If you’re ever in the beautiful wine country of Northern California’s Sonoma Valley, well you owe yourself a 2.5 hour treat called the Sonoma Canopy Tour.  It’s beautiful country to drive through and the experience once you get there is well worth the hour off highway 101 it’ll take you.

It is a high ropes adventure and zipline experience of a lifetime owned by Alliance Redwoods Conference Grounds outside of Occidental, Ca.  Seriously, it’s crazy fun.  It cost over a million dollars to build and design and it’s about 10 months old now.  You go on 2 rope bridges, a spiral staircase around a redwood like 100 feet off the ground, and 7 zip lines totaling a little over a mile in all with the longest one being about 800 feet long and about 200 feet above the forest floor.  It ends with about an 80 foot rappel off a redwood to the ground.  Amazing.

It’s crazy awesome.  My son and my dad and I all went on it yesterday after I finished teaching at the mens retreat.  Oh man is this thing fun.  What a great way to polish off a great weekend.

Dallas Willard in the Divine Conspiracy proposes that the beginning of the most famous of Jesus’ sermons, the “Sermon on the Mount“, begins with what is actually a role call of sorts.  In other words, he believes that Jesus is speaking to…

• the spiritually drained
• those hurting from loss
• the quite and gentle
• those who yearn to be more like God
• those who are merciful
• those whose heart’s are pure
• those who mend broken relationships
• and those who are persecuted

May the drained be filled with the Spirit, the hurting find comfort, and the gentle find strength.  Oh God please speak clearly to those who yearn to be more like you and be merciful to those who show mercy. Protect those whose hearts are pure from that which seeks to pollute them.  Mend the broken and give them a peace that surpasses all understanding.  Holy Spirit bind up the wounded and protect those who are persecuted for right living.   Amen. 

In our litigious society, kids ministry and youth ministry and even ministry in general has many scared of touch.

One of the tasks that I’ve been working on now that I oversee kids ministry too is developing a policy manual for our volunteers.  I hate red tape and I’m really not much of a policy and rule guy, but we’re trying to have a formal written document that explains what people can and can’t do for that litigious society and for training purposes too.  As a result, I got a copy of one church in our area’s manual to learn from and inside it has this statement explaining what no sexual contact with a child looks like:

No physical contact includes: children sitting in an adult’s lap, no stroking of the child, no front hugs, no children hanging onto adults, no picking up of children in the Early Childhood and Elementary classrooms. If a child initiates any of these physical contacts immediately but gently remove the child.

Let’s be clear.  This is not because a 3 year old in my lap or hugging me is unhealthy.  It’s because of legal mumbo jumbo and sin.  Jesus could not have worked in this church childcare cuz I’m doubting he refused to hug the kids when they came to him.

In my youth ministry, 4 times in the last 3 months I’ve had a girl sitting alone in our Sunday program who I approached to see if she was ok.  Each time I said, “It’s good to see you.  How are you doing?” and then put my hand on her shoulder.  This simple act each time has resulted in a flood of tears and the admission that they are not ok.  It was a hand on a shoulder that said, “How are you…. really?”.  It is what separated it from a nice greeting to a sincere request and demonstration of concern.   I have become convinced that today, more than ever… there is intense power in healthy touch.

I remember reading “What’s so Amazing about Grace” by Philip Yancey years ago.  In it he marches in a gay parade with some homosexual friends of his and experiences the spitting and yelling and condemnation of some of the “Christians” protesting the event.  In the subsequent interviews he does afterwards he is told by one man, “It’s easier to get sex on the streets than it is for me to get a hug in church.”  That has never left me.

Really?  Dear God… please don’t let healthy touch be a rarity among your people.

If this is new to you, here’s 4 suggestions for healthy touch:

#1. DON’T BE AN IDIOT:  healthy touch is healthy touch.  It is observable by others.  It is non-sexual.  This should be obvious what you should and should not do.  If this is a question, please don’t volunteer or lead in ministry to minors especially.

#2. PLEASE TOUCH: seriously, for the love of people and God, please give a hug to someone who is crying.  Please squeeze a shoulder, shake a hand, touch a little kids head with a smile… something to indicate people are loved and you’re comfortable with them.

#3. WHEN IN DOUBT, DON’T:  if you think there’s more going on behind the scenes for either of you, then walk away.

#4. DON’T DISCRIMINATE:  Hug everyone.  Squeeze everybody’s shoulders.  Put your arm around someone and say, “good job”.  Just do it to everyone.  I think we could use a good solid influx of healthy touch in our churches.

We have billboards all over San Diego, one within like 200 yards of our church that read, “Judgment Day. May 21”.

Everyone in ministry knows the pressures of feeling like you have too much to do and not enough time to do it.  But the truth is, delegating some of it to others is easier said than done.  Especially if it is going to be  done right where people are “empowered and encouraged” and not just “used and abused”.  We also all know that delegation, at least initially, can often take more time or energy than just doing it yourself.

So over the years I have a developed a mental framework that I try and think through when delegating to volunteers or even a paid helper.  My goal is always that everyone is valued and useful and no one feels like a servant of my agenda or overwhelmed by unrealistic expectations or even underwhelmed by trivial tasks that minimize their contribution.  To that end, I try and match their leadership capacity with the right task through these four basic categories:

LIST PEOPLE
These volunteers are valuable servants, but not take charge leaders.  They require a specific task list to be successful. They might make phone calls, drive a vehicle, get food, or photocopy fliers.  But they don’t do all of it.  If you ask them to lead something, they’ll freeze and freak out. They serve one step at a time.  So make a to do list and call someone like this to help.  They love helping and you’ll be glad you asked.

GIMME TRAIN TRACKS PEOPLE
These volunteers are trustworthy helpers, but not visionary people.  They will do a lot for you, as long as you give them rails to run on.  If you want them to lead a small group, they can.  But they need curriculum, a list of expectations, and a follow up from you to make sure nothing derailed them.   If you give them one thing to do, they’ll feel like they are wasting their time.  If you give them 10 things with no direction, they’ll fumble.  So set up a training time, give them the resources they need, and let their engines run on the tracks you gave them.

GIVE ‘EM FENCES PEOPLE
This volunteer is a well intentioned, but dangerous leader.  I love this group, but if not kept in check, they start stuff without talking to you and can cause problems accidentally.  (Like they planned their small group retreat, called the parents, and did everything perfect… except it is the same weekend of your ski trip.) They might be able to oversee an entire event or lead a small group on their own, but they need to know what you expect and what you don’t want.  They need regular communication and regular checks and balances.  The key to this person is to have them work with you as a co-leader first.   Give them big roles, but stay in the loop. Once you feel confident they know what you do or don’t want them doing and the lines of communication are open…. then you’re good to go.

FREE RANGE PEOPLE
This is a tried and true leader.  You will probably only have a handful of these people.  You can have them teach, lead the music, design a flyer, or oversee an entire event depending on their gifts and talents.  However, do not underestimate their ability or corner them with a small to do list or they’ll leave to find a place they are truly needed.  This person is someone you bring into your vision brainstorm meetings, empower with a piece of your ministry, and then walk away knowing full well that they will get it done and probably better than you could have done it anyway.   If you have one of these, what are you waiting for.  Give them a piece of your ministry now.