Recently a friend and myself visited a evening event where the speaker was using a lot of visuals.

We were both quite distressed as the visiting speaker continually made sarcastic remarks to the operator of the visuals. Whoever the poor nameless person was, they were literally a second behind the speaker, earning his passive aggressive remarks.

How delightful it was to listen to Mark Conner speak as a guest speaker at a church and hear him acknowledge and congratulate the volunteer. I have had personal dealings with Mark where he personally went up to the volunteer and checked his slides, put them into the computer himself, and then explain what he wanted. He then thanked everyone. He could not have been more humble.
Watch here at the 6 minute 30 mark for an example of how to treat people well.

As church leaders we deal with volunteers all the time. They serve the church, they serve God and they serve the leaders of the church. They often have their own jobs, they have families, they are busy themselves. Yet they want to serve a greater purpose, be part of something significant. Let us treat them well, acknowledge them with respect.

This Sunday I am speaking from Nehemiah 12 and the mandate to celebrate!
Speaking of which, here is my churches playlist of current songs….

There is no need to be in charge. In fact being in charge may very well not get you what you want.

I lead a church, have done for over 22 years. I also lead the Annual Baptist Pastors Conference. Recently our church hosted the incredibly wonderful ‘Whisper’ conference.

In these three spaces I have needed to be flexible with authority. In my church we allocate responsibility to be matched with authority. If you take the responsibility for an event, the authority to creatively lead in that space is given to you. Not as a right, but a privilege. My young adults pastor organised the Whisper conference. He did a lot of the heavy lifting of organising teams. It was an incredibly well run and functioning event. Around 250 people from over 25 churches attended from all over Perth. It was our vision and our heart. His creativity, passion and skill led the event better than I could have.

If I had exercised my right to be in charge, the event would still have happened but with none of the skill and nuance my young adults pastor brought to it. I assisted him, resourced him, but ultimately let him lead.

With the annual Baptist Pastors Conference I work under the authority of our Denomination and particularly our leader. He gives me a lot of freedom. A benefit of having been involved in the conference for over fifteen years. And having his trust. If there is something he wants tweaked or changed, it is my role to implement this. I am a person under authority.

In our church I am responsible for the key leadership direction and vision. It is not a role I take lightly. There are times I need to make decisions which may not be popular with everyone. But leading is not about giving people what they want, but what they need. Often people cannot see what I can see, they are just not in that space. And that is okay.

Being able to be flexible with authority, understand where you fit in, and what is best for the kingdom, that is the fine line, the radical middle, the balance I try to walk along.