St. John Studies

Photo of Eleanor Josaitis below…

You might say I am a reader. Since 1998 when I finally recognized the true value of loving Jesus, I have read many books on Christianity.

Many of the authors use what I call personal testimonies to make their point.

Bill Hybels is no exception.

Chapter 5 in his book Holy Discontent is entitled “A worthy fight” but most of the chapter is about a woman who had a holy discontent that was a big risk and she went ahead with her plans despite the challenges.

Her name was Eleanor Josaitis and she is the founder of an inner-city organization in Detroit devoted to erasing racism, poverty, and injustice.  It is called Focus: HOPE.

Without rewriting Hybel’s whole chapter, I will recount the basic point of his chapter.  Eleanor was watching a documentary on the Nuremburg Trials after World War II.   As she learned more and more about what Hitler’s Nazi Germany did to so many human beings in concentration camps, she wondered what she would have done if she had lived in Germany during the 1940’s.  Then the documentary was interrupted by breaking news of a civil rights march in Birmingham Alabama that had turned into an all-out attack on the peaceful marchers.   If you are old enough, you remember the fire hoses, Billy clubs, and cattle prods. 

Sometimes a distant problem seems so far away that we just mentally file it away with a wince and say “that’s too bad.”

For Eleanor, Birmingham was much closer than Germany but it was still “down south.”

Then her own city was torn apart with riots. 

Instead of moving out of her suburban home to some other city, Eleanor and her husband packed up the family and moved right into the heart of Detroit; she moved toward the problem instead of away from it. 

This is the stuff of heroes.  When there is gunfire, marines run toward it.   When there is a fire, firemen run into the burning building.  When a crime is being committed, police intervene to restore law and order.

Eleanor and her family dug into downtown Detroit and were determined to bring hope to the poorest of the poor.  First of all, she found ways to provide food for the poor of inner city Detroit.   Then she decided that she had to give hope through training and education.  Some needed jobs and some needed to go to school.  At the writing of Holy Discontent, the Focus HOPE program had helped 8,000 people get jobs with starting salaries that are double the minimum wage.    Focus HOPE is not all about Eleanor.  It is about volunteers.  Ms. Josaitis is masterful at recruiting volunteers.   Focus Hope does have paid staff but it also enlists help from 50,000 volunteers.   People show up to help because they know there is a need.

Back to the main point.

What caused Ms. Josaitis to act?

She saw a need right in her community; a holy discontent welled up inside her to make a bad situation better.   She had one of those Popeye moments:  “I can’t stands no more!”

Most of us don’t have to look far to find a situation that needs attention.  Go to “volunteermatch.org” and see the places in the Hopkinsville area where you can plug in your talents.  Today there are a hundred locations where you can inquire.  Look around at what is going on at your church.  An active church is a hotbed of activity, where the church is reaching out to help the community in numerous ways.

You have all heard the old cliché about the three most important factors to consider in starting a business:  “location, location, location.”  Well proximate location is what drives most of us to act.  The problems halfway across the world just don’t move us.

It is the problem down the street that gets us motivated.

Whatever it takes, that’s ok.  The needs are real.  Let’s get to work!

I try to post my thoughts on a book every other day but on the day I was to post, I developed a fever and have been feeling poorly since.   Been to the doctor and am beginning a round of antibiotics.   I hope to be feeling better soon but it hasn’t happened yet.  Anyone who reads St. John Studies should get an explanation and here it is.  It was probably that little thing above: a tick.   My wife found him on me yesterday.

Be careful out there this summer.

Sorry for the interruption.   Hope to be back soon.

David Carter

Feeding the Frustration…

Wow, what a title for a chapter in a book about taking action to do God’s work…your “holy discontent.”

I don’t know about you but when I get the robo-call from the Alabama School for the Blind asking me to buy light bulbs, a visit from a young man trying to sell “miracle cleaner” or when I see the commercials about the poor starving kids in Ethiopia, I sometimes don’t want to participate. 

I guess it is natural; we turn away from what makes us uncomfortable.  Maybe the school needs the money, and the young man looked poor and probably needs funds to live and of course the kids appear very forlorn as they stare into the camera begging me for a check so they can have food.

