There are so many things that demand our attention and cause us to lose focus. We have urgent lists to complete, repairs to be made, tasks to be done, people to see, children to drop-off and pick up, deadlines to meet, and places to be. In fact, in recent times I have found the pressure to keep up with all these urgent things quite immense. As a leader I know that leadership means carrying extra responsibility which means a higher price has to be paid by a leader. Nehemiah is a fantastic example of this. He led with such diligence that when his people slept, he continued to work. When Nehemiah's people were becoming intimidated by their antagonistic neighbours, he stepped up and gave clear leadership by re-focussing them on God and His mission for them. Last Sunday night I shared with the church some of the ways I am representing our church and advancing our vision to be a dynamic growing church for all the family reaching our community and beyond. Some of these things include managing 12 websites, managing the Finding Truth Matters teaching ministry, leading LeganaMEDIA, producing radio-ready 1-minute biographies of great Christian leaders, serving as President of ICI Theological College, lobbying politicians on family and moral issues, lecturing for Tabor College, contributing to an upcoming abortion-recovery information campaign (Hope For Women), pioneering an eBay outreach ministry, running a YouTube evangelism and apologetic ministry, setting up and chairing a round table forum of community, business, and church leaders to pool resources and talents to achieve the Great Commission in Tasmania, called Believe In Tasmania and in recent times have been invited to become an executive member of the Australian Christian Churches in Tasmania. Added to this is my involvement in the community as a volunteer junior tennis coach at the Legana Tennis Club where I have been building bridges with many families. With all of these to keep me busy I have learned that it is easy to lose focus if the urgent becomes prioritised over the important.
Added to these "beyond" responsibilies of leadership on behalf of our church are the ongoing responsibilities of pastoring our church family through teaching, writing and preaching. My pastoral goal is to help equip everyone in our church to be a Biblically-literate ambassador for Christ, ready to give an answer for the hope we have within us. The only way I can keep up with this is to constantly try to ensure that the important is not swamped by the urgent.I pray that we as a church we will ever keep the important before the urgent. For us as a church we to prioritise our daily devotion and quiet time with the Lord in prayer and His Word. Together we need to prioritise our worship together, our devotion to the teaching of God's Word together (Heb. 10:24-25), and our commitment to our families as our primary witness (1Tim 5:8).
While Winter is always a frustrating time for trying to get the whole church together (sickness, holidays, darkness) it is also a great time for us as a church to re-focus on the important. It is important for us to be prayerful for our church and our witness. Please pray that we will be a good witness for the Lord in our community, neighbourhood and Valley. Please pray that God will show you how you can serve Him within our church and to give you the strength to do it. Please commit to discipleship- being a disciple and discipling. If everyone in our church had a goal -to reach one ~ teach one- we would become increasingly focussed on the important commission that Christ has given us (Matt. 28:18-19).
I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.”
PHILIPPIANS 3:14 NLT
Amen.
Andrew Corbett
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