a Believer, would any modern Pastor aspire to the kind of credentials that Jesus could have claimed for His earthly ministry.
After all, He started with a dozen men that no self respecting church was likely to pursue; He traveled constantly, never really establishing any set location; His followers rarely seemed to grasp the things He said; other Ministers constantly talked about Him behind His back, and though He had a couple of well attended (revival) meetings, by the time His three year run was up, He could only claim a congregation of about 120; none of whom was willing to be seen with Him in town. Is this what God would hold up to us as the picture of success in ministry?
As I looked for an example of a “successful ministry”, my mind was quite naturally drawn to large, and well known, ministries. While we all know that it isn’t the numbers that really matter, it’s hard to deny that we tend to view “big” ministries as being “successful”. While having people positively respond to ministry is an obvious goal, ultimately the content of what is being ministered determines the eternal value of that kind of response (e.g. positively responding to a false prophet can result in many being deceived…).
On the other hand, if a minister faithfully executes the ministry that God gives him, and it is rejected by the people, does that make it unsuccessful? I would guess that in the eyes of most men such a ministry would be viewed as a failure; but in the eyes of God I believe that such a minister would likely be seen as a faithful servant. The scripture says that we are the “aroma of Christ”, which will smell like life to some, and like death to others, which would seem to indicate that how people respond to us is largely out of our control.
Would the Lord intentionally lead a faithful servant to a people that He knew would reject the message? I would submit that the scripture unequivocally supports that He would (see the Prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus, Stephen, John, Paul…). Thus, the manner in which people respond to ministry cannot be the measuring stick that ultimately determines it’s success, or failure. While we can plant, and water seeds, only God can bring the increase. As such, the “results” belong to Him. This conclusion is supported by Jesus ministry, which couldn’t boast widespread support from the people, and yet pleased His Father.
As I returned to the idea of Jesus’ pastoral resume, the one credential that every Minister would likely covet is the supernatural acts (i.e. the miracles) that accompanied His ministry. And while I believe that this is a feature that the Lord means to be an integral part of all that is done in His name, the question is whether tapping into supernatural power is necessarily indicative of “success” in ministry. While my unconscious impulse would have been to think that it is, I was quickly reminded of Jesus’ words for those who claimed to have prophesied, cast out demons, and to have performed “many miracles” in His name (Matthew 7:21-23). Though He didn’t refute their claims, He nevertheless rejected them based on the fact that He “never knew” them.
I was also reminded that Judas had been sent out with the other disciples, and that he’d undoubtedly been a part of the healings, and deliverances, that were accomplished in that period. Yet Jesus said that he was “doomed to destruction”. Jesus also warned of false prophets, performing great signs, and miracles at the end of the age. Cumulatively, these scriptures would seem to indicate that the manifestation of supernatural power is not necessarily a validation of the quality of the ministry, or even of the minister.
The Lord also reminded me that despite the incredible signs of Moses’ ministry, the people wanted to go back to Egypt; and that despite the amazing wonders of Elijah’s ministry, he did not see the nation turn back to God; and that despite the miraculous nature of Jesus ministry, the people rejected and crucified Him. While I believe that the Lord desires His children to walk in the supernatural power of God, it would seem that even this would not necessarily ensure our “success” in ministry.
As I continued to query the Lord on what was valuable to Him, He gave me a vision of Moses striking the rock in anger (Num 20:1-13). And He said that in that moment Moses had “misrepresented His heart to the people”. I could sense what a serious issue this was to the Lord, and a wave of conviction swept over me as I considered how often I’ve been guilty of this same thing.
He reminded me that Jesus said that He didn’t do anything that He didn’t see the Father do first, and I realized that what made Jesus the model for all ministry is that He walked in perfect fellowship with the Father. Always accurately conveying the Father’s heart to the people. By that standard, Jesus was the most successful minister that ever was, or ever could be.
As I pondered the spectrum of “ministry” that I have witnessed, I wondered at how much of it really met this standard. I thought of how many gifted ministers I’ve encountered, who bear little or no resemblance to Jesus, and of how many times I’ve heard such ministers use their “anointing”, or their “calling”, as their excuse for lacking in patience, kindness, gentleness, compassion, self-control… The Lord impressed upon me how ridiculous it is for someone to claim that the manifestation of “His” Holy Spirit within them (e.g. the anointing) is what keeps them from acting like “His” Son, or from displaying the fruit of a life submitted to “His” Spirit.
I was reminded that Moses was a man of power, position, influence, and calling, who had a long history of faithful and fruitful service to the Lord; yet this failure was serious enough to God to keep Moses from entering the Promised Land. While we can have the gift of prophecy, have all knowledge, fathom all mysteries, have faith to move mountains, give all that we have to the poor and even be martyred, if these things don’t come through a heart of love, they amount to “nothing”.
As if to bring it all together, I felt like the Lord said that anytime we accurately reflect His heart, regardless of whether it is received, understood, accepted…, we’ve been successful in His eyes. Conversely, anything that doesn’t accurately reflect His heart doesn’t actually qualify as “ministry” to Him.
As I’ve continued to pray and meditate on these words, it occurred to me that Jesus’ strong connection to the Father was the thing that distinguished His earthly ministry from all others, and that ultimately it is the key for us. In Paul’s letter to the Colossians he speaks of a man who has lost his connection to the “Head”, which supplies the whole body, causing it to grow; and it is difficult not to see a parallel with the current state of the Body of Christ in America. If a once robust human body continued to grow weaker, with its parts seemingly operating independently of each other, and with erratic function, the connection between the body and the head would be the area of prime concern. Yet somehow the Body of Christ seems to be looking elsewhere.
Ultimately, without that strong connection, we have little hope of accurately reflecting God’s heart to a lost and dying world. Isn’t that what the Lord was calling the nation to (2 Chronicles 7:14) when he said, “if My people, who are called by My name” (i.e. the Church), “will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways” (i.e. reconnect with God), “then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (i.e. supplying the body and making it strong again). The eyes of the Lord continue to range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are “fully committed” to Him (i.e. connected to His). If we look, we may find that the problem is simply a loose connection.
Rate this:
Read Full Post »