I made a new friend with a tragic story. Well, it wasn’t tragic until I came into the picture.
He’s a young guy who volunteers for his church. He does all the creative stuff at his church – for free. It’s a small congregation and they have very limited staff. So he pours his heart into the church and is waiting for them to bring him on the team. He does a bit of freelance on the side to pay the bills, but knows ministry is where his heart lies. The tragic part is, they’ll probably never hire him. And he has no idea… I’ve seen this before.
The church’s next hire will be a children’s pastor. Then a worship leader. Then a … on down the line. They’ll never think to start paying my new friend, because they aren’t hurting in that area. They already have a great creative ministry, because this guy’s doing the job for free. They don’t realize what they have. And the sad thing is, they probably won’t realize what they have until they lose him. When he has to get a full time job to support his new wife or child, they’ll realize they had a good thing for free.
I’m not trying to knock the church. This is simply the human condition. We don’t realize what he have until it’s gone. The church will probably lose this incredibly valuable asset because they failed to care for and foster his passion.
Guess what. You have assets and talents you don’t acknowledge. You take them for granted. You might be an amazing leader. You might be incredibly creative. You might have amazing communication skills. But you probably take them for granted. And because you take them for granted, you don’t care for those skills and foster them.
Here’s my challenge to church leaders. Identify hidden assets and pay them. Put value on them.
My challenge to you. Be brutally honest. Don’t be “humble”. Figure out your skills and foster the heck out of them. You can’t afford to take those things for granted.
Good one Jonathan….
Good one Jonathan….
Story of my life….sigh. Thank you for seeing this.
Story of my life….sigh. Thank you for seeing this.