“Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.  “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” – Johsua 24:14-15

We just finished an incredible weekend of education and encouragement.  Our congregation partnered with another congregation along Colorado’s Front Range to host the Dynamic Deacons (www.dynamicdeacons.com) seminar facilitated by Aubrey Johnson.  We were also able to hold seminar sessions facilitated by his wife Lisa.  They are wonderful servants of God, with wonderful abilities, and it was a joy to have them share their decades of experiences as leaders in God’s kingdom.  We were blessed to share in great fellowship with our brothers and sisters from another congregation, share meals, and reflect upon and learn about the Word of God and what he wants from his servants.

A few years ago I had a Chief of Staff who would always ask if what we were about to do was going to give us a good “return on investment”.  He always wanted us to consider if the course of action we were about to pursue was going to be worth the resources it would cost.  Most of you are probably familiar with the term in the business world.  It is not a phrase you typically hear in the military.  I would guess it is heard even less often in the context of a church congregation.

Joshua’s life, like that of Moses before him, was one of investment, specifically investment in leadership development.  God invested in Moses over the span of 80 years to turn him into the leader of the Israelite nation.  Likewise, at some point Moses determined he would invest in developing Joshua into the man who would eventually lead the Israelites to conquer most of the Promised Land.  Numbers 11:28 tells us Joshua served Moses from his youth.  In Exodus 17:8-16 we learn Joshua commanded the Israelites during the battle against the Amalekites in Rephidim.  Exodus 32:17 tells us he accompanied Moses part of the way when he ascended Mount Sinai to receive the law from God.  He was also one of the twelve who were sent by Moses to explore the land of Canaan (Numbers 13).   Finally, Moses publicly invested Joshua with authority over the people as his successor (Deuteronomy 31 – 34).

Each one of these developmental acts had a good return on investment.  A life of service to Moses prepared Joshua for a life of service to God.    Joshua experience as a spy led him to send his own spies into Canaan 40 years after Moses did the same thing, this time with different results.  Leading the Israelites at Rephidim prepared Joshua to lead the Israelites in conquering Canaan.  Finally, by publicly naming Joshua as successor in front of the Israelite nation Moses solidified Joshua’s role as the next Israelite leader.  As you can see, these all had a good return on investment.

However, the best return on investment was not realized until years later when Joshua is giving a final address to the Israelites.  Joshua recounts Israel’s history and reminds them what God has done for them.  He concludes his final address with the words at the top of this post and lets the entire Israelites nation know he and his family will serve God.  It is at this point we see how  Moses’ return on his investment in Joshua had reached maturity.

Several months ago my fellow elders and I made the conscience decision to equip our deacons with the tools, education, and motivation to succeed in their ministries.  We pledged to our congregation that we would deliberately focus on our relationship with our deacons to equip them to build up the body at Castle Rock.  In other words, we are determined to invest in our deacons, and thus invest in our congregation.

The Dynamic Deacons seminar was just one of many steps we are taking toward building stronger relationships between the elders, ministers, deacons, and congregation.  Our deacons will likely not lead a nation in military conquest, or spy in another country, or see first hand the awesome and mighty power of God on a mountaintop (although you can get close to that here in Colorado’s mountains).  However, if given the right leadership, tools, and opportunity, our deacons will still do mighty work in the kingdom of God.   The Dynamic Deacons seminar was one of those tools and we are confident it and other steps we take in the near future will result in a tremendouse “return on investment” for our deacons and our congregation.  We know the Lord will bless our investment as long as we stay true to His word and His will.

May the Lord bless you as He has me and may we all equip the saints for the building up of the body of Christ. -DEM