How do you know what God has called you to do?

Many people have asked me, “How do you know what God has called you to do?”  For me its quite simple.  What God has called you to do will match who God has created you to be.  2 Corinthians 5:17 says if anyone is in Christ (saved), they are a new creation.  As one grows in their relationship with Jesus, old patterns, tendencies, and personalities are replaced with the “new creature” God intended you to be.  For some this is a dramatic change over a short period of time and for others it may take a while to see these changes.

             Whatever God has set for you, He will grow you into the person you need to be to meet that need; provided you participate in his process of discipleship along the way.  A good servant of God knows they are never fully qualified for the task.  This is what constantly reminds them to trust in His Holy Spirit to not only lead the way, but also fill in the gaps of weakness where Jesus really shines.     

            I can’t tell you why I love teens, but only that I do.  I have a patience for them specifically that I do not have for other age groups.  This becomes painfully clear (to others) when I'm asked to lead adults in some way or another.  I tell people that adults bother me.  To claim the name of Jesus and not follow through in action frustrates me the most when seen in adults; especially ones who are supposed to be mature in their faith.  In teens however, I give more grace.  Maybe because I still remember what it was like to be one.  More likely though, because God has set me aside to minister to teens and has given me the grace needed to do so.  that's why I'm a "youth" minister and not an "adult" minister or Pastor.     

            The other proof of what God has called you to do lie in your interactions.  When there are teens around, I gravitate towards them.  Most adults can’t stand to talk to teens let alone be around them.  I love too!  I LOVE to do bible study with teens over adults.  I LOVE to do activities, ministry projects, mission trips, and all sorts of other things with teenagers.  Put me in a crowd and I will find a teen to minister to; even if it’s just with a smile or a laugh. 

            Simply put, WHAT I do is WHO I am.  It’s a part of my “newly created” nature.  Will I catch judgment from others about it…YES!  There will always be those adults who will see me as immature and will discount my opinion or worth in “mature” matters or group decision making.  But hey, I haven’t been called to them.  I've been called to the teenagers.  For the teens who spend a few quality moments with me they realize where my playfulness turns off and my seriousness kicks in.  There is just as much growth to be seen in the playful moments of a teen’s life as there are in their serious moments.  I “just happen” to be one of those who can see it, enjoy it, and chase after it. 

Whatever it is God has called you to, with faithful participation in His process, you will know.  It will be His “new creation” in you.  It will be WHO you are, not merely WHAT you do.   

A Hard Pill to Swallow

Between two churches and 8 years of youth ministry thus far, one pill I have found hard to swallow.  Can a person be a “youth” minister without any youth?  Well the answer is yes.  Being a youth minister is not a “job description” but a calling.  It’s the outward expression your inward calling and personality.  However the hard pill to swallow, quite often, is seeing students who don’t want ministered to.  Our stories are often the same.  We had a youth minister in our life that greatly impacted us or wished we’d had one.  We see the importance of having that person in our life that may not be our parents, our pastor, or our “friends” that remember what it was like to be a teenager that survived enough to still choose Gods will for their life over their own or their parents. 

A hard pill it has been to swallow to not see students not want to be ministered to; it’s harder to see and endure those who “attend” church but are not a part of the ministry.  In every church, in every age group, in every ministry area there will be some who attend but are not a part of.   These are students who are somehow satisfied with doing the minimum while, at the same time, hoping for the maximum in return.  I hard pill I’ve swallowed is to admit, “They are members of this church, just not the ministry.”  Knowing a day is coming when your ability influence them toward God will end should compel you to chase after them harder.  One the other hand, if a sheep ignores the shepherds rescue, at some point the shepherd must consider the welfare of the flock and return to it.  However, another spiritual ministry conundrum arises.

When Jesus shared the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:1-7) it doesn't share HOW the seep got lost or WHY the sheep got lost or ever WHERE the sheep got lost at.  We should not get hung up on the circumstances surrounding the lost sheep but hung up on the sheep itself.  But another question arises when looking at this parable; when did the shepherd leave his flock to search for the missing sheep.  We are told where he left his flock; “in the open country.”  The “open country” is symbolic of what is safe and secure.  Does that mean my 1^st duty as a youth minister is to those who are a part of the ministry, to make sure they are safe before I leave them a pursue those who aren’t?  OR is my 1^st priority those who are lost from the ministry and getting the others to a safe place is a part of the overall plan to recapture the missing ones.  And yet still there is another puzzle that arises.

