The Goings on and Work of Sam Mahlstadt

I heard this quote the other day, “You aren’t a leader because you are charismatic, you are charismatic because you are leader.” It made me scratch my head, but I definitely agree. Charisma is the tool, and leadership is the calling. If we get that backwards, we break the tool and destroy the calling. I have a coffee cup from the mid 90′s that is on my desk for some unknown reason, and there is a quote from our pastor printed on the side. “Just because you are in a position of leadership doesn’t mean you’re a leader.” Just because you are charismatic doesn’t qualify you to lead people. Jesus was always quick to tell his charismatic and very human disciples that to lead, you must serve out of a servant’s heart.

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about ministry, which sounds weird because I am always doing a lot of thinking about ministry, but nonetheless. I have thought a lot about how to do church better, and how to be more effective in our approach. There are a lot of people who come through the doors to 63rd and Park who are only there because of a friend’s invitation. These people would not otherwise come into our worship service.
These are the people I am interested in reaching out to, to show them that God has a heart for them, and that He loves them no matter what. The friend that brought them…I want to reach out to them in a different way. To them, we want to equip, train up and fill up with God’s word so they can go out and be Jesus to another friend. The people we are out to reach are in two opposite positions. So how do we do it? How do we not become so overwhelmed with discipleship that we don’t acknowledge the guest that is sitting at our table? How do we not get so caught up in trying to create a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere that we overlook the role of the church, which is to train God’s people?
As you may be able to tell, this has been plaguing me, because I have an intense desire to see the vision of our church be reached with the highest level of integrity and efficiency as possible. God has positioned us in the heart of this city for a reason, and I have a fire inside me to see what He has in store.
So, here is what I have come up with. As our pastor often reminds us, balance. There must be a balance in our approach as to not fall over when we lean one way or another.
But we must lean. We must lean into the vision God has given our leader, and even more importantly, we must lean into our relationship with God. If our relationship is on good terms, our ministry will be on good terms, always.

I am reading through Margaret Feinberg’s book, Organic God. She told a story in the second chapter that grabbed my attention; a pastor in Colorado planted a church and with a congregation of 100, 75 were new believers in Christ. Many people say that you NEED church people to start a church, because non churched people don’t give, volunteer and pitch in. I have wrestled with this concept for a few months now, because I feel deep down like new Christians would be more productive in a new church than weathered Christians (no matter the level of commitment). People who are new to their relationship with Jesus are passionate, drawn to change and in love. Not to say that people deeper in their faith walk can’t be passionate, drawn to change and in love, but there is something powerful about a new relationship.
When she asked this pastor how he had established such a spiritually young congregation, he shared with her how his team went about developing a church body. He said that first off, they went into the community, coffee shops, bars, restaurants, etc. It is important that we engage people in the community. He then shared with her his technique for engaging people in questions of faith. He would ask people this one question; “what do you love about Jesus?”
Margaret shared that what she loves is Jesus’ beauty. For me, I can say that I love his relentless pursuit. I think we can all learn from this question. What do we love, but also how do we communicate to other people about who Jesus is to us, and who he can be to them. One question with life-altering answers.

You read it in books and hear it in top 40 radio songs. In every venue, seemingly shallow or deep by society’s standards, people are asking God-sized questions. People are hungering for something more, something bigger than themselves. What we tend to do, however, is shrink our huge questions be turning the focus on ourselves. For instance, “God what are you up to?” is a far different question than “God, why did this happen…to me?” There is nothing wrong with our questions, I truly believe that God loves them, but we have the temptation to ask a big question, and then make ourselves the focus rather than our creator. Sometimes we just need to step out of the way and let God be God in our lives. Maybe He is trying to do something way bigger than you, something, should we say, greater than you could ever ask or imagine, and He only needs us to step aside and quit trying to be the center of the universe. God isn’t waiting for your permission to work, He is waiting for you to get out of His way so He can blow your mind. In the words of Loyd Christmas, “move it or lose it, sister!”

