Great Expectations

Photo Credit: roland via Compfight cc

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Some of you may have already heard, but my family and I are embarking on a new chapter in our lives. We’ve spent the last four-and-a-half years ministering to college students with Chi Alpha, but last Sunday my husband was elected to be the new lead pastor of Crosspoint Church in Waverly, Iowa.

In some ways it doesn’t feel real yet. I mean, our house is on the market, and we’re in the process of looking for a new one in Waverly, but we can’t move there until June when the kids get out of school and fulfill the commitments that we made to my son’s sports team and my daughter’s dance recital that she’s worked towards all school year. So it feels a little far away, literally and figuratively.

If I’m honest I know that the role of a lead pastor’s wife comes with a certain level of expectation (really, nearly everything in life does). Some of those expectations will be clearly stated and others I’ll figure out as I go. 🙂 I’m sure there will be times when I fail to meet someone’s expectations and we’ll have to navigate that as best we can. But I don’t like to fail (who does, right?), so the very idea causes me more than a little stress.

I think that’s why I’ve been so comforted this week by what I read in John 1. The scene unfolds with the Pharisees trying to define John the Baptist. They wanted to determine his identity.

“When Jews from Jerusalem sent a group of priests and officials to ask John who he was, he was completely honest. He didn’t evade the question. He told the plain truth: ‘I am not the Messiah.’
They pressed him, ‘Who, then? Elijah?’
‘I am not.’
‘The Prophet?’
‘No.’
Exasperated, they said, ‘Who, then? We need an answer for those who sent us. Tell us something–anything!–about yourself.’
‘I’m thunder in the desert: “Make the road straight for God!” I’m doing what the prophet Isaiah preached.‘“ (vv. 19-23 The Message)

John knew exactly who he was (and who he wasn’t–sometimes that’s just as important!) and what he was there for. The Pharisees undoubtedly had their own expectations and desires for John to fulfill, but he was focused on what God had asked of him.

Later in John 1, Jesus comes on the scene. The group of disciples is beginning to take shape, and when Jesus and Peter meet this is what Jesus says:

“‘You’re John’s son, Simon? From now on your name is Cephas‘ (or Peter, which means ‘Rock’).” (v. 42 The Message)

Jesus immediately gave Peter identity. He defined Peter and, in that simple statement, gave him purpose. Being in the presence of Jesus allows us, as leaders, to let him define us and give us our identity. It’s in that place where we learn Jesus‘ expectations of us and realize that those are the only ones that really matter.

 

Is it Wow Worthy?

One of the world’s wow-worthy monuments

This goes out to all my fellow friends involved in various types of ministry.  I would love your feedback on this one (really, I’d love your feedback on anything I write, but I really want to hear your thoughts about this).

I’ve been reading Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World by Michael Hyatt, the former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing.  In the first few chapters he talks about the necessity of creating a product or experience that is wow-worthy.  He spends most of his time dissecting products/experiences in the corporate realm, but it got my mind spinning off towards ministry and the how and why behind what we do.

As ministers and Christ-followers we have the most wow-worthy message around–Jesus–but sometimes we don’t present him in a manner that wows.  Instead, we settle for mediocrity and excuses for why we can’t do better (when I say “we” I am definitely including myself, in fact my excuses generally pander to my technophobia–Argh!).  There’s not enough money, people, time….and the list goes on and on.  If we’re honest, we’d admit there’s never going to be enough of those things, so there could be no end to our excuses.  While all of those things can certainly be barriers telling us what we can’t do, we can’t let them keep us from asking what we can do.  When I read Hyatt’s solution it was so simple it was genius!

He suggested evaluating two things.  What are people’s expectations when it comes to your product or service?  And how can you exceed those expectations?  Pretty simple, right?  Just two questions.  But sometimes simple is exactly what I need to start thinking practically instead of just theoretically.  It’s the jolt of electricity I need to get me moving in the right direction.  If you break every detail of what you do down into its component parts and evaluate them through those two lenses what do you see?  It’s not rocket science, but it has the potential to be just as revolutionary.

What are some expectations that people have when they encounter the ministry you’re involved in?

What are some specific ways you can exceed their expectations?

What might be the result?

Feel free to leave your answers in the comments