But I get off the phone quickly, I may not even go to the front door and I switch channels to local news.

Bill Hybels says not to do that with your “holy discontent;” he says move toward it, get close to it, and expose yourself to the need that is bugging you.  If you are feeling discomfort, that’s ok.  That discomfort may just spur you on to action.

I am going to give you a personal example.  It is born from recent months, the months following an accident where I broke my pelvis.   I should not dwell on this period of my life because it was pretty difficult.   I hurt a lot.  I had limited mobility.  I had to sit most of the day for three months.  

Why do I return to it for my example?  This period in my life taught me a lot.   I don’t want to forget my lessons even though my wife thinks I dwell on this time too much.  She wants me to move on.

Following my accident, of course I could not drive.   The doctor would not allow it.  My wife was my chauffer. 

Many times she would drive me by the corner of Lover’s Lane and Lafayette Road.  I would turn my head to the corner and see a horrible collection of trash.  You know the usual stuff, paper, cups, beer and whisky bottles but even the road signage was bent downward, which added to the ugliness of the corner.   I don’t know who owns the property but it looked awful.   It was not my property to clean up but it bothered me.  For three months I drove by the corner and I could do nothing about it.  I could not even get out of my car except with the aid of a walker.

I knew I had to do something about this and I pledged I would after I recovered enough to be able to walk.  It was a simple example of my “holy discontent.” 

When I recovered and was cleared for driving, I drove past this trashy corner a lot.  It was on the way to town from my home.  I began slowing down and looking at the trash every time I went past that corner.  When was I going to clean it up?  

I could not get away from it.  It was there every day.  When I slowed down and really looked at this location, it disgusted me more than ever.

But why do it?   It was not my corner.  I am not sure people would approve of my efforts.

But I was pledged.  I was convicted. 

Finally, I took two large garbage cans to the location and started picking up the area.  The garbage was nasty and there was more in the grass than I could see from the road.  There was a ditch and it was full of pizza boxes, beer cans and bottles.  I was not sure I could do it due to my diminished strength but I took the road warning signs and pushed them straight up so they looked like they were supposed to look.

As I was working, several people drove by and looked at me or rather stared.  I did not worry about them.   I just concentrated on the task at hand.  I filled up the trash cans and headed for a public dumpster.   As I left the area, I looked back and saw that I had done some good.

Was this a significant “holy discontent?”

Not really.  It does not rank up there with devoting a year to being a missionary in Haiti or trying to save the orphan children of Nepal but it was a step forward for me.

I did not turn away from it.  I exposed myself to the need, I got close to the situation and I finally moved toward the area. 

That is what Pastor Hybels says we should do about our “holy discontent;” when we have a conviction to do something, don’t turn away.  Walk toward it.

I have other pledges I have made to myself and I look forward to fulfilling them. 

My wife is right.   I probably dwell on my recent infirmity too much.  

As Pastor Hybels recommends, maybe I need to expand my world and find other areas of “holy discontent?”  They are out there waiting for me to discover them.

I will but I will never forget my corner…a small spot on this earth where I did some good.

And satisfied my “holy discontent.”

I am just going to apologize in advance.  I am going to leave out many people in my list of examples.   There are too many for me to name them all. 

Pastor Hybels speaks about the people at Willow Creek Church who have decided to pitch in to do work for God.  His examples include an airline pilot who has opened his home to high school students on a weekly basis so they can have a comfortable setting for food and fellowship.   He also cooks all the food.

They have a married couple at Willow Creek who have taken the minimally landscaped church and designed and planted flower beds which they maintain.

There is a carpenter who coordinates free handyman service for all the single moms in the church.

A woman who suffered through a horrible divorce has started up a divorce recovery ministry so others won’t have to suffer the way she did. 

There is a dad who did not have a close relationship with his father and he has become a key organizer in Dad/Son and Dad/Daughter retreats at Willow Creek.

Then there is the businessman who made six figure-a-year income but went bankrupt due to out-of-control credit card spending.   He has started a “Good Sense Financial Ministry” to help young married couples avoid the pit he fell in.

