Untitled from Drew Boswell on Vimeo.
Advice for the Rookie Staff Person
3-25-2014 Update
I wrote this article a little over two years ago. It was for the incoming youth pastor, and it was my desire to help him and to build a relationship with him. FBCV hired a new youth pastor a few weeks ago, and he will began this week. Most of the points of the article that I wrote earlier are still true (except for #6, I do to know what happened to the chair. It is probably on a garbage pile somewhere).
Jared, I will be praying for your ministry; you are about to begin a very rewarding and difficult journey. My two sons are looking to you to be their pastor. As their father I need you to do well. Men before you have laid a road that you must repair and move forward on. I will lay whatever bricks on that road you need, and carry whatever load needs to be carried. I want to help you in any way that I can. I will have your back, and I will love your family. I will put my shoulder to work and will move mountains for you. Your success is inseparably linked to mine. If you fail, I fail. If you win, I win (and my children). Too much time has been wasted, now it’s time to change the world. Let’s get going.
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Here’s the original article.
This coming Sunday, First Baptist Church Valdosta will vote to hire a new youth pastor after almost a year search process. Barring some unforeseen drama the church should vote to hire him. His office will be next to mine in the church, and I am wondering what is going through his head right now. I remember how nervous and apprehensive I was the first week I started.
I will get to move from “rookie†status and he will now sit in that chair (thanks man.) Since I am now a well-seasoned veteran after six months, I now feel fully capable of giving some advice, so here we go.
Tips for the “Rookie†staff person
1. Let people know what you are doing, especially your boss. This is not bragging, instead you are letting people know what direction you are headed. Because people have this information, they are able to warn you of troubled waters ahead, or how that did or did not work years ago the last time it was attempted. When people are informed there is less of a chance for people to read-into situations, your motives, or where you want the ministry to go. I have discovered at FBCV that with its many years of ministry there are few things that have not been before done in some form or another. Some of my “cutting edge†ideas are just re-packaged and re-branded ideas from years ago.[1]
2. Be aware of those that have served in your position before you. Sometimes this is good, and sometimes this is bad, but knowing what they were doing will help you to know what relationships you need to focus on, where you will need to spend your initial energy, and beginning steps into your ministry.
The initial first steps have the capability to put people at ease, or to exacerbate an already aggravated situation. You could also reach back to a well-run ministry before and link it to what you are doing to add some continuity to the ministry. With continuity (of success) brings predictability, with predictability brings trust, with trust ministries can be built. If the one serving before you did a poor job, then this trust building will take more time and vice versa.
3. Balance your life with ministry. There will be a huge temptation to make a huge impact as soon as you can. You will want to work long hours, go to every meeting, and get involved in everything. But remember that ministry is a marathon, not a sprint. In order for your ministry to be solid, long lasting, and life impacting your family has to be solid, long lasting, and life impacting. You will fall into a predictable work week before you know it.
Talk with your spouse about your commitments, scheduling, and how you plan to balance everything. Build some extra time into your schedule, because new and unpredictable things pop up constantly. If you have maxed out your schedule, you will be stressed to add one more meeting, one more counseling session, one more “opportunity†at the expense of a child’s ball game or concert.
That being said, work and get things done, when you need to work and get things done. If you slack and say, “I’ve got this extra time built in,†then it never fails that a crisis will arise when you also need to write a sermon, or teaching lesson, or whatever.
4. Remember you are apart of a team, a staff. When I first started at FBCV, I was contemplating setting up an office in the Children’s Building and just using the office in the main building as storage or something. But, I have now learned how bad of an idea that would have been. You need to stay plugged into what other staff are doing, and how you can help them (or they can help you.)
If everyone sets up offices all over the campus in their “areas†then there is little chance of people interacting with each other. It is that daily interaction and doing ministry together that creates a bond among the staff. If you rarely see each other on a weekly basis, then there is also little accountability. Offices are just an example of a mindset of how you will work with others.
Make the extra effort to engage them, ask them to go to lunch, spend time on the weekends with them, etc. Even though you are the “rookie†make the extra effort to be friendly. The staff are not there for you, you are a part of a team to serves the church as a whole. Take the first step to build a friendship, don’t wait on them.
5. You are a professional, be a professional. How you act, dress, and relate to people in the church environment directly impacts the rest of the staff and the direction the pastor is directing the church as a whole. You represent a larger congregation, and they are counting on you to lead in your area of responsibility and to be professional in how you do it. Be on time, dress nice, and think about what you say and how it will reflect upon others.
6. My office Chair. Along with all this information that I pass on to the “rookie,†I also pass on the office chair that was in my office when I got here. It needs a little “adjustment†and there are also some other ministry essentials (junk) that I moved out of my office to make your life easier. So, good luck with that.
Rookie, I hope this helps. My office is next door any time you want to roll over.
[1] Ecclesiastes 1:9 “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.â€
Why Is It Important to be a Member of a Local Church?
