In Which RG Climbs Atop His Soapbox

OB is quiet this morning.

A stippling of sun has managed to fight its way through the pervasive marine layer holding out the promise of an afternoon of tanning to those who are so inclined.

Even St. Arbuck’s is quiet.

The usual crush of boisterous customers has been replaced by a sedate and studious group, each of whom appears to be focused on terribly important things happening on their laptops.

Truthfully, the only audible conversation is happening at a table ten or fifteen feet away between two twenty-something young men and since both are basically loud-talkers, I cannot help but hear.

I keep hearing the word “church” a lot, followed by “youth,” so my assumption—call it an educated guess, if you will—is that one young man is interviewing for a position as youth leader at a church where the other young man is already on staff.

I find it interesting that there has been not one mention of “program,” save in the most derogatory of terms.

Their focus is on people...not programs.

And I find that extraordinarily admirable.

Far too often those involved in ministry blindly follow a marketplace mentality that seems to dictate that all people, regardless of demographic, must be managed.

Perhaps I’m just getting cranky (I can hear my dulcet-voiced beloved intoning, “Getting cranky?”) but I profoundly resent the idea of “people management.”

I even question the whole idea of “human resources,” because the moment you concede that people are “resources,” you have conceded that they are expendable.

“But, they require management!” goes the argument.

My opinion—and this is my opinion—is that you manage resources and develop people; nurture people; speak into the frozen wasteland of their hearts and stand in amazement as treasure rises out of the rubble of broken dreams and failed expectations.

What if—and this is a “what if” of massive proportions—but, what if corporations, churches included, began hiring people not on the basis of what they could do for their company, but what the company could do to fan their spark of potential into flame and thereby reap exponentially higher returns.

Some would label me as being hopelessly naïve, and perhaps rightly so.

But I can’t help believing that there are better ways of doing things than what is already being done, because what is already being done isn’t producing exactly stellar returns.

By the way...he got the job.