Sand Grunts

I love a parade! I’ve always loved parades. I love the floats with waving queens, the bands, the clowns, the horses and free candy.

Who doesn’t love a parade? I’ll tell you who. The poor person at the end who is sweeping up the mess left by the horses – that’s who!

Every parade has a budget. If you had the opportunity to financially fund a parade, which would you rather support – the beautiful ornate float carrying the beauty queens or the guy sweeping up manure? Unquestionably, it’s more enjoyable to support the float. It’s not as sexy to pay for the guy sweeping up the crap at the end of the parade. PastorServe isn’t sexy. We get that. While we often have the privilege of working in a proactive manner, our service also places us at the back of the parade. Ten years ago I briefly shared a story in this letter. It bears repeating.

On May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was opened. A mammoth suspension bridge connecting the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn, the bridge took thirteen years to build and claimed twenty-seven lives. The construction of the bridge was detailed in the 1980 Ken Burns documentary Brooklyn Bridge. The documentary tells the fascinating story of the bridge foundation which was constructed by creating two enormous caissons (underwater domes). These domes were lowered into the waters as hoses pumped air into the structure creating a cavernous underwater auditorium.

Thousands of Irish immigrants worked on the underwater portion of the bridge construction. Working with shovels, picks, wheelbarrows, steel bar stone breakers, winches and ten-ton hydraulic jacks, the bridge began to rise. Each week they would see several feet added to their painstaking task of building the foundation of a bridge while underwater. It was eighteen months and 78 feet of construction before the two bridge towers finally cracked the surface of the East River.

These Irish immigrants came to be known as ‘sand grunts’. Their work was dirty, hard, out of sight and under the surface where no one could observe their progress as they built the Brooklyn Bridge.

At PastorServe, we understand that in many ways, we are ministry sand grunts. We are dung sweepers. And we thank God for our position of service. And, in many ways, we are all called to be sand grunts. We are all called to acts of service that in no way shine the light upon ourselves.

By supporting PastorServe, you allow us to work out of sight. We are beneath the surface and at the end of the parade when everyone has gone home. Thank you for allowing us to serve in this manner through your faithful prayer support and generous financial partnership.

As I mentioned last month, our financial needs have never been greater. We need to expand our capacity before the PastorServe Book Series hits the shelves in September. The name ‘PastorServe’ will be a part of a major marketing campaign (100% funded by David C Cook) that will put our name before tens of thousands of pastors. I’ll share more details about the book series next month. Thanks for considering a special gift to allow us to increase our capacity.