Unsung Heroes
By Caris Power --
unsung hero | noun
Someone who does a great job yet receives little or no recognition for that. An unsung hero usually refrains from claiming too much in return for his/her efforts.
We love our heroes, don’t we? The Marvel and DC comic empires have made billions of dollars as we have rallied behind their heroes of all shapes and sizes as they battle evil, both outside and in. These heroes wear capes, have superpowers and get to use the coolest gadgets.
This type of hero is flashy, witty, and very obviously the center of attention.
However, I don’t want to talk about those kinds of heroes today. They have received their recompense in fame and fortune.
I want to talk about Unsung Heroes. These kinds of heroes model my greatest hero, Christ, in several key ways. Unsung heroes are selfless. They are about the mission and are willing to sacrifice much for it. Unsung heroes persevere and stay committed no matter the obstacles. Unsung heroes are humble. They aren’t out to receive attention. They mostly prefer to stay out of the spotlight and direct attention elsewhere. And, finally, the outcome of these heroes’ actions produce transformative results.
Do you know some unsung heroes? I do. I know a whole team of them.
No, they are not the Avengers. But they do have a cool base and some fun gadgets of their own.
My unsung heroes are the members of our tech team. These are the extraordinary people who every week run our lights, sound, and media and coordinate our services to keep the focus firmly on Jesus and His message. You don’t notice them, unless something goes wrong, and they receive little to no regular applause. That’s how most of them like it. In fact, some of them will hate what I’m about to do next…draw attention to them.
Let me introduce you to my unsung heroes:
(Imagine them all with capes!)
ARIA HERRERA, coordinator | CRYSTAL LIVINGSTON, coordinator | SUSAN MCELROY, lights
MIKE PRATT, lights | MATT DOUD, lights | TERESA BALLARD, media
JOHN DEHAVEN, media | KYE KIRCHER, media | TIM STEWART, media
BRENT MCDONELL, sound | TOM GERHARTER, sound | ISAIAH HOLLINGSWORTH, sound
MARY ELLEN ADLER, sound | JESSIE JORGENS, sound
Aren’t they fabulous?!!!!
As we get further into the book of 1 Corinthians in our Engaged! series, we’ll see that the Apostle Paul urges as to search out the unsung heroes in the body and find ways to bestow them great honor.
“On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor.”
1 Corinthians 12:22-23 ESV
These members of our tech team are indispensable. How will you bestow honor on these and other unsung heroes of our church body who quietly serve and sacrificially love this church?
Because these 14 are just the tip of the unsung hero iceberg.