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Wrapping It Up

As I begin this article, I do so knowing that it will likely be my last for this “Facets” column. These writings have spanned a decade in which I have shared insights on the ministry of church administration. We have covered the topics of the fiscal year, partisan political activity, the business of church administration, non-member vs. member staffing, performance reviews, recognizing spiritual gifts, investing our funds, and screening staff backgrounds.

While my twenty years as a parish administrator were spent in one congregation, St. John in Winter Park, Florida, the landscape was constantly changing. I served with five senior pastors; more than 50 staff members arrived and left; a new denomination was formed; I had five synodical bishops, three presiding bishops ... the list goes on. Yet in the midst of all the change, did anything remain constant? What core values were planted and nourished and what fruit, if any, was born through me?

We all ask these questions to which the answers seem defining, as if from some great Broadway musical, What’s It All About, Alfie?

From the perspective of this Missouri Synod-baptized and confirmed, LCA-certified, and ELCA-commissioned “lay” person, it’s all about being faithful to God’s call. I truly believe that what we do in this life as seen through the filter of eternity becomes significant only when seen through the eyes of God.

I suppose many like me have written in these pages under the gentle nudging of Bill Decker. I was privileged to meet him a couple of years ago during a stop he made in the Orlando area. Bill, I will take this space to wish you the best as change comes to Lutheran Partners. I value the brief time I spent with you and value even more the way God used you to use me.

A Time to Leave
So, we go on to a new frontier. For me, that meant leaving my twenty-year call, a place where I was loved (usually), respected, comfortable, and secure. I felt God calling me to a new place for the same purpose — God’s purpose.

Here are some excerpts from my resignation letter:

It is with tremendously mixed emotions that I write you this letter. As many of you know, Ruth and I have a grandson DJ, who was born three months premature, weighing only 1 lb 15 oz. During the first three months of his fragile life, he endured two surgeries as he was lifted up in constant prayer. It is by the grace of God that we have him today. Now four years old, we are all working with him as he overcomes developmental disorder issues. It takes a lot of love and patience but the rewards are great....

... I tell you all of this to help you understand how difficult it has been for us to reach our decision to resign our call here at St. John and move to Jacksonville where we can be closer (same subdivision) to our children and grandchildren....

We struggled and prayed for God to guide us in our decision to either stay here happy and “comfortable” or to listen to this challenging opportunity for ... our family....

My role as synodical treasurer will not change nor will the church-wide work that I do. The rest of my future is unclear. We will walk in faith knowing that God has called us to a new time and a new place with some purposes revealed and others yet to unfold before us.

As we make this move, we ask for your prayers and support.

We look on the past with grateful hearts as we look to the future in faith knowing the best is yet to come. May the peace of God be with us all.

As I read this one year later, I would not change one word. Just today, I spent several hours with one grandson and later in the day watched a movie with both of them. What a joy. I greatly miss Orlando and St. John. I miss my town and my call so much that it often depresses me. I get through that depression with prayer and careful listening. When I listen, I realize that my call comes from God who has called me to another purpose.

The Call
We often talk of ministry in daily life. I have spoken of it, too. We are all called to it, but does that call ever supersede the other calls in our life? What validates that call and when do we respond? I lived those questions as I weighed my “call” against my call. That process brought into question the gift of discernment. Did I have it? How did I know? I prayed and finally came to the conclusion that yes, God was calling me away from my “call,” and that flies in the face of many who say God never calls us “away” — God calls us to. In my case, it was both; little did I know that my response would open new doors in ways I never imagined.

My life’s passion has always been music. I seem to have moved into musical opportunities in odd ways all of my life. My mother and father purchased a bass clarinet for me when I was in fourth grade. If you have never seen one, it’s a little bigger than a tenor saxophone and generally larger than a fourth grader. Mom had spoken with the band director asking what he “needed” to fill in the band’s instrumentation, and the director said bass clarinet. So I immediately had a seat in the band. Then around confirmation age, I met a Lutheran deaconess who taught me to play the ukulele, and that quickly led to the guitar. I learned the power of music in a 1960s choral group called “Up With People” and continued my musical quest as a volunteer church musician.

When we moved to Jacksonville last year, our new congregation was looking for someone to begin an alternative worship experience, and guess who is doing that. I never saw myself as a musical leader, but that’s what I have become. God is blessing me in this work and, through our praise team, blessing many who felt a bit disconnected from church as well. Our “resource” worship style has served to breathe new life into our parish. Who would have known?

That’s a bit of my story. I tell it not to boast or brag because, honestly, what I am doing is not worthy of boasting, yet I do feel it is worthy of sharing. God has taken me on an incredible faith journey. I pray that I can continue to see God’s amazing grace in all that I do for the rest of my years.

Finally, Administration
A final thought on church business administration; 1 Corinthians 12:28 contains the Greek word kubernesis. I have seen kubernesis translated so many different ways that it is indeed difficult to settle on a particular English word. The one I like best is the one used in the New International Version, “administration.” Paul is using the metaphor of helmsman, pilot, or guide, which seems lost to us in light of today’s electronic Global Positioning System devices. Who is to steer the ship or guide the church through rough waters and stormy seas?

To follow this metaphor through, the helmsman does not set the course but is relied upon to navigate it safely, properly, and, yes, in good order. The gifts Paul speaks of in this text are not to be ordered one above the other. They are all gifts to the body of Christ, and here is the most important teaching of all. Christ said it and Paul repeats it: These things, if done for and in the body of Christ, must be done in love.

Paul then goes on to define what love is. Love is patient and kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud or rude or self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres.

If you want to be a successful church administrator, my best advice is to navigate by this principle, working alongside a captain who also adheres to these biblical principles, or the ship will forever flounder in rough waters.

Jerry Johnson, an associate in ministry, has served as a church administrator for more than twenty years, and resides in Jacksonville, Florida. Thank you, Jerry, for your many years of serving Lutheran Partners with your good work and words. And thanks for your ministry in the parish, including your new work as a church musician. Godspeed.