I just listened to a John Bevere message that he presented at the Hillsong Conference last year called Propelled into Power. It was incredible, like all the teachings I have heard of his. He shared something that rocked me pretty hard. He told a story about how when he was in his early twenties (that got my attention) he used to pray that God would use him to preach the Gospel to nations and heal the sick and cast out demons. (This is pretty similar to some of my prayers). He then shared about one day when God spoke to his spirit and told him his prayers were off-base. Even Judas healed the sick and preached the Gospel and cast out demons…and we know how it turned out for him. God shared with him that his prayers should be to answer the high call, which is to know Him better.
I often pray for God to reveal Himself to me, and to show me His will, but it tends to quickly get turned to asking Him to use me to do great things. While the great things I am asking for are to further His kingdom, I am still missing the point. When God uses us, it will always be for the furthering of His kingdom. We should be praying for opportunities, but if we don’t know him intimately, we won’t recognize the divine appointments that present themselves. Bottom line, if we don’t seek hard after an intimate relationship with God, nothing else will matter.

There are times in our lives when God speaks to us through people. Usually this happens when you are paying very close attention and being sensitive to the Holy Spirit. I will never forget the conversation that I had with my fiancée about going into ministry. I was hung up on whether to continue my education (following my own desires) or go into the ministry. I knew that God had called me into ministry, but I wasn’t quite ready to let go of my plans. I was wrestling with this decision hard, and really seeking God’s face on it. On the way home from school one day, Amanda said one of the simplest and most profound things I have heard, because it spoke exactly to my predicament.

She said, “Sam, if you would just give it to God, he will give it back when you are ready.” It is such a simple truth, and it was an ah-ha moment for me. I had gotten hung up on the time issue because I wanted to pursue writing before I gave myself to ministry. The truth is, God has placed a desire to write and a desire to do ministry on the inside of me, and they don’t conflict. God needed me to hear, ministry now, writing later. Now I am in a place where I know that when God gives me a burden to write something, He is in it with me and it will be exponentially more effective.

I was seeking God’s will for my life, and in hindsight, it was there all along. God used Amanda to communicate to me what I would have otherwise missed from someone else. I am sure that people told me exactly what she said before, but I didn’t receive it. Thankfully, God knew right where I was and just what I needed to hear to receive the direction He had for my life. God is faithful, and He will find a way to bend our ear, but we have to be listening. I love how our pastor says it; it is not hard to hear from God, it’s hard to obey God. Open your ears, open your heart, and get ready for God to move.

The morning after our third Saturday service, my brain is in overload. There are so many things that I know we could have done better. My mind is full of things to improve on and continue to develop. It is hard for me sometimes to lay it down and move on, because I am so focused on creating an atmosphere of worship that transforms lives. I know that the programming and implementation is essential in our culture, but at times I struggle with the service overriding what the service is about. I know that we live in a multi-media culture where people can drift and lose focus quickly. Because of this, we utilize creative media to engage our audience, and lights to help set an atmosphere of expectancy and reverence. But if we stop there, we have totally blown it. The entire service is to point people to Jesus. Our lights and videos and greeters and activities are all for not if people aren’t encountering Christ. Last night was one of those nights that we can improve from, but it was also one of those nights where people undeniably came into contact with the presence of God. We closed the service out with communion, and it was powerful. With one soloist singing “Lead Me to the Cross” and an artist creating a charcoal drawing of Calvary, the communion experience was incredible. It was a humbling experience to serve communion to our congregation, and it was a pleasure taking the communion elements with them.
I struggle with the temptation to let the God-projects that are on my plate take place of God. I love how Paul puts in in his letter to the Roman church in the message translation. He says warns the church of Rome about where the Israelites missed it. He tells them that the Israelites were so self-absorbed in their God-projects that they missed God altogether! I wrote in my journal the week before our first service. “This rings in my ears like a stern warning. As I struggle to stay in the Word, but love immersing myself in books about the Word, Paul is warning me to not lose God in my God-projects. ” I face everyday the choice to know God more fully through His word, or act as if I have arrived, and continue on with my God-projects. I pray that I never get to that point where I feel like I don’t need more of God in my life.
God help me today to maintain my focus on You and not on my God-projects. I want You, more of You, all of You! Take all of me on this journey. I submit and surrender if You will take all of me and give me You.