High Fives
Gary Harrison
I generally hate interruptions, especially when I sit down to write. I find birthing an article difficult, but no sooner had I sat down to write my door opens and a couple walks in. As Marie was calling to me, a phone call came in. Arrrgh! Except that the phone call was from a pastor calling to thank me for something I had written in my Pinnacle prayer letter he found very encouraging. Hanging up after speaking with him, I turned to the couple whom I discovered had come by to thank me for recommending several places for their pastor to go to take a break. The man was an elder in his church and he and the other guys noticed that the pastor was running out of gas. He called, and I suggested five places he that he could go to, depending on his needs. A well needed break is in the planning books as a result.
Amazingly, when I sat back down to write, I felt so much lighter. Appreciation…celebration…words that I do not always see adequately practiced in our evangelical churches these days. I don’t know, perhaps it’s our Puritan heritage, or our American self-sufficient disposition, but I think we might be like the husband who was criticized by his wife for not saying “I love you” enough. He said, “Woman, I said I love you at the altar, and it stands till I revoke it!”
What do you do to celebrate those volunteering, your staff? We are in the throes of VBS prep right now at our church, and I can witness firsthand the hours and hours that many volunteers put in to ensure kids partaking in our VBS have a wonderful experience. A month ago, it was a community rummage sale we held to raise money for missions - again probably a hundred man-hours (or in this case, woman-hours!) invested to make the event a success. How do we thank and celebrate such selfless service to our Lord?
Be creative! One year, we had an especially fruitful VBS where 43 kids surrendered their lives to Christ! At that time, we had a tradition of putting a rose on the communion table for each decision. We could have just put up a vase of flowers, but we didn’t do that. What we did was distribute 43 flowers around the congregation (unbeknownst to the VBS leaders) and when they were on stage, we announced the results. I was able to say, “Congregation, you know our tradition…” whereupon 43 people got up from around the church, came up on the stage and laid flowers in the arms of our three leaders, “…and that’s why we invest in VBS.” Not a dry eye in the place. The Lord was praised, people were celebrated, and vision was cast.”
I don’t think I’m doing violence to the text when I quote Psalm 107:2, “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so!” I know I’m on safe ground agreeing with Paul when he said, “…speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord…” (Eph 5:19). Pastors and ministry leaders, celebrate your people. Rejoice in Kingdom advances. Let your people know they are the most valuable people in Kingdom ministry, for without them, we would have no ministry!