These examples are all excellent and they may stimulate ideas about how Christians may do God’s work in the church but let me add a few examples from my church [St. John United Methodist].   I am not able to list all the volunteers and these examples are in no particular order. 

We have a wonderful husband and wife team who have been cooking in our kitchen for years.   They plan, shop for and prepare our Wonderful Wednesday meals.   I have worked closely with them over the years and I know first-hand how much work they do behind the scenes.   Too often people show up, pay their five dollars and don’t consider how hard it is to cook for 100 people each week.

We have people who are dedicated to Boy Scout, Cub Scout and Girl Scout work.  They value the lessons learned by children in this context and they have organized, coordinated and helped sponsor a growing numbers of children in scouting at our church.   This is time-consuming volunteer work.

There have been for many years a group of men called Levites who work to keep our church functioning.  From plumbing to fixing a leak in the roof, to mowing the huge yard and cleaning gutters, they have saved our church thousands and thousands of dollars.  Their work is done free of charge.

We have a man who very quietly checks on our church members every day.  He takes it upon himself to call and visit people when he can.   He prays with them.  He leads an intercessory prayer team and when you hear his prayers, you realize he is plugged into all the people in our church who have needs.

We have a man who has a gift for landscaping.  Our campus is big and it has lots of flowers, shrubs and trees.   The job is too big for one person but we have one man who is always at church working away at making the ground looks better.  Sometimes he has help but often he is there by himself.

We have a woman who has never been a professional florist; actually she has spent her life as a school teacher and a substitute school teacher.  Yet every week she shows up at church with flowers from her garden and roadside flowers.  She places the most beautiful and creative flower arrangements all around our church.  She makes every Sunday a little prettier.

Our United Methodist Men have builders and they will assist a debilitated church member with an entrance ramp to a home for minimal materials cost.   Their labor is free.  They have built ramps for people who are permanently homebound and people who are recovering from surgery.   It is too hard to move to a new home in the event of a disease or injury.   It can assist in the healing process to be in one’s own home.   You don’t have to be uncomfortable learning how to operate in a new environment. 

I know how it feels to receive this love from my church family.  A UMM church member built ramps in my home when I broke my pelvis in October of 2016.  I needed him and he came at my time of need.

When Pastor Hybels gives his examples he is trying to encourage people to do what they can to serve others.  Maybe some members of my church already understand his message.  I suspect that there are churches all over my community with similar examples.

The main idea is to take the non-volunteer, the attender of Sunday worship and get them to see that there is work to do at church; work that they are suited for.   It does not matter what the work is; it just needs to be done.   Some can do big things and others can do small things.   It does not matter as long as the work is being done for the glory of God.  As the Nike slogan goes “just do it.”

A much less popular but compelling statement comes from Martin Luther King Jr., a man who accomplished a lot in his life.  He wanted everyone involved and he wrote the following words that can inspire us all:  “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.”

No matter your skills and abilities, God needs you to do His work.

“Just Do It”

Let’s just say that you buy into the whole concept of “holy discontent.”

You have decided that you are not someone who believes that your life is purposeless.   You think you are living in this world right now for some reason.   In fact, God has designed you for a purpose; He has a certain role that He wants you to perform.

Here is the big question:  “How will you know your one thing [your holy discontent] when it shows up?”

Pastor Bill Hybels says that finding your holy purpose will “move you off dead center, get you off the couch, and thrust you in the game . . . you say yes to serving God’s agenda in the world, He begins the process of channeling the holy-discontent frustration into a positive vision that propels you into a future charged with energy and purpose. . . .At some point along the way, you’ll find yourself so astounded by the kingdom-oriented voltage coursing through your veins that you’ll lift up your head and with no inhibition whatsoever shout, ‘I was born for this’” [Hybels, 55].

Folks, to quote the famous psychologist Abraham Maslow, this sounds like reaching the top of his famous pyramid, the ultimate need of a human being  is being met: self-actualization.  This means that one is achieving his/her full potential, but for a Christian, it is all done through service to Jesus Christ.

What can tip us off that we are not going to reach our full potential?  What are the wrong turns we can make in going down our road to maximum growth through belief in Jesus Christ?  You know, keep you from being the branch that bears fruit for God?

