Building Campaigns and Leadership

Our church is about to move into high gear as we get our building back into shape.  We've had flurries of e-mails; I'm already exhausted by it all.  I know that we are lucky--we were able to get a loan so that we can pay for it all.  But the process of getting that loan has left me wrung out too.

In the midst of it all, it was great to read this post about the church as warming center where people can be housed during cold snaps.  This sentence leapt out at me:   "This, my friends, is why churches have buildings.  They are tools for ministry."

Yes they are--good to be reminded.

I have been serving in church leadership for half a decade now in this particular church.  We will soon have church council elections.  I will continue on church council since my term is not up yet.  But the thought has nudged me several times in the last week:  perhaps it is time for me to become a Council member who is not in leadership.  By stepping aside, maybe I will enable someone with the skills necessary for this time to step forward.

I was glad to read this post about making a deal with the new year.  It was good to be reminded that some of my failures as a leader are not my fault.  As the years go by, perhaps they won't even look like failures.

I have served in leadership positions in many areas of life, and nothing has ever made me feel more inept than serving in church leadership.  It continues to amaze me how long it takes to get a project completed.  It staggers my imagination to remember how much ugliness one can encounter as one tries to get the most basic tasks accomplished.

Perhaps the Holy Spirit is trying to tell me something.  Or maybe it's a different spirit, speaking in evil hisses through my tiredness, painting my bleak mood into something more diabolical.