I just finished reading Killing Cockroaches by Toney Morgan. Not the best book I’ve ever read but he made a brilliant point early on in the book. When you see a cockroach running into your home or office, your natural reaction is to jump up and kill it. We tend to do the same in ministry work. As cockroaches (the urgent matters) appear left, right and centre we tend to jump up and go after it in full force, instead of remaining focused on the important.

What is the so-called important? Doing the things that God has uniquely gifted you with, that would most influence the future of the church. This means that no one else in the congregation has the gifting or capacity to serve in this specific area but you. By this I am in no way implying that we shouldn’t serve in mundane ways also (John 13:14). But I believe the bulk of our energy and efforts should be spent focusing on the things that will bring about the greatest return for the church as a whole.

I have cockroaches coming at me from all sides on a daily basis and I have had to learn to allow others (with different gift-sets) to take care of them. Some personal cockroaches would include: Administrative duties, the organization of events and running of Sunday services.

· Being involved in and asked to give the go-ahead for decisions that plenty of other people could have chaired

In relation to my unique gifts and responsibilities, I have found that my greatest contribution to the church is in the form of the following areas:

1. To Study

· My devotional time with God

· Message preparation

· Self-Leadership

· Leadership

· Church Development

2. To Teach & Train

· On staff level

· Small group leader level

· Congregation level

· Individual level (General coaching and helping people becoming Christians)

3. To Direct

· Painting a picture of the future that I believe God is calling us to

· Developing (along-side our leadership team) a strategy for achieving the end-goal

· Aligning all ministry departments towards the end-goal

4. To Build Relationships

· Staying connected with key people through the members of the congregation for advice and to get a pulse on how things are going in the trenches.

And so, at the end of every day, I have to ask myself: “Have I been killing cockroaches or have I been fulfilling my God-given assignment?”