First of all is the mistake we make when the world’s standards become our measuring stick.   What God may ask you to do may pale in comparison to what the world considers important.  We all know what the general public wants:  money, the trappings of status [expensive car, expensive home, expensive clothing], and power over other people.   It is so tempting to be caught up in the rat race of trying to get this stuff.  The Christian knows that “stuff” will not bring happiness; happiness comes from finding your place in this world in the body of Christ.  It is a humble life we should follow, a calling with undeserved grace.  God has given us all certain skills and He intends us to use them but not to accumulate world wealth, status and power.

Secondly, pride is a major barrier to a person’s discovering holy discontent.   But let’s not be confused; God does not intend us to have low self-esteem, for that can lead to a Christian saying I am not able to do His work.  He just wants us to humbly accept our place in His plan for us.  Maybe a situation calls for you to step up and take on a task but never take on a task thinking that your ultimate aim is to get credit.  Pride is when we become so self-absorbed that we find ourselves being independent from God.   Recall the attitude of Satan who sought to become so powerful and prideful that he made an effort to be like God.

Finally is the person who wants to operate in isolation from others.   God does not want us to be apart from others; He wants us to be a part working together with others to accomplish a goal.  It takes the body of Christ to work with us to help us define our holy discontent.  As in the human body with its many working parts, the body of Christ has many members, and not every member has the same function.  Individually, no particular part of Christ’s body is more or less important.  None of us can do without the other.  We are limited in what we can do and therefore interdependent upon each other.   Separately and independently, we can make an impact; together with other like believers, we can really change things.

Hybels calls our calling or our holy discontent our “personal burning bush.”  Max Lucado calls it “that inner music that no one else hears precisely the way you hear it.”  Whatever it is, it becomes a preoccupation that controls your attention, keeps you up at night, captures your heart and ignites your imagination.  If you are not driven by worldly standards, consumed by selfish pride and do not want to work in isolation, you may be hearing “that music.”

And don’t worry about the work that is to be done.  It will get done because God will bless it.  Look at the words of Psalm 90:17 and take them to heart:  “Let the beauty and delightfulness and favor of the Lord our God be upon us; confirm and establish the work of our hands—yes, the work of our hands, confirm and establish it.”

Have you ever wondered why you have had to go through some of the things you have had to go through?

If you have lived long enough, lots of “things” may have occurred: maybe a divorce, an accident, a disease, an addiction, mental health difficulties…the list goes on and on.

If you have been a believer, you may have experienced some “mountain top” moments”: the time you aided a friend when you did not think you could do the work but you did, that time when you had to be there for a family member to assist them in their last days and it worked out far better than you thought, the disaster you suffered when you made a mistake and hurt yourself and the joy of finding your way through recovery and the wonder of learning new things about God’s power.  That list can go on and on too.  When God works a miracle in your life, it is wonderful.  When you know you are growing, it is fantastic!

Pastor Hybels* refers to these things when he says “when you find yourself standing on the sacred ground. . . you hear God say ‘This is why I made you and why I wired you up like I did!  This is why I allowed the mountain-top reason-for-rejoicing times in your life, as well as why I let the pits of despair sneak in. None of the tears of anguish will be wasted; I plan to use every ounce of what you’ve been though for good in this specific area. . . [God says] ‘I just happen to have in mind someone exactly like you to help me solve this [problem].’”

If you “buy into the premise” of Holy Discontent you may wonder what is my holy discontent?  You may be looking for that problem that tears at your heart, that problem that you will dedicate your efforts to…you know, your special service commitment that will make a difference.

You have given your life to Christ and now you have begun the process of transformation…that process of being transformed into Christ’s image.    You are thinking about yourself less and you are looking to serve others.  You are resisting the temptation to judge others and for the first time you are willing to extend grace and help others with their redemption.

You are ready to go…

But you may be ready to make a big mistake…

The problem is that you are trying to force things.  I have been “on fire” for the Lord myself and I have seen countless other Christians “on fire” also.  The joy of the Lord is in my heart and I have boundless energy to tackle any problem.

In my experience this may be a time for you to stop…and think, and pray and seek counsel from other well-meaning Christian brothers and sisters.

