I could probably continue in my series of lessons learned for quite some time, but I am going to end the series with this post.  One last lesson I learned is Don't Be Afraid to Be Amazing.  I'm almost 30, but I still view myself as being young.  Young and inexperienced.  To be honest there have been times I have really wanted to do something, but felt as though I wasn't a mature enough leader to pull it off.  It would have been amazing if I would have done it, but I chickened out.  I didn't think I had what it took.

I doubt I am the only one that has ever felt this way.  I think there are lots of people who have some pretty big dreams for what they see God doing through them, but when the rubber meets the road they are afraid to pull the trigger.  Maybe they are worried about what will happen if they fail, or if they can't pull it all off.  Maybe they don't have it all perfectly mapped out.  So, rather than trusting God to pick up the slack, they back down.  They back down, and this miss what God has planned for them.

My suggestion, don't miss what God has for you.  Pull the trigger.  Step out in faith.  Trust Him.  Don't be afraid to be amazing.

Lesson 5, in a series of lessons learned, don’t let the urgent trump the truly important. Every day in ministry people will come to you with their urgent requests.  They will want you to respond to their email first, address the needs of their ministry first, spend time with them first, because in their opinion their need is the most urgent.  But the reality is that although it may be urgent to them, it isn’t necessarily the most important thing for you.

If we respond to every “urgent” request that comes our way we will never accomplish what is truly important. That is why you have to have a clear sense of what God has called you to do, and make it a priority to accomplish that.  For me, that means scheduling time on my calendar each week to accomplish the things that I feel called to, and not letting the business of everything else keep me from honoring those commitments.

To be clear this doesn’t mean you ignore people’s requests, in fact you still have to get back to them in a timely manner.  I would suggest setting of a goal of getting back to people within 24 hours is a pretty good rule of thumb.

It also doesn’t mean that there are not times when the urgent is also the most important.  One example, in times of loss, the most important thing for a pastor to do is be there.  In cases like these the urgent becomes the most important. Outside these extraordinary events, however, we need to be laser focused in doing what God has called us to do, not what people expect of us.

We are called first to be servants of Christ, not servants of the church. Our service to Christ leads us to serve the church, but our marching orders come from Him and Him alone.

Continuing my series on lessons I have learned brings me to a fourth lesson…Don’t Underestimate Kids.

As a children’s pastor you wouldn’t think I would be one to underestimate what kid’s can do, but I do it all the time.  In fact, every time I raise my expectations of what I hope to see our kids at Calvary do, they exceed my expectations every time.  Whether it is memorizing large portions of scripture, remembering to pray for friends throughout the week, or in one of million other ways, kids blow my mind away with how much they can do.

As a parent I am now realizing even more how much I have been underestimating kids.  It amazes me that Jack can sing the lyrics to several songs, quote the names of the books of the Bible, and has a memory that remembers stuff from weeks, months and even over a year ago.  Jack is two, so I know if he can do so much, that there are kids who are 6, 7, 8 and older who can do far more than what the average adult gives them credit for.  They just have to be given avenues to let their potential come out.

Kid’s need opportunities to use the gifts, talents and abilities they have in church. Whether it is singing on a kid’s church worship team, praying for others, raising money for missions, or even doing service projects in the community, kids need opportunities to serve God.  When you given them those chances they will shine…they will blow you away with how much they can do.

That is the fourth lesson I learned, don’t doubt how much kid’s can do, and give them opportunities to be everything they can be.

Lesson #3 – Take advantage of small blocks of time. This is actually a lesson I learned in college, but it has had a huge impact on my time at Calvary.  Every day there are lots of things that need to get accomplished…lessons to prepare, people to counsel, and so much more.  In between these big tasks are often “spare” 10 or 15 minute blocks of time.  A lot of people use those small blocks of time to have a conversation with someone at work, maybe catchup on the news, or check their Facebook.  They feel as though it is only 10 or 15 minutes, so there isn’t much productive they can do with it.  But I have found taking advantage of those minutes can have a huge impact.

Think of it this way, if you work 5 days a week and can find a spare 10 or 12 minutes a day, that adds up to 50 or 60 minutes a week.  An hour a week comes out to be 52 hours of time saved over the course of a year. By taking advantage of a “spare” few minutes each day you give yourself an entire extra work week.  Honestly, I imagine that if most of us tried hard enough we could find not just 10, but perhaps 20 or 30 minutes we waste each day, and that adds up.  Imagine what you could do with 2 or 3 weeks of more time at work.?.?

