OH...THAT'S WHAT UNITY FEELS LIKE!

God has given me the privilege of being a pastor for almost 20 years. It is hard to believe.
And after I came home from an all day meeting with a group of leaders from our church, Teresa said she saw something in me that she hadn't seen in many years. She said I was happy. She said I was smiling - all in the context of returning from a 6.5 hour meeting! That is a good sign; but for me it is hard to believe that it has been years since I felt that way about a meeting that was about moving forward in church ministry. In fact, as I thought more about it, I cannot remember a time when I sensed a greater unity in a meeting like that than I did this past Saturday.

I was trying to identify what was different. Why did I feel that way? What was so unique. As I thought about it for some time, I realized that in past meetings, in different places over the years, there always seemed to be an obstacle to unity in our meetings. Perhaps it was me. But, there was always some underlying tension, or some of the group that came to the meeting, ready to oppose and criticize whatever it may be that we were discussing. It is hard to explain exactly what that is like; but most of you reading this know what I mean. You are meeting with an individual or group, and you can usually tell if they are working hard to engage in unity; or if they have their own personal agenda that is going to be an obstacle to progress. I have been through a lot of those meetings, returning home with the knowledge that our leaders are not unified. And no matter how hard I tried to unify them around biblical truth and principles, it was evident that unless the leaders are willing to sacrifice for unity, it isn't going to happen.

When I say "unity", I don't mean "uniformity", where we all think alike, have all the same opinions, and are unwilling to be who God made us. By unity, I mean that we are humbly submitting ourselves to God, realizing that what we are trying to accomplish as leaders together, is greater than my own personal agenda and preferences. We plead for God to make His will and direction known, and we participate in the recognition of that by setting aside our desires and actively working with the others who are present. We are unified on the value of each person present, and on what we are trying to accomplish. We listen to one another and speak when it would benefit the group and purpose for meeting. We are positive about the process and we are excited to see what God is going to do. This doesn't mean there aren't differences or disagreements; but no one allows those to keep us from moving forward together for the greater good.

That is the best way I can describe what happened Saturday; and I'm still smiling about it. It is isn't that the end product was anything ground breaking, or even complete; but what I am so excited about is how each of these 17 guys participated, in a God honoring way. Thank you God for each of these men, and thank you for a unity that is all about you.