Most pastors would be intrigued by the prospect of an assistant to develop their file systems and do research on sermon materials.
If you react, “Sounds like a great idea, but our church doesn’t have the money,” don’t stop reading yet. It’s not really a money matter.
I’ve had such an assistant for years. She has enriched my life and found new purpose and ministry for herself. And like other church volunteers, she has never received a salary.
Verna Sturdivant and her husband Clair moved to our city over a decade ago to retire. A former schoolteacher, Verna was a lover of books and wanted to remain intellectually active. Her responses to my messages revealed a thinker and appreciative hearer as well as a “doer of the Word.”
One day she told me about some E. Stanley Jones readings that paralleled certain points of my most recent sermon. I asked to see them and realized how much they would have enhanced that message.
“Verna,” I said, “would you be willing to help me by looking for this type of material in advance?”
She accepted eagerly, and we began.
Frankly, that put me under a bit of pressure. If Verna were to help me effectively, I needed to know fairly well ahead of time what I would be preaching on. I saw I needed to grow. This new accountability would be good for me.
Soon, I was discussing with Verna very early each week my ideas for the next Sunday’s message, and she was supplying beautiful materials from her own library—illustrations or devotional excerpts that ideally augmented my sermons.
It became obvious that I should work even further in advance. This took a while, but now it is my common practice to prepare outlines a month in advance. These outlines often undergo radical changes during the month, but they serve as a starting point and use Verna’s gifts of research. In addition, I’ve found that communicating with her in person or in writing helps solidify my ideas earlier.
Next, Verna investigated the poorly organized materials in my church study. The Bubna system of book filing meant the most-used books were closest to me. This worked fine when my library numbered only a few hundred. Verna, however, began to discover treasures I had somehow forgotten because they had been relegated to the back corner of the shelf.
She decided my books should be catalogued according to the Dewey Decimal system. Her determination was undimmed by previous inexperience. We ordered several how-to books, and our local librarian also seemed delighted to help out.
After conquering the book file, Verna began the task of integrating my file material of magazine articles, cutouts, and old notes into a usable system. She worked several years perfecting this, ultimately cataloguing it using Baker’s Textual and Topical Filing System. Several years ago, I prepared to study for a series on the Minor Prophets but lacked materials in my study. In a few days, Verna presented a briefcase of books she had borrowed from a nearby Christian college. It didn’t take me long to scan them and decide which ones to use, perhaps even to purchase.
Her quest for illustrations, background material on contemporary issues, and half-forgotten quotes takes her to such sources as the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature at the public library. A faithful reader of E. Stanley Jones and Daily Bread devotionals, Verna often finds illustrations that are helpful to me either at the time or at some later point.
When her husband passed away, she began to give even more time to this work. Now in her late seventies, Verna no longer drives her car but arrives via city bus or with someone she has convinced to drive her!
Sometimes I have wondered if I were taking advantage of this dear sister. But she assures me she loves it all. Over the years, we have become very good friends, and at times I have been her counselor. On one such occasion, she gave me permission to talk with her doctor. He commented on her growing zest for life and attributed her physical well-being to her church work.
“Verna has told me something of what she is doing for you,” he said. “I don’t understand it all, but whatever it is, don’t let it stop! It’s given her added years of purposeful service.”
Verna is now trying to recruit and train younger women to supplement her efforts.
Each congregation has gifted people who would love to help the pastor as a research assistant. To find those who might be interested and well-qualified: Listen for clues. Ask provocative questions and give short-term assignments. Offer lots of encouragement and appreciation. Give your ministry a boost, and at the same time, allow someone else the meaningful service of helping you declare the Word of God.
