The Qualifications for Deacons, Elders, and Pastors-Colossians 3-4

Many of you know that for the last week I have been involved with IBSA's Super Summer for Youth. It has been a wonderful experience. I have met some awesome people who love simply love teenagers and desire for them to become all that God has designed them to be. What most of you do not know are the fears and concerns that I had about my role and how well I would be able to accomplish the tasks that were before me.

I knew that I was coming into a situation that I knew very little about. I had never been to Super Summer. I had never served as a Recreation Leader anywhere. I knew I was going to working with a group would had probably been working together for years and I was going to be the new guy.

Needless to say I was a little nervous about things. I was also feeling rather inadquate in my ability to serve and to serve well. Since arriving here I have realized (in my heart as I knew in my head) that "it's not about me, it's all about Him, all of the time." This has been the calming and motivating words within the staff for the last week. For me it meant that I needed to let go of myt fears and simply trust God that He had placed me in this position and that He had done so for a reason. I needed to trust in that and allow Him to use me however He wanted. Since this somewhat obvious epiphany I have been far more at peace. Yes, I am still trying to process some of the things that have happened here and my role in them but in the end I can look around and see some awesome ways God has used recreation time to draw teens closer to Him and each other.
This week has also been awesome because I have been able to observe and participate in a staff that follows a Biblical model for leadership. Essential all of us have had specific roles and tasks that we were responsible for. We have all realized that we all need to be helping each other get all of those tasks done. We have each realized that the need to submit to others. We have also realized that there are times when we simply need to step up and be the leader to get things done and make some decisions. All in all this strategy had worked well. It has been wonderful. This staff has truly followed the model of servanthood and leadership found in Colossians 3 and 4.
It is clear to me from these passages that each of us has a role to play in life. We each have jobs, tasks and areas of responsibility. Yet we all have someone whom we must submit to. Ultimately, as a human beings we need those who will lead us. In the church that person is the pastor. It is his role to lead the church but he must do so as a servant. As a church member I must be willing to submit myself to his authority yet he must be willing to work with me and submit to my decisions when appropriate. I have seen this played out here at Super Summer. Shawn our director is the head of our staff. He gave me some direction with Rec. yet I was the one who had to make the final decisions on the games and where to play them. When he comes to rec. he is "under" my authority while there. He does this by choice. He could have chosen to dictate to me what to and when to do it. He could have come to rec yesterday and totally changed everything around but he did not. He may have one things differently but he has chosen to allow me to accomplish the tasks how I believe they should best be done.

This kind of interaction is how I believe church leadership should interact with each other. It is not about dictating or ordering others aournd. It is about each of us fully submitting to each other while also realizing that there is a chain of command and that someone does have the final say on certain issues.