Issue #35
Serve! Spotlight
World-Changing Kindness Projects
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Billy Bob's Movie Reviews
COACHING
Video Spotlight
Servant Evangelism: Advice From a Pro
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| The Frustration Factor | |
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You would think after a couple of decades of doing this kindness stuff I would be a bit smarter than I am. When will I learn not to get fed up, or allow my frustration to limit what God is in the midst of doing? Yesterday was a prime example. It was our first day of transforming our E2 Experiment into a large scale operation at my church. The gist of E2 is combining the supernatural with the natural as far as an approach to outreach. It is the next phase of evangelism. We are taking our prophetic/intercession skills and gifts and blending them with everything we have learned about outreach. The process is simple. We quiet ourselves before God and have a blank canvas and empty map grid to work with and wait for God to show us what type of outreach to do, and who to be looking out for. . .literally depending on him completely to show us who we should notice that day. This works great with a small group of experienced leaders. Translating it to a large group (over two hundred kids going to four different regions of the city) is a bit more daunting. We knew we had to be flexible and allow for the process to be fluid. I have to admit, that it is completely different to translate this same process I have learned to use personally over the years as a lifestyle into a corporate project. Prophetic evangelism with over two hundred kids is kind of like herding cats. I knew all of this walking in, so I should have had the right frame of mind. Those of you that know me, understand that patience is not one of my gifts. When I get frustrated, I just kick into a solo gear and figure it is easier to blast ahead and do everything my self--not a cool mode for E2. Things went pretty well in the morning, but by the afternoon, some of the logistics started to fall apart. I began to get uptight--my groups were too spread out and it seemed to be falling flat. I started to get frustrated. I sensed it, and moved away and did something to calm down--washed windshields. I knew I was upset when I ran out of the stack of SE connect cards and realized I had washed several rows of parked car windshields at Northgate Mall. My other groups still were not back to the bus, and we had to drive down the road in the bus to pick up other groups. I pulled out my cell phone to warn the other team leaders--and sure enough the phone numbers were wrong. Great. Thanks, God. I love when you teach me patience and humility in the field. I was soon throwing supplies back into my truck and looking for a dog to kick. Nice attitude when you are supposed to be teaching others about letting kindness flow through you. I find out that their outreaches went flat as well. Even worse, none of us had spent the cash we were given, about eighty bucks each, to generously bless someone in an unexpected way. It was a type of Kindness Powerball Kicker we were experimenting with this year. Now I also had to figure out a way to explain why my team completely blew it--I was supposed to be pretty good at this stuff--yep, let's add some ugly pride issues into the recipe of failure that this afternoon was becoming. Finally, we loaded onto the bus and fought through traffic, being a half hour late. We get to the other site and those kids are still spread out. Now we will be even later getting back to the church. Great. The team leader at the other site apologized for giving me the wrong number. I didn't come out and say anything mean, but I am sure my gruff and brusque attitude was pouring out of my pores by then like some very bad body odor. I talked the bus driver into rolling down the next few blocks behind me while I used the my truck as a spotter to find the rest of the kids down a few blocks. When I jumped into my truck I thought I thought something was wrong with the vehicle. My thigh was burning. I looked down to see if something was wrong and what my leg was rubbing on that was so hot. Nothing was there. I reached into my pocket and found the cash we were given to distribute and it felt like the bills were on fire. The money was burning a hole in my pocket. Huh. Maybe God was trying to get my attention? Nah. We go a few blocks and I find the last group of kids on a porch praying for a couple that look like they had been having the worst day of their lives before these kids showed up. Funny, how kids seem to do and say the dardest things. I was mad because they weren't following the schedule and the funny thing is, E2 is supposed to be about getting off the grid and schedule. Yep, for a guy with a master's degree in literature and communication, I struggle with the concept of irony--go figure. Then the weirdest thing happens. I look at the house they are at as I park the truck and suddenly I am blinded by this white glare. My eyes are burning. Being a bald guy, I figure my sweat and sunscreen had leaked down into my eyes and started rubbing them behind my sun glasses. I look at the kids praying for the poor couple on the porch and there is a brilliant halo around them and the house. I wipe my glasses and rub my eyes. The halo is still there. I do a double take and look away, the halo is not on the other things I look at--just the kids praying for the couple. Huh. My leg starts burning again--the money in my pocket is on fire. Double Huh. Maybe, just maybe God is trying to get through my thick skull that this is what the whole day had been about. I get out of the truck and hop onto the bus to apologize to the driver that there will be another slight delay and as I do, my other team leaders are nearly jumping out themesleves, their cash in one hand and pointing to the house with the other. "That house--give all our money to that house!" Funny how kids are a bit more keen on what God wants to do than us adults are sometimes. They don't need the cognitive 2X4 that some us "experts" sometimes need upside the head to figure out God's will. They go with the flow. I head to the porch with two handfuls of cash and introduce myself to Ralph and his wife. They see what is about to happen and begin to weep. Ralph begins to sob and break down on the porch. "There is a God," he whispers. Then I start crying, too. Ralph has MS. Not only were they about to be evicted, they weren't even going to be able to eat dinner that night. They had stacks of unpaid bills and weren't even going to be able to keep the power on in their house to run the fans to stay cool in the ninety degree heat of summer. They weren't even sure what they were going to do for food. In fact, the first group of teens that showed up had just five dollars left to give him. He smiled through his tears and said that at least they could split a footlong and make Subway their supper of sorts. Then another group showed up, had some more money and soon, he was surrounded by kids that kept praying that all of their bills could be paid. Group after group showed up--without communicating previously--each adding more and more and more money and prayer support. We give him a big contribution and it would be enough to get them through the next couple of weeks. He was smiling and noticing God as we began to prepare to leave--for the first time in a long time he confided in me as we hugged goodbye. What is the lesson here? "Der Mensch denkt - Gott lenkt" It is an old German proverb that is loosely based on Proverbs 16:9: When we plan, God laughs. It is fun when God laughs, so go ahead and make plans, just get comfortable with the notion of change.  Ken Glassmeyer is the Editor of Serve! Magazine. He has been doing SE outreach in the midwest for over twenty years. Ken is the author of a number of PDF guides available at Kindness Resources including the latest: "Tactical Kindness." You can contact Kindness Resources LLC for more information on having him come to your church to coach, speak or consult. To learn more about Ken, visit his site: SERVACITY | |
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