Make sure the 2nd man knows he is highly valued!

Today's blog is for the 1st men or the want-to-be 1st men.

At the end of 2005, God moved “Jefe” and me to the states to start the Vision Baptist Church and the Our Generation Training Center. So the ministry in Peru fell on the arms of Jefe’s son, Chris Gardner. With the mass exodus of some of the key missionaries, Chris definitely felt the pressure. All the responsibilities that Jefe and I had were now Chris’ responsibility.

Chris shortly after that recruited Julio Soncco to be his 2nd man. Julio soon took over a lot of the same responsibilities I had.

I usually am able to talk to Chris on a weekly basis, and every time I talk to him he tells me how valuable and how helpful his 2nd man is to him. He talks about how unbelievable he is and how well he works and how he couldn’t do what he is doing if it wasn’t for Julio.

Here’s the point. Make sure your 2nd man knows he’s appreciated. It makes our job a lot easier when we know what we do is very important and vital to the 1st man.

Many times I hear pastors belittle their help. I see when they don’t allow them to be in certain meetings because he’s just a staff person and not the “Pastor”. I see when the pastor gets uncomfortable because some of the people may look up to the 2nd man more than they do him. The pastor alot of times starts making negative comments when their 2nd man seems to be loved more than him. Instead of the 2nd man being treated like a 2nd man, he's treated like the last man.

It’s easy to see why men don’t feel the Lord is leading them to be an assistant pastor for very long. They want to hurry and be in the first man position so they can treat their 2nd man the same way they were treated.

1st men, please let your 2nd man know how much you appreciate him. Tell him to his face, tell it to the congregation, tell it to visiting preachers, tell it to the world. We would have a lot stronger churches if we weren't changing out our staff every couple of years. I can guarantee that if the person knows he's valued, he will stay around a lot longer.

One thing I can tell you about working with Jefe, almost nothing he decides or does goes on without him going through me first. He doesn't have to do that. He is a stinking genius without me, but it sure does make me want to stay around.