Prepared last night for the message I will have to give to my fellow interns this weekend. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be like practice for speaking to the groups once we are out in the field or if it's like giving a message directly for the interns. I'm hoping for the latter. Tonight I'll have to prepare my song list for the worship set. I'm pretty stoked about it. :) Who knows how it will go, but the Lord is in control. And I'm okay with it.
I'm speaking on the importance of our relationships with one another as believers. Have you ever been in a place where you didn’t expect to meet anyone who was a Christian? And then did? The bond of knowing you were brothers or sisters in Christ can be so strong and encouraging in a worldly situation, where you felt like you had a special bond and were immediately closer to that person than you would've naturally been. Often times, we lose this in the church. We forget the bond that we have under the blood of Jesus. He has placed us here as the Body, to encourage and edify and work alongside one another.
Two summers ago I went to Canada. I was going to be a part of a 35-person choir that would tour together for 3 weeks. We had 3 days to learn and memorize 15 pieces of music. Talk about crunch time. Immediately after we arrive and had dinner, we worshipped together in singing and then had some time to share together. The first thing our leader asked, very simply, was if each of us would share what we were expecting God to do on the trip. Most of the people in the room I had not met yet, much less did I know their names. But as each person began to share, there was a raw passion that began to build. It seemed a tangible entity in the room.
"I want a clarity about where God is leading me to go to college and what I should do with my life."
"I want to grow closer to God and depend on Him and nothing else."
"I want to become a leader in Christ and not be afraid to share the gospel and show others what Christ is about."
"I want to win people to Christ and change lives while we are on tour. I want our music and our witness to create an uncontrolable fire."
We had each shared intimate things, stories and glimpses into our lives. Let's be honest right now, on a first meeting with someone- this is rarely how the conversation goes!! And that's ok, because these types of conversations have their time and place. But my point in all of it is this: Because our initial connection was a Spiritual one, it was immediately an intimate one. From that night (the first night) forward, we were bound as a body of believers. We prayed for each others struggles and rejoiced in the victories. I have NEVER EVER in my life, seen this kind of intimacy and comraderie in a group of teenagers. EVER.
As I was doing my online training for what I will experience over the next 3 months, I read about relationships and leadership and about conflict. They laid out the problems that we are very likely to face within our own intern leadership team. There's only 3 of us and we will be working, eating, sleeping, for 3 months very closely with one another. It addressed issues like people vs. logistics/things and flexibility vs. detailed planning. Overall, I learned that in order to become a functioning team, we've got to get past the niceties and be real with one another. We must disagree and work it out. We must fiercely love and support one another and choose to encourage and lift one another up because it's what we were called to do. If you refuse to be vulnerable with others, they will never be vulnerable with you. The group will only go as far as the leaders are willing to go, and if we leaders aren't willing to do that with one another, we will ultimately be ineffective. I must be the kind of person that invites others to be real and honest and -themselves-, where they will find no judgment or even a spirit quick to "fix" them, but simply the love of the Lord. And I'm gonna let Him love on them through me.
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