
When Sheila and I visited Gettysburg, we walked the famous battleground along Cemetery Ridge. Plaques and monuments were scattered along the ridge, commemorating sites of historic significance, each inscription detailing another aspect of The Battle of Gettysburg.
I walked along and thought about the collaborative work others were doing as soldiers fought and died during Pickett's Charge; I thought about those pursuing other means of resolving America's Civil War. Away from the slaughter, in rooms designed for debate and discourse, committees voted and sub-committees parsed the nuances of important legislative actions, while armies of men near Gettysburg entered the mêlée of battle and fought to-the-death in hand-to-hand combat.
We saw several statues erected to honor such men; we saw statues of leaders and followers alike. We saw statues of legislators, politicians, commissioned and non-commissioned military officers and soldiers. And though I looked around, I saw no statues of committees. I saw no statues of commissions, agencies or boards. I've no doubt such groups are vital for the success of any great endeavor, but I didn't see any statues honoring committees.
I saw statues honoring men.
Plaques marked important places and moments, but heroic men made those places and moments important. There's a big difference between a sign that marks an important place on a battlefield and a statue that honors a soldier who fought there. The plaques informed us. The individual men to whom statues were erected inspired us.
My time at Gettysburg reawakened one of my long-held convictions:
"The individual matters."
- Committees work because the individuals on the committee do their work.
- High Capacity Teams succeed because each of the individuals working on those teams works hard and does their part.
- Healthy churches grow because the individual members of the church "body" love and serve Jesus.
- GCC's Food Drop get tons of food to hungry people, not only because a big group of people called Granger Community Church plans the Food Drop, but because the individuals undertaking the Food Drop work so faithfully.
There is a battle raging.
"We are not wrestling with flesh and blood," but against wickedness, darkness and the hunger that plagues so many caught in the struggle.
As we work in very cold conditions tomorrow, and food is delivered to hungry folks across Michiana, GCC is entering the fray (not only as a congregation but also as individual Christ-followers working as members of it).
Poverty and Hunger will not win.
Love will.
Hope will.
GOD will.
We begin at 9:00 in the morning. Dress warm.
Ephesians 6:12 (Amplified Bible) - We are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.