Jesus reveals the “spiritual condition” of the sheep in his explanation of His parable.  Jesus says, “one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons” which indicates the sheep’s spiritual condition as being lost from God.  The translation is the sheep is symbolic of those without Jesus as their savior.  In talking about those who may be a part of the church but not the ministry, the question still presents itself as a difficult one; what portion of my efforts should be spent on reclaiming those who are lost from the ministry in contrast to those lost from God and pouring into those already plugged into the ministry?  I do know that a balance has to exist.  What that is I’m not sure of.  But when my heart turns against those who are lost to the ministry, for whatever reason, I now have a spiritual problem.  However, a FAR GREATER spiritual problem exists when I have lost my care and concern for those lost from God regardless of my calling in Christ.  EVERY Christian should have a heart for those lost from God.  In fact, NOT having that care or concern might explain why most churches are in the shape they are. 

 

MY Philosophy in Ministry...Whats yours?

My Philosophy in Ministry

 

            As you can probably tell there are a few words that are incredibly important to me.  Where I go they go.  They are Whatever, Wherever, Whenever, and Whoever.

 

Whatever:

It is my desire that everyone would grow to a point of faith, obedience, and trust to say “whatever” to God.  As Peter stepped out of the boat to walk on water, it didn’t matter what was in the way.  Peter was going to be obedient, even if it meant walking on water.  It is my passion to see students and adults alike to say, “Whatever it is Lord, I will do it.” Some would say this is the hardest thing to say to God but I would say it is simply the first.

 

Wherever:

To say “Wherever God” is to simply add Isaiah 6 and the Great Commission together.  God brought Isaiah to a point in his life where he gave up everything and said “yes” to God.  The Trinity asked in Isaiah's presence, “Who will go for Us?”  Without knowing any details about the mission Isaiah said, “Here am I, send me.”  He essentially said, “Wherever you, Lord, want me to go I will go.”  Some might say this would be the hardest thing to say to God but I would say you’re focused on the mere costs.

Whenever:

To say “whenever” to God’s call requires the next level of willingness to put aside our schedules, plans, and arrangements.  Saying “whenever” doesn't mean having no plans of our own.  It means when God calls, because He is Lord, we choose His plans over ours because His ways are higher than our ways and His plans are greater than ours.  Some might say this would be the most challenging thing to say to God but I would say their focused on ordinary scheduling.

 

Whoever

I would contend that saying “whoever” to God’s call is the most difficult out of the four.  Saying “whoever” means whoever God sends you to or sends to you, you are faithful in not only showing them the Gospel by your actions but also sharing with them the Gospel by your words.  This is the most difficult because, like Jonah, we all have prejudices we must overcome before love can be expressed.  Saying “whoever” means you understand that God loves everyone and Jesus died so that anyone might have forgiveness of their sins.   “Whatever,” “wherever,” and “whenever” are reflected by our faith, hope, and love of God while our love of our neighbor is reflected in saying “whoever.”

 

            I believe the Great Commission of both the Church as Jesus’ body and the Christian its members is satisfied when all four words are lived out.  Missing one of them reveals a certain level not of immaturity but incompleteness.  Just as the Body of Christ (the Church) is incomplete when its members are absent, so is the Christian when one of these words is absent.  I believe these words fulfill the Great Commission, the 1^st and 2^nd greatest commandments, as well as all other teachings of the Old Testament, Jesus, and his disciples.

NOT come...but GO!

So I have the awesome blessing to have lunch with my students (middle school or high school) each week if I choose.  One of my core beliefs about ministry, and frankly being a Christian, is wherever.  Wherever people are who are disconnected from God are is where I need to be and in this case it my students and they “happen” to eat lunch with other students who are disconnected from God.  So why then would this practice be founded upon.  Ok so eating lunch WITH then isn’t…but going to where people are is!

