Volunteering to Take Ownership

 “No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor is given by what he gave.”

-Calvin Coolidge (Former U.S. President)

A lot of people at work and in my life ask me what I do on my weekends, and I normally respond with something to the likes of, “Well, I typically start the weekend by helping my church setup our main stage and I serve my church as best I can on Sundays by playing on our worship team and packing up our stage when our church service is over.” At first glance, you may not take notice to a whole lot with my response. In fact, you may conclude that my response would be typical to that of a volunteer in a church or any other setting.

However, re-read the response and take notice of a few words I used intentionally:

“Well, I typically start the weekend by helping my church setup our main stage and I serve my church as best I can on Sundays with playing on our worship team and packing up our stage when our church service is over.”

Those words I emphasized show the main difference between being a volunteer in service and taking ownership of the service itself. A person who truly takes ownership is one who devotes much of themselves to that thing, item, or cause. In my case, I take ownership in where and how I serve at my church.

I am not saying that volunteers are a bad or unnecessary by any means. In fact, a church may live and die by the quality and quantity of its volunteer base at any given moment.

However, a volunteer may exhibit some or all of the following traits:

• A volunteer may only serve when it is convenient on their schedule and may not commit themselves to what may be required or needed. 
• A volunteer may only give what they are comfortable in giving (time, resources, etc.) and not necessarily what may be required or needed.
• A volunteer’s attitude may be one of self-entitlement or self-glory (i.e. I’m volunteering my time and resources, so I deserve the credit) and they may act as if only they can fulfill their particular position.
• A volunteer may not be the most reliable in fulfilling goals linked to the overall vision.
• A volunteer may jump from location to location to serve with other friends or family, meaning they do not fully commit anywhere.

A volunteer, while great in theory, can only go so far with what they are responsible for. I believe that if people are serious about making an impact in their own communities for Christ, they need to get off the volunteer bench and start owning up to their callings.

“But where is the biblical significance of taking ownership of what I do?” one may ask. “Isn’t volunteering my time and resources enough anymore?” I would respond that real, positive change in our culture begins with someone taking personal responsibility and personal ownership for what they do in their service to Jesus, whether with a church, an outreach program, and so on.

However, let us look upon the main biblical principal on taking ownership. The truth of the matter is that everything within our possession or within our care ultimately belongs to God (Psalms 24:1) and because God is our “owner,” we can reasonably expect Him to take care of His possessions with the greatest of care. So when God asks us to manage His possessions (material or otherwise), what should our response be? We should be faithful with them, as instructed in 1 Corinthians 4:

“Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” (Verse 2 [NIV])

Why should you be faithful with what God entrusts to you? Check out His reaction when we are:

“Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21 [NIV])

I don’t know about you, but I want to share in my Master’s happiness! I want to be a person who can be trusted and counted on in the things (few or many) that God places in my charge. I want to have God say to me, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

So what does it look like to be an owner of where you serve or what you do? Check out some of the traits someone who takes ownership may exhibit:

• An owner will serve and fulfill their commitments (the saying “Let my ‘yes’ be yes and my ‘no’ be no” comes into mind here). 
• An owner is willing to give what is necessary and required and then some without hesitation.
• An owner knows that it is not all about them and joyfully gives of their time and resources. An owner also shares their position and responsibilities with other interested people (not being possessive).
• An owner may be considered a reliable entity in seeing the overall vision accomplished in the long-term.
• An owner will remain committed to where they serve, regardless who may come and go.

 My encouragement for you reading this is to step out and seek out a place or position (in your church, local organizations, etc.) that you can passionately serve at. Learn all you can about it and give all you can with joy and see how God transforms your life and the lives of others around you. YOU have the potential to be someone of great importance in God’s eyes, but it starts with being faithful with the few things God places in your care.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start taking ownership of what you do!

Undignified - The Blog Post

"Your life is not a rehearsal. Don't leave it without giving it your all."
-Anonymous

I would like to take a moment and address a question that I have been asked many a time since getting involved in my church. This question, and its many variants, may help some of you reading this into understanding my mindset when it comes to worship.

The question is, "Why do I do what I do during worship sets? Why do I dance around and go crazy every single time?"

This question is pretty simple to answer, but requires more effort to understand. In other words, you have to see it from a few perspectives, but more importantly, from God's perspective.

My answer to this question is thus: I recognize who I am playing for and I know my Audience wants me to give all of my heart, mind, and soul in any matter possible in celebration of His glory.

My answer can be interpreted a few different ways. One way this can be interpreted is that I like do put on a show for people. This interpretation is not entirely inaccurate, but allow me to explain myself. Sure, I love to have fun up there and allow people, especially those experiencing Jesus and the church for the first time, to enjoy the experience with me. Not to sound selfish or prideful, but I get a lot of people who verbally compliment my enthusiasm on the stage and they tell me it is one of the main reasons they come to my church. That is great and I am glad you enjoy what you see, hear, and experience, but that is not my motivation for my worship.

