One of the things I love about Leading by Following is that it gives me an opportunity to sit down with people I know and love and ask them questions I might not otherwise get to ask.
This episode with my brother in Christ, Curt Mitchell, was so special to me.
Curt serves as the Director of Facilities at Chapin Christian, and if you only knew him by his job title, you might miss what I think is one of the most important things about him and his ministry.
Curt has a pastor’s heart.
He may not stand in the pulpit, but he pastors his family, his team, and the many people he encounters every week who may never walk into my office or sit down with a C4 pastor.
And that’s one of the things I hope you hear in this conversation: Leadership isn’t limited to a title, a position, or a platform.
We’re all leaders.
Someone is taking their cues from the way we live, respond, serve, love, and follow. And what makes us better leaders is who we follow.
So we all need to follow Jesus, amen?
More Than a Job
Curt and I spent a good bit of time talking about his journey.
His family has been connected to Chapin Christian for decades. In fact, his parents were married in this very church in 1978. Years later, Curt and his wife, Haylee, found their way back here with their own family.
Eventually, Curt saw a job posting for a facilities manager. It would have been easy to look at that position simply as a job. But that’s not how Curt sees it. It’s ministry.
His team takes care of the things most people may never notice. They clean. They repair. They prepare. They maintain. They deal with inspections, sprinkler heads, fire alarms, trash cans, floors, bathrooms—and all the other details required to keep a large church campus functioning.
But there’s a bigger purpose behind all of it.
Removing Barriers
We want people who walk through our doors to be able to encounter Jesus. We don’t want something broken, neglected, confusing, or unwelcoming to become an unnecessary obstacle.
Years ago, one of my professors in seminary said something I’ve never forgotten: “Every blade of unmown grass is an evangelist.” His point wasn’t that landscaping saves people. His point was that everything communicates. The way we care for our homes, our workplaces, our churches, and the things entrusted to us tells a story. Curt absolutely gets that – and his leadership is helping tell a beautiful story, for sure.
Helping Put a Man on the Moon
During our conversation, I shared the story of a custodian at NASA who was asked by President John F. Kennedy what he did there. His answer was something like, “I’m helping put a man on the moon.”
I love that story because the man understood that his particular task was connected to something much bigger than himself.
That’s how Curt sees his work. He’s not just taking care of buildings. He’s helping prepare a place where people can hear the Gospel. And I think there’s something in that for every one of us. You may not work at a church, you may not have a ministry title, you may not feel like what you do is particularly spiritual, but what if you started asking a different question?
Not simply, “What do I do?” But: “What greater mission am I helping accomplish through what I do?”
That changes the way we see our work.
What’s Urgent Isn’t Always What’s Important
One of the challenges Curt described in his role is being available to people. He’s constantly moving around the campus, and people see him and need something. A problem comes up. A request is made. Something needs attention. And suddenly, the plan for the day changes. I think that’s something every leader can understand. One of the hardest things we have to learn is the difference between urgent and important.
Urgent things tend to scream for our attention. Important things don’t always do that. A text message feels urgent. An email feels urgent. A problem that just happened feels urgent.
But our spouse, our children, our relationships, our spiritual lives, and the people God has placed directly in front of us may not always demand our attention in the same way.
That doesn’t mean the urgent things don’t matter, it means we have to learn to discern what matters most in the moment. Curt also talked about learning to say no. I loved that part of the conversation because I’ve watched him learn how to do that well. Saying no isn’t about not caring. Sometimes it’s about caring enough to prioritize, and I’ve always believed that how you say no matters almost as much as the decision itself.
You can say no in a way that makes someone feel dismissed, or you can say no in a way that helps them understand that their request matters, even if it can’t happen right now.
That’s leadership.
You Don’t Have to Know Everything
But perhaps my favorite part of our conversation was hearing Curt talk about the people he’s encountered through his work.
Contractors. Inspectors. Police officers. Visitors.
People who weren’t necessarily coming to church looking for a spiritual conversation. And yet, led by the Holy Spirit,conversations happened. People shared things about their lives. People talked about their experiences with church. People opened up about brokenness.
Sometimes Curt got to pray with them. Sometimes he simply listened. He wasn’t trying to fix them. He wasn’t pretending to have all the answers.
He was simply available.
And I believe this statement applies to every one of us: Your greatest gift may not be your ability. It may be your availability.
We can talk ourselves out of being used by God because we don’t know enough. We don’t feel qualified enough. We aren’t confident enough. We don’t know what to say.
But God isn’t asking us to be Him. He’s asking us to follow Him.
Sometimes that means simply being willing to listen. Sometimes it means asking a question. Sometimes it means praying for someone. Sometimes it means noticing the person everyone else overlooked.
And sometimes it means simply being present.
Walk in the Way of Love
As we wrapped up our conversation, I shared Ephesians 5:1–2:
“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love.”
I think those verses are a beautiful picture of Curt’s life and the kind of leadership I believe God want’s for all of us.
Follow. Walk. Love. That’s leadership.
Not perfection.
Not having every answer. Not having the biggest platform. Just faithfully following Jesus and allowing His love to shape the way we live and lead.
Curt told me that he has never particularly felt called to stand in a pulpit, but he has felt called to love God’s people—to help people feel loved, appreciated, encouraged, and capable of becoming who God created them to be.
I think that’s an amazing calling.
And I think it’s a calling every one of us should live out.
So, wherever you are today, whatever your job is, whatever your role is, I want to encourage you to ask one simple question: “Lord, where [or to who] are You asking me to be available today?”
You don’t have to have all the answers. You don’t have to be the most gifted person in the room. Just be willing to follow.
Be willing to listen. Be willing to learn. Be willing to love. [It’s then that we’re qualified to lead.]
And be willing to see what God might do through an ordinary person who simply made themselves available.
