Surf's Up

A mentor in ministry, Phil Newberry, once told me that doing ministry is a lot like surfing. There are times when you ride the waves. There are times when you get yourself in position for the next wave. There are times you wait for the next wave. Then there’s the time to ride the next wave. 

As a minister, I see this type of cycle a lot. It happens on personal levels in life. It happens in the life of a church body. 

I’ll make these quick observations connected to these cycles:
Riding the wave is intense and fun. This past Sunday, Forum eclipsed all non-holiday Sundays in terms of attendance. When things are going great at work or at home - there’s this joy of riding high. 

Once the wave is ridden out, you’ve got to get yourself in position to catch the next one. This requires energy, effort, and positional awareness to know where to go. For you as an individual, that means asking, “What’s next?” “What’s next in my business?” “What’s next for our family?” “How can we get in position to maximize things?” For us as a church and church leaders the questions center on, “Where is God moving and how do we join Him (get there)?”

Then you wait. Move too soon and it’s a bust. Move too late and it’s a missed opportunity. This is one of the hardest things for people to do. We’re not good at waiting. But move in synch, and there’s a poetic beauty that unfolds. Don’t you want that type of godly beauty developing in your life? It’s the type of beauty God desires within your life and within His kingdom. As a ministry, we are kind of in steps 2 and 3 as we ramp up for 4 services starting on March 18th. We’re getting in position. We’re praying and waiting on new workers, new servants, and the next wave God is going to send us.

Then it’s time to ride. This requires an incredible amount of energy as your effort meets the inertia of the surging wave. As a ministry, we continually ask, “How can we connect more people with Jesus?” As the Lord leads us, we strive to get ready to expend the energy to catch His wave. 

This Sunday, we’ll look at a person who was in this exact type of cycle (Big shocker - spoiler alert: We are all in this type of cycle every day of our lives). You’ve got people around you in your life in this type of a cycle and they don’t recognize it or know what to do about it. This is a great Sunday to introduce them to church - so invite them. 

This Sunday, we’ll look at God’s timing, at how God defines our purposes, and how God is ever with those who follow and trust Him. We’ll look intensely at Exodus 3. Looking forward to another great encounter worshiping the Lord with you.

Just for fun, I’ve included a picture of my preaching/teaching compadre surfing in this article. Enjoy and we’ll see you Sunday.