The Lion’s Club calls him the tail-twister. In the locker room, he’s referred to as a sparkplug.
In the church, he’s the accelerator.
He’s the guy–or she’s the one–who wants to “get this show on the road,” who builds a fire under everyone else, who pushes the leaders.
Every organization needs a few of those.
Nothing of what follows is meant to diminish the importance of those church members who are never satisfied with the status quo but want to make a lasting difference for Jesus’ sake. Every church should be blessed with a few.
However, as the Toyota Motor Company (or whatever it’s official name happens to be) has learned the hard way, an accelerator needs to be under strong controls.
An accelerator that “sticks” causes crashes. Crashes cause deaths.
I sat in the waiting room of my Toyota dealer for an hour last week while the service man made some small adjustment to the accelerator of my Camry. It was part of a several-million-car recall that is turning the automobile business upside down these days. Nearly 40 deaths have been attributed to gas pedals sticking, causing the car to speed ahead uncontrollably.
My wife and I had a disagreement that morning. She vows that she was riding with me once when the pedal stuck on this car. I reply that I would have remembered that, but I don’t. She refused to budge. So, I called the car dealer and they told me to bring it in. No waiting, no cost, a simple thing. My wife has peace of mind, and frankly, so do I. Sometimes a wife has to insist on something to get her husband to act.
My wife was my accelerator, you might say.
From time to time, I have seen the work of accelerators in churches. Sometimes, they do a great job. And sometimes, they are missing the controls that will safeguard the congregation and staff from their get-out-of-my-way attitude.
Not long ago, for instance….
