Summary: Several years ago, while serving a congregation in Pennsylvania, I received an email from a pastor friend who detailed his plan for an upcoming sabbatical. Part of the plan included worshipping one Sunday in the congregation I was serving. That day eventually came and I told my friend (his name is John) that I would be on the lookout for him. After I wrapped up a Sunday school class, I walked toward the sanctuary, and to my surprise I saw John standing by one of the doors, bulletins in hand, welcoming people who were coming to worship. I approached my pastor friend and curiously asked, "Are you ushering?" John smiled and quipped, "At least I don't have to preach." He then explained how it came to be that he was ushering as a first-time visitor to our congregation. He came into the sanctuary, found a seat, when all of a sudden a member of the church who possessed great ambition and moxie - she approached him and said, "Hey, our usher team is short-handed today. Would you pass out these bulletins by that door and greet people as they come in? Thank you, so much." John read her cue and clearly understood that he was being volun-told to serve. And, being a gracious person, he politely agreed and took his post as an usher for the morning. While John and I have enjoyed some laughs over the years about his experience, I have come to think about this story in an illustrative way. Here is what I mean: so many in congregational leadership have been burdened by trying to fill gaps within their church's ministries. With dwindling membership rolls, aging congregations, and cultural changes that require new ways of bearing witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it seems that many churches are short-handed. The refrains go something like this: "We can't get any new Sunday school teachers. We can't find anyone to volunteer for our Habitat build. We don't have anyone to run our Advent festival. We don't have any new recruits for Stephen Ministry. We don't have any ushers lined up for today to hand out bulletins and greet people."
