Many Hands

September 9, 2014.

A guy named John Heywood said, "Many hands make light work."  It's generally a biblical principle too.  For example, the book of Proverbs is full of tidbits about work and Exodus 35 has a great picture of everybody coming together to build the tabernacle.

Late Sunday night and Monday, I started receiving texts about our first Sunday night service.  Nearly everybody I came in contact with on Monday asked me, "how did it go?"

Of course there are many things I could say.  We worshiped our Risen Lord in spirit and in truth.  We loved one another.  We worshiped God and heard from him.  We didn't burn down the building.  But I'm thinking what most people what to hear is how many people showed up, if we had any problems, or anything like that.  While we did count, I'm not as concerned about how many people were in attendance or what went wrong.  I am, however, thrilled about what I saw and what went really well.

We worshiped.  We did, I believe, hear from the Lord.  I hope we lifted Christ high.  We proclaimed the gospel.  And there was something else I saw that was absolutely wonderful.

At 5:00pm some of our team arrived and set everything up.  The chairs were set.  Coffee was made. Communion was prepared.  Music stands were in place and the projector was putting words and pictures on the screen.  Announcements were written on the whiteboard.  Bulletins were printed.  We had people volunteer to teach the children and there were materials and snacks.  At 5:30 we stopped everything to spend thirty minutes in prayer together.  Nearly everything was set and ready before we started praying.

After we prayed, our group spilled out to greet people, hand out bulletins, tend to the kiddos, and everything else that needed done.  And when we were finished with the worship service, our people stuck around to visit with guests.  Then they jumped in and cleaned up everything.  Put away the chairs.  Packed up our church-in-a-box toates.  It was smooth and non of it required me telling anybody what to do.

From my perspective I've see people getting deeply involved to help Redeeming Life make and gather disciples.  Daniel, our worship leader is committed. He's there every week, as well as meeting with me on Thursdays. We have four guys who are serving as House Fellowship leaders.  Their families happily hosting these fellowships in their homes.  We have a couple guys serving as deacons and tending to the physical needs of Redeeming Life.  Two guys are leading men's character building and accountability groups and Lisa will be leading one for the ladies. Troy is putting the words for our songs as well as Scripture on the screen.  Kelly has volunteered to help me as our administrative assistant. . . praise the Lord!  And Brett has been working on our website, ordering cards, and doing other graphic work.  He also jumped in with Daniel on Sunday night and played the djembe during our musical worship.  And in all sorts of ways people are sharing the gospel and inviting the lost as well as the found into life with our Redeeming Life family.

There is some truth to Heywood's statement.  But from my vantage point, many hands are not only making the work easier at Redeeming Life, the many hands make it more beautiful.

I'm blessed to be a part of Redeeming Life Church and couldn't ask for a better team of folks to shepherd. (You guys are a huge blessing to me and my family!)

Soli Deo gloria!
Pastor Bryan