After the Super Bowl, I watched a show called Undercover Boss. The president and COO of Waste Management, Larry O’Donnell, spent a week working within the company, doing a variety of tasks while not letting anyone know his actual identity. He worked as a porta potty scrubber, trash collector, sorter of recyclables, and even got fired for the first time in his life. Through this process, he was able to see his company in a new light, gain fresh ideas regarding policies and procedures, and developed relationships with employees he likely would have never met otherwise.
How could this experience relate to serving in a church setting (without the duplicity)? We all should…
1. Be willing to serve anonymously. To desire credit is to give in to pride.
2. Be aware that there are no lowly jobs. Christ served others humbly, and often behind closed doors.
3. Be generous with our praise for others. None of us work alone. Brag on the family.
4. Know our strengths. Be mindful that we all have a distinct and individually-crafted part to play, so it is important to find the area of service God had in mind when He designed us. Dr. Ergun Caner once said that a call from God is for a specific PLACE, TIME, and TASK. God equips each of us differently.
5. Be open to new methods. “That’s the way we’ve always done it” is NOT a reason to continue doing something. As Perry Noble says, the church in the book of Acts had to change radically how it did things when its membership went from 12 to 10,000+.
Mr. O’Donnell learned from his experience. So can we.
Not a Camouflaged Soul 