Appearance

As part of a series I am teaching called "Start Your Own Ministry" I interviewed Tiffany Youngren, the founder of Hannah's House, a home for unwed mothers. As she shared about her experiences over the past five years she talked candidly about the ups and downs of leading a ministry. And she said something very interesting. She said, "There are times when, as a leader of a ministry, you are not going to look very good." She went on to share about times when people misunderstood her motives, about times when she had to let staff go, about times when she really did not know what to do next. She then restated her premise, "If you lead a ministry, you are not always going to look good." But this time she added, "I don't think you can continue in ministry if it's your goal to look good. I had to go to God and say, 'Ok, Lord, this is not about me looking good. This is about you looking good.'"

Wow. What a great insight. If you haven't yet given up your need to look good, the sooner the better.

------------

Is your preaching "deep" enough? In my case, it depends on who you ask. If you were to ask some of my fans, they would tell you it is so deep they worry of drowning. If you were to ask some of my detractors, they would tell you that my teaching is so shallow, you can hardly get wet. Which is it? I'm never really sure, and I guess I've given up trying to figure it out. Instead, I've decided to put my energy into pleasing the Father. The fact that you can have such wildly divergent opinions from people looking at the exact same thing points out the basic truth that we need to take our cues from Above. In the end (and you should start with the end in mind and work back from there), the only appraisal that matters is His. Surrender your gifts, your time, your energy, your life to Him. You are not called to serve people. You are called to serve Him. People may be the beneficiaries of your ministry, but they are not the impetus for it. Give the best you that you can give to Him.