Lead by example

 Several years ago our denomination had a capital funds campaign to raise money to increase our mission presence around the world. I was chosen to be one who would contact a certain number of churches and encourage them to support this effort. We were trained and had monthly meetings to determine our progress. If I remember correctly, I had about a dozen churches and only had a couple who refused to participate. (That's not bad for Baptist churches!)

After the campaign started we had one of our monthly meetings, and the national coordinator was asking each of us to share how we were progressing. Most of us gave a fairly positive report, but one said that not a single church he had was willing to support the effort. The coordinator asked how much money the church he pastored was giving, and he replied they would not support it. The coordinator then asked how much he personally was giving, and the man admitted he wasn't giving anything either. The coordinator then explained to him, and to all  of us, that if this pastor gave anything, his church would be on record as a participating church, but if he wasn't personally willing to support the effort he should not expect any of his churches to support it either. The room was very quiet! My report came after his, and I was glad to report that nearly all of my churches had pledged to support the campaign.

When the campaign was first announced each church received a recommended goal to consider. Our goal was rather high for our church, but I asked our church to adopt it. We did so, and when the final figures came in we had surpassed that goal nearly four times! I was so proud of my people!!

When one accepts a position of leadership, he or she takes on major responsibilities. One of those responsibilities is that we are expected to lead by example. The pastor I mentioned above failed to do that. I do not know his reasons, but because he was not committed to the campaign, none of the churches that had been assigned to him felt any need to support it either.

I was tickled when I heard that at a finance committee meeting in our church when they were discussing my salary one of the members of the committee remarked that, "Whatever we give Dennis we know we're going to get 10 percent of it back." She was right. Every Sunday when the offering was taken I placed our check in the plate rather than letting my wife do it. I wanted the congregation to see that we were doing exactly what I was teaching when I spoke about stewardship.

Shortly before I left that church to accept another ministry position we began building an addition to the building. I was there every Saturday to help with the work. I am the first to admit that I am not very skilled at building anything, but I am a good go-fer. For me, it was important that I be there doing what I could even if was just sweeping up the dust. I never want to ask anyone to do something I won't do. We had very talented men and women willing to help build this addition, and I wanted to be there to help anyway I could.

We lead by example.