I wanted to be DC Talk’s chaplain.
In the 1990s, DC Talk hired a pastor to travel with them when they went on tour.
He led a daily bible study for the band and crew, held them spiritually and morally accountable, and was available for pastoral counseling when needed. I congratulate any band or sports team that does that. It shows real integrity.
DC Talk was the band in Christian circles back then. Actually, their music stills holds up well today. Listen to Jesus Freak right now and it’ll still make you want to bang your head in glee.
When my ministry friends and I heard about DC Talk’s chaplain, we were envious. We talked about how cool it would be to have that sweet gig.
Travel around the world, do a bible study a day, be backstage every night, and only be responsible for the spiritual well-being of three guys. If there was a ministry heaven on earth, that was it.
It’s Not About the Numbers
At the same time my friends and I were chatting about our DC Talk dream, most of us were pastoring Small Churches. We were doing everything we could to make our churches grow – that’s a good thing. But some of us were so obsessed with numerical growth we were causing massive stress on ourselves, our families and our churches – that’s not so good.
How is it that being the chaplain for Toby, Mike and Kevin would have been awesome, but pastoring ten, twenty or thirty times as many people in our local Small Church, just wasn’t big enough?
Apparently, the problem we have with Small Churches isn’t about the numbers after all.
It’s worse.
It’s about status.
Sometimes “what will people think?” matters more to us than “what does God think?”
What (And Who) Matters to God
For some of you, DC Talk doesn’t matter at all. You may not have heard of them until now.
But what if you were asked to be a chaplain for U2? The Dallas Cowboys? The US Senate?
That’s a first-line-of-your-bio job, right?
Does anyone believe the members of a rock band, a pro sports team or the federal government are any more important to God than the people who call a Small Church pastor in the middle of the night because their son is back in rehab or their wife is in labor?
The precious spiritual treasures in your Small Church are as valuable to God as any other group of people on earth. No matter how famous or large that other group may be.
We all matter to our maker.
We need to let them know they matter that much to us.
So what do you think? How much do the people in our churches matter to us? Do they know it?
We want to hear from you. Yes, you!
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(DC Talk photo from heavenmusic)