Lesson #2 – Discover How God Has Created You to Serve.  I enjoy trying new things.  It doesn't have to be something big, it could be leading a different missions team each year, or even like this week implementing a new check-in system for kid's at the church, but I need to have something new going on.  

If I find myself doing all the same things day in and day out for too long I get bored, and if I do it much longer I get burnt out.  The only way to revive me at that point is to give me a new challenge, something new to try and figure out.

That doesn't mean I cannot do any managing of what is already there, as I actually do quite a bit of that, but I always need something new in front of me as well.  Leading is where I get my greatest satisfaction.

I think one of the greatest lessons anyone can learn is how God created them to serve.  Whether it is as leader or manager, preacher or teacher, in drama or music, or in one of a million different ways, finding out the way God wired you is an important lesson to learn.  What about you, have you discovered the way God created you serve?

I am going to take the next several posts to reflect on some lessons I have learned in my first few years of working at the church.  Some of these lessons I have learned from watching others, and other lessons I have learned from the hard teacher of experience.   

Lesson #1 – Don't Underestimate the Small Stuff.  Even the smallest gesture of kindness can have an enormous impact on someone's life, and the relationship they have with you.  In fact, more than likely, it is the small stuff that you do for someone that they will remember most.  

Each week we have dozens and dozens of kids here at Calvary.  On most Sunday's even the most attentive of kids struggles to remember what I taught the week before; however, I have kids remember me coming to their baseball games years after I was there.  Kids may forget what I teach on, but they remember me sending them a birthday card, or a card congratulating them on an accomplishment. The personal touch of noticing the small details in someone's life is what people remember, and it builds trust in their relationship with you.

You could dedicate hours and hours in preparing sermons, and administrating the church, but if you don't take time to notice the small details of people's lives, your ministry will be flat.   Ministry is in the details of people's lives.

My insurance company needs some help with the way they relate to their customers.  I have been with the same insurance company for over four years now, and during that time I have made every single payment on time.  Most months I pay well before the due date, and quite often pay more than the minimum balance due for my policy.  In short I have been a pretty good customer.

This past month though was an exception to my pristine record.  Life was just a little crazy and the bill got put in a pile with some other papers, and I was late in making my payment by a few days (that's days, not weeks).  The day after I paid my bill, I received this letter from my insurance company that must have crossed paths with my payment in the mail.  They wrote…

NOTICE OF CANCELLATION: NON-PAYMENT OF PREMIUM.  Cancellation Date 10/11/09  ***Cancellation Notice***  Due to your failure to remit the premium due, we hereby cancel the above mentioned policy, effective on the cancellation date stated above, at 12:01 AM….A late payment fee has been included.

Now I know that it probably gets old dealing with people who don't pay their bills, but I think my insurance company could use some help in drafting a letter to their customers who miss paying a single bill by a few days, every 4 or 5 years.  Maybe their letter could go something like this….

Dear valued customer,

We just wanted to check in and be sure everything is alright as we didn't get your insurance payment for this last month, and since you have been with us for so long we know that this is out of the ordinary.  We realize that a million things could have happened.  Perhaps our bill, or your payment, got lost in the mail (it happens from time to time).  Or, maybe you have been our of town or just haven't had the time to drop your payment in the mail.  Whatever the reason we just wanted to be sure you were aware we hadn't received your payment yet, and if you haven't already we simply ask if you could get it to us as soon as possible.

Unfortunately we do have some pencil pushers in our office that give us rigid deadlines we have to enforce, so we really need to have your payment by October 11th.  If we don't get it by then we have to close your account, which is something we don't want to do since you have been such a valuable customer for so long.  If there is anything we can do to help you in order to be sure this doesn't happen just let us know what it is.

Sincerely,

_________  __________  Insurance Company

Now that may not be the perfect letter, but opening with "Dear Valued Customer" and closing with "Sincerely" beats opening with "NOTICE OF CANCELLATION" and closing with "A late fee has been included" anytime.  To be quite honest, I am so annoyed by their letter that I am considering going through the hassle of changing insurance companies.  Which is a shame as they would have probably had me as a customer for another 4 or 5 years if they would have approached me being late this one time just a little differently.  

The way you relate to people is important.  Whether you are talking about insurance companies, churches or even friends and family.