As human beings, we need to recognize that our timing is not God’s timing.  Becoming more like Christ is a long-term project and we sometimes want action NOW!

Too many wonderful people have lost their effectiveness because they have taken on a challenge that they thought was right, but it was not.   They were determined to act quickly without consulting God about the situation.

When I retired in 2013, I immediately was asked to head up a project in our community that dove-tailed with what I was doing in my church.  I was heavily involved in providing Christian education opportunities at my church so naturally, I could do this for other people in other places.

However, something just did not feel right.   The more I talked about this change, the more I felt less inspired to sign on to this commitment.  I remember I waited for nine months to determine what I was to do.  It was not my determination; it was God’s.  I prayed and prayed about this project.  I studied a book on Christian activism and taking chances to do the Lord’s work.   The more I thought about the commitment, the less it seemed to be me doing His work and the more it seemed to be service to the person who asked me.  I finally knew it was not an opportunity for me to serve God and I turned it down.

Now, four years later, I can see the wisdom in waiting for God to lead me.

He has other things for me to do, things that are more appropriate for me.   Service opportunities that are a better fit.

When will I have my “burning bush” experience?  That big commitment that is born from my desire to eradicate a serious problem?  My Popeye moment?

I am not sure.

But I do believe this.  What I have been through thus far in life is all about preparing me for that moment when it arrives.

In the meanwhile, I will serve in ways that I can and I will be available…

To do His work…

The author of Holy Discontent

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Maybe you thought about the examples of Popeye people that Bill Hybels uses in chapter two of his book Holy Discontent.  Mother Teresa, an example of extreme charity, caring for the less fortunate and doing it in a humble way.  Martin Luther King Jr., inspiring a country to look inward, exposing in an honest way the racial divide that has defined America and helping to force politicians to pass laws to address inequality.  Dr. Bob Pierce and his founding of World Vision to help with starving children around the world…

Your response may be “Wow, I can’t do big stuff like that!” or “That is not me!” or “I am not built like that!”

Those responses are all valid.

But…

What are you built to do?

To quote Shakespeare’s’ Hamlet “There’s the rub!”

You were built to do certain things.

Hybels states “We are all created to do good works.  I was created to do good works.  Just as confidently, I am here to tell you that you were created to do good works, which explains how I know you have a holy discontent banging around in your brain somewhere—if you are alive and kicking today, then there is a specific work that you are expected to do.”

I believe that.

We don’t have to compare ourselves to Mother Teresa or Martin Luther King Jr.  They had a God-given skill set to enable them to do what they did.

Your skill set is unique to you.

Hybels talks about giving your life to Jesus.   That happens to Christians.  There comes a time in life when we know that we love Jesus and know we need to believe.  For many Christians it seems to stop right there.  You are justified, made right with God and that is enough.

No so.

That is only the beginning.  When we are justified, God has forgiven us of our sins and we know it.  We feel His love and we know we are acceptable, no matter what “the world” says.

But that is not enough.

God wants us to continue to grow.  We should strive to be sanctified, which means we embark on the road to greater knowledge of God and greater service to God…all the days of our life.

What Hybels is really talking about is the Christian who stops growing.  I joke about this from time to time, calling it the Christian example of “arrested development”.   A Christian is born again and that is where it stops.  Hybels says “have you ever wondered why, when you turn your life to God, you don’t just get express-freighted right to heaven?”

I think I know.

God wants you to be His hands and feet here on this earth for a while.

Too many of us “opt out”.   We develop a “poor little me” attitude.  God is not interested in what I have to offer.  Maybe the reason for opting out is that we lack confidence in our abilities.  I know I have the talent but my talent is not great.   Some folks may be very happy to sit on the sidelines and let others do the work.  Maybe that is lack of confidence or maybe it is something worse…sheer laziness.

It takes a while but a life in Christ is a life where I learn to live for someone other than me.

The lesson takes some time but if I dedicate my life to Him, He will show me what to do.

There is work to do all around us, and some of that work is perfect for me to do.   I have the “skill set” to do it.

