Armour Bearers – Part I

I’m in a quandary.

I know what I’m good at and I know that these things can naturally lead me down one path in my Christian walk. The trouble is, I also know that going that way is not good for my soul or for that of my wife and children.

Let me try and explain, if I can.

I have performed many roles within the Church I have faithfully attended for over 20yrs and I’m not ashamed of any of them even though at times I hated the particular roles. Anyway, in 1994 I went from relative obscurity in roles within the Church to suddenly being their Head Usher (or steward) and having to organise their annual conference with approx two or so weeks to sort all the behind the scenes stuff. I was supposed to have been shadowing the then head usher and then taking over after the conference. He had other ideas and as soon as he knew I was appointed did a bunk.

Anyway, this sort of role to me is like water off a duck. It comes naturally and it comes easily. I confess, I also enjoyed the extra recognition it gave me but at the back of my head I was determined to do it right. My then pastor had a saying that went like this “if you want to be a great X then get alongside and walk in the shoes of someone whom already is”. This made sense, but the only great head ushers I knew belonged 3000+ miles away – and here I guess great needs explaining. It simply meant to be the best that God wants you to be at a particular role.

Anyway, to be the best I needed to get into someones shoes, so to speak. But whom? At the time in the UK mega Churches were maybe 600 or so folks in size and everyone one of the Churches I approached were suspicious of my motives … odd. Fortunately the US came to the rescue. I discovered two folks and resources that aided me and one that has been an intrinsic part of my life since.

The first was Buddy Bell which was when I realised Americans call ushering helps.

The second was Terry Nance’s book “God’s Armor Bearer”. <sic>

Buddy offered me encouragement and suggested things to do and read but I was never able to develop the relationship that I craved so that I could learn from him directly. Terry’s book explained the Biblical meaning of an armour bearer and it’s modern working out. I took it to heart and couldn’t understand (and still don’t) why others don’t have the same attitude and approach. A quote from Terry’s site says it best:

“The armorbearer is not just an office. It is also an attitude. Having that understanding will equip you with the right spirit to do the job during hard times.”

The right attitude …. so stepping back up my post I said I was determined to do it right and this meant having a right attitude and giving all the glory to my God. It is still something I am working at.

So what has all this to do with leading myself into trouble? It’s too long to simply answer that one but I will try to keep it short but not in this post …