Share the Load

Numbers 11:17
I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the sprit that is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the burden of the people so that you will not have to carry it alone.

Ministry can be overwhelming as a leader. Someone once said it’s loneliest at the top. Sometimes, I think they are right. God has allowed New Direction Christian Church to see over 17 thousand people give their life to Christ and come across the stage of the church. Each person that came across had diverse needs, different backgrounds, divergent expectations and every week they are expecting a tailor made word to speak to those specific areas in their lives. You want to be all things to all people but soon realize you can’t; only God can be God. Humans are not omnipresent.

As a leader, you begin to hear the murmurs of unmet needs, disappointment from unrealistic expectations, disdain for spoiled religious appetites, you hear it. Like Moses, I want to complain to God about the complainers but I hold my peace because there is a fundamental difference between Moses and me. He didn’t ask for all these people. I did. Going into ministry initially I never knew anything about mega-ministry. I accepted my call on the backside of nowhere as a nobody just trying to be obedient while being terrified at the ramifications of a call to ministry. Would I have the same friends? Would I be able to do the same things I did before the call? Would my family understand?

After wrapping my mind around my call I set out to do what God told me to do: feed his lambs and go after the lost sheep. After getting a taste of what successful ministry looked like. I believed God anointed me to reach thousands but I didn’t know that they would come with so many needs.

Moses helped deliver some 600K people out of bondage who seemed to have selective retention. They always remembered things to be better in Egypt when it got rough in the desert. The people started complaining about not having meat. They were getting bread but wanted meat. Their complaints were not about sustenance but about substance. When you travel with the same people for a period of time there will always be a craving for more substance. People always want more than what they are getting. It’s human nature.

When people lose sight of the vision it’s easy for them to start focusing on what’s missing in their lives. When you are a leader you can become so inundated with leading the people that you forget the joy of seeing them delivered. Moses told God, I cannot carry all these people by myself. The burden is too heavy for me.
We were not designed to carry the burdens of other people by ourselves. You can’t have a shepherd mindset once God puts you in a mega-situation. A shepherd can watch 200 sheep, know them by name, attend to their every distress but it becomes tricky at 2000. It’s not that you become callous it’s that you become overwhelmed.

The only cure is that you have to empower your other leaders with the same sprit that is on you. Capable leaders of integrity can help you share the load. Moses was instructed to get 70 leaders so that God could take the spirit on Moses and put it on them and they would help him carry the load.

Sunday was awesome at New Direction because other leaders stepped up to do ministry that God had burdened their hearts with. We call them “heart bursts.” I saw something in our young church that I had failed to do. I had failed to share the load. There were people sitting out in the congregation waiting to share the load they just needed to be asked. As a Christian, this is how you can help your pastor share the load:

1. Find out what your spiritual gift is. You can go to www.n2newdirection.org and take the spiritual gifts assessment.

2. Use your S.H.A.P.E. to find out where you fit. Got to www.n2newdireciton.org and print out the S.H.A.P.E. Lenten brochure and follow the weekly devotions for the next 40 days.

3. Purchase your copy of U-Turn to listen to God everyday and journal what he speaks to you in the scripture. Go to www.fillingstationbookstore.com to get your copy.

4. Grow as you go. Sign up for a ministry so that you can help share the load in your local church.

Dear God, help me to share the load. Show us how to empower people to minister to your people from their “heart bursts.” I pray they will be successful in meeting the needs of your people so they can get to the Promised Land of purpose. Send me the right leaders so that they can catch my spirit.

In Jesus Name,
Amen.