Just Plumb Tickled

So on Sunday there was a volunteer recruitment meeting of sorts after the service at Life Pointe. Wow! A strong handful of people stepped up, signed up, and are going to begin serving. Who wins? Hmmm, let's see.

1) Life Pointe Church wins! If you've been to a service at Life Pointe, you've seen people greeting you at the door, offering you a snack, and providing information. If you have kids that you checked into the kids ministry or nursery, you saw volunteers their helping with the little guys. When you walked into the main auditorium, you saw hundreds of pounds of sound and light equipment all set up and ready to go, complete with custom graphics on the big screen and maybe even customized video segments. If you stuck around after the service, you noticed a ton of people each hauling a ton of stuff from all of the aforementioned, including an enormous amount of nursery gear that had to come from all the way down the hall. Guess what? Not only does all of that get broken down at 11:30, it all was hauled in and set up as well, starting at about 7:00. The graphics and video didn't appear magically either, and those people who greeted you with a smile? They were there before you were because they got up early, too. In short, you're not supposed to be distracted by the massive task that is involved to put on a dynamic, fun, relevant, welcoming service -- you're only supposed to come and want to come back (at least at first!). But the point remains -- it's a massive task each week, and could never be anything remotely worthwhile without a huge team of volunteers.

2) The volunteers win! Turns out it's actually true. When Jesus said "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever gives up his life for my sake will find it" I don't think he was talking about dying like we so often think. I think he was talking about simply looking outside of oneself to serve him by serving others. That's how we are made to find real meaning and fulfillment. Self-seeking proves to be shallow and vain, but other-seeking proves to be self-fulfilling. It's an ironic twist, but one which I've discovered to be completely true. I've had some small tastes of both prosperity and poverty, acclaim and anonymity. And while the one is surely nicer than the other, there's really no difference. I've been happy and un-happy in either one. When we forget ourselves and serve others -- regardless of our own circumstances -- that's when we discover the truth that Jesus is speaking about. We find ourselves by looking to the needs and interests of others. Brilliant. So thank you, volunteers. Not only are you making it happen for everybody at Life Pointe Church (including -- and to some degree especially -- those who are not yet there), you're going to experience for yourselves a piece of what God has intended for you and made you for.


Hmmmm, no jokes in this one. All right, save your hate mail and click here, if you must.