I don’t know if you’re a hockey fan, and if not, let me update you on some recent news. The Tampa Bay Lightning were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs (moment of silence …). One of their team leaders, Nikita Kucherov, will surely be in the NHL Hall of Fame when his career ends. But one week after the Bolts’ playoff exit, he was back on the ice skating with Hockey Hall-of-Famer Adam Oates. He’s already practicing for next season …

As a local sports writer noted, “While Kucherov may look like he was simply born with his talent, that obviously is not the case. On the contrary, the magic he produces on the ice is a byproduct of his hard work, dedication, and an all-out love for the game of hockey.”

That’s the way I feel about our staff and leaders at Trinity.

Trinity’s ministry season parallels the school year. Now is a profound time of shifting gears as school ends and summer begins, and at Trinity, we also see a time of changing intensity. But for us, it’s not so much an end of work as much as an adjustment into a different mode of work. Summer is when we evaluate the year just ending, AND start preparing for the year to come.

In World War II, the D-Day invasion of France in June 1944 was a success because of 2 key factors: air dominance and preparation. General Eisenhower was certain that any assault would fail unless the Allies had complete air dominance (and the recent Apple TV series, Masters of the Air, is about that very thing). In terms of preparation, the one-day attack on the northern coast of France was and remains the largest armada of naval vessels ever assembled. Designing, building and moving thousands of vehicles, ships and aircraft, understandably took a long time — the invasion force included 7,000 ships and landing craft manned by over 195,000 naval personnel from eight allied countries. And almost 133,000 troops from the United States, the British Commonwealth, and their allies were assembled to storm the French coastline.

About this effort, Eisenhower said, “It is not the plan that matters so much, as it is the planning.”

What does this have to do with Trinity and ministry? Our equivalents are in prayer and in tooling up the leaders, workers and other volunteers who will help make our work possible. Our parallel to air dominance is in prayer. On my office wall, I have a painting by the aviation artist, Robert Taylor. It depicts a formation of British fighter planes over Omaha Beach on D-Day. It is a constant reminder to me of Eisenhower’s awareness of how everything on the ground was doomed if they were not covered from above. I believe that with all my heart. “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who would build it,” Psalm 127:1. All of our strategies, dreams, or efforts are nothing unless our Great God and Savior works on our behalf.

In terms of getting ready, we anticipate much work for the Fall, and as it is good work, there needs to be hard work in our times of preparation. Literally every single ministry is experiencing growth. We’re grateful, but we’re also humbled by the scope of increase in the work and the workers who are needed in order for us to do our ministry well.

So what can you do? Everyone can pray, so please do so. And please work to find your place if you are not already in a role as a volunteer. And if you already are taking part in a ministry, THANK you! We are genuinely excited about our work. I love our team, and (like Nikita Kucherov) I love their hard work, dedication, and an all-out love for Jesus.