I just returned from a one day retreat with the leadership team of East Point Church.  As I grow closer to these men and sense their passion for God and the vision that is East Point Church, I continue to be amazed that God has been so gracious and loving to me so as to put me in with such good men.  Even as I witness their grow in the gospel, I am challenged and encouraged to be growing as well.  I really get a sense that I am loved by them, and I pray that they will know that the feeling is mutual. 

The retreat was for a brief time of vision casting, priority setting, relational accountability, gospel encouragement, and extended prayer for and with one another.  By God’s grace we were able to accomplish all we desired and more.  One of the items on the agenda was to share the need to stem the tide of professionalism in the ministry.  One of the great temptations for a church plant is in seeking to do things well and have people desire to join, you may find yourself seeking to please people more than God.  You find yourself promoting what you are doing more than the gospel and who Christ is. 

One brother in our group reminded us that professionals do two things:  1).  They seek to impress people; 2). The seek to promote themselves.  Falling into these two dangerous pits is easy for church plants because you so need people, and thus you try to impress them with your professionalism.  Also you need to distinguish yourself from other churches so you promote what you do as more professionally done than others.  To this end, we really had to search our hearts and motivations.  We praised God for keeping us from this pit thus far, but we also admitted that in many ways we were creeping closer and closer and could easily fall in if we did not intentionally pull back.

Rather than impress people and promote ourselves, we need to take some biblical admonitions to heart concerning the ministry.   Paul reminds us in 2Cor. 4:5-7 that as faithful ministers “we proclaim not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord and with ourselves as servants for Jesus’ sake….For we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”   In other words, we reminded each other, according to the grace of God, “Brothers, We Are Not Professionals.” 

Yes, that is the title of a book by John Piper, which provided some inspiration for our discussion.  The following quote from Piper challenges us to remember our calling, and to be willing to live worthy of it:

We are fools for Christ’s sake.  But professionals are wise.  We are weak.  But professionals are stong.  Professionals are held in honor.  We are in disrepute.  We do not try to secure a professional lifestyle, but are ready to hunger and thirst and be ill-clad and homeless.   

This evening, I am more thankful to God for the men and women of East Point Church than I have ever been.  God uses them to love me, stretch me, challenge me, and remind me that He is in control.  Church planting is hard enough without trying to be a professional about it.  Thank God someone reminded me that the church has only one professional, namely Christ himself.  His professionalism as Lord and Savior is profession enough for me.