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Finally on the Greeting Team

I had always been told that I had a spiritual gift at my early age of ten years old.  I'd received the Lord as my Savior then and immediately my parents noticed that I was always concerned about making people feel welcome at Sunday school and later in our church services. 

"Perhaps the gift of hospitality!" my pastor said as he patted me on the shoulder to encouraged me to continue to do what the Holy Spirit had gifted me to do. 

My The only problem was that I'm mute.  My vision is perfect, my hearing is perfect, my cognitive skills are fine, I can walk, and other than the fact that I cannot speak, I look totally normal.  Since our family has been in the church for many years, most everyone has accepted my speech impairment and most treat me normally.  But as I grew into adulthood, I began to sense that God wanted more from me in the area of Christian service.  For some time, I'd prayed and asked the Lord what I should do to serve him in my local church.  Nothing had come to mind except that we  had a wonderful greeting team that met each Sunday and greeted folks at each door.  Every Week, I would watch the team work and deep down I wanted to be a part but how in the world could a mute man be on a greeting team? 

One day, I decided to just ask to see if there might be something I could do to be a part of the team I so longed to join.  I wrote a letter to the leadership of that team as well as too  the pastor of the church and asked if I might be considered part of the team.  Perhaps I could just hand out bulletins or direct people to various seats or to classes, etc.  For several weeks, there was no response and I'd just about given up then a letter came in the mail from the team leader. 

"Dear Tom, 

We were so thrilled that you asked to serve on a very important ministry team in our church.  We know well of your hospitableness and how it's affected people in the church since you were a child. We do feel, however, that your speech impairment would hinder you in being affective in our ministry as it is now. 

In light of this, we encourage you to keep praying for God's direction to discern where He would want you to serve."

As I closed the letter, I wasn't discouraged at all for this is what I'd anticipated.  Later that week, the pastor called to see if I was alright and told my dad that they hated to reject my request.  He further explained to my father that the biggest concern was that visitors might find it awkward to have a mute person on the greeting team.  It would make them feel awkward and perhaps drive some to not continue in coming.  My dad, of course, didn't buy it and encouraged me to think of a way I could problem solve their fears. 

During the rest of than week, I came up with an idea.  I took a piece of cardboard and covered it with white printer paper.  With a dark blue marker, I wrote three well printed lines.  The first said, "Hi!  My name is Tom!"  The second line said, "I cannot speak." and the third line said, "Welcome to our church!"  Then I attached some string to two of the corners and made it long enough to wear around my neck so that others could easily see it and read it.  Since I wasn't about to give up, I showed my parents my sign and they smiled in approval. 

On Sunday, I took my sign and didn't greet at the door but walked around in the foyer of the sanctuary and sought out people who I had never met before.  We had several visitors that day who had already been greeted at the door yet I could tell by their expressions that they knew nobody else.  Casually, I walked over to each one and after getting that person's attention, I showed my sign and gave each one a chance to read it.  Like clockwork, that person would eventually look at me only to receive my smile and a warm, hearty handshake.  A few looked a bit surprised but nobody seemed to mind.  For some three to four Sundays, I used my sign, smile, and handshake to greet various people, some visitors and some members of the church. 

Ironically, nobody complained that I was doing it and guess what!  None of the visitors left the church over the fact that a man who was mute greeted them with his sign.  The pastor and the church leaders acted suspicious at first, but after the second week, they began to give me their approval.  This occurred one Sunday after the service when one man who was visiting told them that he had been going to a different church each Sunday to see what choices he had and that none of them had ever greeted him with such enthusiasm as our church did.  He even was touched by God working through me, my sign, and my diligent pursuit.  I wanted to make sure he'd been properly greeted so I ran after him to show him my sign. 

And one more thing...  I am now second in command on the church greeting team!  :) 

To all of you who have a disability that others feel is a hindrance to ministry, don't ever give up trying to serve God.  He has a place of service for you even though some might feel differently.