The Chair vs. The Dictator

Last night I had my 2nd Candidates Committee meeting as the Chair. Our committee of the presbytery is responsible for bringing those seeking to be ministers 'under care' (our supervision, testing of gifts, encouragement, approval of internship). 

I had to do a decent amount of work in contacting folks, organizing (my greatest strength, yeah whatever), preparing our agenda, etc...

Each time I talk with a candidate and they ask me if something is going to be OK or not, I have to say "As a committee, we will discuss it and I will get back with you." 

Just last night I complained to my wife that since "I do all this work, I ought to have some real 'power' in making decisions. But last night I was reminded why I shouldn't really aspire to this power. 

The previous meeting we had 2 in attendance (including myself) and a third via tele-conference. Last night we doubled our attendance with 4 actual bodies/minds present. I had not expected the meeting to take as long as it did. But it took some time because different men provided wisdom that I just didn't have. 

They saw things slightly differently at times, but we were all able to come to agreement on several different issues. Looking back, even though I sometimes would like to be the "Dictator" of the committee, I'm now happy just to be the "Chair." Because God provides greater wisdom in community than in isolation, I'll try to stick to the title and job description of the "Chair," no matter how much extra work I do.