You have what it takes!
I jumped into ministry early in life. I was eighteen when I preached my first sermon and nineteen when I began serving as a Senior Pastor of a small rural Arkansas church. And when you enter ministry in a rather small, conservative, Calvinistic-ish Baptist denomination, you don’t hear a lot of positive messages about having what it takes.
We were always pretty careful to point to the need for absolute dependence upon God with zero self-reliance whatsoever. After all, we’re all just broken sinners, saved by grace, with nothing good to offer the world on our own apart from the work of God in our lives.
Saying something like, “You have what it takes!” might puff a young leader up and cause them to stumble into pride!!
But when this mentor who was quite dear to my heart hugged me around the neck and spoke gently into my ear, “I’m proud of you and you have what it takes to be a great husband and a great pastor,” it made an enormous difference in my life!
I’ve now come to a couple of conclusions, one theological and the other practical, in regard to this kind of positive talk.
On the theological level, I try to remind people that they have what it takes because 1.) God created them in his image, 2.) equipped them with a unique mix of gifts and abilities, and 3.) takes up residence in the innermost temple of our souls via the Holy Spirit to empower us for every task we’re ever assigned.
In other words, saying “you have what it takes” is a matter of recognizing both the creative and redemptive works of God in a person’s life.
And on a more practical level, we live in a culture absolutely starving for authentic affirmation! I’m not talking about mere flattery or fluffy platitudes devoid of real meaning. I mean that we are living through an epidemic of loneliness with a severe shortage of encouragement.
Both women and men are better in every aspect of their lives – at home, at work, at church, among friends, and in their communities – when they really believe that they have what it takes to successfully navigate all of these relationships.
Families get stronger when moms and dads realize they have what it takes to parent well. Schools educate kids more effectively when teachers know that they have what it takes to raise up the next generation. Companies make better products and more profits when their employees believe they have what it takes to do the job well.
But so many of us were taught to be stingy (or were simply never given examples of encouragement ourselves) that we now live in desperate need of this message.
So hear it as you read it.
You have what it takes!! You have what it takes to lead effectively, love other people, and make a dent in the problems around you.
So keep going, and find someone else who needs to hear it and pass the word along!
Keep on growing!
Brandon
This Week’s Big Sermon Idea
The Way of Violence or the Way of Jesus
A sermon idea based on Acts 7:55-60 and assigned for the Fifth Sunday of Easter in the current Year A.
There is the way of violence, in which we are committed enough to our ideals to utilize power, force, and even violence to protect them. Or there is the Way of Jesus, who showed us that there is a love worth sharing even if it means laying down our very lives in the face of violence.
Read and/or Share the Full Article »
And… I also wrote a companion article about this message over at Walk Humble. Check it out!
READ: The Way of Violence Versus the Way of Jesus
Links for Leaders
FEATURED – I opened this week’s edition with a word of encouragement. I was inspired to do so in part by a great article by Dan Rather (yes, the journalist) and wanted to pass it along because, while we can’t turn a blind eye to the problems of a crazy world, we do need to keep noticing all the reasons to live hopefully.
Read: Cultivating Reasons For Hope
More links and resources:
- VIDEO: Disproving the Prooftext – Peter Enns and Jennifer Garcia Bashaw talk about John 14:6 and shed some good light on how we often narrow Jesus’ words too much.
- STORY: Negro Leagues to Build New Facility on Historic Site – Which I find pretty awesome because 1.) I love baseball, 2.) I love learning about the Negro Leagues, and 3.) it’s in Kansas City, less than four hours from my house!
- POST: I’d Go Again In a Minute! – In which Mike Glenn (writing in Scot McKnight’s newsletter) compares ministry to a roller coaster that he would ride again in spite of it all.
- ARTICLE: How Do You Plan the Annual Teaching/Preaching Calendar? – Eric Geiger shares his very detailed and systematic method of planning sermons (and he’s way more on top of things than I’ve ever been).
- ARTICLE: Introvert or Extrovert? Either Way, You’re Created for Connection – Holley Gerth has also written a fantastic book (in which I’m quoted in a couple of chapters because I’m definitely an introvert) on this subject called The Powerful Purpose of Introverts.
- ARTICLE: 5 Things Special Needs Families Need From Their Church – Written by Sandra Peoples, author of Unexpected Blessings: The Joys & Possibilities of Life in a Special-Needs Family.
If you have a resource relevant to pastors and church leaders that you’d like for me to include, feel free to message me. I can’t always promise inclusion but I’ll definitely take a look.
The Latest from Walk Humble
Walk Humble is where I host an ongoing conversation about life, faith, and relationships among people brave enough to admit they don’t have life all figured out yet.
ARTICLE
The Way of Violence Verus the Way of Jesus
PODCAST
Podcast Episode #004: Stop Trying to Fit In
Miss an Issue? Read The Reflectionary Archives!
About the Cover Art: Photo by Tegan Mierle on Unsplash.