Passionista

I was faced with the difficulty of choosing between two topics for today's blogging, but I'll go with this one since it's fresher in my mind.

Passion.

Yeah, you know I'd have to get all artsy and do the one word paragraph to capture the moment in word and phrasing form. It's all about the visualization you know.

Anyways. The art of passion is something that confuses the heck out of me. I say this because when you have it, there's no stopping you. However, when it's gone, it often feels like there is no purpose. A lot of my first six-ish months as a pastor has been driven by passion. All of the things that have fired my engine in the past about the church, I now have the ability to put it to practice.

If you're my friend on Facebook or follow me on Instagram, you'll see that I just posted a picture today of an event eight years ago where my team won 1st place at a Northern Alberta competition. Sure, it's not about winning or losing (I'm competitive, so I'm always going to want to win), but seeing this picture in one of my old drives reminds me of the passion that we had as a team that allowed us to get that 1st place.

I remember the determination that all the kids had. I remember the drive that pushed every competitor to gain the extra step or extra inch. I remember the push to reach just a little further, even when our minds or bodies wanted differently.

Of course, I wasn't one of the people that actually competed, but I was a coach. Now that I think about it, there is some hilarious foreshadowing that can be seen in how what I did then as a coach is much of what I'm doing now as a pastor. The only perk now compared to then is that I get paid to do it.

What I'm getting at is that I'm amazed at what passion can do to people. It's hard to find the right amount because if you have too little, you're considered apathetic. If you have too much, you're seen as obsessive. I think, however, it's more about how you handle the passion and what you make use of it for.

My passion is the church, the local church. Always has been, and always will be. Let's say that, by the grace of God, I am able to lead a church that has shown tremendous growth in numbers and in spirituality, and I was asked how I did it. I would attribute all of it to God, of course, but I also know that the smarter person will also say that I still had to put work into getting it there. My "secret," then, would be passion. There really is no other explanation.

What I've seen in people, in how God has used me, is how passion can really bring people to learn and grow in so many ways. If I use the example of our AWANA 1st place finish, I don't think our team won because we were superior in any way. We may have gotten lucky in a few games, but I think that what I was able to stir in the kids was the passion and excitement. Because I was able to help the kids understand that it was important to give it our best, they were able to embody that. Maybe it was my passion and excitement that they embodied, or it was their own; but either way, we really wanted to do well and know that if we had won or not, we'd have given it all we had.

95% of what I've tried to accomplish in my first 6 months as a pastor is in trying to help my church understand the importance of having Jesus in our everyday lives. I think that this has been and will continue to be the most difficult challenge for me, one that will always remain constant no matter where I am. When in the case that I start to see people realize this, then you'll start to notice a change in the way they carry themselves. I've seen a few people from young to old approach me and tell me, "Hey Ps. Nathan, I want to do this for the church." You don't say that if you're not passionate.

It is then up to me to get on up and get beside them, and in support of them, say, "Yes! Let's do it; let's get excited about this together." Having this support means so much to people, and often I see the accomplishments exceed any expectation we could've ever dreamed of having.

It's sad when you see people have a fire for something and no one comes to carry the flame with them. It's a terrible sight to imagine someone wanting so badly to do something because they're on fire for God, trying to get others to be excited, and end up being devastated because no one got by their side.

The tragedy for me is that I'm not going to be able to do this with every single person that comes to me with their passion. So I know that I have to turn some people away simply because I can't handle all of it at one time. As much as I want to, I can't support more than a handful of people in a close relationship. What I need to do, then, is to try to find someone else who may share a similar desire or vision and allow the two to come together. So please understand that if I say no, it's not because I don't want to help, it's because I can't devote the time and energy that you need right now.

This topic is cheesy as... But this is the only thing that I've found which works for me. Methods and all that aside, to me, it only comes down to passion. Do anything you want, but if you don't have the passion and drive, it won't get you very far. Passion is contagious, it's empowering, it's conquering, and it's so much of what we need in the church.

Champion the idea of what you stand for, and watch.