Admit it, you want that cake now. That’s what I’m talking about.

Anyways, this weekend I was able to take a small group from our church to the church we are going to be partnering with for the next month or two. We did the pickup and distribution with the church and I learned a lot from what they did. I am excited to be starting our own distribution for next month and the people that went are very excited too.

One of my favorite things is that we are planning on getting the entire church involved and working together. Obviously we need people to pickup and setup, but we also need people to check in, hand out, and check out. We also need people to help carry boxes out and greet as people come in. I’ve got a good idea on how each part of the church can help including some stuff that we want to do beyond the normal. My wife use to pickup Angel Food when we were in Missouri. They were very busy and people lined up and hour or so before and were more or less processed like cattle. I’m not a huge fan of that and at this location they weren’t that busy so it wasn’t so bad, but I thought about my wife’s experience and decided it would be nice if we would have coffee and warm snacks like fresh biscuits or cookies during the winter and something like that in the summer too.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be greeted with a cup of coffee and a cookie, or maybe hot apple cider, when you go to pickup your food? Yeah I think that is way better than being processed like cattle.

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Time and time again the leaders in these shows must set aside their own desires, comfort, and even safety for the sake of their people. Some even go so far as to die for them because that is what a good leader does.

Of course, this is not new. Jesus says the one who wants to lead must be a servant to all. This is a very important truth we need to understand if we are going to be God’s servants.

In my church there have been troubles and factions. Last year about this time a man came to me who was trying to get the pastor kicked out. he learned something about me that day and I learned something about him. At the end of the discussion I told him if he really cared about the church like he said he should apologize to the pastor and make himself a servant to him. This man got very angry and shouted, “I serve no man. Only God!” I told him that God called us to serve all men if we are to serve God. I gave him scriptures but he refused it.

When I interviewed with the pastor before being offered the position I told the pastor my view on my responsibilities as a staff pastor under him. I believe I am God’s servant first and foremost. Then I am the pastor’s servant. If I ever reach a place where I cannot be a servant to what the pastor is doing but the pastor is not doing anything immoral, then I must leave and not condemn the pastor. It really bothers me when I see church staff thinking they know best standing against the pastor of a church publicly and tearing a church apart. The staff are leaders and a good leader need to know they come last.

Sure some senior pastors need to get that themselves, but it isn’t the staff’s place to try and force the pastor to become a better servant. This is something I learned by watching 80’s cartoon and then reading my Bible. You want to see a story that could have been the basis for a great number of 80’s cartoon? Try reading about David and how he served Saul even when Saul was trying to kill him. David was a good leader and put himself last. Whenever he didn’t is when bad things happened.

What do you think? Is my head in the clouds? Should I visit the real world? I know if I play the political game I can go further but are my ideals keeping me back or will they bring me further than I can imagine because God is faithful? Should I try to be least or greatest?

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