Ministry Sunday starts in the Bible: God's Word on How We are Made

Christ is just like the human body - a body is a unit and has many parts; and all the parts of the body are one body, even though there are many....
Certainly the body isn’t one part but many. If the foot says, “I’m not part of the body because I’m not a hand,” does that mean it’s not part of the body?
But as it is, there are many parts but one body.... You are the body of Christ and parts of each other.
- from 1 Corinthians 12

He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. His purpose was to equip God’s people for the work of serving and building up the body of Christ until we all reach the unity of faith and knowledge of God’s Son. God’s goal is for us to become mature adults—to be fully grown, measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ.
- Ephesians 4:11-13

Above all, show sincere love to each other, because love brings about the forgiveness of many sins. Open your homes to each other without complaining. And serve each other according to the gift each person has received, as good managers of God’s diverse gifts. Whoever speaks should do so as those who speak God’s word. Whoever serves should do so from the strength that God furnishes. Do this so that in everything God may be honored through Jesus Christ. To him be honor and power forever and always. Amen.

- 1 Peter 4:8-11

Three of my favorite words: "I Don't Know"

   Born in 1946, Marilyn vos Savant has been known for much of her life as having the Highest IQ ever recorded and was actually listed in the Guinness World Records for it. So, she's kind of smart. Since 1986 she has been writing a column in Parade Magazine where she fields questions on the widest range of subjects and ideas. Her column from July 29, 2007 shared questions she found difficult to answer, but not because they were too tough. Take a look at some of the questions she did not print and answer in her column...

• I notice you have the same first name as Marilyn Monroe. Are you related?
• Do you think daylight saving time could be contributing to global warming? The longer we have sunlight, the more it heats the atmosphere. 
• I see falling stars nearly every night. They seem to come out of nowhere. Have stars ever fallen out of any known constellations?
• When I dream, why don’t I need my glasses to see?
• Can a ventriloquist converse with his dentist while his teeth are being worked on?
• I just observed a flock of geese flying in a ‘V’ formation. Is that the only letter they know?

- from John Maxwell's Good Leaders Ask Great Questions written in 2014.

These are hilarious. I really do believe that there are no dumb questions, but these come close, right?
   I've never met Marilyn vos Savant, but I trust that she is very smart. I like the fact that she is able to admit that there are some questions she cannot answer. I've known some really smart people: some have been related to me, many have been church members, and a couple of them were teachers or professors with whom I have studied. The thing that every smart person I've ever known has had in common; they know that they don't know everything. I love it when someone tells me, "I don't know." It makes me feel great. Because, I don't know everything and sometimes wonder if other people can relate.
   I think Paul was right on it when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 8, "We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes people arrogant, but love builds people up. If anyone thinks they know something, they don't yet know as much as they should know." And Proverbs 3 is a verse for life: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths." - Proverbs 3:5-6
   May we all not know it all. Grace and peace, Scott

Lost! She was knocking on our front door...

   The doorbell was ringing and someone was knocking repeatedly. Well, that is what Julie told me when she woke me up! The clock showed 5:40 AM, which my body knew immediately was a half an hour before my alarm was set to go off. Yet, I could hear the knocking and went to check.
   Standing on our front porch, with tears streaming down her face, was a young girl looking for her mom. Along with her older brother, the three of them had joined an early-morning running and exercise group, known as a boot camp, and had made it to our church from their starting point at the parking lot of the Baptist church. Her brother had run ahead and she was left behind.
   The story turns out great. She calmed down immediately while sitting on our front porch and left her mom a voicemail on her phone. We talked about Middle School and playing basketball and soon enough we could hear the call of her mother through the trees a block away.
   It happens. We get separated from the crowd. Sometimes our brothers run off. It unsettles us. It should. We were made to run together. We are supposed to travel in the company of others. So, the young girl standing on our steps could have been any of us and maybe has been us, at one point or another. What did she need in that moment?
   Really, this same scene is played out every week at the front door of our church. People walk up looking to attend worship, or our youth or children's ministries, or they come looking for help with food or clothes. All them are looking to connect. All them are looking for someone to travel with. God has literally made us to help them. We are made to connect. As Christians, we are commanded to be those who open the front doors of the church and welcome them. Serving them with hospitality and compassion, connecting them and offering comfort, showing them that better days are ahead; this is what it means to serve through the church.
   This is exactly what Ministry Sunday on August 28 is about - showing us where and how our time and care can help put the world back together for the people who come to our church. We will hear from volunteer Team Leaders in 8 main areas: hospitality, care ministry, students, children, office administration, worship, events and missions.
   People walk up every week needing the same thing our new friend did that morning: to be reassured they were in a safe place, to be called by name, to have someone care about them, and to know that they could be reconnected to the best stuff of life. Serving on ministry teams is what it means to be the church.
   Grace and peace, Scott

Two letters to two different places, but one message for us all

   Along with notes written to first-time guests, a note following up on a prayer request, letters to two committees within the church organizing for their work, and probably three dozen emails, two items I wrote this week will stick with me.
   I wrote two letters this week to young men who were very involved in the youth ministries I helped to lead over the past 17 years of ministry. One of the young men enlisted in the US Marine Corps two weeks ago, and I got his address on Parris Island from his mother. I got the address for the other young man from his mother, too. He is in prison for a sudden act of violence that led to an outcome, I believe, he did not intend. It is hard to imagine two different destinations for letters, right? I am struck, though, how similar my content was to them both. I think that if you were writing the letters, your versions would be similar, too.
   I told them both that I loved them. I wrote about God's desires for them. I shared my prayers for them. I wrote about how our family is doing, so they would pray for us, too. And, I included the same passage of Scripture to them both. My friend at Parris Island and my friend in prison both need to hear James 1:2-6 & 12,

My brothers and sisters, think of the various tests you encounter as occasions for joy. After all, you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let this endurance complete its work so that you may be fully mature, complete, and lacking in nothing. But anyone who needs wisdom should ask God, whose very nature is to give to everyone without a second thought, without keeping score. Wisdom will certainly be given to those who ask. Whoever asks shouldn’t hesitate. They should ask in faith, without doubting. Whoever doubts is like the surf of the sea, tossed and turned by the wind....
Those who stand firm during testing are blessed. They are tried and true. They will receive the life God has promised to those who love him as their reward.

I believe that these words are as true and timely for both of them as they are for all of us. I need to hear that testing leads to faith and endurance. I need to be reminded to pray for wisdom. I need to hear, again, that those who stand firm will be rewarded. Grace and peace, Scott