reflections from Joy Prom 2014: your ministry isn't about you

I was reminded of a sweet lesson last week, as our church held the 10th Joy Prom, a night to celebrate our guests whose differences are more often ignored and an opportunity to live out Luke 14.

This lovely couple asked my friend Sherri Callery to take their picture. All the pictures in this post are courtesy of her skills, love, and generosity!

Actually, the lesson began months earlier.

When the first Joy Prom meetings began, we were newly home from Uganda, as a family of 8 whereas we had been a family of 5 before that trip. Lee and I simply weren't ready to jump in to our old roles, him in charge of facilities and security and me helping Katie with training and volunteer support as well as overall behind-the-scenes execution on the big night.

No, this isn't how our Worship Center usually looks.

We still expected to help as the event got closer and closer, but then Patu had a breathing emergency that was ultimately diagnosed as asthma on the day of the first Joy Prom volunteer training.

He carried that corsage around all night... until he found his lovely date.

Then I was there for the next one, but I had to cut out early as Robbie had thrown up earlier in the day and I didn't want to leave Lee alone with six kids if one was potentially ill.

can your youth pastor pull this outfit off? yeah, I didn't think so. Pastor Bryan rocks.

Then came the day of Joy Prom. I thought I was having a worse time recovering from a tooth extraction than expected but by the time Joy Prom kicked off, I was hit with a bout of what Robbie had earlier in the week... so as the guests and volunteers danced the night away, Lee cancelled our babysitter, and I hung out near a bathroom, watching The West Wing for approximately the millionth time.

hey, Mr. DJ...

Please, don't feel sorry for us, though! We're on the mend, and it was a lesson we needed to learn: that God doesn't need us to do His work.

Smiles all around!

We love to serve, but when we aren't able to do so, God can provide someone else.

Her reaction every time footage of her and her friends showed up on the big screen!

It isn't our ministry.

It's His.

We roll out the red carpet. Literally.

And as the Facebook and Twitter and Instagram posts shared the wonderful stories of Joy Prom 2014, I was sad not to be there, but even more strongly I was once again thankful that God's work in and through and among His people isn't up to me.

Listen y'all, we're Southern Baptist. If we can set aside our hang-ups to show Christ's love to an under-loved population, what might your church need to set aside to do the same?

He is faithful, and He is enough.

Now, enjoy a little bit of the festivities... 

“When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
- Jesus (as recorded in Luke 14:12-14)