Why Do You Serve ? (or not)

A while back I encouraged leaders to take good care of your volunteers.

(If you haven’t read it, feel free.)

God probably shakes His head at the way I’m always getting up and going around to look at the OTHER side of things. Then again, maybe not. He wired me. I did that very thing with my own thoughts about strengthening and fortifying those who serve, asking myself “Why DO people volunteer, anyway?” I mean beyond the sentence or two at the beginning of “take good care…”

I was thinking about that question some, not a lot, over the weekend. Sometimes it’s kind of nice that you don’t HAVE to think something through, but in the absence of that reasoning pressure you just do. It’s like simmering, slow-cooking, the way some of us are savoring Philippians this month. Anyway, Sunday morning at church I was pleasantly surprised that Chip has been thinking about it too! I wholeheartedly concur with his conclusion and the way he explained things.

I invite you to take the time to look in on and listen to Sunday’s message, the sermon in particular. If you’re limited on time you’ll need to wait for the entire clip to load, at which point you can scroll ahead to 27:10, the beginning of Chip’s thoughts. The praise segment is great too, but that’s where the message-proper starts. And please listen through the first song of the communion segment, it dovetails perfectly with the message. One man, one piano, one heart. (You may glad a Kleenex is within reach. I’m listening to it as I type, and there’s a lump in my throat.)

I know why I serve The Lord. Maybe this will help clarify why you do – or should.