Mop It Up!

As many of you know, we have FRC-Lima in a 300-seat cinema in Lima, Peru. We arrive early on Sunday morning, at 7:00 AM, in order to do all of the set-up for the first service which begins at 9:00 AM.

Many Sunday mornings when we arrive at the cinema, the place looks like a disaster area. There are mountains of popcorn all over the place, and rivers of Coca-Cola cascading down the stairs. The cinema has a cleaning staff that is supposed to make it all look perfect by 9:00 AM, but there are some Sundays when there's only one cleaning person in the cinema, and he or she is facing a losing battle against Popcorn Mountain and Coca-Cola River.

So what do I do when I see this problem? What do I do when I see an avalanche of popcorn and a tidal wave of Coca-Cola threatening to do us in?

I grab a mop.

And I begin to mop the floor, and clean it of all the sticky, dark Coca-Cola stains on it.

It is important for me, as the Campus Pastor at FRC-Lima, to show all of our leaders and volunteers that I am not above cleaning Coca-Cola off the floor.

It can be very easy for those of us in leadership positions in international ministry to try to be above certain types of work. And, honestly, I will be the first to admit to you that cleaning Coca-Cola from the floor is not exactly my favorite thing to do in the whole world. But it's important that I do it, and it's important that our leaders and volunteers see me do it, for then they, too, pick up a broom or mop and lend a hand, and the job gets done quicker.

In Matthew 20:28 (NIV), Jesus talks about how He "did not come to be served, but to serve." It is always important to keep that verse in mind, particularly for those in leadership positions in international ministry. Don't fall into the trap of being "above it all." Jesus served. So must we.