Serve by Design

Vocabulary has changed over the years with our advancing technological culture and the use of cloud-based storage for our digital data. My son-in-law, Reece, works for a major computer chip company that utilizes their expertise in the development and maintenance of server farms to manage cloud-based storage. When looking at the super-sized buildings out by the St. Louis airport that are devoted to aeronautical manufacturing, he commented, "We have server farms the size of that facility!" I have been learning some new video film-editing skills with the help of my oldest grandson, Brady. He gave me a tutorial session recently to show me how to edit the Sunday sermon recording that we upload to our church website. I will not soon forget his frequent counsel that morning as he said, "Remember, Poppi, don't go rogue! Read your paper instructions first!" With apology, I simply explained, "I was only trying to impress you!" To which he politely stated in hi...

This is the season of Lent for churches following the Christian calendar. Our church has been participating in a version of Lent for several years now. There have been times in the past when a guest speaker was invited to lead in revival services for a few days. On most occasions, the pastor has preached special messages on personal renewal to encourage humility, repentance, and selfless service for others during the weeks leading up to Easter. Again this year, we have plans to commemorate the Lord's death on the cross with a Maundy Thursday "Service of Darkness" and observe the Lord's Supper. And of course, we will be rejoicing in the Risen Christ on Easter Sunday morning as worshipers share the Paschal greeting and acclamation, "Christ is risen! He's risen indeed!" These Easter practices are like a spiritual spring cleaning! The "tools" of spring cleaning! My Mother practiced another kind of spring cleaning. It was the literal seasona...

Our church is getting ready to begin a new season of leader enlistment and development. We plan once again this spring to conduct a workshop called Design 1.2.3. This involves matching the gifts of potential leaders with a place of meaningful service. Letters are sent out to several individuals that the Nominating Team may consider new to the church, on the fringe of involvement, or otherwise underutilized. In many instances, these individuals are ready and even eager to serve the church in some capacity, but have not been asked and trained for service. Design 1.2.3. is simply the first step in the process of ministry deployment. In the invitation letter to these potential servant leaders or mentees, we indicate what we plan to accomplish during a couple of hours on a selected Saturday morning. In the first hour, we give out a self-scoring gift inventory that identifies what the individual is interested in as well as any demonstrated skills that could match with a particular area of ...

I had a friend who recently credited me with his renewed commitment to regular exercise. I was surprised by his compliment, but as he explained the context for this admission, I remembered some of the specifics from that beginning conversation. We were doing some business during dinner and talking about a basket of very cheesy biscuits that had just been delivered to the table by our server. I think my friend and I speculated how many of those delectable carbohydrates we could ingest if calories didn't matter. I confessed that for me such "carbs are a killer!" The friend agreed! I then began to share how at the beginning of 2011 I made a decision to get myself in shape for a trip to the Holy Land and other biblical sites of the Middle East three months later. I have a close friend who chided me, "You need to get yourself in shape! I'm not carrying you up Mt. Sinai!" Imagine how ambitious, if not audacious, my plan to reverse fifty years of no exercise and ...