Presentable and Professional

One of the great things about being a part of a growing ministry, and more, a growing church is the fact that we are reaching more people with the message of Jesus! When I think back to the “early days” of our church and our ministry and how we did things, I am amazed and grateful for how we have adapted along the way. You see if we didn’t adapt and re-think and re-evaluate how and why we did things, then we would have stopped being effective at reaching people.  And I think that we can all agree that the single most important role of the Church and therefore, every ministry that makes it up, is to REACH more people with the Gospel. Sometimes change is easy, but most of the time it is hard and even uncomfortable because it is pulling us out of the comfort of the “norm” and stretching us to become better.. I say all this to say, our ministry would not be what it is today if we didn’t see the need to address some things and make the changes when and where they were needed. With all this being said, I want to share a couple things with you guys today.

One of the things that I think we need to start talking about as we grow as a church and as our influence in our community strengthens is the idea of being “presentable” and “professional” as we lead. The reality is that our congregation consists of many different “types” of people. Some are lost. Some are saved. Some are mature in their faith while others are very immature. Some are very “contemporary”. Others are very “traditional”. Some are young and energetic while others are old and conservative. We have the homeless. We have the doctors. We have the students. We have the parents. We have the singles. We have the families. We have the professionals. We have the jobless. We have the addict and we have the saint. My point here is this. Every single one of these people have been entrusted to us and we must consider them all as we lead. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9: 22-23, “To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the Gospel, that I might share in it’s blessings.” Paul’s attitude here is not one confined by conditions rather, he is willing to do whatever so that others may know Jesus. This is where our hearts should be as we lead. Ok, now that we’ve laid the groundwork, let’s talk specifics.

One of the dangers with being a “contemporary, come as you are church” is that over time, we can begin to take the “come as you are” thing a bit too far. It’s kind of like getting too “comfortable” with God can eventually cause you to approach Him very casually and flippantly when we should revere Him and honor Him. I believe the same thing can happen to us as we serve week in and week out on Sundays. We begin to loose sight of the importance of Sunday mornings and all that is at stake for those we are leading. For many, we only have a short moment each week to show them how great our God is by leading them in worship. We forget about the privilege it is to stand before our community and use our gifts to impact them for eternity. As a result of loosing focus and forgetting the importance of Sunday, we begin to compromise certain things. We get too comfortable. Our physical preparation begins to suffer. Our spiritual preparation begins to suffer. Before we know it, even our physical appearance begins to suffer and believe it or not, our physical appearance says a lot about what is going on inside our hearts. This is why we must strive to be at our best… physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We are being entrusted with much and we are called to be good stewards of it (1 Cor. 4:1-2). How we present ourselves to others is important and therefore should be important to us because it has everything to do with how we reach, connect, and minister to our community. As believers, we are not only representatives of ourselves, but we are representing the Gospel, Jesus, and our church (2 Cor. 5:20). We must do our best to be presentable internally and externally when we get the opportunity to lead. A couple ways to do this are:

1) Make sure to get good rest the night before so your body can be at it’s best.

2) Make sure to prepare your heart in prayer during the week.

3) Make sure to prepare your craft so you won’t be a distraction.

4) Make sure to wake up early enough to take a shower, dress appropriately, and gather yourself so you show up ready to go.

When I say “dress appropriately” I mean… Sunday is not the place to try and make a fashion statement. Just as doing too much or not enough musically can be a distraction… the same applies for how we dress. We don’t want to do the most, but we also don’t want to do the least. Again, consider everyone that you may encounter as you lead when you pick out your outfit. Yes, there will be many who could care less how you look, but others might. You could be leading for your future employer! Now how is that for a first impression. I want to be clear; we are not seeking the approval of men! The reality is that a great first impression can be a great asset to establishing relationships with our community. On the other hand, a bad one can be a great obstacle to overcome. We, like Paul, are about trying to eliminate every obstacle that could stand in the way of someone hearing the Gospel even if that obstacle is our appearance.

Where being presentable focuses more on the appearance of the individual, being professional focuses more on the attitude of the group. We must understand that what we do and say reflects on all of us… even our lead pastor. We are all a team… a unit… who are working together on Sunday mornings and we must act like it. The Worship Ministry is not an isolated team but rather a small part of a greater team who are all working together to reach and minister to all those in our community who need the Gospel. Our actions and demeanor say a lot about how seriously we take the opportunity to lead others. Over time we can begin to get a bit too comfortable in our roles as worship leaders and that’s when our professionalism begins to suffer. We lose sight of the importance of the moment. We lose the “others-centered” attitude like Paul had in the scripture above that is so important for a team to be healthy and effective and we slip into a narrow minded “me-centered” view of our role. Again, we must remember that we are ministering to not only the homeless man who thinks he has nothing, but also to the rich man who thinks he has everything. We must desire to reach them all where they are at. Again, we must seek to be all things to all people so that some may be saved. We must desire as a team to be respectable in our conduct and not use our youth as an excuse to be immature. Paul charged Timothy with the very thing. He said in 1 Timothy 4:12, “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” Paul is telling Timothy to be professional in his speech meaning with the words that he speaks. He also tells him to be professional in his conduct or his actions. Just like Timothy, it is our responsibility to set a good example with our words and our actions so our people can have confidence in us and respect us as leaders. What Paul is saying to Timothy, I am saying to you now. Let’s be the example we want our people, young and old, to follow. Now, let me be clear here as well, being professional does not mean that you cannot have fun and cut up. In fact, I think we need that internally as we meet, prepare, and pray together before the service. We need that release to remind ourselves that God is the one who is in charge and we are mere instruments for Him. But we can have fun and continue to be professional as we work together.

To summarize, we want to encourage individuality because I believe that is what makes us all different. It doesn’t get much better than seeing a bunch of different and diverse people uniting together to worship Jesus! So be who you are stylistically and individually, but be presentable and professional while you do it. Let’s try not to appear like we just rolled out of bed or just came from the pool or just didn’t really prepare ourselves for the responsibility that has been entrusted to us. There is much more at stake than we often realize or comprehend when we gather together, so let’s do all we can to put our best foot forward in all areas… like Paul says… for the sake of the Gospel. I love you all and am so thankful for all you do.