Discover your role in God’s kingdom, and play it

Drive-In Light Show at Topeka Bible Church 2011

Talent broker – that’s my role. I’d like to say I’m God’s talent broker, but maybe it’s better stated that I broker the talent on God’s behalf.  Sometimes I wonder why God is called me to this role. I find myself at the center of many talented people — way more talented than myself.

At Topeka Bible Church, we just came through a season where these talented people came together for a great purpose. The purpose: tell our community about Jesus through a drive-in light show.  These talented people made something that could never have been carried out as individual parts.
If you were one of the 7,000+ people who came to the light show, let me take a minute to tell you about this talented team.  It takes about 150 people to put the light show together.  Some handout hot chocolate, others park traffic. Some play instruments, others record narration. Some sequence lights, others set lights up.  Some mix audio, others sing.  Some set up staging, others run cables.  Some calculate electrical load from lighting circuits, others innovate new design with PVC pipe. Some design graphics skills, others hand out postcards to friends and neighbors inviting others to come.  Some put the lights up, others taken them down.  Some organize and coordinate, others show up as a grunt with open arms.  Some take the information cards that were passed out, others spend countless hours entering that information into an online database.

It’s unfortunate I am generally the only one how hears how awesome this team is. People who see the light show generally thank me and tell me how awesome it is. The team rarely hears it themselves. Unfortunately, the credit usually does not get disseminated to the team.  Frankly, the team should get the credit and encouragement, because they are unpaid staff (read, volunteers).   I am paid to do this by a local church.  He’s talented individuals are the ones who put their smarts, blood, sweat, heart, and soul into the light show for the purpose of communicating Christ.  That, my friends, deserve a lot of credit.

Under the light show’s purpose (sharing Christ with others), the light show is an awesome display of the body of Christ. The Bible says,

“If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.” 2 Corinthians 12:17-20

This means you and I both have a part to play in the body of Christ (His church).  If we don’t know what this role is, let’s discover it. If we aren’t playing our role, start serving now.

So, to my friends who made the light show possible, thank you.

What is the challenge for you and me? Figure out what role we play in God’s kingdom, and play it to the fullest.