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proper guidelines, we will probably find ourselves wist- fully looking back, wishing we could somehow go back
to the day when we sighed and said, “Am I ever glad to see you! Where have you been all of my life?” How many tragic endings have we all found ourselves in because of those coming to work alongside us who never understood “the walk”?
Before I get into the “nuts and bolts” of the guidelines all staff applicants must meet before we should even con- sider them as viable candidates for our staff, let’s first eval- uate the reasons “motivating” them in seeking to join us. I have learned (the hard way) that it’s important to establish the motive of every potential staff member (even in the world of crime, the first thing they look for is the suspect’s motive for committing an act). If we can discover the “real reasons” for their desiring to work with us, then we can approach their union with us from a better perspective.
Why would this person want to work on our staff? Could it be possible that he or she has a “hidden” or “ulte- rior motive” for wanting to join our ministry team? If so, how can we learn what is really behind these words, “God has led me to join you?”
This little article in no way negates the power of prayer and discernment. However, in retrospect, most of us real- ize there have been times when we thought we were being led by the Lord and “hitting the mark,” but we found out later to our dismay, we had just flat missed it! When God sends someone to help us, most of the time, we can ap- proach his/her joining our staff from a good, sound, prac- tical perspective, as well as from a prayerful one. In fact, if God directs us to establish some good staff guidelines in advance, we will already have His directions concerning
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