Stretching to Fit

I just finished reading Daniel's blog entry. It is very helpful for me to get his perspective on where things are at and how things are feeling -- even if the realities of his schedule only allow me to glean those thoughts from his blog. *smile*

Last time he was in service I actually did get to speak with him in person afterwards. His feedback was, "Too many announcements, not enough Bible." And he encouraged me to tie the thoughts I'm sharing in my teaching more closely to scripture. I hope you've seen me grow in that over the last couple months since he and I had that chat.

Here's the quote from his blog that I thought was particularly eye-opening:

The congregation has definitely grown younger under Todd and Hilary’s tutelage; I’ll bet the average age of non-Childrens’ Ministries people has dropped 12 years, so that now the church is as much a church for us old folks’ children as it is for us! I’m sure it has taken a bit of getting used to by the adults who clustered more around my age when I pastored. Since many of them grew old with me, they likely did not realize how much the younger generation had to stretch to fit in with us. Now the tables are turned, and those slightly younger than us are, more and more, creating the flavor of the church—from worship to CM to activities to language, etc. Can we who are older stretch our comfort zone enough to be able to adapt to an environment/atmosphere in church that does not emanate from our generation’s tastes?

God is always in the process of stretching each of us. For me, the last several months have been an incredible stretch -- believing that God can really work through this young, inexperienced leader. When all I've ever seen of ministry leadership are people who are older and wiser than me, it's a wild leap of faith to believe that God can use little-old-me.

Although I wouldn't have the place to say it myself, I can easily affirm Daniel's words. I believe that God is indeed increasing the maturity of many people who are more mature than I am through the stretch they are experiencing in following my leadership. It has almost nothing to do with the quality of my leadership... It has everything to do with their continued pursuit of hearing and responding to God's voice.

In Daniel's words,

I am very happy to say, though, that the vast majority of my “older” friends at The Coastlands are making the transition well. Not without pain and soul-searching and determination, but with already-visible rewards of increased maturity that comes from finding the Lord, themselves, in the midst of turbulent times. I am very proud that I once was their pastor.