Live Long and Prosper in Your Ministry!

All right! It is time to get your Sci-fi on! Pull up your polyester pants, and adjust your horned rimed glasses as I take you on a trip through time and space back to 1975! I was eight, and there were exactly four channels on our TV. Most had boring stuff on in the afternoon, but not NBC and ABC. That wonderful time between 3 pm and 5 pm held the jewels of reruns! There was Gilligan's Island, The Brady Bunch, and of course the "piece de resistance", STAR TREK!!! If you were to check my profile perhaps you would note that I am a closet sci-fi nerd, and I credit Star Trek with the green lady, and the phasers set on stun for making me that way. Now don't get worried. I don't go to conventions, or have a poster of William Shatner. I just appreciate their creativity.

Like many of you, I have my favorite Star Trek characters. However, my most favorite of all was Scottie! I thought he was so cool with his accent and red shirt! He was always saving the ship from emanate peril! The Klingons might be attacking and he had to keep the shields going. The best was when they were trying to outrun another ship, and Kirk would say, "Scottie, I need more power!" Then Scottie would say those famous words... "I'm giving her all she's got Captain!" WOW! Weren't you just on the edge of your seat?!!! (You were if you were eight.) I mean, if Scottie blows it they are going to die!!!!! Somehow - someway it would all work out and then Scottie would give that dramatic look and big sigh that seemed to let us all know that he knew how close they had really come to destruction! Hey... are you allowing your "inner Treky" to feel the moment? :) An interesting note is that the TV series ended in 1969 before going into syndication. One year later when the real space mission, the Apollo 13, went into outer space they could barely get anyone to watch it, until something horrible happened.

Truth is, the most amazing space story is not science fiction, but it is the Apollo 13 Mission. A movie was made about these brave men, and their dutiful team on the ground. Apollo 13 was the fifth mission to the moon, and frankly most people weren't tuning into watch. That was until word came that there had been an explosion and their oxygen was now compromised! That is when Astronaut Jim Lovel said those famous words, "Houston, we have a problem." Suddenly, NASA and the men in space now had the attention of the entire world. The story is harrowing, and there were many moments filled with tension and concern if they would make it back home to earth at all.

Back on earth there was a man at the controls. His name wasn't Scottie; it was Jerry Woodfill. He wasn't a Christian at the time, but 18 months later he found himself asking Christ to be the Lord of his life. He accredits all he saw during those three scary days to turning his heart toward God. He said that he had data he shouldn't have had that helped the men stay safe. When the air quality was dire, they fixed the astronauts ability to breath by coming up with an ingenious creation made of suit hoses, cardboard, plastic stowaway bags and CSM canisters that were all held together by duct tape (duct tape that had been left on the ship by "mistake"). Jerry watched people pray, and was amazed how the the astronauts and the ground team seemed to make the right calls even when they were just guessing. The astronauts didn't know how to chart a coarse back to earth because the main navigation system was down, but hidden in the controls was an old program they had forgotten about until just when they needed it. Even the decision to use a smaller engine proved to be the right choice. If they would have used the large one, the men would have died on entry.

I was thinking about these two things the other day, and they inspired me with the thought that average isn't average. In ministry it can sometimes seem like we are on a treadmill. We are going and going and yet we are never quite getting there. That is why when we finally do reach a point where things are going well, we try to keep it just the way it is. The problem with that is that things never stay the same. So, someone moves away and you think, "Well, that was just one person helping." You might have to change worship times and you think what I did worked before so I'll just keep doing that, and yet you see a different set of results. Hopefully before, but defiantly when you reach the point where you can worry or pray you say, not Houston, but "God, we have a problem."

The pressure to produce results can seem overwhelming. You hear the church or your captain the pastor saying, "Scottie, I need more power!" And you desperately say back to the person or situation, "I'm giving her all she's got captain!" Perhaps it is best to to think about what Jim Woodfill discovered.

Average isn't average

Expect Change, and then change: Philippians 3:12 says, "Not that I have already obtained this, or been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." (Paul speaking about not any of us thinking we have arrived spiritually.) The astronauts had a mission to land on the moon. When their panel blew, their new mission was to make it back alive. In our ministry we can never assume we have arrived or that it is just perfect the way it is. Satan is prowling around looking for that one little chink in the armor. When I was a teenager, I went on a mission trip. We were helping at a Christian community center in another town. The center was an old church that had been donated to the Christian organization. The minister took us on a tour of the three story church building. When we got to the third floor, he showed us the bathroom and said that at one time there were so many people that attended,that the church members had to take out the toilets and turn it into a Sunday School room. He said when they finally gave the church to the ministry, they had seven members left! "What happened?", I asked. He said that slowly over time the dynamics of the community changed and the folks who went there did not embrace the people who moved into the neighborhood. Many moved away, and after time the congregation dwindled away. We have to change because people and circumstances are changing all the time. We should always be asking, "God, where are you leading?" You might be struggling right now, then change it. Not by what you have been doing. Set a new course.

If I Only doesn't get you far: Do you ever find yourself thinking, if I only had more workers, or a bigger budget, or ____________? If you have ever thought that, then move over... I am right there with you.:) We have real needs, and can't figure out how to make it work. Sometimes it can seem that everyone is on the wide road and you are over there all alone on the narrow road yelling, "Come over here!" But what if I told you, you have everything you need to make it work? The astronauts could not call the fix it shop. I'm sure they were thinking, "If we only had a new CO2 regulator, a new panel, and a myriad of other items" They did not and no one could bring it to them. What did they have? Just what was on the ship. More importantly they had the Lord, and a desire to succeed. Having a desire to reach people and make your ministry the best it can be is so important. Excitement is contagious, and it drives you to be the best you can. Your best may be a budget of thousands, or (more likely) you may be like the astronauts and have enough for duct tape and hoses. None of this has caught God by surprise. What does God own? Everything. What can He do? Anything! Maybe you need to work with what you have to get where you need to go. God has called you. He loves you and knows you are up to the task. Better yet, maybe you need to stop staring at what you do not have and ask God to allow you to see what you do have through 'new eyes'. Job 42: 1-2 says, "Then Job replied to the Lord, I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted." Philippians 4:13 says,"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." God is I AM.

God is enough: When I was a church planter's wife I saw churches start and grow to thousands. I also saw many church plants fold after a certain amount of time. What made the difference? Would it surprise you if I said that it could be based on choices and leadership, but maybe the difference was nothing at all. God has called us to do His work. He does not send an e-mail outlining a thirty year plan. We should ALWAYS give our best and work as if what God has called us to will always be. That said, when times are tough or not at all. God is there. No soul saved, or person mentored, or life touched is a waste. What we need to hold to in ministry is the knowledge that because of our faith in Christ because of what he did for us, our lives and our eternity is changed forever. For that, I have to give you a look just like Scottie would. A look that says we can now stand before the thrown of Grace. We have dodged an eternal bullet. That makes me want to "Give it all I'VE Got through Christ!"

What ways has God showed you that He is enough?

Philippians 4:19 " And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."