I heard these words a few times as a youth pastor when I was just cutting my teeth in ministry, and I absolutely relished them. They felt like confirmation that I was doing what God had called me to do.
I’ve heard these words now as a senior pastor, and they aren’t nearly as appetizing. They’re frightening.
What are these five words?
“I’m here because of you.”
Those words once fed my ego—or maybe just my insecurity. I could look around and congratulate myself that people were there because of my preaching, my relating, or my vision. I’d be lying if I said a part of that excitement wasn’t fleshly pride.
But now… those words terrify me.
Why the words “I’m here because of you” terrify me
1. If you’re here because of me, you’ll likely leave because of me.
I’m not sufficient. I’m not competent or holy enough to hold someone’s affections or attention. I will preach terrible sermons. I will sin against you. I will let you down.
And if your reason for being here is me, when those moments come—and they will—you’ll be tempted to walk away and find someone else. This terrifies me because I already know my limitations, and I know I can’t live up to expectations I never should have carried.
2. I’m not Jesus—and I don’t need the temptation to think that I am.
There is something deeply carnal in me, a prideful corner of my heart that whispers I can grow a church or change a life. Foolishness. I cannot save anyone. I cannot captivate a single heart.
But when I hear those five words, something in me wants to believe the lie, and I have to fight that battle.
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3. I’m a person, not an asset.
When this truth is forgotten, something in my soul is wounded. I need people just as much as anyone else does. My family and I aren’t performers. We’re people—broken people being redeemed, slowly, by Jesus.
If you want to talk about “assets” in our church, I should be at the bottom of that list. The woman praying at 3 a.m., the volunteers preparing meals, the people packing backpacks for kids—those are the quiet heroes. And even they aren’t assets. They’re people loved by God.
