Yesterday was National Server Day (for people who wait tables).  Funny I don't remember that being a national day of honor when I was a server.  Of course when I was a server things were a bit different. (think late 90's)

Our restaurant had a high turnover rate for employees, especially servers.  The statistic used to be that 17% was a model of good turnover.  We ranked around 28-35% turnover ratio.  As I began to train servers, I knew who would make it and who wouldn't almost to a science.  I think I still have that gift.  Servers are really good at what they do when they posses a few good traits; humor, common sense, rapport with the customer and a servant attitude.

The difficulty is that you can train people how to do a job like serving food but the good ones are instilled with these traits as part of who they are.  The problem our management team always wrestled with was hanging a help wanted sign.  It either made us recognize the 28-35% turnover or it invited people to ask about working there.

Jesus invites his disciples into this type of relationship....showing them exactly what it means to be a servant of all (John 13 Jesus wears an apron and washes his disciples feet).  Jesus hangs the help wanted sign for those to follow him and have a servant's heart.  As disciples of Jesus we are called to wear aprons not bibs.  Happy National Servers day (late)...if your praying attention! - Pastor Andy

I recently took a ministry inventory called five fold ministry.  It helps determine your various gifts for ministry between the five aspects of Apostle, Evangelist, Pastor, Prophet and Teacher.  I scored highest on Apostle.  Given the nature of the readings for Pentecost, this is a good time to explore what it means to be an apostle.

The truest meaning of the word apostle is one who is sent.  This is what happened at Pentecost, the disciples were moved beyond the walls of the upper room where everything was safe.  It doesn't get any safer telling the story of Jesus to a bunch of people who already know the story (they were there - duh!).  The power of the Holy Spirit literally moved the disciples into the streets of Jerusalem AND empowered and equipped them to speak to people in their own languages.  This movement is distinguished, unique.  It makes followers of Jesus into ones sent into the world.   In other words, disciples become apostles when they move out into the world to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.  We all are apostles in one form or another.  Yet the gift of Apostleship is unique as well.

"From the Greek apostolos meaning "one who is sent out."  Apostles are visionary and pioneering, always pushing into new territory.  They come with new, innovative means to do kingdom work." _Mike Breen and Steve Cockram "Building a Discipleship Culture"

Given the state of the church at Pentecost I'm kinda grateful for this gift.  Breen and Cockram go on to say the core question of Apostles is: Are we leading the people of God to their destiny?

When I really got interested in the ins and outs of baseball.  I learned how to read a box score (the innings with hits runs and errors).  I learned the difference between pitching and throwing.  Lots of pitchers can throw 95MPH but not all pitchers now how  to pitch (the art of pitch selection and location in different circumstances).  I learned about the importance of a walk is as good as a hit sometimes.  Once I learned more and more about baseball, I learned how to keep score.  It’s more complicated than I thought.  Once I learned the signatures for the different plays and the different combinations I learned how to understand the game more clearly.

There is something to that as we approach the mentality of what it means to be church.  As a church we keep score.  The difference is that in baseball there are different shorthands for keeping score for each pitch and each batter but they are all keeping score the same way.  In church we all keep score differently.  The difference of how we approach keeping score is as numerous as the membership.  For some, keeping score as a church means sunday attendance, for others it is active membership numbers, others it is sunday school attendance, and for others it is Bible Study, weddings, Baptisms, coffee hour, motorcycle rides, missionaries, and for some it may even be funerals.

What is the scorecard we are using as a church?  The point I am making about using a scorecard is that whatever system we are using to keep score as a church we need to get rid of it.  (I learned a little bit about this at the Exponential Conference in Orlando).  My love for baseball increased as I matured in the game, as I learned more and more about the depth of its intrigue.  I think this is true about church as well.  We learn to keep score differently when we mature in our discipleship.  

Ephesians 4:11-16
11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

When we begin to mature in our relationship with Jesus and our relationship with other members of the body of Christ our scorecard changes from numbers to maturity.  It is our job to be moved into a deeper and wider relationship with Jesus, so that we might in our maturity develop and equip other saints for ministry.  The reproduction of this is as simple and difficult as it sounds but maybe we can simply start by changing how we keep score.

There has always been a lot of talk about transporting Jesus.  You may have heard in your own tribal circles; "we need to bring people to Jesus."  Or better yet, "we are gonna take Jesus to this school, that village, or this family."  And I got to thinking....do we really need to be transporting people to Jesus?  I mean that puts an awful lot of pressure on me to make sure he gets there (wherever there might be).  I do believe that some Christians recognize it as their goal to bring people to Jesus.  I just don't happen to share that goal.  I've even read recently (the past 3 minutes) that discipleship, the act of following Jesus is "the art and science of helping people find, follow and fully become like Jesus" - Brandon Cox

I agree with some of this idea but it starts out all wrong for me.  Jesus is not lost and people don't need to FIND him.  As George Carlin once joked "I found him, I have Jesus in the trunk."  Rather I think what I am learning about my responsibility as a Jesus follower is to not only bring Jesus with me but point out where Jesus is already present in the current realities of people's lives.  I have seen far too many opportunities for people to recognize Christ in their own lives by using this kind of language where Jesus is the cure and it's all people need (pimping out Jesus?) instead of changing people's vocabulary to recognize that Christ is already in their lives they just need new words to talk about that relationship.  I have been really impressed with a friend of mine who started using Jesus words to articulate things he once could explain away.  he is finding a new vocaulary that didn't include transporting Jesus....Jesus was already there!  Praying attention the

I planted the seed, and Apollos watered it. But God is the One who made it grow. So the one who plants is not important, and the one who waters is not important. Only God, who makes things grow, is important. The one who plants and the one who waters have the same purpose, and each will be rewarded for his own work.  We are God’s workers, working together; you are like God’s farm, God’s house. - 1 Corinthians 3:6-9
 
It’s spring.  Which is noticeable because of all the rain we have been provided with recently.  Spring is a time to think about growth.  We learned early on the proverb “spring showers bring May flowers.  This May 19th we are celebrating the 65th anniversary of St. Mark’s.  It is an opportunity to recognize all that God has done in the growth period of these 65 years but also an opportunity to see the future growth that God will work in the lives of the people of St. Mark’s.  Paul reminds us that the greatest aspect of growth is not who gets the credit but who is responsible for the growth: God.

Yet every good gardner, every good farmer and every good landscaper will tell you that the thing about growth is that it is not a hands off approach.  In other words, lots of people are involved in the life of lawns, gardens and farms.  And we are God’s workers, working together.  We get to participate in the growth that God brings.  In the times we open Scripture and grow the depth of our faith; we are participating in God’s growth in our lives. When we reach out to a broken world with the promise of healing; we are participating in God’s growth in life of the world.  When we respond to tragedy and despair with hope; we are participating in God’s growth in desolate places.  As good stewards of what God has given us we are responsible for participating in it.  That’s the thing about growth we cannot simply place the burden on God to make it grow without doing our part.  And that may leave us with an open question to ponder as we celebrate the past growth and look at opportunities for future growth: How am I participating in God’s growth?  Will I be a planter, a waterer, a tiller, a harvester, a landscaper, a farmer, or a gardner?  No matter what, the thing about growth is that we trust and pray that God will make it grow for another 65 years. -Pastor Andy