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Alice Hawks was one of the most important members of Christ's Church in Dallas. Pastor Gary Peck had been pastor at Christ's Church for about five years, however, before he even knew Alice's name. That's because Alice was always in the background, always pointing her finger of praise at someone else, never hogging the spotlight for herself. Most people at Christ's Church had seen her around but they had no idea what her name might be or of the broad extent of her service to the congregation.

Alice Hawks had been a member of Christ's Church since the day of her birth. She started to sing in the choir, for example, at an early age and was a regular member of the senior choir. No solos for Alice, of course! When someone would single her out as a member of the choir she always blushed and said, "Oh, anything I do is because of the director. He's just terrific. He could make anybody sing."

When Alice Hawks was in her mid-30s she found her real niche at Christ's Church. The pastor who had served the church at that time asked her if she would become the volunteer coordinator for the congregation. A congregation the size of Christ's Church needed lots of volunteer help in order to make it go. Alice Hawks recognized that this task was just about the perfect fit for her. She had to overcome her shyness about calling people on the telephone but she overcame that soon enough. This was great. She could serve her church and hardly ever leave home. She'd be in the background and that's just where she wanted to be. And she would be doing what she did best. She would match the gifts of the wonderful people of Christ's Church to the needs of the congregation and community.

Alice Hawks was a great volunteer coordinator. Any congregation would have loved to have had her services. Things at Christ's Church ran like clockwork. She always had the right people at the right place at the right time. And all this from the privacy of her own home! Once in a while people would call Alice and thank her for the wonderful job she did in getting volunteers for their area of responsibility. "Don't thank me," Alice would inevitably say. "Thank the people who did the work. They're the ones who deserve the credit."

It took a while for Pastor Peck to realize what a tremendous help Alice Hawks was to his ministry at Christ's Church. Once he really got hold of the scope of her activity he wanted to have a celebration in her honor on the occasion of her completion of 25 years as volunteer coordinator for the congregation. He knew, however, that Alice would have none of it. She wouldn't even show up. She was just too shy.

Pastor Peck, therefore, devised an alternate plan. One Sunday morning, unbeknownst to Alice, he singled her out in the choir after his sermon. He spoke strange words of praise for her. "Alice," he said, "your ministry in this congregation reminds me of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I read a book in seminary once titled: The Holy Spirit -- Shy Member of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is shy because the Spirit never points to self but always points to Jesus. You're kind of like that. You do tons of work for the congregation but you never point to self. You always point to the work of others. We all thank you, Alice, shy as you are, for your spirit-filled ministry in our midst."