Next month a single mom will visit your church on a cold, wintry morning and give her life to Christ. There will be much to celebrate and many people to thank. In your staff meeting the following day you acknowledge the following:
- The warm environment.
- The great signage.
- Wonderful volunteers.
- A children or youth ministry that valued the thing she valued the most (her children).
- Incredible music.
- A moving baptism where someone had a life-changing story similar she could relate to.
- A relevant message from the God of the Ages delivered by an anointed and prepared preacher.
But there is a very special group of people who were involved in the Sunday morning experience you will likely overlook.
This single mom drove into a parking lot where all the snow and ice were cleared away. What she doesn’t know is someone arrived at church while everyone else was sleeping and shoveled it all away.
She then walked here children along a sidewalk covered with salt. This ensured her family would not fall and hurt themselves. What she doesn’t know is after clearing away the snow, this same team of individuals poured all salt before the sun rose.
The family then entered a lobby which was clean, well-lit and featured an incredible coffee area. What she doesn’t know is just 10 minutes before walking in the front door someone spilled their coffee making a huge mess. What she doesn’t know is a team of individuals were on standby with mops-in-hand to handle such emergencies.
The mother then dropped her children off in an area that was clean, safe and had a lot of things children love. What she doesn’t know is another child had vomited in the hallway an hour earlier. It was immediately cleaned up as well.
The single mom then entered a clean sanctuary and sat down awaited the service to begin. What she doesn’t know is there was a wedding in this same room the day before. A group of individuals showed up afterward, set up all the chairs, vacuumed the facility and picked up all the trash while everyone else was home with their families.
Once the service began, she witnessed an emotional baptism moment. What she doesn’t know is someone arrived four hours earlier, filled the baptistery with water and began heating it up.
So who cleared the parking area and poured the salt while everyone else was sleeping? Who immediately did the work no one else wanted to do and cleaned the coffee and vomit in the heavily populated areas? While everyone else was home with their families watching football, who cleaned the church and setup the sanctuary on Saturday? Who also arrived before the sun rose to fill the baptistery and warm the water?
The answer is the most unsung heroes in your church’s salvation stories. The answer is your facilities director and facilities staff!
We are very good at celebrating the work of our volunteers and frontline staff. And we should.
But too often we view our facilities staff as “the help” and overlook (or don’t even understand) the vital role they play in people giving their life to Christ at our churches.
So this week, make sure you take a moment and honor those who rise before others, work 60-70 hours per week, and have more sweat equity in our ministries than anyone else. Let’s honor our facilities staff. Oh year, one more thing. Please invite the entire facilities team and their spouses to your Christmas party this year!
This article originally appeared here.
