Who runs the show?

This may come as a shock to a lot of you, but when you are in ministry for a while and you are the little guy you don't have much say. and if you are like me, you have all the ideas that are going to change not only the youth group, but also the church and the body of christ a whole. and you are ready to do all of this now. the problem is, you are not in charge and there are chains that you are going to have follow if you wanna get anything at all done. 

trust me, i know how it feels to have all of the answers and want to put them all into practice right away. i remember one time i was in a situation on a week day program and there was a decision to be made. it was something along the lines of programming and the way the order of events were going to be played out for the rest of the nite. i was feeling good about the way i had handled stuff to that point and had a whole timeline of the way we were going to do the stuff. however, one of my superiors saw that we needed to do stuff differently; his logic was that there was another ministry on campus at the same time and that if we did not move to certain parts of the property then we would get all tangled up and mess up the Force - and prolly explode. I know... terrible.

so, like the submissive employee that i am, i told him why i was right and he was wrong. and of course you would figure that was a great conversation that lead to nothing but good for me :) uhhh, you guessed it. he pretty much ripped me a new one for even thinking that i could have a better idea than he. and half way through his verbal shellacking of my insolence i realized what i had done. but the kicker was that as soon as he got done "explaining" to me why i am horrible at ministry aden that at my age how could i expect to have the vision of one, such as himself... i rebutted once again. yeah, i know i know. i totally asked for everything that i got. 

and then it came. an answer from the Lord himself. it came in the form of a statement from my superior officer, "I run this show, not you." i could not believe it. how could he not see my expertise. after seeing me in my ministry and the flawless execution how could he say such a thing. the rant went on for an even longer time this second time around, just to make sure that i got it through my thick skull.

you know what? he was right. no matter what i thought i knew about ministry or how to run this madness, he was absolutely right. he was the one that ran the show - ultimately anyway. for whatever reasons he felt that he had to step in, whether it was an honest effort or even to throw some weight around, he had every right to do what he did. and as soon as i understood and came to grips with that, my mind was put at ease. yeah, of course after that day i was frustrated with some, well many... ok - most of the stuff that he enforced. but, oh well. he was put in that position to do that and i could do nothing about it. i could only control me and my own attitude.

and the question i pose is: who runs the show in your ministry? the person that you answer to has power and authority and you will not always agree with him or her. the best thing you can do is remember that as God has placed you in a certain position you have certain responsibilities. do what you can to help the ministry and those placed under your leadership. love on them and help them to succeed. lavish only praise and take all of the blame. God is good, and i pray he will be favorable to your ministry as you work within the realm he has placed you.