by Trevor on 31 Aug &Tue, 31 Aug 2010 06:44:44 +000044q0000002010;10
This morning I heard a story that I may not have believed unless I had seen it on the Today Show. Apparently a monkey got loose at a Florida zoo and went to the Tiger cage and “mocked the tiger”, as the zoo keeper so eloquently put it. The mocking got the tiger all fired up and caused him to jump a 14ft high fence. It was at this point that the 500 pound tiger came face to face with a 20 pound toddler and they simply stood and stared at each other. The mom of the toddler calmly picked her up and walked away and the tiger walked into the travel cage that the trainers opened for him.
Now for me there are all sorts of church leadership parallels to this story. You can fill in your interpretation. Here are some of mine:
The monkey is church people and the tiger is the pastor.
The monkey is the pastor and the tiger is the church people.
The tiger is Satan and the toddler is a fresh young Christ follower.
The monkey is the world and the church is the tiger.
I am the monkey and you are the tiger.
You get the point. There are plenty of parallels to go around. So what about you. What parallels do you make? You have to watch the video of it. Check it out below.
Tiger = Untamed Jesus
Fence = Religion
Monkey = Holy Spirit
Toddler = The Lost
Mom = Church People
I praise God for churches like Compass and people like Trevor and Jeremy who refuse to pair the claws of the “tiger” of Judah and are leading people face to face to Jesus.
2 Other Little Known Facts:
Popcorn Sales Boy (not pictured) = Joel
Joel, Trevor and Jeremy currently considering planting a new church and calling it “Jungle Island.”
Tiger = church
toddler = unbeliever
monkey = pastor
mother = world
I see pastors working hard to motivate the church to the point of jumping the walls of the church and going face to face with the real world = only to loose their nerve, let the world quietly take the unsaved from our path and walk freely into yet another cage.
OK I realize that in my scenario the Tiger actually attacks the toddler – not so great. But the upside: I got to call Trevor a monkey!
Tiger = Untamed Jesus
Fence = Religion
Monkey = Holy Spirit
Toddler = The Lost
Mom = Church People
I praise God for churches like Compass and people like Trevor and Jeremy who refuse to pair the claws of the “tiger” of Judah and are leading people face to face to Jesus.
2 Other Little Known Facts:
Popcorn Sales Boy (not pictured) = Joel
Joel, Trevor and Jeremy currently considering planting a new church and calling it “Jungle Island.”
Tiger = church
toddler = unbeliever
monkey = pastor
mother = world
I see pastors working hard to motivate the church to the point of jumping the walls of the church and going face to face with the real world = only to loose their nerve, let the world quietly take the unsaved from our path and walk freely into yet another cage.
OK I realize that in my scenario the Tiger actually attacks the toddler – not so great. But the upside: I got to call Trevor a monkey!