Your Platform is NOT Your Destination

This is a challenge for all of us...

Your Platform is NOT Your Destination

I am a Pastor who also happens to coach football at one of our local high schools.

My role as a Pastor and as a coach has many similarities. My ability to provide solid training to young football players coincides with my calling to, “…equip (train) the saints for the work of the ministry” (Eph. 4:11&12). The title “Pastor” & “Coach” provide a platform for me to demonstrate and proclaim the message of following after Christ. Both roles have similar responsibilities of care and shepherding for those entrusted into my oversight. And both roles require a great deal of work…

But the job title is only a platform to provide an opportunity to express the reality of following after Jesus Christ. This is true for every spiritual leader. Lawyer, Doctor, Business man/woman, President, Assistant, Teacher, Dad or Mom provides a platform for the message.

Not only does our title (job) provide a platform, but our hearts reflected in servicing others also provides a similar platform. You see we all have more than one platform for telling the story of Christ. The platform of serving others is furnished throughout the scriptures. “Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you…” (I Peter 5:2); “Take care of any widow who has no one else to care for her.” ( I Tim. 5:3); “Blessed are those who are generous, because they feed the poor.” (Pr. 22:9); Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but helping the poor honors him.” (Pr. 14:31).

Serving others is a platform that we can all leverage in proclaiming the message of salvation to a world that desperately needs the ONE and ONLY Savior, Jesus Christ. But, don’t let the platform become your destination. The platform of service is not the ultimate purpose for the spiritual leader. Just like coaching football is not the ultimate purpose for me as a follower of Jesus. The platform of service is an opportunity where the message can be proclaimed clearly and infused with a solid demonstration of love and concern. This is a good platform, a very good platform. Here are a few things that help me leverage the platform and not get caught in landing on the platform as a destination:

• Be able to clearly explain the salvation message from the Bible. Review it often and pray for ways that you can tell others about “the hope that dwells within you.”
  (I Peter 3:15).

• Pray daily for the Lord to provide opportunities that can be leveraged by your platform.

• Enlist a support team that encourages you to “keep focused” on the message and not just the platform. Many teams spend hours preparing the platform and forget to prepare for the message.

As spiritual leaders we all have many different platforms. How does the Lord want to leverage yours?

written by: Gene Molway, Mariners Church