Saturday, July 21, 2007

Be innovative

a Jesus thought...
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. (Mark 13:31)

a Godly thought...
Praxis is to engage in ongoing cycles of action and reflection to seek transformation. Our actions inform our belief systems, more than our belief systems inform our actions. (p50 Barker)

a leading thought...
We set young leaders up for a fall if we encourage them to envision what they can do before they consider the kind of person they should be. (R. Ruth Barton)

a Dave thought...
The other morning I was listening to SEN - a Melbourne sports radio station as they conducted an interview with Mark Williams, one of the elite coaches in Australian football circles. When asked the question what are the two essentials required to make it in the cut thoat coaching environment, he answered "an ability to work at least 70 hours per week and you must be innovative". When I heard this I thought surely this would apply to ministry as well, especially officers & youth pastors. Unless we are willing to be sold out to God and make it part of our lifestyle rather than the hours we get paid for it is just a job. Also if we unwilling to help change the way we do ministry and be the Salvos in this 21st century postmodern culture, we are not letting God use us to shape the future. Please be innovative, it is our only hope!

Just a thought.

2 comments:

james said...

thats a great post dave! Mark Williams is probably the best coach going around at the moment. Go the power! hahaha

i agree, i often have this conversation with people. why do i or others do more work than we get paid or are required to do. The answer is simple.

its because of Jesus.

Ive been challenged heaps about this since ive started getting paid to be a Christian!lol thanks for the reminder dave

Sarah Eldridge said...

I agree with both you and James Dave. It comes down to whether you see your job as a career or as a calling. For me, I feel like I'm the luckiest girl alive to be paid to do what so many do for free. I mean, being a Youth Pastor is the best job on earth. You literally get paid to hang with kids and pray for them, and talk about God and have coffee and go to the movies and go-karting... what job on earth would be better than that? And I get to do mine in Torquay! (sorry to rub that in, but it's too late now - you can't have my job - though I'd be willing to do a job swap for your next overseas trip!!)

But at the end of the day, there is a great responsibility that goes with being a Pastor or Youth Pastor... you are responsible for ensuring that your "flock" are constantly being challenged and inspired to know more of God, and to explore their faith on a deeper level. And there's no KPI's for you to know how well you are doing your job. Often you won't know until you get to Heaven whether your ministry produced fruit or not.

I am thankful that there are an increasing number of people out there willing to be sold out for God and give up their time to work over and above the "call of duty" in the Army... And it can only get better from here with the launch of 2Love! I believe the next generation of Salvationists will be the ones who take the Army to a whole new level! :) Bring it on!

Hope to see you guys soon - come for a visit!