How do we get there from here? Summer 2000

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Pastor Doug asked me to meet with him, but he didn't say why. When I arrived he asked the secretary to hold his calls, then he closed the door to his cramped office.

"Well, this must be serious," I said.

Doug just smiled. He started talking about the capital fund campaign. Our church on Cape Cod was growing and desperately needed a new sanctuary, classrooms, and office space. Doug identified the sub-committee chairpersons and explained their duties. He chuckled as he finished the entire line on the organizational chart. "You can see I went through all of them."

"Good," I answered. "Then you must want me to do something at the bottom of the chart."

He laughed again and pointed to the top. "No. They want you to chair the committee."

"What? Why me?"

The committee had been meeting six months, but no one wanted to chair the campaign.

"They agreed to pray about it for a week and when they met again, your name was the only one that came up!" he said.

"But, Doug," I pleaded, "this is the last job I would ever volunteer for. I don't know much about finances."

"You don't have to. The people on this committee do. They want you because the church respects you and your communication skills."

His comment was ironic. Out of gratitude after open-heart surgery seven years earlier, I had told God, "I give you me—for whatever." Later I wished I had qualified my offer. I soon was elected to head the search for a new pastor.

It was a major act of faith for me. I don't like speaking in public. Only someone who shares this deep fear can understand the humiliation of watery eyes, a blushing face, and rubbery legs that threaten to collapse. I asked God to make me effective and gradually I became more comfortable. Now I was being asked to chair another ...

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