Have You Been Exposed?

When asked if you have been exposed, what comes to mind?  Do you think of being exposed to the elements like rain or snow?  Does your mind turn to exposed as in naked or partially nude?  Or, do you think of being exposed as in caught in bad behavior or a scandal coming to light?  I’m not alluding to any of the aforementioned references but another kind of exposure that some ministries don’t think about.

Here are a few definitions that I found for exposure:

• disclosure
• revealing or unmasking
• presentation to view
• subjecting to influence

What, you ask, does this have to do with the church?  It’s one of the ways to learn what’s going on in ministry outside of your own realm of influence.

About once a year our staff schedules a visit to a local church that is different from ours.  Last week we visited The Church at Chapel Hill in Douglasville, Georgia.  Last year we visited North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia.  In previous years we visited World Changers Church International in College Park, Georgia and New Birth Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia.  By visiting with these ministries some of what we learned was:

• different ways to think about television production
• ideas for our academy
• the value of a good creative team
• excellence in hospitality

Exposure is good for any ministry because there is always something to be learned.  Even though our ministry is open to learn from other ministries, we also have ministries or pastors who schedule visits with us because they want to gain some insight from us.  There’s always someone who does something better than you.

Church visits are just one way to gain exposure.  Other ways include, but are not limited to:

• attending conferences
• mission trips
• volunteering with other churches during disasters
• inviting people to share with your ministry leaders

During the Atlanta floods in September 2009, my daughter and I volunteered with HopeAtl, an effort initiated by Pastor Shaun King of Courageous Church.  We were impressed with the people we met who came from around the country to help Atlanta’s flood victims.  Neither my daughter or I had been involved with an effort like HopeAtl.  We were blessed by the experience and gained new friends.

The whole point of this post is to encourage ministry leaders to learn from and share with other ministries.  Your denomination, race or income level should not matter.  What matters is what we as Christians can do for each other and for the community.

Take the challenge and expose yourself.  I promise you won’t feel naked.

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Tags: church leadership, churches sharing with other churches, learn from other churches, ministry exposure