Church Crowds Out Personal Growth

I am learning a lot during this process of planting church. One of the biggest lessons is simple yet I have to learn it again and again. It is so easy for me to allow the needs of the process, people, and tasks to crowd out my life, and God is more concerned with my trust and attention than He is anything else. 21 years ago my dad gave me a really cool 1970 Formula 400 Firebird. It was fast and good looking. I met many of the local police officers in the car, and even a D.A. and a Judge! I loved the car, and wish I still had one like it today, but I got in a lot of trouble in it and sometimes the trouble put a wedge between my dad and me. My dad still regrets giving me the car because of everything that happened in it – even 21 years later!

I wonder if God feels the same way about giving us opportunities to lead churches. We love them, they are fun (sometimes), we spend a lot of time with them, and eventually we get so caught up in the day to day pressure of growing and maintaining a church that we lose sight of God in the process. I think that breaks God’s heart. Even if really good things are happening, if we are not spending time with God in the process, He misses us! And eventually we lose sight of Him because of all that is drawing our attention. We must stay focused on God Himself, that is why He called us in the first place. No matter how much is going good, He misses us when we are pulled away by church stuff. I need to spend way more time in prayer, just talking and listening to Him… that is what it is all about. I don’t want Him to regret giving me this incredible opportunity.