“There is a set of tasks with your name on it that God has given you to accomplish, and long before you arrived on the scene, God planted certain seeds in our soul that He remains whole-heartedly committed to watering, growing, and making into something meaningful, if you let Him” [Hybels, 51].

Let me close with this simple admonition.

This is a dangerous prayer to pray for the Christian who does not want to grow, the Christian who wants others to do the work, the Christian who is convinced that they lack what is needed to do the task at hand.

It is simple but it enables you to be the branch that yields as much fruit as you can:  “God, use me.”

Get ready; He will…

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it” [Genesis 2:15].

It all began in the Garden…work.

“Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God” [Ecclesiastes 2:24].

“For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat” [2 Thessalonians 3:10].

We need to do it, we should do it…God expects us to do it.

However, for some people, work is less than inspiring.  In his book Holy Discontent, Pastor Bill Hybels writes about holy discontent in the workplace.

Why do you do the work that you do?

Some do it because they have to, to make money to live.  Some do it because they make a lot of money and they want a lot of things that money will buy.  They get up, go to work, tough out the day, come home, sleep, get up, go to work, etc.   You get the picture.   There is little purpose other than making money.  There is no passion.  Nothing else really motivates them to go to work, much less do a good job at work.

Hybels applies his premise that some people work to correct “what they cannot stand” to the work place.

There may be something to that.

Let me get a bit personal.

Going to school was something I liked.  Early in my life, I liked books, I liked reading and thanks to a wonderful 7^th grade teacher who introduced me to diagramming sentences [who does that anymore?] I developed a love of language and writing.

It was natural that I pursued English study in college.  I thought I would become an English teacher and I was an English teacher for several years but English teaching was not what drove me to teach for thirty-six years.  It certainly was not the money I earned.  What inspired me to teach for thirty-six years was the fact that I was painfully shy.

I had a collection of dreadful experiences in front of audiences, a piano recital when I forgot my piece, the serious campaign speech for junior class president that was met with laughter, the time I forgot my lines in the school play.   I can go on and on.   I had the notion that an audience was there to judge a speaker negatively, to pick the speaker apart.

To add to that, I was not gifted in interpersonal communication either.  I found it hard to carry on a conversation.   I would find myself in social situations with nothing to say but I had very sweaty armpits and perspiration on my forehead.  My wife knew I was shy.   Over the years she has joked that when we first met, I found it difficult to go to the concession stand at a sporting event to get popcorn.  I had to interact with people.  Problem is, it was not a joke.  I did everything I could to get out of going to get that popcorn.

The more I began to think about what I could not stand, the more I began to consider that I could not stand having “stage fright” or, to be more broad-based, “communication apprehension.”  The more I studied communication in graduate school, the more I realized I was not alone in this fear of speaking.  It was everywhere.  It was listed in many polls as mankind’s greatest fear; yes greater than heights, snakes, germs, etc.

I was so blessed.  I found myself with the opportunity to be a communication teacher.  For many years I had the honor of taking groups of twenty-five students through a journey from little confidence at the beginning of the semester to much greater confidence at the end.  I tried to instruct them about how to understand who they were speaking to and how their message could be written to work with their audience.  I tried to sell my students on the value of sharing their experiences with others, connecting with others and trusting others.   I wanted them to see the importance of relationships.

I was blessed because I loved what I was doing.

I was blessed because it sprang from something that I could not stand. 

I could not stand being nervous and insecure around other human beings.

I could not stand knowing that so many other people felt just like I did.  I wanted to do my part to eradicate communication apprehension.

I have a very good friend who has a tendency to look back on life.  She says things to me like “I don’t know why I did that” or “maybe that was a mistake.”

I spend very little time doing that.

At the end of my teaching career, I was still a very effective teacher.   I felt like I could have continued on longer in the classroom, but I did not want my teaching to be less than my best.  It was time to move on in life. 

Yesterday I found myself in a fast food restaurant and I got a special treat.   I ran across two former students who are wonderful people.   They were enjoyable in class and they went on to be responsible adults doing good work, one a lab technician and the other an EMT.   They are what I call good solid citizens.  They came up to me and we had a little conversation about the past, when they were in my communication class.  I was truly humbled as they said good things about me.

