Friday's Challenge on Posted by Rebekah

Every Friday @ 12:30pm (CST), you can hear a weekly challenge from me on Faith Music Radio.  My podcast is called Posted by Rebekah. You can listen online HERE or download the free app for your smartphone.  I would love for you to join us, listen and take the challenge!

Tune in any time of the day to Faith Music Radio for uplifting Christian music and talk. 

Here is today's podcast in blog post form. :)

During the summer, our family signs up for “Kids Bowl Free’’ program.  It is a program where kids can bowl two free games every day for the summer.  A great idea!

This past week, we went bowling as one of our summer activities.  Right away, I noticed that the girls didn’t have the right form when bowling.  You probably know what I mean – it looks like their wrist is broken!  Ha!  So the first thing I did was take a couple minutes with each of them to show them how to hold the ball and then roll it down the lane. 

That is so important – not just in the game of bowling – but in serving in your church.  It is easy to get impatient with others you are serving with that maybe don’t seem to get it as quickly as you think.  Consider what training they have had.  For me, I grew up as in a pastor’s home.  We did every aspect of church imaginable from cleaning the building to running a church bus.  I was teaching VBS and Sunday School as a teenager – as a senior in high school, I even taught a ladies class.  Then I went to a Bible college where I graduated with a degree in teaching.  Now, for the past six years, my husband has pastored a church that we started.  If we aren’t careful, we can get frustrated at those in our ministry.  But were they taught like we were?  99% - no. 

Leadership in ministry – help those under you to grow!  Encourage, teach, reteach and help them reach their potential.  Yes, sometimes, they need those bumpers along the way.  You know, the guardrails that help the little ones bowl and not land a gutter ball – every single time.  Bumpers in ministry is the teaching and training.  Everyone needs to start out with bumpers.  Then, they learn and grow and prayerfully, will graduate to no bumpers and will be getting a strike here and there! 

And don’t think just because they manage to land a ball in the gutter even with bumpers…yes, this really happened TWO times that day with our youngest.  She managed to throw her bowling ball and landed in the gutters with the bumpers up!  Even in those times, it doesn’t mean complete failure.  It means this is a time to encourage.  Both times she landed the ball in the gutter – she started crying uncontrollably.  Both times, the workers at the alley came to retrieve her ball and consoled her.  They let her know it was ok and it happened to a lot of people.

So today’s challenge is:  Be patient with those around you.  Take the time to teach, train and encourage them until they are able to throw a strike on their own! 

Will you take the challenge?