dedicated0committed

Dedicated … or Just Committed?,
by Randall D. Kittle

“Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power.” — Psalm 110:3

I remember it as if it were yesterday. As my daughter Rachel limped off the soccer field toward where the parents were waiting, I noticed tears streaked her face. Her team, Winnebago High School, had just lost the regional championship game, and while she’s very competitive, she is not the kind to cry about losing a game. “What’s wrong?” I inquired. “I’m in so much pain I can hardly walk,” she responded while biting her lower lip to help keep composed.

Her foot had a cracked bone in it, which had been bothering her so much that she had missed some practices in the last few days. She spent that time just putting ice on it. Unfortunately, on this important day it was worse than ever. With every step she took, pain shot up her leg. Imagine the level of pain Rachel felt when she ran at full speed and then had to plant her injured foot to change directions. She not only had been willing to play while injured, she played every minute of the game. She spent 80 minutes covering Boylan High School’s all-state captain and leading scorer.

What would prompt someone to play so hard when hurting so much? I didn’t even have to ask, for I know Rachel. Her valiant effort was because she was dedicated to the team. Her dedication to her teammates meant she would do whatever it took to help them succeed … even the cost of playing in excruciating pain.

Team leadership is quite a “buzzword” in Christian circles these days. But the missing component for many people anxious for team leadership is really being on the team. You see, you can’t help lead a team unless you’re first part of the team. What every church needs are people with a true dedication to the “church-team” that God has placed them on — true dedication that is unwilling to let the team down and does all it can to help the team succeed even when it is far from easy. When a church has that kind of dedicated teamwork, it will always be victorious.

Many churches have a great calling and a good core of committed people — people who think of it as their “church home,” the place to which they are called. But God is now looking for those who will become dedicated and help make that calling happen. When you are committed to something it belongs to you, but when you are dedicated to something you belong to it. Being committed is choosing something as your ideal. A dedicated person, on the other hand, is wholly sold out. A committed athlete may go far, but it is only the dedicated athlete who will become a champion.

As I prayed about this, the Lord brought up the picture of Gideon’s army. The message of Gideon’s army is clear: it is not the number of people but the dedication of those people that is important to God. A church needs more than a good number of committed people to fulfill its calling and reach its destiny. It needs some 40 or so truly dedicated believers willing to live out the calling God has given. The kingdom of God is advanced by dedicated believers — true servant-leaders willing to serve God as He chooses! Many are willing to do great things to advance the kingdom of God, but the kingdom of God is most often advanced by the small things, the unnoticed things, and the overlooked things that servant-leaders are willing to do. Their names may not light up billboards, but their serving is seen in heaven as just as key an ingredient as any message, worship time, or prophetic word that happens at the Sunday service. Multitudes of hearts will be blessed because of their dedicated service.

So the question is simple: will you become a dedicated servant-leader? Will you do whatever it takes to help the church God has called you to be a part of to become all He’s called it to be? God is looking for a number of people to take their commitment and turn it into dedication by putting action to their attitude and be willing to pay the price of dedication!