Yes God expects us to work; He wants us to work.  I don’t believe He wants us to just slug through the day at work.  Think about your life and try to figure out what you cannot stand.  I know it sounds like a strange way to approach your work-life but maybe it is not.

What you can’t stand may just motivate you to do your best work, and if that happens, I believe that God is pleased and an added dividend, you are a happy person.

God is probably pleased about that too…

Bill Hybels went to the promised land…

You may think I am implying that this pastor of Willow Creek Community Church has “passed on” as we say in the south; he has traveled to his just reward.  Of course this common reference comes from the promise that God made to Abraham and the Israelites: they were promised that they would be able to go to the “land of milk and honey.”

No.  When he talks of going to the “promised land” he is referring to touring the children’s ministry of Willow Creek Church.   This is his way of giving credit to all the wonderful volunteers at his church.

If you want to find a place to use your talents, there is no better place than your church.

Not everyone has that attitude…sadly.

I am going to comment on a couple of well-known clichés about church.  One is the 80/20 rule.   Believe it or not, this “rule” is based on a theory by an Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto, who observed that 80% of income in Italy was received by 20% of the Italian population. The assumption is that most of the results in any situation are determined by a small number of causes.

The 80/20 rule applies to church volunteerism because 20% of the church is active and 80% do very little except attend.  This attitude is the opposite of what Hybels discovers when he takes his “promised land” tour.   Granted Willow Creek is a large church, a “mega-church.”  In 2011 they reported an average Sunday attendance of nearly 24,000.   In anyone’s estimation that is big.

Hybels saw men, women and teens holding babies, rocking babies and peeking down on babies in cribs.  Walking down the hallway, he saw adults supervising toddlers in a special section of the church just for them.  Keep in mind that this is a big church with a lot of parents with children and volunteers who believe in making the kids part of their church.  Dozens of volunteers work there every Sunday.  He writes of more examples of volunteerism; “shade tree mechanics” who are working on a car to help a woman who needs some reliable transportation, board members who are stuffing Hope Packs to send to underprivileged people on the other side of the world, finance council leaders, prayer team coordinators, grounds keepers, greeters, elders…the list goes on and on of people who step up and do the work of the church every week, free of charge.

Maybe Hybels exaggerates.

I hope not.

There certainly is a lot of work to do in every church.   There is a volunteer role for every church member but sadly some don’t have that attitude.   “Let the staff do the work; they are paid to do it.”   “I did my part; it is time for younger ones to step up and now I get to rest.”  “The pastor only works on Sunday; they have all kinds of time to get things done.”  That last one is the most cruel.  Of course pastors don’t just work on Sunday.  Anyone who has spent time with a good pastor knows they are on the go every day.  I have friends who are children of pastors and they never experienced a full vacation because their pastor parent is called back from time off to take care of a church emergency.

Thom S. Rainer, in his book I Am A Church Member,  understands this attitude very well.  He writes, “We join our churches expecting others to serve us, to feed us and to care for us….God did not give us local churches to become country clubs where membership means we have privileges and perks….Many churches are weak because we have members who have turned the meaning of membership upside down.”

In short, they believe that 80 percent of the work should be done by 20 percent of the people.

I have a pastor who began her first sermon at my church by passing out a piece of jigsaw puzzle to everyone at our church.  Her point?  That everyone in our church has a role.  Together we all must fit together to solve the puzzle.  I Corinthians 12 says “Now you are the body of Christ and individual members in it.”   Some will be able to mow the yard, some will be able to teach, some will be able to visit people who are home-bound.  Others can chair the church council, sing in the choir, or serve as prayer warriors.  The point is that there is work for all of us to do.   Church needs you to be a functioning member.   If you are an eye in the body, that is wonderful.  If you are an ear, that is wonderful.  If you are a hand, that is wonderful.

Keep this is mind.

Together we are the body of Christ.

Let me close by quoting Pastor Hybels on volunteerism in his church: “There’s nothing more inspiring than a person who transforms something he just can’t stand into a kind of positive energy that advances restoration in this world.  This is what’s at work every time a person steps into a church with an ‘I’m here to serve attitude’”.

