FCCH Worship Ministry Update - 3/16/09

This update is intended for the dedicated worship ministry partners of FCCH.
I hope this is informative, helpful and encouraging to you all.

Celebrating Excellence! - Way to go Walter!

One of my core values is that "excellence honors God and inspires people". I apply it to my life and I apply it to worship ministry all the time. But recently a friend reminded me of the difference between excellence and perfection.


Perfection is trying to do everything under your own strength, with your own plan and not accepting anything but your intended outcome. Every detail has to be exact. And there is no room for failure.

Excellence is seizing every opportunity God presents to you and making the most of everything God has given you, to give Him glory. It means giving your absolute best, and letting God worry about the results.

Perfection is controlling. Excellence is liberating. Perfection focuses on us. Excellence focuses on Christ. Perfection is stressful. Excellence is exciting and dynamic. Perfection fears failure. Excellence finds God's glory in the unexpected.

So why clarify excellence? Because last weekend I saw it up close.

Walter Pope, a teen from my church, won the All-State Wrestling Championship. I had the privilege of seeing him win all 4 matches, including a triple overtime finals, to take the title. I had several people ask me why I would take 2 days off work, away from family and make 4 hour-long trips back and forth to the matches for a kid who is not a close family friend, and I only know casually from church.

Because what happened last weekend was special. It doesn't happen often. And it had nothing to do with wrestling.

You see Walter lives with a foster family from our church. His mom had to give him up because she couldn't care for him. He bounced around a bunch of foster homes until he landed with the Borghese family. This kid had every reason to be angry at the world, angry at God and no reason to believe in anything....especially himself. Walter should have been a statistic of the system.

But God loved Walter and offered him a different future...

The story is too long to tell all the details. Walter found a loving foster family, he found Christ, he learned to put God first, others second and himself third through the Ron Burton Training Village (a Christian sports camp), and he found a Church where he could grow in his faith and relationships that build him up.

This kid is thoughtful, respectful, kind and leads with a quiet strength that is inspiring. I spoke with his coach, teammates and a school administrator last weekend at the tournament and all of them spoke so highly of Walter, his influence on younger teammates, his positive presence at school, and the faith he displays.

Walter was even accepted into the Naval Academy Prep school next fall.....

So on Saturday night as Walter climbed the stairs to receive his first place medal on the biggest stage of Massachusetts wrestling, I didn't celebrate perfection....I celebrated excellence.

I celebrated the excellence of Christ, the excellence of his transforming power in the life of a young man, the excellent love of a foster family, the excellent commitment of the Ron Burton Training village, the excellent community of First Congregational Church of Hopkinton and the excellence of Walter who gives Christ all the glory.

Why did I go? I wouldn't have missed it for the world!

Way to be excellent Walter!

For more information about the Ron Burton Training Villiage and their amazing work in the life of underprivledged teenage boys, go to www.ronburtontrainingvillage.org