Last Monday night at our fire training we were visited by a team of instructors called, Leadership In Action. It was a really unusual fire training for us. Usually our training is more hands-on practical application of specific skills kind of stuff. We normally train on some specific skill like auto-extrication or patient assessment or fire suppression or…you get the point. But this night was more generalized training on leadership for firefighters.
One of the topics discussed was the future of volunteer firefighting and the need to bring in and develop individuals from the younger generations so they will be able to take our place in the future. We were challenged to look around the room and count the number of “Generation Y” firefighters we had in the room. Sadly, we had one in a group of 20 to 25 people.
They made this statement: “If your numbers are dwindling then you’re average.” The next advice was simple, profound, and I believe much easier said than done. They just told us to “stop being average.”
That sounds simple enough, but you know what? Excellence requires a lot of work! But if growth and progress are goals that we are shooting for than the price to pay to achieve excellence is going to include some sweat equity. It means putting our back into it and working hard.
In fact if you really think about their quote it’s not just growth we are talking about! In order to just maintain the status quo requires effort. We are losing through attrition. People get old, they retire, they get tired, they pass away. This is all part of the life of a fire department. So without the new people coming in and growing and learning…our numbers are most certainly going to dwindle over time.
Since I’m a pastor as well as being a volunteer firefighter, I’m always looking at things like this and asking how these same concepts apply to ministry. And I really believe this same concept applies to our churches. If we are not growing in our churches than we are average.
Let’s stop being average and starting being excellent for Jesus Christ. Let’s make his name famous. No more status quo. This message of the gospel is too important for anyone to miss and our God is too worthy for us to take this lightly. Let’s push together for excellence in all that we do through our churches.
