ArmandoHeredia.com

Pastoring Bumblebees

Pastoring gives the mental picture of a shepherd meandering through deep grass, near placid ponds under a powder blue sky. Truthfully, it feels more like trying to shepherd a flock of bumblebees. His rod and staff have been traded for a net and a smoke machine.

Today’s teens have such a wide fast-paced array of choices. Though it seems counter-intuitive busy parents seem to plug them into everything available. They don’t have time to sit by still waters with their kids so the nurturing that demands time is substituted with “meaningful” activities. These things aren’t “bad,” but bad replacements for the kind of relationship teens need.

The bad news is you can’t change this. The good news is you can make a difference in their lives. Here’s how to shepherd bumblebees:

1. Be a flower.
   Don’t just look like a flower. Many youth ministries use gimmicks to get teens to come to their events. They’re like plastic flowers. Bumblebees won’t be tricked for long. They’re looking for the pollen and nectar that real flowers provide.
   Pollen is the powder that bees eat. It is also the basis for the fancy word “symbiosis”, the partnership between two things who share life. You are giving life to them, sustenance that will help them grow, and their life and experience will help your ministry be fertile and multiply.

   Nectar in Greek mythology was the life giving drink of the gods. Your teens need to find Life in your ministry. When they get the real stuff they’ll take it back to their hive and do the little dance that tells everyone else where to go.

   “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth (pollen), and the life (nectar).” John 14:6a NLT

2. Make smoke.
   Incense is a Biblical type for worship and the presence of God. Several times His presence was so thick everything stopped. Contrary to the Bee Movie, smoke doesn’t harm nor put bees to sleep. What is does is mask the pheromones they give off when scared or ready to fight and causes them to eat as much honey (from nectar) as they can in preparation for evacuation.

   A time of worship that brings them into the presence of God will slow them down enough to push away anxieties and fill themselves with life before they zip away.

The net’s just for looks.