Serving the church

Oh gosh this is going to be a hard post to write. Why? My Monday posts are specifically written for my church families that I serve every week. I'm the Director of Children's Ministries at my church. I absolutely love these families so very much. They bring such life and joy to me. I've been in this role for about 5 years. Wow! That's even hard for me to believe. I've been around just long enough to have a good handle on the church, people that make up the church, and the ins and outs of a church.

The church is a completely beautiful place when I sit and look at what all happens on a daily basis. Church is not just on Sunday or Wednesday. The church can also be a very difficult place to work. It's hard work being all "Jesus-y" all the time. We are people who are sinners and fall short all the time. Our hearts are pure, our intentions are good, our energy could be better, and our focus sometimes gets lost. We are real live people who love Jesus who are not perfect.

Ok, got that out....let's go to the hard stuff. I need you to know that I am a big, ole church geek.I listen to sermons all the time. ALL THE TIME. I follow pastors on blogs and twitter. I think I do that so I can learn as much as I can from as many people as I can. I want to be a great leader.
I want to learn all I can about Christ. I'm all about the church y'all. It's almost an obsession. Is that bad?

Anyhoo...I'm listening to a sermon series called No Perfect People Allowed. And, can I just say that this is one of my favorite pastors EVER. His name is Perry Noble. He has a fascinating story behind the church and I love the way he teaches. In this series, he was talking about serving within the church. This is where I might upset someone, but I feel God pressing it on my heart so heavily that I gotta stick it out.

1 Corinthians teaches about the gifts that we are given and serving within the church. The body is made up of many parts. MANY parts. We can't expect all the eyes and ears to do all the work. We need all the other parts to step in and do their job.

The following statements are not mine. These are Perry Noble statements. And, he stepped on my toes. He may step on yours too.

**How are you actively serving in the church? The key word is actively. Not sporadically or when asked to do a one time deal. Actively.

**There are gifts within you that may not be unlocked because you have the attitude of "I don't do that or I can't do that." Once you start serving, God will unleash these gifts because you are serving. We can't begin to imagine how He will unleash something within us once we start serving.

**We need to take away the focus of being spoon fed and making church all about us. At some point we must take responsibility for our walk with Jesus. Do you really want to be spoon fed forever?? Matthew 5 tells us that we will be blessed when we hunger and thirst for righteousness because we will be filled. You MUST SEEK Him and He will fill you. Don't expect the church to do it all for you.

That's enough for today....so, lets go back to the question? How are you actively serving your church?? When we are in service, the focus becomes less me directed and more Christ directed and at that point, He will unleash some amazing things. Don't we want to be an amazing body working together as we should be??? I want us to be unstoppable because of the lives we are transforming.

I'm praying for all of us, my home church people and every single one of you. I'm praying that we begin to ask God "How can I actively serve you and your church?" I want us to explode with gifts that we can't contain ourselves!!!

Now, that wasn't so bad was it? ;)

Hugs and blessings~