Everybody Needs Somebody Sometime

Ever feel overwhelmed?  You wake up in the morning and you just don't want to get out of bed?  Feel like you're drowning under the workload?

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We all feel this way at some point in out lives.  Let me tell you the time I felt like this most recently.  My wife had gone out of town for the weekend to spend time with her family.  I told her not to worry about Sunday morning that everything was under control.  I wasn't lying; I just had no idea what lay ahead.

This particular morning was one of the busiest Sunday mornings ever.  We had new lifegroup sign-ups in both services,which I had to be a part of, we were giving away new volunteer t-shirts, which weren't set up yet, I was supposed to start a new fifth and sixth grade leadership team that night, Two of my small group leaders were absent so I had to fill in for one of them, small groups had a craft that morning that had a lot of pieces and none of it was ready for children, and I had to do all my normal jobs plus my wife's!

When I got home that afternoon, I was exhausted and discouraged. I didn't realize it, but I needed help.  I thought I could handle it, but I was wrong.  Thankfully, I picked up a book by Jim Wideman called The Eric Trap.  The first chapter recounted a fictional story of a children's pastor named Eric who had a worse Sunday morning than I did. Nevertheless, we had made the same mistake.  We didn't delegate.

Delegation is trusting someone else to do something.  We all do it, when we ask people to help.  Unfortunately in ministry we fall into the trap of asking people to the easy stuff and keep all the fun stuff for ourselves.  I had plenty of help on that Sunday.  There were lot's of people who could have done many of the extra jobs I had to do, but I didn't trust them.  I didn't think they could do as good or dare I say better job than me.

So, I repent. I confess my arrogance. My pride.  I commit from now on to find people who can do my job.    I will give everything away except for the things that only I can do, whether they be fun or not. I will trust and develop those around me to be the best at what they do.  This will be my legacy.

Do you struggle with delegation?

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