A Chance to Serve

Thought #1
The youth in our church have a chance to serve others this time of year by raking leaves. What a great opportunity to help others in a real practical way! It’s an excellent way to serve elderly and those unable to do so themselves for other physical reasons. So with a greatly anticipated picture in mind of what this would look like, I was very excited for the leaves to fall and for our work to begin. I was looking for young men and women followers of Christ to step up and step out serving others with positive sacrificial attitudes.

I thought it would be sweet to see leaf raking and helping others fall into the same commitment level category as students’ other extra-curricular activities. But extra-curricular activities fail to get bumped out of students’ top priority slots and adequate time is not being carved out of schedules to see leaf raking as a worthy endeavor as say b-ball, band, or piano.

Now, I know what you are thinking. Nick, what are you smoking? When did you ever see a 7th, 9th, or 12th grader choose to skip b-ball practice to help some old person rake leaves? When did you ever see piano lessons being shifted because leaf raking took precedence over that time slot? To this I would respond by saying, “This is exactly why I dream it.” Exactly because this sounds bizarre and unfathomable, is why I so badly want to see this. Because if Pella saw this witness for Jesus by their youth, they would be shocked, taken back, and take notice!

It’s exactly because this realignment and priority shifting is dreamland fantasy for most youth ministries of our day is why I go for it, and will continue to go for it. I want to see the book of Acts first hand. I want to demand to see it from my own life, and I want to desperately see it from the youth I disciple. I will keep trying, and fail as many times as is necessary. It’s what I firmly believe was the mindset of the Christians in the book of Acts would have taken. They would have had radical, absolutely radical priority alignment after coming to Christ. I want to see our youth have that same radical priority realignment. Before I leave Pella I want to see the 10th grader say, “Raking leaves for old people is taking priority for these two weeks over my extra-curricular activities.” This kind of priority realignment of serving others over one’s own self interest is what following Jesus demands. Yes, I said “demands.” It is this tremendously mature self-sacrificing decision made by youth that Pella needs to see firsthand.

Thought #2
I want to see people look outside their window flabbergasted as a bunch of eager youth show up to help. I want to boast about our youth and say these are some of the most dedicated kids in all of Pella. Unfortunately, it looks like this will have to be a prayer answered another year. After all, it takes time to build this mentality, right? We simply don’t have mindset instilled to pull it off. I fault myself for this downfall as the youth leader. I always see my own weaknesses represented in those I disciple. (yeah, it sucks to be reminded of my own sins far too often.) This is yet another area where the mirror stings to see my reflection in the youth’s faces.

I seem to have overestimated the realignment of student priorities to help those in need. What made sense in my mind to help others rake leaves didn’t take root in their mind for activities which would have to take a back seat. The picture of helping others was not a shared vision over one’s self interests. Other commitments and priorities continue to follow in step as previous weeks, and time was not adequately carved from schedules to see leaf raking as a worthy time commitment for 2 weeks. But this post is not about what could have been, or wished it to be, or that I failed to communicate the dream.

This post of thought #2 isn’t primarily about raking leaves. It’s about how the servant heart holds up WHEN raking those leaves. It’s about servant heart AND the sacrificial attitude throughout. It’s the sacrificial positive spirit of praise attitude that I had to keep in check. The 2nd thought of this post is about what goes on inside me when youth don’t show up and I’m the only one serving at the youth event. It ain’t no pretty picture inside. It rarely is. I had to pray the whole time to prevent the explosion. Here I am, serving at a youth service event, with no youth present!

So, I had to keep telling myself that it’s about role modeling first, before expecting others to catch the vision and join. The real sting is my own time to mull over where things went wrong. I have had a lot of quiet time to think things through as I have been the sole individual raking leaves on a few occasions (with no youth in sight) it is a sober reminder that we all have deep need for more maturity in Christ. I have now spent time raking alone to think of my own lack of aligning priorities. (I think Jesus wants me to digest it better before teaching it to others.) So today, I think it’s not just about serving others by raking leaves. It’s about aligning MY priorities, so serving others takes precedence over serving my own self interests. AND it’s also about serving WITH a positive servant attitude regardless of who is serving or who isn’t serving alongside me.

A servant heart + properly realigned Christ-centered affections and commitments + a positive spirit throughout the serving experience