2. Rest is a Pit Stop.
I'm a big Indy 500 fan. For 23 years, my dad and I have had a tradition of being at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway every Memorial Day weekend. Here's the thing about the Indy 500... Once the race starts, it doesn't stop for 500 miles! Unless there is rain, they don't stop the race for anything.Even if there is a bad crash, they re-route the cars onto the pit road, but they don't stop the race!
Church is the same way! Once the green flag is dropped, we're required to go 52 weeks straight right? Every 7 days whether we're ready or not. At NLC, we call it the Monster of Sunday and unless we know how to tame it, it can eat you alive. I have seen far too many pastors and leaders burn themselves out, all because they never learned how to tame the Monster of Sunday.
Back to Racing... Although once the green flag is dropped, they never stop a race, they do have periods of yellow flags. Whenever there is a crash or a problem on the track, the yellow flag will come out! Within seconds of a yellow flag, the pit crews literally jump into action! This is their chance to make adjustments, refuel, and change the tires on their race car.
Again, church is the same way. In a 52 week calendar year, a wise leader will see natural "Yellow Flag" zones and capitalize on them. Here are a few things I've learned about "yellow flags" from my time at the Indy 500.
1. There's no passing on a yellow. For safety reasons, drivers are not allowed to pass or "take ground" during yellow flag periods. Every church needs yellow flag zones where they are not permitted to "Take Ground." Instead, get in line, keep going, but slow your engine down, rest, improve your gas mileage for a little while. Don't worry, you'll be back to Green Flag Racing soon enough.
2. It's a great time to refuel because everybody on the track has slowed down. The #1 reason everyone pits on a yellow is because all the cars in the race have slowed down. In other words, you won't lose as much ground on the track as you would if you had to pit during green flag racing. God gives churches yellow flag zones to refuel, too many leaders, however, miss it and keep going like it's still a green flag.
3. You don't have to Stop Everything to take a Pit Stop. One of the coolest thing about an Indy Car is that they have the ability to refuel while the engine is still running. In church work, the same thing is true. Rest doesn't have to mean "Turning the Engine completely off." In fact, one of the worst things that can happen in the pit is for the engine to stall. It requires another huge piece of equipment to get it started again. Resting in church work doesn't have to look like killing the engine, but you do have to come into the pits.
4. If you don't pit on a yellow, you will eventually have to pit on a green. Probably the greatest danger to not taking advantage of the built in "yellow flags" of your 52 week calendar is that you will eventually HAVE to pit on a green flag. When drivers are forced to pit on the green they lose HUGE ground on the track. I have seen too many pastors who fail to pit on the yellow and consequently have to pit on the green. When they do, they always end up regretting it.
On Monday, we talk about How we Rest, but for now, why not get out your calendar and look for 3 or 4 yellow flag zones where you will decide now, away from the emotion and urgency of the moment, to rest.
By the way, the month of June is a great "yellow flag." So, look at your calendar next week and cancel all your activities on one of the days. Go to the beach, take your kids to the park, go have some fun, take a pit stop.
Don't worry, you won't lose any ground on the track (It's a Yellow, remember!)
Matt
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