Here is a fairly nondescript photo of me painting a window. Nothing earth shattering. However as I found myself doing this, I remember back about 15 years or so when I was last painting windows. At my old church building we had just invested in a data projector which cost us a fair bit of coin in those days, was about 1100 ansi-lumens (brightness) and was literally the size and weight of a decent suitcase. I needed to paint over some of the church windows that were throwing light onto the part of the stage the projector was focused on.

At the time no one really got why I was doing this. It almost seemed unnecessary. Until they saw the result that is. The picture was clearer, the words were easily read and we could show clips and movies. It was something I just needed to do, to get the result. People did not understand why we needed a data projector at all….until they saw the result.

As a church leader the reality is that sometimes you just need to get on and do something, because while people may not understand, with prayerful decisions, you just know it needs to be done. Painting a window is hardly earth shattering but it is an illustration.

This week I found myself again painting some windows to help shut out the light. Of course the three projectors we have in our new building are now much more sophisticated, although not much more expensive than they were back then! At 6500 Ansi-Lumen they are certainly a lot brighter! It just brought back to my mind a lesson I was learning, and the fact that sometimes as a leader you do need to just get on with it.