It's Celebration, Not Compensation - A Letter from Pastor Todd

Dear PoC Family,

There’s a big difference between compensation and celebration. It is so so so so so so important that
we understand this if we want to “Give Like Heroes”!

Many years ago I decided to look for ways to be more productive by taking weekly recurring tasks and bundling them into big projects that could be done once every quarter or so. This habit has saved me TONS of time over the years. I had worked this way for years as a Children’s Pastor, so I set out to create worship sets for our worship band that would give them their assignments, charts, CDs and a few fun celebration gifts months in advance. My personality is such that I enjoy “projects” more than daily tasks, so I set out to get it done!

I worked hard for about a week putting it all together. The printer we had at the time was not the
fastest and I remember it took hours and hours and hours to put the packets together. Plus, CD
duplication was not as easy as it is now, so it took a loooooooonnnnng time. Our wonderful office
administrator and my worship assistant also donated a lot of time to help me, even though it took
many late nights. In fact, it took us almost two entire nights to get it done because of paper jams and
machines needing to cool down and unexpected visitors. Thankfully things are much simpler now.

Well, Sunday morning came and to be honest, it felt nice to know that this huge task was finished,
that it would help our team and add energy to the process. It also felt nice to know that the work was
done for the team outside of the view of the church at large. In every way it was an effort to resource
and celebrate a team. Well, that Sunday morning came and we had a great service. The energy of the
service and the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit kept us awake even though we had been up the night before. Towards the end of the service, my senior pastor, who had been so complimentary of our hard work all week, stood up in front of the congregation and (without me knowing it) celebrated me. It was a bit uncomfortable, but so humbling to hear him tell the congregation what he had observed, about the work that we had been doing all week long. He honored me by explaining that “the project” was an effort to work smart, stream-line the process, and celebrate a much-loved team. He concluded by calling the ushers to collect a spur-of-the-moment free-will offering to celebrate Kim and I. What an honor.

Later that afternoon while still glowing from the joy of being celebrated by my friends, a friend of
mine came into my office and asked, “What did you think of what happened this morning? Were you
surprised?” I said, “Yes, I had no idea.” He said, “Well, I think it was nice, I just hope that people don’t get the wrong idea. People should work hard because it’s the right thing to do, not because they are going to get paid for it.”

Now I know that not everyone has the same rude-radar that I have, so I received it gratefully, but I did think it was a little rude until I had a chance to reflect on the comment and began to remember that I had heard this same type of bemoaning again and again in the churches where I served over the years. Some may call it jealousy. Some may call it greed. And, perhaps there is a tinge of that somewhere in there, but the more I’ve thought about this, I think it is merely the commonly misunderstood but vastly important difference between the expectation of compensation and the gift of celebration. For many, this is a battle. There is this idea in our society that certain people have and seem to proclaim with puffed-up-chests that, “I don’t NEED to be celebrated.”

Can you believe that? Even after seeing the natural and uncontainable joy in a child’s face when you
call them by name, send them a letter in the mail, compliment them on their new shoes, bright eyes,
awesome throw, base hit, or birthday, many people still reject the idea that celebration is needed,
refreshing and life-giving. Surely we can live so close to Christ that we can freely celebrate others
without fear that we are spoiling them irreparably. Can’t we turn the celebration up just a notch, or
(gulp) . . . open that puppy up wide!?!?!?

Right now someone you know in your home, next door, in the next office or cubicle or behind the
register deserves to be celebrated. Don’t wait. You are an extension of your Father and He LOVES
to celebrate His kids (lost and found). He owns everything and gives abundantly. So, we get to help
recirculate all of his blessings to all of his kids. Less for us, more for others. It is not foolish to give until you have less so that others can have more. We are not tapped out!!! Far from it. We are party . . . blessing . . . and celebration central to our families, church and our cities.

Who will you celebrate today?

Your Pastors Are Praying For You. Give Like Heroes!

Pastor Todd