to Consolidation – April 14, 2024

Staying in Novotel right now. The other Pastors I’m sharing a room with are sleeping, and I should too. In a bit. Just wanted to make sure I wrote a little about what’s been going on so far before I lose all of it.

It’s been a wild ride. Between the evening of April 8 and the evening of April 10, I embarked on a trip to the beach with a team entrusted to me. I’ve had my patience and physical endurance tested when we all had to endure a trip both going and coming from Bolinao with 19 other people, in a van that’s only rated for 16. But all in all it was a good trip.

Last April 8 (Monday), en route to Bolinao, I received a message from one of our more seasoned church members who, for some reason, still comes to the service I take charge in, and tolerates what I have to say. She had this to share to me:

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ…

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

At the time of sharing, I imagine it didn’t make as much sense, but I knew I’d eventually see this word in action. Soon as we arrived, in the wee hours of the morning, we found out that the folks who made reservations for us failed to communicate with the actual caretakers regarding our real time of arrival, and seeing as we didn’t arrive when they expected us to, they went ahead and accommodated some walk-in guests.

I thought to myself, I’m not about to go ahead and think about how this was (obviously) an inconvenience… I will see this as a thought to take captive to obey Christ.

To that end, the very first thought I had was to get in touch with someone whom I knew had a place we could go to just in case. Turns out even that was unnecessary because right then and there we settled for the space that WAS available. We were all packed like sardines, but, hey, anyone who was looking forward to this being a ‘team building’ exercise was getting some real team building right here.

We enjoyed each other by taking in the sights and the natural wonders the area offered, but eventually we came to our meeting. Started off slow as usual. I told them about my desire to continue to work on our social media, making reels off of the messages we’ve had ever since we began our humble service.

I also hinted to them that I was working on a Playbook, or a Manual of Operations for the team… and I thought I’d have something for them to look at for their assessment so far, but I didn’t have time to print and make copies. And when I thought I’d get some sort of response from them, still nothing. 

I don’t think I have the gift of keeping this crew entertained… but then, in our discussion, we eventually got to asking each other the question: Why are you still here?

I apologize in advance because I’m pulling what I could from 3-day old memory, where so much has happened within that period of time. I am somewhat thankful that I am able to log my daily activities into an Excel file, for the sake of recording and documentation, as well as adding efficiency to memory usage.

Anyway, going back, we asked everyone, one by one, and to my observation two, if not three common reasons were given:

1. We took them in without judgment
2. We’re real with each other, without pretention. The worship felt real compared to other experiences.
3. When we’re with each other, we feel at home. We feel like family.
4. at least one fellow mentioned it’s because of Christ, followed by a vague explanation. But we took that in, without judgment.

When it came to my turn, I was aiming for a simple answer, but I wanted to get vulnerable. Genuine. I told them that at first I felt forced into the role. I told them I enjoyed where I was, just leading worship and sharing the Word every now and then. Along the way I leaned how to manage people, first by sharing the message every Sunday, and then realizing the little nuances in maintaining the service, and relations with other ministries, and so on.

Well, not really. I’m only writing that now that I’m thinking about it, and that sounds more like something I ought to have said. No, I think I went as far as ‘just leading worship and sharing the Word every now and then’; and I think I offended at least one person when I said additional circumstances that led to his role, immediately following – actually, derailing my train of thought.

And then I went all emotional to my team, telling them that they were the reason I kept staying. I went so far as telling them that so many times I would have walked away to take on life by myself, even once saying – and this may be cringe – that I could have offed myself one time or two.

But in spite of my flaws, and in spite of my lack of care for the team… In spite of my throwing them under the bus, and showing them all sorts of questionable behaviors, I stayed because they stayed. I’m staying because they’re staying. 

There’s much for us to glean from this discussion. We get an idea of what we’re doing good at, with proof. And with that said, instead of enforcing a ‘Playbook’ or a ‘Manual of Operations’, it’s more of an observation of what’s already happening. So with the notes from our discussion we see from the inside out, and with the said ‘Playbook’ converted into Observations, we see from the outside in.

This answers the question of what we’re doing right, and we spread it beside what we’ve already established concerning what we ought to be doing right: We put the consolidated Playbook of Observations and Operations besides our findings based on the Bible concerning assets, and we have a good picture of where we stand.

So I wrote all of this within the span of, oh, 6 days – and the word is to consolidate. But not to spend too much time on it. But to consolidate.

More to come.

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