What God Originates, God Orchestrates

As we are reading through “Visioneering” a lot of things are becoming clearer to me. I have to admit, when I began pastoring in Lakeside, I expected much more results much faster than has actually occurred. But the strange thing is, even though I expected us to be further along, at every stage of the game I have been convinced that we were exactly where we should have been–at that time.

I know that sounds contradictory. On the one hand I expected more salvations, more baptisms, more changed lives, more people stepping up into positions of leadership. On the other hand, I have not once thought we have missed an opportunity that we just had to take. It may seem impossible to hold both positions simultaneously, but it’s not. The glue that holds it all together is the conviction that God is the one in control of the situation, not me. When we adopt that viewpoint, it changes how we approach everything in the church.

If we believe that God is in control, then we will also believe that God will move the peices around to make His work successful. That frees us to wait on God until He decides the circumstances are right before we jump into the fray. On the other hand, if we believe God inspires, directs, and then leaves the rest up to us, we are at risk of getting ahead of God. The temptation will be to take control from God, and take matters into our own hands.

Here’s the rub. Both methods accomplish the goal, but only one method accomplishes the goal in the right way. There is always a tension between “get it done” and “get it done right.” When we wait on God, what we are doing is saying, “I don’t just want it done. I want it done right.”

Over the last two years there has not been a group oriented to our teen-agers. We didn’t have such a group because there was not a person in the church who felt God’s call or who had been equipped for that kind of a task. Now don’t get me wrong, my conviction is that any church without an effective youth program is doomed to a slow and painful death.

During that time, we have had several families visit our church for one or two weekends and then never return because there wasn’t a place for their teen-aged children. That was hard. No one wants to see people visit our church and then never come back. No one wants that less than me. We could have started a youth group, but it wouldn’t have been effective. It would have been run by someone who wasn’t called to that sort of service. That would have led to burnout, and burnout would have lead to animosity and animosity would have lead to arguments, and eventually both families (the kid’s and the worker’s) would have left the church.

Instead we chose to believe that God works out what He puts in us. When we do that, He always comes through.