Another way to interpret my response would be to look at the "recognition" portion. I say in my response that I "recognize who I am playing for." This can have a few implications, depending on how you are looking at it, but for the most part, my response implies that I, at one point or another before this moment, did not recognize who God is. We are creations of a sinful nature, destined to continuously make mistakes and come up short to the holy standard God requires in and through each of us. However, He recognizes that this will always be the case and thanks to the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross, He has extended His grace to us in ways that will never fully be understood by the human mind. So when I say I recognize who I am playing for, what I mean is that I also recognize this sacrifice, this grace that is granted to me, and as an act of gratitude, I am compelled to worship.

That partially answers the question that is posed, but let me bring it home for you. I believe God wants my worship of and to Him to be described as one word - undignified. I desire to be undignified in my worship to Him, both on the stage at church and throughout my week, much like King David was when they were bringing the Ark of the Lord into the city of David in 2 Samuel 6. I desire to be like David was then - dancing, singing, and going absolutely nuts with all my might (2 Samuel 6:14-15 NIV) in celebration of Jesus any chance I am able. It is in those moments of "letting go and letting God" that you experience true revelation in your life, whether you fully understand what God is trying to communicate to you or not at that time.

In a nutshell, I go crazy each and every week because I believe that God desires unhindered and unrestricted worship, both in a corporate church setting and in my personal life. I am not claiming to have the "this is how you're supposed to worship" solution as this will be different for everyone. However, I will challenge you to step beyond what may be your normal "church" behavior (going through the motions of repeating words to a song with your hands in your pockets and/or arms folded, etc.) and do what I do - go crazy for Jesus! Get yourself into some open space and give Him your all. Do something undignified in a worship setting (at church, at home, driving to and from work, etc.) and see what God unleashes in you. I guarantee that you will NEVER be the same again!

Processing the Process

"Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures."
-John F. Kennedy (Former President of the United States)

I am a fan of the process.

"The process of what?" one may ask. Am I a fan of the process of building new products, inventions, or even ideas into a tangible reality? Am I fan of the process of destroying an older, outdated method of thought? Or is it that I am a fan of the process of making myself into a better person physically, mentally, and spiritually speaking?

The answer is yes to all of the above.

I am a fan of the process.

Many influential and world-changing people, from Napoleon Bonaparte to Abraham Lincoln, from King Richard the Lionheart to Bill Gates (not the best comparisons, mind you), have had to endure a process of some kind or another, many of which requires great investments of time, money, and even their own families and lives. In the end, however, all these people ended up where they felt they were "called" to go, whether they felt led by God or by some other force they believed in.

I believe that it is this process in our lives that defines the true reality of what God tries to show us on a second-by-second, day-to-day basis. The phrase, "Overnight Success" does not exist in God's vocabulary and I believe most Christians today have a very, VERY hard time understanding this truth. I struggle with this on a daily basis, as well, as I have to keep reminding myself that I am constantly in a process of change or in a process of forward momentum.

Jesus is also a partaker in the processes He was involved in during His time here on Earth. Although you don't hear much about the years before His ministry started on Earth, I am led to believe that Jesus underwent a process to not only strengthen His resolve of love among the people but to fortify His mind with the scriptures His people have come to learn and follow, albeit not to its full extent. There is little talk or scripture evident from His experience as a young boy in the temple of Jerusalem (Luke 2:41-52) to when he set off to begin His ministry on earth. I did take notice to what is written in verse 52:

(after the events in Jerusalem) "And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man."

What really stuck out to me in this verse is the verb grew. It says that Jesus grew in both wisdom and stature. You would think that the Son of God would have it all figured out, that He would be all gung-ho, pedal-to-the-flo, never asking for mo' joe or dough as soon as He was able to walk (this is why I'm not a singer). Still, my point is valid - why would the King of Kings need to grow in the wisdom that is His to begin with?

It's because He's a fan of the process!

Jesus understood the necessity of the process better than anyone, including Mary and Joseph (see Luke 2:49-50). He understood that with the calling His Father has placed upon Him, He would need to be patient, submissive to the will of those placed in authority (even if it was only temporary), and that He would need to gain favor with both God and man (end of verse 52). We don't see Him utilize this in just this part of the Gospel, either. He endures quite a few processes throughout scripture, most notably the 40-day fast in the wilderness (see Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, and Luke 4:1-13), which allowed Jesus to gain more wisdom and stature for the upcoming miracles, recruitment of His personal disciples, and ultimately His big day on Mount Calvary.

While our "process" may not end in being crucified on a cross to rise up three days later, it is nevertheless as important to understand that God has something HUGE in store for those who not only love Him (Romans 8:28) but endure the process He has set before us. Like Jesus, we have to be patient, wait upon God to realize our true potential in Him (see Psalm 37:7 and Isaiah 40:31), and keep moving forward to win the prize (1 Corinthians 9:24).

Always remember that following and pursuing after Jesus will constantly keep you in a process of some kind, whether it is to allow you to grow in wisdom and stature or to align your perspective on one that is heaven-bound. No process that God places you in will ever weaken or detract from your identity in Him, so make the most of the process and continue growing. When you can continuously embrace these processes, you will become a fan of the process, as well!