A Little Story About a Volunteer!

Thought I would share a little story about a volunteer in my ministry named Dori. Dori is in her mid 50’s, married and has three children. She worked for over 20 years at a local brick manufacturer and was let go last year because of Covid. Actually, she lost her job because the government actually paid the brick manufacturer’s hourly workers more to stay at home and be unemployed. The problem with that is that Dori was in administrator for those workers and if she has no workers to oversee, then she was left without a job. Doesn’t seem right to me but to some in DC, that kind of logic makes total sense.

Anyway…You see the reason I’m writing about Dori is that she is an amazing servant of the Lord and one that defines what sacrifice looks like. Dori has been serving as my nursery director for over 12 years and she hasn’t missed but one weekend in those 12 years. She gets to the church early Sunday morning when I do and leaves late when I do. She takes care of the nursery like it was her own and she genuinely loves the babies that she takes care of. She’s a subtle leader who leads by example and her serving team is the most loyal group of volunteers you’ve ever seen. They see her commitment and can’t help but follow.

A few interesting things about Dori….1) She has played injured for years. Her husband told me awhile back that she suffers with all kinds of joint ailments that she would never mention to me. 2) She cleans and disinfects by hand, every toy in the nursery every weekend. It’s amazing really! 3) The church has an award named after her that we give out each year at our volunteer appreciation banquet. If you receive the Dori Todd award, you have obviously sacrificed and served at the highest level. It’s quite an honor to receive it and yet Dori has only gone to the volunteer banquet once and that was the year I begged her to go so we could introduce the Dori Todd award and give it to her. She’s way too humble to feel like she deserves any award.

Why talk about a volunteer like Dori? Because we all need a reminder that when we are called by the Lord to do a job, we need to do it with all that we have. Dori feels called to take care of the babies of this church and she doesn’t do it for me but instead looks at is as a way she can worship the Lord. She feels that fulfilling her calling is the best act of obedience she can do.

In fact, just the other day, she told me that her husband’s brother had invited them to move to Tennessee for a job opportunity and they took it so seriously, they put their house up for sale. Full disclosure, I was honest-to-goodness praying that nobody would buy their home. Of course, they got a full price cash offer on it. When I heard that, my stomach sunk! I asked Dori the following weekend, when they were moving, and she teared up a little and said they declined the offer because she is called here to take care of these babies, in this church. She didn’t feel called anywhere else. I’m tearing up a little myself thinking about it. Her and her husband gave up a good opportunity for her calling, which Dori feels is greater.

Thank you for letting me share this story with you about Dori. If Dori knew I was writing about her, she would say thank you but that I didn’t need to write about her. That’s because she doesn’t feel like she’s doing anything that she isn’t called and equipped to do. Add humility to that logic and you get a true Christ-like person and one that honors the Lord. I ask that you pray for her and her family that they find great employment and that God blesses them ten-fold. She is worthy of God’s blessing for sure.

Brian