In John Maxwells book Equipping 101 he shares something that he tells new team members. He says that within the organization they will sometimes be the first at the scene of a fire. In their hands they have two buckets, one with water, one with gasoline. They can choose which one to put on the fire – water to put it out or gasoline to make it bigger.
What do those little fires look like? In my experince most fires that can turn into damaging blazes are stinky attitudes and complaining… complaining about what leadership is doing wrong… complaining about what leadership isn’t doing right… complaining about being on the roster too much… you get the idea.
When a complaint finds agreement it turns into something a little bigger because it’s justified… someone else then adds their ten cents worth and it gets bigger again. Thats what gasoline does.
So what does water do? Water makes people feel heard and understood but then directs them along the right path to deal with it. Who should they talk to about this instead of grubling? Are there any attidudes that need to be challenged?
Above all, buckets of water stick up for other people on the team, that includes the Senior Pastor, Youth Pastor, Worship Pastor… and also those that you have responsibility for. It’s about watching each others backs through thick and thin and dealing with small fires the right way before the spread.
