“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness…”

Yes… I quoted a hymn. Every time I see a rainbow it reminds me of Noah, hope and Jeremiah 29:11. I’m not 100% sure all those things go together but they do in my head. The boys and I saw this double rainbow in our neighborhood. This time this hymn was added to the mix of things that pop into my head when seeing a rainbow.

I looked at my boys and they looked back at me really interested to hear what I had to say. I said, “Jesus really is the only hope for everyone.” Jonathan (6) replied, “That’s right, Dad!” Tyler (3) looked up at the rainbow and then at the door to the house and back at me and said, “I’m thirsty and hungry.”

It was a really cool rainbow!

No, I didn’t pick this out for my son to wear. Tyler insisted on it. Even after I explained that it didn’t really go together, he insisted. I could have forced him to wear something different, but decided his initiative was better than my worries about people staring and thinking “Oh, his dad must have dressed him.”

What’s not to like about middle school? Well I have a list of 5 things that I hate:

1 >> They grow up and go to High School.

2 >> They are under-estimated, under-empowered, under-utilized, under-asked, under-challenged and under-whelmed most the time.

3 >> They struggle with REAL and HARD issues that are ignored by parents and leaders because of their age.

4 >> There is a smell associated with them that is often unpleasant.

5 >> Did I mention that they grow up and go to High School?

All that to say.. I really do love middle school students. I have seen God do amazing things in and through their lives, even bigger things than I’ve seen in adults lives. MIDDLE SCHOOLERS ROCK!! (with a slight exception to the smell)

We’ve sent an excited bunch of former Middle Schoolers to our High School Ministry ready to reflect God’s love all over the place.

I recently had a conversation with a leader expressing some frustrations. He has shared opportunities that God has laid on his heart, and the response has led to frustration.  The ministry director’s response haunted and convicted me because I’ve used it before.

“You go ahead and lead that.”

It is actually a great response…because if they actually do it, my ministry will increase, someone who has participated for a year will step into a role as leader and my workload doesn’t increase. WIN!! *sarcasm*

The problem is, this isn’t the first time I’ve sat across from a frustrated potential leader. This story has been on repeat while I’ve been in ministry. I really can’t stand it any more.

You were hired to program, but called to equip.

“Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” Ephesians 4:12 NLT

The pressures of excellent programming shouldn’t overtake the call to equip the people in your ministry. I’ve missed opportunities to train and teach others how to lead because my focus has been on an activity or program and not my call.

How do I equip?

1) Take time to LISTEN –

Listen to what God has laid on their heart and realize that the biggest question they may be asking is “how do I do this?”

2) STRATEGIZE! -

Don’t just leave it to them to lead, help answer the question “how do I do this?” Challenge yourself to get creative and answer the question “how can I help?”

3) Be willing to LET GO -

Reality and experience has taught me that 1 out of 10 of these meetings will actually produce an idea that fits into my ministry focus. When it doesn’t fit into the focus of our ministry don’t encourage people to get back in line, instead we should challenge them to examine God’s call no matter where that may lead.

The biggest temptation when something doesn’t fit into our scope of ministry is to label it with “that’s not my job” and move on.