Servant leaders needed

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant…” (Philippians 2:5-7).

“Can I intern at the church this summer?” Auston asked, a look of real sincerity on his face.

“We can’t pay you.” I said, watching to see his response.

“That’s OK. I just really want to help any way that I can. I really feel called to help our church.” He said, his enthusiasm bubbling over.

“Alright.” I said. “But ministry isn’t all that people expect it to be. Some days it’s standing up front preaching, but on others, it’s mopping the bathroom floor.”

Auston Jones just finished his junior year at NC State. He started interning with us a couple of weeks ago. Since we just moved into our newly remodeled building, a lot of the work we have to do is very physical and often menial. The first week of his summer internship with us he was assigned the task of organizing and cleaning the storage room.

“Hey Auston, great job on organizing, but when are you going to mop the floor?” I asked, while pointing at the storage room floor.

“Hmm… I did already.” He answered. “It just won’t come clean.” He continued with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Well, you’re going to have to get some mop-training from someone because mopping is more than just moving the dirt around. It’s getting the dirt up.” I said, with a wry smile softening the critique.

He nodded his reply, his shoulders drooping a bit.

I knew this was a real test for him. At WCC, we’re looking for disciples who are “servant-leaders.” Before we promote someone to leadership, we want to make sure that they are willing to serve no matter how small the job. We want leaders who are first of all great followers and great servants. We want leaders who serve and lead like Jesus.

Jesus is the Son of God, yet He humbled Himself and became a Servant. He demonstrates to us the kind of obedience He wants in His followers. He also shows us the kind of character He wants in those that He calls to lead. Jesus is looking for servant-leaders.

A few days after I had talked to Auston about getting some “mop-training,” I was a little surprised to see him standing outside the storage room smiling. In fact, I was surprised to see him at the church at all. A lot of volunteers lose their enthusiasm for ministry when they discover its reality. They often feel “called” to do something else.

“What’s Auston smiling about?” I asked one of our staff.

“He wants you to come look at the storage room floor.” She said.

“Why? Did you finally teach him how to mop?” I asked.

“Nope. He said that he googled “How to Mop” and watched a training video.” She answered with a giggle. “You should really go look. He is very proud of his floor.”

I went and looked at the floor. “Not bad.” I said. “Let’s see what else we have for you to do.”

So, this past week we had Auston teach at our high school youth meeting on Sunday evening, he taught at our men’s meeting on Monday evening, and on Wednesday evening he organized and led the Hot-Diggity-Dog church picnic.

On the morning after the picnic, I saw him sitting in our church coffee shop reading. “I’m surprised to see you here. I figured you’d take today off after last night.”

“Yeah, I am pretty tired, but it’s a good kind of tired.” He replied.

Auston is learning the value of service. When we humble ourselves to serve like our Lord Jesus and according to His empowerment, we discover a real sense of fulfillment, a “good kind of tired.” We also discover that our faithfulness in the little things leads to God trusting us with bigger things.

I’m praying that God keeps trusting our church with young men and women who will learn to become servant-leaders.