A week from next Tuesday closes out this year. So if there's anything you want to get done in 2012, you better get at it. I always feel like there is so much I didn't get done that I wonder, "What have I been doing all year?" Well, for a Pastor, I know a lot of my time is taken up studying, preparing the messages, event and service planning, and in my case, putting together the worship services. I know that seems like a good amount, but there are also the times when people need you, you go visiting, you talk on the phone, you eat out with people, you pick up stuff for the church, you work on the building, that list goes on too. So much of life is just maintenance that you just lose the sense of accomplishment.
This year, however, I want to make sure I don't forget the good things that have been accomplished because my mind has already drifted into the things I need to accomplish in 2013. The year's end brings so much additional stuff too — revising the membership rolls, sending out contribution statements, filing out reports, renewing my minister's license, and so on. It's not hard to stay busy. It is hard though to accomplish anything, especially anything that lasts.
Measuring church growth (or decline) is always hard. Measuring what is accomplished through preaching is even harder. People mature spiritually very slowly, unless of course a life defining moment is thrust upon them. It's hard to tell if they are "getting it" or ignoring it. Accomplishing anything in another person's life is more about how they define it than what you think you see.
That is why it is important to get feedback. Sometimes you think you have accomplished very little until someone mentions what a change has happened in their lives. Change has come to Calvary and the lives of its people. I know the constant battle we have between recognizing spiritual growth over numerical growth, but at Calvary it has been obvious. The constant battling and bickering has given way to a more peaceful determination. People are beginning to accept that most churches do not see phenomenal growth just because they get a new Pastor. And most Pastors don't even get reliable at what they do until they are more that five years into their term.
For me, it was just this last June that I began to feel I could handle this assignment and that people were beginning to accept who I was. Sometimes the thing people want out of church is for the Pastor to be something he is not. It takes a long time to see God's gifting in a person and how it applies to the call he is given.
People are forgetful too. when I came to Calvary I stated that there were certain things I would do and certain things that just had to be done (like a new roof on Dean Hall). In spite of it all I have endeavored to maintain those commitments and move Calvary in that stated direction. When I think of accomplishing things, I measure them against the purposes I stated then. Also, I am getting better at reminding people that I am doing what I said I would — however long it takes.
An example would be the renovation of the facilities as a whole. In our first Annual Membership Meeting I told the congregation we needed to make a five-year commitment to upgrading and restoring the overall quality of Calvary's facilities. Have you ever been in those restaurants that still have good quality food, but they don't take care of the place? Well, that happened at Calvary. We need to understand that most people don't understand the "we're working on it" mode of ministry. All they can see is what they currently see. Being "in-progress" does nothing for those looking at our church. "Done" is the only thing that speaks highly of us.
However, "being done" in church is an elusive task. Things will always grow old and deteriorate without upkeep. Then there is a point that won't even do. Like in your home, there are only so many times you can wash your curtains until they need to be replaced. In church, there is also so many times you can talk about the last revival until you need a new one.
Although the renovation of the facilities is in its fourth year, other areas have been much more difficult — changing the culture of the church, acquiring and training new leadership, maintaining a board of trustees, etc. The most challenging part of these accomplishments is that they have to develop concurrently. you can't spend all of your time building a Prayer Tower and not work on these other areas of ministry.
Then there is the fact that everything you do is under attack. you constantly have to defend your ministry, your family, and even your facility from the enemy. It is misery to see what you have invested so much in completely destroyed by Satan's attack.
What is the answer? First it is remembering all the good things that have been accomplished, the lives that have been changed, the work that has been done. Secondly, it is spending a lot of time meditating on the vision. If you lose the vision you lose the guiding light that drives you and gives you hope. The vision must be big, and plain and clear to all who look at it.
This is the real challenge of accomplishing anything for the Lord — keeping the vision before the people. This means creating such a desire for what could be that they refuse to settle for what is. This is imperative for Calvary to embrace. Not a church that satisfies our needs, but a church that reaches the next generation of our community.
Therein lies my discontent. Whenever I do accomplish something, my mind immediately perceives how it could be so much more. This is the plague of many a visionary. However, that means when your goals are obtained, you won't just sit down and enjoy then until they fall apart, you move on. As believers called to work in this community, let us all adopt the attitude that everything we do is simply a building block for accomplishing more in the future.
Pastor Wayne Biggs
Word of Life, Arlington, Texas
This reminds me of the church I served in Texas under Pastor Wayne Biggs (www.woldfw.org). Pastor Wayne was building a new stage and baptismal area in the sanctuary and I was helping him carry out the old altar rails to the dumpster. As we were throwing them in, he commented, "There was a time when these altars were the greatest thing I'd ever built for the Lord. Now they are trash." I will never forget the feeling that came over me. Pastor Wayne was a visionary. Nothing would ever stay the same around him. Change was his way of life.
Pastor Wayne's pioneering spirit left a deep impression on my life and is what led me to the Assemblies of God. The Assemblies have always been visionary and their Pastors have always been pioneers. Hard work and faith are what have built the Assemblies of God into a major Pentecostal influence throughout the world. I carry that spirit within me, a spirit to accomplish great things, a spirit to change my world. My world is Calvary. My world is Union City.
“Even if I am being poured out like a drink offering
on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith,
I am glad and rejoice with all of you.”
Philippians 2:17
I love this verse because it exemplifies my heart for ministry in two words — sacrifice and service. I believe that this is what it takes to move a church from one generation to the next. It is never about us. It is always about those we can reach for the Lord — our sons and our daughters.
With the end of the year drawing nigh, let us briefly look back and ponder what has been accomplished, but then let us fix our eyes forward and press on to greater works for the Lord.
“One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind
and straining towards what is ahead,
I press on towards the goal to win the prize."
Philippians 3:13, 14