The Early ChurchÂ
In Acts 2:42 ff. immediately following the indwelling of the Holy Spirit upon all believers, the believers begin to meet (daily). Luke rarely mentions the Greek word εκκλησία (church) in the book of Luke, but mentions it over 24 times in Acts. So, the church came into existence after Pentecost.
While we don’t know exactly what membership in the apostolic church entailed, it was certainly for the purposes of edification, prayer, service, and, as can be seen particularly in Acts 5, discipline. Christianity is a corporate matter, and the Christian life can be fully realized only in relationship to others.[1]
The early church shows us that members invest their passions, service, resources, and relationships for the kingdom through the local church. They commit to a holy life characterized by integrity and confession of sin. The commitment to membership means active participation in ministry, in worship, in fellowship, and in service for the mission of the church, along with generous giving and evangelistic living.[2]
In the handling of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5), as well as Paul’s instructions to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 5:1-5) and the Galatians (6:1) regarding the treatment of sinners, argues for a careful monitoring by the group of the spiritual condition and conduct of the members. While prefect purity of the membership is ideal which cannot be realized within this life (Matt. 13:24-30), open unbelief and sin are not tolerated.[3] Before we get too far into what the church should be doing, let’s look at what the church is not, and then give a clear definition.
Defining the word “Church”
What the church is not, as indicated by Mark Driscoll, “The church is not a holy building in which spiritual meetings take place. The church is not a Eucharistic society through which God dispenses grace by means of the sacraments and a duly authorized and empowered hierarchy of bishops and priests operating in unbroken succession from the apostles. The church is not the moral police force of a society seeking mere behavioral change through legislation. The church is not a weekly meeting where people gather to do spiritual things.â€[4]
Driscoll goes on to give a definition of the church; “The local church is a community of regenerated believers who confess Jesus Christ as Lord. In obedience to Scripture they organize under qualified leadership, gather regularly for preaching and worship, observe the biblical sacraments of baptism and Communion, are unified by the Spirit, are disciplined for holiness, and scatter to fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission as missionaries to the world for God’s glory and their joy.â€[5]
The Bible speaks of church membership in relational terms – as members of one body and as members of the household of God – so that God’s people live as a gospel community and help one another grow in Christ and reach others for Christ.[6] There are no “Lone Ranger” Christians in the Bible, and there should be none today.
Why Join a Church?Â
Why should I become a member of a local church? I’m already saved and a part of the body of Christ (universal) so does it even matter if I am a member of a local church? Well, it does matter because we do become a part of the family of God when we receive Christ, and the actual expression of that is found in the New Testament local church. There is not one Christian mentioned in the New Testament who was not connected to a local church.
Rick Warren has written, “Many Americans Christians are what I call “floating believers.” Anywhere else in the world, being a believer is synonymous with being connected to a local body of believers‑‑you rarely find a lone‑ranger Christian in other countries. Many American Christians, however, hop from one church to another without any identity, accountability, or commitment. This is a direct expression of America’s rampant individualism. They have not been taught that the Christian life involves more than just believing‑‑it also includes belonging. We grow in Christ by being in relationship to other Christians. Romans 12:10 says, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.”
This same lack of commitment to any one church can be found in the youth of today as well. There is a phenomenon of youth jumping from one youth group to another in order to “get their needs met” or to the one that’s “cool” right this minute. They don’t tithe, serve, or have any formal ties to any one youth group. Without this commitment there is no accountability, few relationships where they serve and love one another, encourage each other toward holiness, or have a sense of responsibility toward the group. They have learned this from their parents who either model it for them, or enable them to express this behavior of selfishness.
C.S. Lewis once wrote an essay on church membership, reminding us that the word membership is of Christian origin, but it has been taken over by the world and emptied of all its original meaning. Today, most people associate the term membership with paying dues, meaningless rituals, silly rules and handshakes, and having your name on some dusty roll.
Paul, however had a very different image of membership. To the Apostle Paul, being a member of the church did not refer to some cold induction into an institution, but rather it meant becoming a vital organ of a living body (Rom. 12:4‑5; 1 Cor. 6:15; 1 Cor. 12:12‑27). Any organ that is detached from the body will not only miss what it was created to be, it will also shrivel and die quickly. The same is true for Christians that are uncommitted to any specific congregation.”
Nowhere in Scripture does it imply that salvation comes through membership in any church. Luke says of the early church, “And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved†(Acts 2:47). When questioned about salvation, the apostle never suggested that it depends upon connection with a group of believers. When Peter and others were asked, “Brethren, what shall we do?†(Acts 2:37), the reply was, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of the Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins†(v. 38). Peter’s message was the same in Acts 3:12-26 and 4:7-12. Paul’s reply to the Philippian jailor’s question, “What must I do to be saved?†(Acts 16:30) was straightforward: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household†(v. 31).[7]  So while there is no link between salvation and membership, there is a direct link between sanctification and membership in the local church.
Benefits of Membership Â
It is important to realize that there are several benefits that can come to you through church membership. The benefits include:
1) It provides a spiritual family to support and encourage you in your walk with Christ (Gal. 6:1‑2; Heb. 10:24‑25).
