Let No Man's Ghost... (a call out to leaders of the Church)

I had the pleasure of assisting in the instruction at the Abilene Fire Control Conference just a few weeks ago. While in the registration room (which is a classroom), I saw an intriguing quote painted over the exit door.

"Let no man's ghost say his training failed him."

Firefighting is inherently dangerous. That is actually an official statement by the National Fire Protection Association. Yes, there is danger, but where danger meets inevitability is the many who fail to meet a minimum training standard. The phrase above is a constant reminder that fire fighters should constantly assess their training in the context of the challenge ahead of them. Perhaps the even greater reminder in that phrase is that of personal responsibility. It chants in the back of your head as a mantra prior to entering a life threatening situation... do I have the training? Do I have the experience? When the answer is no, time to get out there and be challenged in a new set of skills.

This past Tuesday, my fire department put a group of newer firefighters through a series of firefighter rescue drills. The training was intended to be above their level. It was meant to push them harder than we've ever pushed them. The goal was to force firefighters to overcome the mental challenges that await them in real life calls. It wasn't to beat them down, but to build them up... challenge them to see their own weaknesses and progress beyond them. As leaders of that fire department, we have a duty to train these fire fighters in skills that they will meet in real life. Then, when the time comes, we can wash our hands clean knowing that we have prepared those firefighters for what they are about to face.

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Recently, my wife and I were studying Acts 20. Toward the middle of the chapter was Paul's Farewell to the Ephesian elders. He said something that surprises me.

25"Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. 26Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 27For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.

Paul is leaving the Ephesians for the last time, but he is leaving with a sense that he has taught them everything they need to know to carry on in his absence. How many leaders do we have in our Churches today who can say that, in their absence, their flock is capable? How many of our leaders feel like they have fulfilled their task of sharing with the flock the "whole will of God?"

Bottom line is, Church leaders can take a lot from the phrase above too. In a world where we can hardly differentiate the Christians from the unbelieving, where the Body tends to look, act, and speak JUST like every one else... Are we as leaders of the Body, training the flock, or leaving them to the wolves? I don't know about you, but I'm so tired of my Sundays looking like a fashion show and my Mondays-Saturdays looking like the rat race. When will we begin to train the Body to be in the world, but not of the world? When will we start following the way of the radical Jesus, the giver of life, rather than the way of the world, which is death?

I want to see the quote above plastered in church buildings across the world: "LET NO MAN'S GHOST SAY HIS TRAINING FAILED HIM." It is a new call, a new challenge to train each and every single follower of Jesus to be ready and able to take on the fight. Our congregations are so lacking in training of its members that we are being ripped to shreds in this world, but it is only at the hands of our own self service. When will we get up and look out the window to see the world we are meant to serve, then train to enter into it? Get out of the pews and into the world!

I dream of the day that I could speak with confidence, as Paul did, that I can wash my hands clean, knowing that I have lead my brothers and sisters and helped prepare them for service in this world. Until that day, the phrase continues...

Let no man's ghost say his training failed him...