Heroes are people who do that most counterintuitive thing: they run toward trouble.

When the planes hit the towers, they ran inside trying to help people. When the shots rang out, they moved toward the shooters to reduce the number of victims. When disaster hits a community, they drive into the chaos looking for people to help.

Recently, I showed my staff a clip of a sermon by a youth pastor. He used an illustration during his message of one of the girls who attended his youth group. She came to visit, then at the end of the night she grabbed him to say she would never return. He inquired about the reason for her disappointment. She explained how no one greeted her when she arrived. She was not made to feel welcome, and that was very important to her. 

This wise pastor responded, “Come back and next week you can be in charge of our greeters.” His words were received with a blank stare. He continued, “You know what it is like to be left out and now you can make sure no one else feels this way.”

In my experience, when someone encounters a problem in the Church or in its ministry, the natural tendency is to quit. The result is that the problem gets worse, and there are now fewer people to handle it.

What the Church needs is more people who see problems and then run toward them to help. There is always room for someone willing to act heroically.