This past Saturday we spent time celebrating those who serve as volunteers at Indian Creek. Like with so many of God’s good gifts, we really can’t do justice to the level of sacrificial commitment of so many in our church family. To begin with, “volunteer” is almost the wrong word: Every member of our church contributes to the mission. To be a part of a church is to voluntarily give and serve the Lord out of a glad and generous heart. This is part of the DNA of every follower of Jesus, who came “not to be served but to serve.”

What’s more, every member of our church—with the exception of Pastor Jamie and myself—gives of their time, talent, and treasure freely, without expecting anything in return. We’re the only two full-time staff members! And yet look at all that gets accomplished week in and week out.

When I arrive on Sunday mornings between seven and eight, coffee is already being made, the baptistery has been freshly filled, and the band is getting ready to rehearse. With each passing minute more church members arrive, some preparing to serve the Lord’s Supper, others making copies to be handed out in an Equipping Class, still others stuffing activity packets for the kids to use during worship.

Then the teachers arrive. They’ve spent hours searching the Scripture to prepare a lesson. They carry a special burden, accountable to the Lord for how they handle His word, standing in a place of influence over the spiritual wellbeing of those who will attend their class that day.

Men arrive and pick up a two-way radio, dispersing across the campus to ensure that everyone is safe. Ladies open the nursery. Families greet guests at the doors. The worship service hasn’t even started yet and already dozens have started to make their thankless contribution to the ministry.

The next morning more volunteers arrive to count the offering or reset the New Life Center for the next activity.

Before long it’s Wednesday afternoon. Groceries are brought into the kitchen a little after lunch. The room fills with the sounds and smells of supper being prepared for over a hundred people. Volunteers rush from work, swallow a few bites of food, and then man their stations in Awana or Bible Study or ESL.

On and on it goes. And this is just a typical, run-of-the-mill week with little extra taking place, all fueled by Christ-loving Christians who give up their one short life—hour by hour—to serve the greatest cause ever conceived, the mission of Jesus.

And it’s all voluntary. Our elders lead without pay, our deacons serve without pay; even our part-time staff members go far beyond the duties in their job descriptions to serve our church.

We don’t want to pat ourselves on the back. But by God’s grace and because of the presence of the Holy Spirit, local churches like ours are the beneficiaries of a kind of sacrificial generosity that you can’t find anywhere else. And it’s been that way here on Indian Creek Road for over a hundred years. Some of our current members have been serving the Lord since the middle of the last century!

I just want you to know I appreciate you. You work hard all week in the hot sun, or sprinting from meeting to meeting, or chasing around a handful of kids, then you rush through weekend chores on Saturday, then Sunday comes. It’s a day to rest in Christ—and you do—but you also pour yourself out as a living sacrifice of service to the saints.

I don’t take that for granted. I get a unique vantage point from which to view these great acts of faith and courage. I know it can be tedious and toilsome. I know the constraints of time and budget can feel like a straitjacket. I know that at times the obstacles seem insurmountable and people don’t respond the way you’d like.

But your work is not a waste. We serve a risen Savior who multiplies our efforts and ensures that they reverberate long after we’re gone. Thank you so much for all of the ways you invest in Indian Creek Baptist Church!