We 'got' 3, 6, and 10.

In the 60s and 70s, our TV was broken. It only 'got' channels 3, 6, and 10. It was tough to go to school each day and hear my friends talk of all the cool TV shows they watched on all the channels our TV couldn't seem to find. Having no cable connection and relying on a second hand TV antenna left us with few options. The other channel signals were out there floating around....we just couldn't receive them. Ironically, we now receive over 100 channels and maybe three of those are worth watching. (*shaking my head)

(Photo creds: www.bing.com)

I'm always looking for cutting edge methods in leadership and seek to grow in this area everyday. Yesterday, I was looking through a list of 50 leadership quotes from significant people and stumbled across this one.

"Remember you are a channel of the gospel and not the source." — Martin Luther King, Jr.

(Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story (Boston: Beacon Press, 1958; 2010), 3.)

Thinking back to our old TV set reminds me of its capability to show all the missing channels, but its disconnectedness from the source. The above quote from MLK was speaking to those whose self-importance was preempting the power of the message of Jesus Christ. There may have been too many folks talking about many things and few actually talking about Jesus.

Often, I need reminded that I am one of millions of channels sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ and have no claim to His original signal. I am just the messenger and not the source of reconciliation. In our crazy upside down world, I am hearing a lot of folks purporting to be the Savior for the world instead of being the conduit through which (the real deal) Jesus can work and transform brokenness.

God has called, equipped, entrusted, and commanded us to be those who carry the Good News to wherever we go and to whomever we meet. Allow the biblical message of reconciliation through Jesus Christ be the source of all our words. Let's be the proverbial TV that only broadcasts one channel.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from

God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was

reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed

to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were

making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him

who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

(2 Corinthians 5:14-21, NIV)

"And now we end our broadcast day." (Cue the US flag waving and Star Spangled Banner playing.)