Let me tell ya folks, I got a case of the empty nest syndrome going on. All five of my world race teams have shot off in different directions across southern Africa and here I sit in a missionary home all alone in Nelspruit, South Africa. Which, actually I’m fine with after spending the last four months surrounded by 26 other people.
Obviously, these next few months are going to look quite different for me. Here’s the deal, ever since we started this journey back on January 5th, we have done everything as a squad – lived, traveled, worked, worshipped – EVERYTHING. In case you don’t know, including myself, we got 27 folks on this squad and they are broken up into 5 teams. And this is the first time the teams will function independently of the group – and me. So, naturally my role has changed. Yes, I’m still going to serve my squad with all my heart, soul and strength. But right now the best way to lead this group is by stepping back and empowering the leaders and their teams. Here is what God has been speaking to me.
“He must become greater; I must become less” – John 3:30
Basically, the Lord is telling me to become less, so His body (the squad) can become more. I’m learning that leading is about empowering and equipping God’s people – not controlling them. (Eph. 4:12) So don’t get me wrong, I’m here for them. But my role will be to support them from afar.
Which is what it’s looked like over the past couple few days. I’ve been helping with all the logistics that it takes to move teams from one country to another. And as we progress thru the summer months I plan on stopping in and spending some time with each team. However, I don’t want to hang out for more than just a few days. The leaders need to feel they have full authority over their teams, so it’s not good for me to infringe on that.
Aside from my basic duties of making sure everyone is in the right place – what do these next few months look like for me? Great question! Not only has God called me to step back and lead from behind the scenes, but He’s also called me to get quiet in front of Him. He’s called me to tune out all the other voices that can get cluttered in my mind and just focus on His voice. Now, of course I’ll still being doing ministry during this time, but it will be a lot more low key. In fact, my first assignment is to take a ride with a wonderful South African gentleman up thru Mozambique. Michael is a 60-year old retired C-130 pilot, turned pastor, turned missionary. He needs to check in on some of his ministry sites and I’m hoping to make some new contacts that our teams could maybe use over the next few months. After that, only God knows.
I just want to take this time to refocus on God – His voice and His love for me. Even when you are doing ministry full-time it gets REAL easy to get so busy that you forget about your relationship with God. And I could see myself heading down that road. It’s been pretty easy to get caught up in my role as the squad leader. Which is a dangerous place to be, because next thing you know you are getting your joy and identity out of your ROLE rather than in Him alone! Think about it, even Jesus himself never got His worth from His miracles or healings, but from His Father’s love. He told His disciples to do the same.
“However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” – Luke 10:20
Don’t rejoice in what you do – rejoice because you belong to God!
That’s my call right now, get quiet with the Lord and learn to be loved by Him – which is actually much harder than it sounds.
Anyway, it’s been forever since I’ve written a blog and I know He’s also calling me to do more of that. I definitely want to share with ya’ll more of what God has been speaking to me. I have a lot of prayer requests too, but to be honest the one thing that has been on my mind lately are finances. I still need to raise $9,000 and if something doesn’t change in the next couple months then I’m really going to need to make some hard decisions. Either way, just pray God will provide and pray I just relax and stop stressing about it.
Alright, that’s it for now. I’ll be posting more in the next few days.
