Each Christmas break our family takes a moment to stop and remember the past year. We each come up with a list of highlights that we have had in the past year and then we vote for our top 5. Each person gets 5 votes the first round, 3 the second and 1 the last. We have a great time remembering what God has done in our lives and what He has allowed us to do. It allows us as a family to remember great times, laugh a ton, and at times celebrate with someone over a personal accomplishment. We have years and years of lists of highlights over the past decade and each year we celebrate in gratitude of where God has used us and what He has done through us. Each year we are surprised at what God highlights and many times what seemed like a hardship or obstacle when we were walking through it, months later turned in to an area that became one of our highlights.
I think there are two ways to remember what God has done.
First, celebrate wins on a regular basis. As a ministry we celebrate wins on a monthly basis because it helps insure that we stay on mission and that we are focused on the best things. We continue to challenge our staff, volunteers and students to identify and celebrate wins that are going on in our ministry. As ministry has accelerated and become complicated, celebrating wins has been tremendous in helping to keep clarity and focus in what we do and how we do it. By celebrating wins we can gain momentum and agreement among our students and volunteers and it helps propel us forward. As we celebrate wins that are focused our vision, people are more likely to say no to a good idea so they can say yes to the idea that is better aligned with the vision.
Second, stop and look backward over a longer period of time – 1 year, 3 years, or 5 years. Sometimes in life and ministry we thing change so slowly that we don’t realize that things have changed or growth has happened. Each year I love challenging my staff and core volunteers to identify what has changed in our ministry that year. What has moved closer to our vision and what has drifted from our vision. One of the areas that I have found easy to identify for teams is how well they know the vision of the ministry. Nearly every church I have been at did not have a clear vision and the youth ministry vision was vague at best. When I started at each of the ministries, I would ask the staff and core volunteers what the vision of the ministry was and how well was the vision being accomplished. If there had not been a clear vision communicated, the answers would be centered around personal preferences or expectations. In every ministry I have been at, by the time we hit three years, nearly every staff and leader could clearly communicate the vision and all of us could identify it was a win. When you look backward over a longer period of time you may be able to identify changes that have happened that you were blind to, unaware of, or had completely forgotten.
2020 has been a perfect example of taking the opportunity to look backward and remember the great things God has done. In the middle of a pandemic, gathering limitations, inconsistent guidance, it is easy to forget all that God has done in our current ministry. Recently when we looked back we remembered and celebrated the number of students who gave their lives to Christ, who experienced life change, and who could clearly identify their next step with Jesus. As we remembered 2020 in that way we realized that God has been doing incredible things and they are worthy to be celebrated.
I would encourage you to celebrate wins in your life and ministry weekly or monthly. I would also encourage you to pause yearly and look at how you have changed and what God has done in and through you. Many times you will find a series of small, gradual steps has ended up bringing you to a place of significant change. Remember those things. Celebrate those things. Let your celebrations encourage you and ignite you to keep moving to the next!