So tonight during my quiet time, I was reading in Exodus 18. Moses's father-in-law, Jethro , sees people standing before Moses all day long, and questioned him about it.
(The following is from The Message.)
"What's going on here? Why are you doing all this, and all by yourself, letting everybody line up before you from morning to night?"
Moses said to his father-in-law, "Because the people come to me with questions about God. When something comes up, they come to me. I judge between a man and his neighbor and teach them God's laws and instructions."
Moses' father-in-law said, "This is no way to go about it. You'll burn out, and the people right along with you. This is way too much for you - you can't do this alone. Now listen to me. Let me tell you how to do this so that God will be in this with you. Be there for the people before God, but let the matters of concern be presented to God. Your job is to teach them the rules and instructions, to show them how to live, what to do. And then you need to keep a sharp eye out for competent men - men who fear God, men of integrity, men who are incorruptible - and appoint them as leaders over groups organized by the thousand, by the hundred, by fifty, and by ten. They'll be responsible for the everyday work of judging among the people. They'll bring the hard cases to you, but in the routine cases they'll be the judges. They will share your load and that will make it easier for you. If you handle the work this way, you'll have the strength to carry out whatever God commands you, and the people in their settings will flourish also.
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Wow. Jethro laid it out pretty clear. Moses couldn't do it by himself. He HAD to have a team with the ultimate authority being God.
It makes me think of my team... for those of you who don't know, Lauren Barnes, Kayla Walker, and myself lead a worship team in Reality Student Ministry. We have a team of 15 people who serve every other week. (Some of them every week!) It reminds me of how terrible worship would be in Reality if me, Lauren, and Kayla did it by ourselves. No band, no singers, no guidance, no supporters - nothing. Worship would be limited based on what we could do by ourselves.
Looking from another perspective, if we didn't have a team of people, we wouldn't have a TEAM full of God-loving leaders who spend their Sunday/Wednesday ministering to others - whether it's by talking to them, loving them, or leading them in worship. If we didn't have a team, there wouldn't be as much a difference made.
So, if you're reading this and you are on the Reality Worship Team, I just want to say how much I love you guys and appreciate everything you do for me, Lauren, Kayla, Pastor Patrick, Pastor Addison, and all of Reality. We love you, and we can't do it without you.
Another thing we need is God being the ultimate authority of that team. Jethro said, "Let the matters of concern be presented to God." If we don't have God leading our team, we could be sending things in a completely different direction than what his plan REALLY is. It kind of relates to my last blog post (about letting God be the one who is in control and us being on HIS schedule/plan).
Maybe you're reading this and you are trying to tackle something huge on your own - you might want to rethink that. Get a team of people who will help you in this. And ALWAYS make sure that God is the ultimate authority of whatever you are doing.
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