Once upon a time, there was a workhorse who served an entire community. Day
after day, he carried loads for the butcher, the baker and the
candlestickmaker. He found great joy in his work and felt honored to do his
task.
Once upon a time, there was a workhorse who served an entire community. Day
after day, he carried loads for the butcher, the baker and the
candlestickmaker. He found great joy in his work and felt honored to do his
task.
Every time someone needed help carrying a load, that person just contacted
the workhorse. After all, it was his duty and purpose to carry the load. And,
he gladly carried the load. As the community grew, so did the size and number
of loads the workhorse was asked to carry.
All the workhorse asked in return for his work was that the community he served
would help in keeping up his hauling equipment so he could continue to do a
good job and would care for his few needs. He never asked for fancier barns
or stalls or gourmet hay. He never asked for brightly-colored tassels to wear
on his halter – just the basics to do his job of hauling the loads for
the people of the community.
As time went on, the people of the community took the workhorse for granted.
Because he asked for so little, they gave him less. After all, hauling is not
a very glamorous job, and there is little emotion attached to it. No one got
excited about the workhorse that carried the loads. They just got excited about
the loads.
Actually, people of the community became so excited about the well-being of
the results of the workhorse’s labor, they forgot what the workhorse did.
So, the people supported the workhorse less and less. They expected him to
carry the ever-increasing loads with decreasing support. They figured if he
had to do so, the workhorse could haul for fewer people – as long as their
loads were hauled, and how much could supporting a workhorse cost, anyway? The
poor workhorse was left to bear a heavier load with less support.
The workhorse’s task was as vital as ever – it is just that he was,
well, a workhorse in the day when folks placed premiums on flashier, more emotion-ladden
racehorses.
Finally, the day came when the workhorse could no longer perform at his peak
for all the people of the community. He explained to the community that he was
grateful for the help they gave him, but he just had to have more help to do
his job. The people had to decide what they would do–support the workhorse
more or wonder why he was not doing more.
This is a parable.
The Baptist Message exists to carry the loads of communication for the Louisiana
Baptist Convention Executive Board staff, other LBC agencies and institutions,
associations, churches, the national organizations they support and the people
involved. The Baptist Message strives to bring you the information you need
and want in order to be a more effective Louisiana Baptist.
The ministry of the paper itself is not glamorous. It is black ink on white
paper. There are few colored whistles and bells. While many times there is great
emotion in the stories in the paper, there is no emotional attachment to newsprint
and ink.
Still, the ministry of the Baptist Message is vital – just about everyone
agrees with that. One sage said the ministry of the Baptist state paper is so
vital that if the Louisiana state paper were closed today, another would be
started in the morning. Volunteer organizations thrive or fade depending upon
how effectively they communicate their purpose and their work. For their message
to be communicated effectively takes a strong instrument of communication, and
among Louisiana Baptists, that means the Baptist Message.
Every Louisiana Baptist church has the opportunity to remember the ministry
of the state Baptist paper. September 16 is Baptist Message Sunday. On that
Sunday, and every other day, please help strengthen the Louisiana Baptist workhorse
of communication by:
1. Praying for the ministry of the paper.
2. Sending the Baptist Message to every one of your church’s resident
member family units.
3. Sending your news and information to the Baptist Message so we can share
that with the state.
4. Encouraging readership of the Baptist Message.
5. Calling 1-800-376-7728 for more information about the many ministries of
the Baptist Message, including our church news-letter service.
Please help us strengthen our ministry, so we can continue to carry your information
load.