Thank You Volunteers!

Today we are honoring our volunteers. We have people who come early and stay late to set-up and take-down equipment and chairs. We have people who miss worship services to teach and lead children. We have people who forgo time with their friends so they can welcome strangers. Others give up their Wednesday evenings, every week, to invest in our youth.

We have over 400 people in serving ministries at The Water’s Edge. And that is just our regular Sunday morning and Wednesday night stuff. It doesn’t include dozens of small group leaders or the hundreds who serve in the community. The 80 / 20 rule doesn’t apply at The Water’s Edge. Mr. Pareto would be baffled. In our short history, we have always been a church who seeks to live out the Gospel and be like Jesus. 

The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. –Matthew 20:28

Jesus came to serve. We are created to be like God. Therefore, we serve. We have a lot of sayings about serving at The Water’s Edge.

• Many hands make light work.
• We most look like Jesus when we serve. 
• The most beautiful thing you can do is serve another.

I have another saying: Thank you!

• Thank you for every minute you have given and sacrificed.
• Thank you for making worship possible every Sunday.
• Thank you for making worship better every Sunday.
• Thank you for every baby you have ever held and child you have invested in.
• Thank you for every donut and cup of coffee you have ever served. 
• Thank you for all the band practices we have never seen.
• Thank you for all the stuff I didn’t mention. You are a blessing!

Most all of us on the staff, including me, have something like this in our job description: “Recruit, train, deploy, and support volunteer servants so that they may be fruitful in ministry.” It’s always been that way. Always will. Because we make friends when we serve. We grow when we serve. We expand God’s Kingdom when we serve. We move the church forward when we serve. There is another reason too:

It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely help another without helping himself. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

To our volunteer servants, once again, thank you! To those who are considering serving and those who are not really considering it – I invite you to begin serving. You will be blessed and you will be a blessing!

In Christ,

Craig