This blog is an excerpt from my book, RENEW YOUR
CONGREGATION; HEALING THE SICK AND RAISING THE DEAD.
I am not a born leader. I had to learn to lead. My
earliest experiences in participation in team sports makes that clear. The
picture is clear in my mind. As a skinny, nearsighted, nervous, new to the
game, introverted, nine-year-old Little Leaguer, I sat at the end of the bench
in the ninth inning of any close game and prayed I would not have to go to the
plate and bat. If you could have read my mind or my body language, it was
obvious that everything in me was screaming, “Don’t give me the ball!” I had no
doubt I would fail and was more than happy to bypass the opportunity to prove
my point. That nine-year-old, coke-bottle-bottom glasses–wearing me had no
signs of leadership to be seen.
Those Little League days were a long time ago. Many
things in my life have changed since I was a nine-year-old. I have played many
games in many sports; and though I never was a superstar, I learned to do many
things pretty well and gained a lot of confidence. Though I can’t ever remember
insisting that my teammates give me the ball, I got to the point that when the
game was on the line I was usually pleased to have the chance to win the game.
A recent Easter Sunday was a totally unique
experience for me. I had undergone some knee surgery and was having trouble
recovering. Easter morning arrived and found me lying in bed thinking only
about how miserable I felt after another sleepless night. My wife, Nancy, as
she left for worship, asked if I would be there later. I pulled the blanket
over my head and said, “No way.” I was miserable in any way you wanted to
measure miserable—physically, mentally, and spiritually. I was tired,
frustrated, hurting, depressed, angry, and prepared to launch into a huge pity
party. If anyone could have used a good resurrection morning sermon, it was I.
What a glorious Easter morning I was experiencing. I
would like to say that God appeared in my bedroom that morning and healed me.
But he didn’t. That kind of thing doesn’t happen to me. It was just me and my
aching, nonfunctioning knee. My guess is God was busy at church that morning.
But the “me” in that room was the person God had made me. God didn’t need to be
there. His work was already done. He had been working on me for a long time.
As I lay in bed feeling profoundly sorry for myself, a
new thought popped into my mind. “So what if I haven’t had a good night’s sleep
in three weeks? So what if my knee aches? So what if I’m not preaching this morning?
So what? I’ll be danged if a little pain in my knee is going to make me miss
Easter worship for the first time in my life.” God may have not made me
especially spiritual, but he sure made me strong-willed. (My friends called it
hardheaded.) So it was up and off to worship on Resurrection Sunday. It took a
while to get out of the bed, into some clothes, and out to the car. But what
the heck, I had wanted to be late to church for years. Here was my big chance.
I only regret that I don’t have video footage of my ten-minute struggle to get
in the car. I think I could have won the $10,000 prize on America’s Funniest
Home Videos.
It was great to be with the family of God. I was
deeply moved during the time of worship. My associate minister preached a great
sermon. But I couldn’t help sitting there in the front row thinking, “Give me
the ball!” God not only did not give me the ball this Easter Sunday morning, he
benched me. It is not that I think I am an all-star preacher. It is just that I
was sitting in the room with hundreds of people seeking to hear from God on
Easter morning, and I not only didn’t have the ball, I wasn’t even in the game.
Pastoral leaders who are going to lead churches in
revitalization and transformation are leaders who have an internal voice crying
out, “Give me the ball.” Church revitalization and transformation call for
leadership: leadership that wants the ball.
Copyright © 2015, William T. McConnell, All Rights
Reserved
Bill McConnell is Senior Minister at Lindenwood
Christian Church in Memphis, Tennessee and is a Church Transformation
consultant and a Christian Leadership Coach. He is a frequent speaker at Church
Transformation events. His latest book on church transformation is DEVELOPING A
SIGNIFICANT CHURCH and is available at Westbow
Press.
He can be contacted @ bill45053@gmail.com. Connect with him on
Facebook @ William
T. McConnell or on Twitter @billmc45053 or visit his Amazon Author Page @ Amazon
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