“Cultivating a musical community through respect, compassion, responsibility, and service” is the mission statement for my classroom. It is my hope that whoever is reading this—parent, student, grandparent, alumni, community member, teacher—that YOU find your significance in your community. Without community, one can never reach their fullest potential. A community is only at its best when all members are playing to their strengths.
A little over 15 years ago, I served as a youth ministry intern at a local church. The staff I worked with became my second family. Week after week, we focused our efforts on creating the best program experience for middle school students. We had large numbers of students faithfully attending each weekend. Whereas this was a good problem, we soon realized our need for more adult volunteers. The student to volunteer ratio was roughly 25:1. When attempting to break students into small groups, it was not an ideal environment for relationships to form. The best analogy I can think of is taking 25 puppies on a walk by yourself—each on their own leash. Conversation was difficult to manage. Students would rather talk with their friends than focus on others. If it ever did get quiet enough for conversation to stir, the leader would ask a deeper question and you would hear crickets chirp for seconds on end.
Our ministry team decided to take a weekend retreat to evaluate our community groups. We drafted a master plan of what we needed to change so we could provide a more authentic community group experience. We recruited roughly 15 more leaders which made groups smaller. Thinking this was a win, we were mistaken when the feedback from the leaders was no different. Leaders weren’t connecting with their students—students weren’t connecting with one another. Feeling defeated, our ministry team went back to the white board. It was then that I began to look at the white board and see something beautiful. It was a blank canvas. It wasn’t filled with diagrams or charts or bullet points. It had potential to become an organic masterpiece through the writing of something bigger. I then raised my hand and said, “What if we are going about this all wrong? What if all we need to do is simply pray?” Talk about crickets chirping. I could sense what everyone was thinking, “the 22 year-old intern speaks up and that is all he’s got… pray?” I eventually began to see heads nod and others agree that our time had been spent focusing on the problems rather than investing into our hopes. All of a sudden, the blank white board felt exciting. We were ready to abandon practical methods and begin an organic journey to building community groups.
I would love to tell you that things immediately became perfect, but that is far from the truth. What did begin to slowly happen, however, was that more leaders came. Not leaders who felt a moral conviction to serve because there was a need… but leaders who wanted to know and encourage middle school students. Over time, our community groups became more authentic and meaningful. Students began to open up about trials in their life. We witnessed students and leaders care for one another by carrying one another’s burden. Healing was taking place and lives were being changed. A healthy and caring community is a force to be reckoned with. When those in a community feel valued and find purpose, amazing things can happen.
In my own middle school years, I went through the motions of Boy Scouts. I describe it as such because my parents forced me to show up. There were times I enjoyed it, but most of the time, if honest, I wanted to be playing Mario Kart 64 [this was the Fortnite of my day]. If I were to describe Boy Scouts as a community, it would have been the place I was dropped off at while mom went to Kroger. My only friend was George McMillian and he happened to play Mario Kart 64 too. One of the few positive memories I do have of Boy Scouts would have been working towards my knot-tying merit badge. Not only did we have to demonstrate tying knots like the overhand, square, and figure eight but we also had to prove their efficiency. At first, I was unsuccessful and didn’t seem to care until my Scout leader told us the knot we tied had to secure a hammock for us to rest in. After about the 16th attempt, I felt confident in my knotting. The test came and (thankfully) my hammock sustained my weight. I remember our Scout leader teaching us a life lesson through this merit badge experience. He said that although the ropes we used were each separate and weak by themselves, when they were looped a particular way and bound together, their strength could endure almost anything. A community is to work in the same way. Together we are stronger and together we endure.
All of this reminds me of Pixar’s movie A Bugs Life. The main character (an ant) named Flick, was the outcast of the community. His ideas and inventions were so radical and faulty that none of the other ants cared much for Flick. The villain of the film was Hopper, who happened to be the leader of the grasshoppers. Hopper and his entourage of intimidating grasshoppers demanded that the ants supply them with food each harvest. Together, the ants worked tirelessly to provide enough food for the grasshoppers. When Flick ruins the plans by knocking over the entire pallet of food, the grasshoppers demand the ants get more within so many days. When their efforts fall short, it appears as if Flick and the entire ant colony are doomed. To everyone’s surprise, Flick takes a stand. He reminds the ants of their purpose, their bond… the truth that together they are stronger and together they can endure. [Click here to watch this 2 minute scene].
If we were to closely examine the life of ants, we might find ourselves in awe. It is said that ants can carry between 10 to 50 times their own body weight! On a smaller scale, that would be relative to me carrying a cow. How amazing that something so small can possess such power! It makes me wonder, is there anything in my everyday life that seems small and insignificant but, in reality, is full of potential? Is there a beauty in each of us that we are not aware of because we are too busy? Do we fail to see our unique gifts, talents, and abilities as strengths in the community we are a part of?
A community is only at its best when everyone is working together. Each student, parent, teacher, family member, community member, and administrator is unique and serves a purpose. Discovering our strengths and playing to those strengths for the good of others is when everyone is at their best. Might our communities move from good, to great, because we all played to our strengths--turning a blank canvas into a masterpiece.
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