Joel M Bradshaw

1In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”–Acts 6

I don’t read here that Peter and the others thought anything was too unimportant for them. Remember, many of them had been fisherman. No, the growing church realized that the teachers only had so much time and energy. If they devoted that to teaching, the church would flourish. Others would serve in other ways that were still necessary.

I oversee a team of wonderful leaders and servants at our church’s Celebrate Recovery. My role is to procure supplies and to teach the lessons. The other men do the setup beforehand and the cleanup afterwards. Some of these leaders even cook dinners, lead share groups, run audio/visual and journey with others in step studies.

I am willing to do whatever I can, but I noticed that when I do too many other things, the teaching suffers. Or with my MS, my health suffers. And so it makes sense that I dedicate my efforts to the teaching and the supplies shopping. The others do such a good job in what they do and I am very grateful for them and their service. And they know they are also caring for me and making sure I don’t take on too much. I see more of that here in Acts 6. Nothing was beneath these leaders, but it was better for the church if leaders led in different lanes.–JMB