What Have You Let Die?

That sounds pretty bold, but it’s really a cheap attempt to flatter the concept of this post. It really should be stated as, what passion or hobby have you let fall by the waste side over the course of years or decades?

Let me start off this conversation by being first in line…

There were days when I would go out to Shelby Farms (a local conservatory of land) and just sit for hours and hours searching for the right words to express a segmented experience in my life that I wanted to put pen to paper and write about. Sometimes the end result was poetry or lyric for a song. Categories ranging from friendship, to relationships or maybe a statement about the fact we should have something to say about politics.

Regardless the topic, I knew that this was a daily practice that I made a point to craft, if for no other reason but to look back upon at some point years removed from these experiences. To be able to connect the dots of life through words, when my memory failed to recall the names and places I created memories with. Some with laughter, some with irony, and some with distaste. This is not to look back and long for ‘the good ole days,’ but rather to appreciate how far I’ve come from those times.

What have you let die over time? Was it music, painting, relationships, freedom from something?

Are You An Enabler?

Being an enabler has been a BIG thing for me and has been for a long time. I once was on the staff of a church plant in Georgia and I learned a ton of things while going through that process to the extent I did. We would have various meetings and interviews with Pastors and staff from other churches locally and regionally. The point of all of these sit downs was simply to learn from the experience of others and find ideas, innovation from the mistakes and success that these churches and individuals had.

Some of the questions asked were questions like, “What has been your biggest failure as a Pastor?” That not an easy question to vocalize or answer, still each Pastor or staff member would answer in an honest way.

One of the biggest things that stuck with me from my time and experience during this process was a statement made by my Pastor at the time. He said,

“Because these churches and Pastors have bent over backwards to help us out and teach us, I never want to hear that one of my staff has not replied to an email, not returned a phone call, or denied an opportunity from someone to learn from what we are doing at our church.”

That has stuck with me here at Crosspointe now years away from those conversations and that experience. If you are not enabling other people and churches through the leadership, confession of failures, triumphs, and guidance you have received yourself…then you are not fulfilling your role in ministry the way you should. Instead there is a deeper issue at play, and that attitude of pride will lead you to being burnt out, stressed out and standing alone.