WHAT MR. T AND HOME DEPOT TAUGHT ME ABOUT CHURCH
"Do you need any help?" asked the helpful orange apron-clad Home Depot employee.
"No thanks," I reply with a smile.
"Can I help you find something?" he insisted.
I must have looked lost and confused. I’d been roaming the aisles of Home Depot with a notepad and a pen in my hand for at least an hour. This is not unusual. Home Depot is one of the places I go to for ideas and inspiration when I'm stuck. All the different gadgets and doodads that spark my curiosity and creativity.
Sometimes I go to the beach or the park or the botanical gardens to think. But there's a Home Depot conveniently located between my home and my office. So when my idea well is empty, I like to roam the aisles of Home Depot for ideas.
Random, unrelated things spark my creativity. I make connections and imagine repurposing one thing into something else. It's fun. I carry a notepad with me to jot down any new ideas that may come.
On this particular day, I was stuck with trying to come up with a new vision statement for our church. Here's our official mission statement is:
"We are a diverse family of faith united together to love God, love each other, and make a difference."
That's so generic and static. I wanted to express a new conviction that was growing in me. I'm now convinced that each person has a specific assignment given by God. But I didn't know how to express that in a simple, memorable statement.
I smiled at the helpful Home Depot employee and replied, "I'm looking for inspiration. Do you know where I can find some inspiration?"
His eyebrows scrunched up as he looked at me in confusion. After a brief moment of silent staring, I let him off the hook by saying, "I'm just kidding. I'm just looking. Thank you."
I continued to wander the store when inspiration shouted at me to get my attention. It was in the form of a hand-lettered sign with Home Depot's slogan.
"You can do it. We can help."
I love that motto. That was Home Depot's motto for years. But unfortunately, they changed it. It's now a boring statement about value and customer service or something I can't remember.
"You can do it. We can help."
What's Home Depot trying to say with that statement? Well, they are trying to communicate how they see their role in the home improvement process. They want to be known as the helper, encourager, and supplier of resources for the Average Joe DIYer. This was an intentional shift from marketing to professional builders and contractors. They want to help guys like me who want to build a pergola or a trebuchet catapult out of PVC (both of which I have proudly done).
Home Depot isn't there to do the job for you. They're there to help you accomplish your mission. They are there to help, encourage, and resource you to complete your assignment. With inspiration from Home Depot, I had my new vision statement for my church. This is what I wrote down in my notebook:
"Helping you change your world for Christ."
Home Depot wasn't my only source of inspiration. The main source came from understanding of my role as a pastor and leader from Ephesians 4:11-12.
The ESV translation says that my job as a pastor is not to do the "work of ministry" myself. But my job is to "equip the saints for the work of ministry."
I don't use the New Living Translation (NLT) of the Bible much, but it says it best:
11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.
I love that. God has given the church special people with unique gifts. They are called apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds (or pastors), and teachers.
As a child of the 80s, I like to think of these five roles as "The APEST Team." Just imagine the church being led by "The A-Team." Hannibal Smith is the Lead Pastor. The Faceman Templeton Peck is the skinny-jeans wearing worship leader. Howling Mad Murdock is the Youth Pastor. And B.A. Baracus (played by the unforgettable "I pit the fool" Mr. T) is the Small Groups guy. To make it a full team of five, you would have to add Amy the reporter. I guess she could do Children's Ministry. That would be a fun church!
The mission of the APEST Team isn't to do everything for you. But to train and equip you to do it yourself.
If you watched the A-Team, you know that the stories get repetitive. The plot for many episodes was stolen from "The Magnificent Seven." (Note: "The Magnificent Seven" was stolen from Kurosawa's "The Seven Samurai.” It's also the plot of one of my favorite Spaghetti Westerns called "They Call Me Trinity”)
The familiar plot goes like this.
Bad guys attack a small group of nice people (villagers, farmers, small-town people, etc.)
The nice people ask the A-Team for help.
The A-Team shows up and prepares the town to face the Bad Guys. They train the meek townspeople to become a rag-tag army. My favorite part is when they set booby traps with explosives made from Tide soap. Somehow, Mr. T seemingly always finds a way to turn a Toyota into a tank with a flamethrower.
The Bad Guys arrive and the A-Team are ready for them. The booby traps work for a while. But the Bad Guys begin to overwhelm the A-Team with their superior numbers. This is when the nice townspeople muster up enough courage to get into the fight themselves.
When the townspeople band together, they realize that they have what it takes to defeat the Bad Guys. They jump in the flame-throwing Toyota and turn the tide. The Bad Guys retreat in fear and shame. Amazingly, somehow, even with all the bullets flying, and things exploding, no one is hurt! Colonel Smith smiles and says, “I love it when a plan comes together.”
The townspeople express their gratitude to the A-Team. But the party is cut short because Colonel Decker is hot on their heels. The A-Team jumps into their awesome black and red van.
Cue Theme Song. Cut to Black.
Yes, you can learn a lot about ministry from watching TV!
Ephesians 4:11-12 shows us that it is not the job of the APEST leaders to do the "work of ministry" themselves. Their job is to "equip" God's people so they can do it for themselves.
This is where most church leaders and pastors (myself included) have gotten it wrong. We think we're the heroes of the story, but we're not.
We (church leaders and pastors) are not supposed to be the heroes. We're the mentors.
We're not Luke Skywalker, we're Obi-Wan.
We're not Harry Potter, we're Dumbledore.
We're not Frodo, we're Gandalf.
We're not Neo, we're Morpheus.
We're not Daniel-san, we're Mr. Miyagi.
We're not Rocky, we're Mick.
We're not even Katniss, we're Haymitch.
Get it? The real heroes of the story are the Average Peter Pew-Sitters in my church. And it's my job to train, equip, encourage, and resource them for the work of ministry that God has given them.
So that's how Home Depot (and Mr. T) helped me become a better pastor. They showed me what my focus in ministry needs to be. The most important work of ministry I can do for my church is to equip the congregation for their work of ministry.
I'm here to "help you change your world for Christ."
"You can do it. We can help"
Let’s change the world together.