When we have revival meetings we ask for volunteers to host the guest speaker. We put a sign-up sheet on the board in the fellowship hall and ask members to sign up for the day they can take him out for a meal. We do this to give as many people as possible the opportunity to receive God’s blessings. As the Lord said: “Anyone who receives a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.”
We’ve slightly changed the procedure with Pastor Chun, who will be leading our upcoming revival. We’re still asking members to volunteer, but the sign-ups won’t be for individual meals. We realized that this process was biased toward those who attended the 1st service, so those who went to the 2nd service didn’t have an equal opportunity to serve.
This time I selected from the list of volunteers those who might serve our visiting speaker best. Serving him best does not mean taking him to the most expensive restaurants. It means taking him places he wants to visit and getting food the guest speaker might enjoy.
As usual we had many volunteers, and I tried to give opportunities to those who have never had the chance to serve before. Here’s the criteria I used to fill up Pastor Chun’s meal schedule.
First, I chose people who volunteered as soon as they learned that Pastor Chun would come as a guest speaker. Their prompt response seems to indicate their strong desire to serve Pastor Chun, so they should be given priority. Then I gave an opportunity to those who can give him a tour of the Houston area or to those who know about restaurants Pastor Chun might enjoy.
The next priority was given to students. Pastor Chun has a special interest in college students. His church has 7,000 members and the majority of them are students. So I gave the opportunity to three house churches made up of Rice University students. They will have a Texas barbecue and give him a tour of the campus. I also gave the opportunity to a member of Mr. H.G. Kim’s house church, who are also primarily college students.
I apologize to those who volunteered but were not given the opportunity to serve. I am sure that God will appreciate their kindness and generosity even though they were not given the chance to show it.
I believe that when we serve, we need to focus on those who are receiving rather than those who are giving. So for revivals, instead of concentrating on the needs of those who serve, we should focus on the needs of the guest speaker. Hopefully these criteria will help us do that well.
We will continue to use this procedure from now on to determine who will be given the opportunity to host our guest speakers.
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