He writes so much about “holy discontent”, the idea that motivation comes to people who choose to do good in the world because there is something wrong in the world and they can’t stand to do nothing.  They want to make things better.

What a perfect place for positive energy…your church.

Chapter two in the book Holy Discontent is dedicated to “Popeye People”, you know those folks who reached the stage of frustration when they had to do something to correct a bad situation.  They acted to make things better. 

Hybels cites some “heavy hitters”, people we all know.   Martin Luther King gets several pages.  He also singles out Mother Teresa.  Not everyone knows Dr. Bob Pierce but his founding of World Vision has touched the lives of many people in need, primarily meeting the needs of people who are starving around the world.  Another “heavy hitter.”

These examples bring me to think about “popeye people” that I know.   I have known a few.  They have lived right here in my community.*

This woman began to take on large projects early in her life.   When she saw a need she tackled it.  Here are a couple of examples from her lifetime of work.  Thirty-five years ago, she felt there was a need to help people who had family members who were in the last stages of life, the terminally ill.  This is a confusing time and most of us are very ill-equipped to care for our loved ones.  Seeing a need, she reached out [she called it “getting brave”] and contacted a nationally known expert on death and dying and asked him to come to our community.   She got donors to fund his trip and fee and got an interested audience together for his message.  From her efforts, our community has a very active hospice movement.  Recently she put her efforts behind a half-way house for incarcerated women.  Again promoting, helping with funding and selling the need for this type of facility.  Today there is demonstrated evidence of the good this facility is doing.  It has recently moved to another location, a bigger building so more women can be served.  Her age is not slowing her down.  Where she sees a need, she is still tackling it.

I was in a Bible study/men’s group about twenty-five years ago with a man who was very concerned with certain pockets of poverty in our community.   He was very familiar with certain neighborhoods that were crime-ridden and wanted to do something about them.   I remember spending weekly sessions with him; we talked about a lot of things but he kept his focus on what needed to be done to make poor neighborhoods better.  One day he announced he would be moving to an apartment in the poorest neighborhood in town.  He did that.  He started walking around the neighborhood trying to get to know people.   He was well-known as a bike rider, going up and down the down-trodden streets waving to people.  Soon he got enough people to buy into the idea that a house needed to be occupied in the neighborhood that would bring individuals, couples, and families together, centers of faith where resources could be brought to underprivileged neighborhoods.  Today our community has six “Challenge Houses” where people can gather to get education, employment information and improve their life skills.  All from one man’s commitment to make poor neighborhoods better.

Last is a man who worked for God tirelessly.  He did not have the notoriety that the above two people have but I knew of his work because he was a close friend.   He never bragged about what he was doing; he just went about doing it.  He was excellent with his hands, by that I mean he could build anything or fix anything.  At church he was a tireless volunteer, heading up project after project to cut down on maintenance costs.  He volunteered in the community in so many capacities that I cannot even begin to list all his efforts.  I will mention my most meaningful contact with him, as a volunteer in the Emmaus Community.  He was such a humble man, very self-effacing.  He knew he had to speak at an Emmaus Walk and felt ill-prepared to do a good job.  When he was in his sixties, he joined a speech class full of twenty somethings where I tried to teach him the basics of speaking in public.   He toughed it out and make a wonderful speech on the Emmaus Walk.   I know because I was a pilgrim on that walk.   I had no idea that he was going to be one of my speakers.   He was constantly trying to get me to serve with him in a prison ministry.   I was so uncomfortable doing that so I kept coming up with lame excuses about why I could not go.  He never made me feel bad.  The invitation was open.  He is no longer with us but his tireless service lives on in the lives of those he touched. 

He, like the “getting brave” woman above and the bike-riding challenge house founder are sterling examples of people who saw a need and met it.   He was not as well-known as the other two but in my mind, that is probably the way he wanted it.   I remember talking to him about his service and he just would not take credit.   Naïve as I was, I could not understand why he deflected compliments.   He was not working for himself; he was working for God.

That is something that all “popeye people” have in common.  They don’t worry about the credit.  They know where their strength comes from to do what they do.  It doesn’t come from man.

“I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.”  Philippians 4:13

*I prefer for these three people to be anonymous….