Executive Pastors and Swaziland

So this morning we started at 8:30, which is a little bit earlier than my liking, but it was good. We started out with prayer, which was so awesome. God's been turning my eyes back to prayer which has been awesome, but I'll share more about that later.

Today we met with Rick Klapp, the Executive pastor of Vanguard. I hadn't ever heard that title until now, or at least not that I can remember, so I didn't really know what I was in for. We began the morning by watching a video the church made about their commitment to Swaziland, because that's where a lot of Rick's story starts, or at least his more recent story. Three years ago God put Africa on his wife, Laura's heart kind of out of the blue. That same time Rick was offered an opportunity to visit Swaziland with Children's Hope Chest, and so 3 weeks later he was on a plane to Africa where his heart was changed. This was the beginning of Vanguard's vision for partnering with Swaziland, and that is a big part of what Rick does. We now have a care center there for orphans that provides 2 meals a day (totalling 320,000 meals so far), a preschool, and 3 churches. Vanguard's vision is to plant 5,000 churches in 40 years, and we're in year 12. Rick and Laura have also recently adopted two of the cutest kids ever from Swaziland. It was AWESOME hearing about his heart for that. It is something Rick is really passionate about. Right now he's in the process of helping them start a rose-geranium farm. Rick really enjoys micro-financing, so this is something he is also passionate about. Rose-geraniums are what produce the oil that is the base of every perfume and frangrance produced. Rick's hope is to provide the people there with 200 jobs within the next year. He wants to help the economy but also make the care centers self-sustainable, so as not to rely on other people giving all the time. It sounds so awesome. I loved hearing about it.

Sustainability is something I've been hearing about a lot since coming to Vanguard. In the Church so much of what is done passes so quickly; clearly not the things that God does on people's hearts, but the way we do ministry is not often sustainable. It's usually based around a person, a fad, or a concept that's principles just aren't sustainable. We often don't think that far ahead to ask the question, "Is what I'm doing sustainable without me?" I think thats a question often overlooked. I know I don't think about it a lot. I just think about the quick fix, and what can be done right now to best serve the situation. But here I've been challenged a lot about legacy and sustainability. How can we do things that will last? How can we run a ministry in a way that is based on biblical principles and is sustainable so that it won't die out after time. I have so much trouble looking ahead at things. When people ask questions like, "Where do you see yourself in 20 years?" I have so much trouble finding an answer. I don't know if I'm just scared to look ahead, or if I'm in a good place that I don't have everything all planned out and that leaves God room to move more. I don't really know but I've always struggled with that type of question. So when I'm asked that, or when we're thinking about a ministry in that context, man that's hard for me. That's something I'm going to need to put more thought into. Sustainability.

Along with all of these things that I've been rambling about, I really did learn a lot about Rick's role as executive pastor, and I also learned that I don't think I would be very good at it, nor would I really enjoy it. I would not enjoy creating or maintaining the structure of the church. I also would not enjoy pouring into the business/financial side of things. Alan asked Andy and me what parts of the job we clicked with and which parts we didn't click with. The only part I really liked was that he would meet individually with the staff regularly. That's the only part I liked. BUT I think Rick is AWESOME and was super encouraged hearing about his story and being challenged by him when he asked what my strengths are and what I'm passionate about. I'm finding that I need to think through that a lot more.

So that's my Wednesday so far. I've got worship practice, awwww yeah! I'm really excited. And then KlopStop!!!

Thanks for the prayers!