Fiercely Loyal

At the end of our conversation, he looked at me dead in the eye and said, “One last thing that you must always remember…be fiercely loyal.”

Of everything spoken, shared and experienced during C3 2012, those last three words resonated the most within my soul. It was like God put this former army officer and current senior pastor in my path to remind me of what it means to be called to serve at Fellowship Church. It wasn't like I didn't already believe it or work to be it. It was just good to hear my call put so succinctly from another senior leader.

Be fiercely loyal.

For all of us who are called to serve here, that is what we must be. The reality, as we learned this week at C3, is that our senior leaders, Ed and Lisa Young, have a heavy mantle to carry. They carry it willingly. They carry it boldly. But we must not allow them to carry it individually.

What does it mean to be fiercely loyal? Being fiercely demands action. Being fiercely loyal requires a willingness to do anything, everything or nothing. You want a picture of that? Read 2 Samuel 23:13-17. David’s men were willing to go anywhere and do anything.

As we take off on this amazing trajectory from C3 and look to advance the kingdom of God in the coming year, ask yourself a powerful question: How far am I willing to go?

If you were to walk up to a United States Marine and ask him what he is trained to do, the first answer you will get is, “I’m trained to kill.” It doesn’t matter if he’s a tank operator, radioman, cook, or sniper; a Marine is trained first to kill. Everything else is secondary.

If someone walks up to you and asks you what you do at Fellowship Church, your first answer should be, “I support and defend the vision of this church and my Pastors.” Everything else is secondary. Because they carry the vision. And without them; without that vision, the people (and the church) will perish.

I’m not saying that our Pastors are God. But they are placed here by God. And so are you. Your job is to be fiercely loyal to that.

That means when you have a chance to speak up and defend them, speak up and defend them. If you have a chance to contribute to the cause, contribute to the cause. If you have a chance to build up the church, build up the church. If you are called to go the extra mile, go the extra mile.

We are an army (well…we’re more like the Marine Corps). We stand side by side and defend what God has given us and advance to take what God has ahead for us. Never forget that. Never grow apathetic towards that, because what God is doing here is not normal. It's supernatural. And because of that, you must never allow yourself to be anything but fiercely loyal.