2) It gives you a place to discover and use your gifts in ministry (I Cor. 12:4‑27).
3) It places you under the spiritual protection of godly leaders (Heb. 13:17; Acts 20:28‑29).
4) It gives you the accountability you need to grow (Eph. 5:21).
5) It gives you a place where there are people who will share the burdens of life through prayer, love, sharing, support, and encouragement (Gal. 6:2).[8]
As long as you are not committed to a local church body through membership, you are not able to live the Christian life God intends for you live. Even if you “attend” a church for a long time, it is the formal commitment on your part to the church and the church toward you, that creates a bond of accountability, encouragement, and ministry in Christ’s name. [9]
[1] Acts 20:28-31; Ephesians 4;11; 1 Timothy 3:2; 1 Corinthians 11:18 ff.; 1 Timothy 5:16; 1 Corinthians 16:1.
[2] Mark Driscoll. Doctrine (Wheaton, Illinois; Crossway) 322.
[3] Millard Erickson. Christian Theology (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker) 1048.
[4] Driscoll, 307.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Romans 12:4-5; 1 Corinthians 12:12-27; Ephesians 2:18-19; 3:6; 4:25; 5:29-30.
[7] Erickson,1047.
[8] Rick Warren, 101 New Members Class Manual.
[9] Other suggested books to read on this topic that were not mentioned in the footnotes;
Bible Doctrine, Wayne Grudem (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan) 1999, and Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches, John S. Hammett (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Kregel) 2005.
Valdosta Kids Value #1 “Safety”
A Few With Drew — Safety from Drew Boswell on Vimeo.
Why Local Churches Should Work Together
For the typical Southern Baptist Church there is the assumption that churches are working together if they are giving a portion of their budget to the Cooperative Fund. This is very important to their missions efforts, but there may be no actual work that is done (in person), where various personalities and talents work on a project or event in close proximity of each other. Â Too many times the first question we ask is, “how will this help our church?” or “Who will get credit for this?” Growing our churches seems to take the place of God receiving glory through our service in His name.
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So why should churches work together (in ways other than the financial pooling of funds)?
1) churches will gain a respect and genuine love for a body of believers other than their own local church. People have a tendency to value what they invest themselves into. If you give days to an effort and work long hours with others, there will develop an overall concern for the project to be a success.
This desire will overflow into a love for others who are also trying to make the effort a success. There will be a sense of camaraderie that will lend itself toward letting go of pride and “our church” and to see the church universally. That is not to say that an individual should not be a member of one church and be apart of that body through giving, service, fellowship, worship, etc. but joint efforts allow people to see beyond their own congregations.
2) churches accomplish more when they work together, than if they work separately. When resources, volunteers, and man hours are channeled toward the same efforts by different churches, the over all event or results is more than either could do by themselves.
Each person is a special and unique being created with their own personality, talents, gifts, life experiences, and countless other things that makes them different. There is no other “you” in another church. Churches are not made of the same personalities, doing the exact same roles or functions, just in different bodies of believers. There are pastors at every church, but there are no two pastors that are alike.
So when you combine all these different gifts, talents, life experiences, etc. it makes for a glimpse of heaven. Heaven will be a time when we will see all of God’s children gathered together to serve and worship Him, and we will all be unique and wonderfully made.
3) churches are able to share the joy of serving together. When a church has an event and experiences the joy that comes from service, that joy is confined only to the local body of believers. But when when churches work together, the joy is multiplied. Two churches are able to share in the joy of serving Jesus — and there is plenty of joy to go around.
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Today was Christmas Time at Camp Rock where First Baptist Church Valdosta and Redland Baptist joined together to serve foster families in 13 surrounding counties. The two churches were able to minister and share Christ’s love to hundreds and hundreds of children, siblings, and foster parents. These families were served a hot breakfast and lunch, hosted by Disney characters, pony rides, petting zoo, inflatables, carnival games, gingerbread houses, a drama group came and performed, various bands played, local high school coaches and football players came out, and all the children received a Christmas gift (plus much more). It was a time many will never forget.
For some this would be the only Christmas they would experience, and for many it was a magical day where they could forget about the pain and abuse they have suffered. One five year old foster child there today was left in her home for five days alone to fend for herself. It was on the fifth day that she was found by the authorities — who knows how long it would have been otherwise. Today she was loved and shown a magical day. Today she smiled. Today she smiled because two churches worked together.
One particular boy when he received his gift ran up on stage and looked at me right in the eye and almost yelling said, “thank you!” He was thanking me as if I were responsible for putting this whole thing together. It was then that I felt that love for all the volunteers from both churches that made the event happen. How could I say, “your welcome?” I pointed him to Pastor Jay Watkins, and said “that’s the guy you should thank.”
So from time to time put the church banners, brochures, postcards, pens and pencils, and promotional flyers away, and just focus on showing Christ’s love with a new Christian friend from another church family. Trust me, it’s a ton of fun.
Click here for an article regarding Christmas Time at Camp Rock.
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