               Youth ministry is almost more about keeping up with what’s going on than anything else:  schedules, concerts, birthday parties, ballgames, special events, etc.  One of the BIGGEST misconceptions about who I am and what I do is that its only about fun and games.  If I’m spending time with a student and a group of students….I HAVE ULTERIOR MOTIVES! My motive is, surprise surprise, to love them as I love myself.  I can’t do that if I'm not where they are and, surprise surprise, they can’t get to where I am (most are under 16-18…. hellur).  Yet the general way most churches do ministry is, “meet us at this place, at this time, on this day, looking this way, and do it this way, then we will show you how much we love you.  I'm no theologian or Biblical historian but I'm almost certain Jesus didn’t minster that way.  Just ask the slutty prostitute, thieving tax collector, cheating wife, naked “crazy” man, stinking dead man, and many more sick, blind, deaf, and generally sinful people Jesus spent time with.  [btw that list would have included you too] 

               We single out certain sins as if they're worse than others, as long as nobody singles out ours, and essentially say to people to “get right with God” without ever being Jesus to them.  If Jesus went from heaven to earth, to the cross, to the grave, back to the earth, then back to heaven (btw He’s coming back)  so that I may reconnect (get saved) with God…why do we make hard for people to know Jesus.  Well, it may be in fact some of “us” don’t know Jesus to begin with OR we have forgotten what He did to make salvation convenient to us sinners.  Discipleship is supposed to be hard for the believer, getting saved isn’t. 

               My life in youth ministry I have noticed we fail in making the Gospel (the extent to which God loves EACH and EVERY person) convenient and accessible while succeed in making it inconvenient somehow hidden.  This is backwards. The Gospel is already inconvenient enough to those still seeking it, as it forces one to examine their own life with an eternal perspective and forces them to choose while trying to weigh eternal consequences.  We (youth ministers, leaders, pastors…CHRISTIANS) shouldn’t be making it any harder than it already is.  I challenge you to inconvenience yourself for the sake of someone else’s’ eternal destination…after all, someone (Jesus) did for you. 

Ohhh How Things Have Changed

The last time I visited this venture I as 10 weeks from welcoming my son (Asher James) into this world. Little did I know it would only be 7 weeks in reality. Yup! 3 weeks early. Takes after his dad I guess. If you’re early you’re on time and if you’re on time your late. 18 months has passed and my wife and I are now expecting our 2^nd child, a girl (Amelia Rose) with 3 weeks to go.

How church has changed; oh how church has changed, especially the youth ministry. Our motto (will be coming later) is firmly in place in the hearts and minds of the students and THINGS are happening. To say God is awesome would be an understatement and I have seen “everything is possible” when you have faith. Our Wednesday night program (BASIC) has jumped off the map and we’re running in mid fifties for 4 months now. Sunday school is still a struggle but the students are about to take that over.

Discipleship for the youth has taken the form of small groups after church on Sunday afternoons. I will explain that part at a later date as well but I will tell you that it has made a HUGE difference, especially in me. Revival has just “ended” and we prayed it would happen but were shocked in the magnitude in which God showed up. I think God said, “I’ll show them what's possible.”

Students are going on mission trips, lives are changing, parents are noticing and are being challenged by their students, and students are getting saved. GOD IS GOOD!!

There are still struggles. As there always be. But it seems that things are moving in the direction walked out for us by God. Why has this happened? I can’t really say other than simply we prayed for it. We were found faithful by God on our end and there is no doubt God is and will be faithful on His end.

How do you "rightfully divide" your time

In the last few months, i have noticed that my time is getting increasingly more difficult to divide. In trying to get ready for our 1st child (with ALL that entails), taking on more responsibility in the church, keeping up my youth ministry duties, time with my PREGNANT wife with less than 10 weeks to go, and a full time school schedule of which I'm trying to graduate before the baby comes....how can one "rightfully divide" their time?

Can anyone relate and share some advice?

Where to start.......

There are several things that have caused me to start this blog;
1. I have been in youth ministry for almost 5 years now,
2. I am about to be ordained in the ministry,
3. my wife and I are expecting out first child.
Mentors in this calling seem to be few and God has laid it on my heart to try my best to accomplish that. I want to connect with those who are seeking help/guidance in various areas as well as receiving such help/guidance from those who have weathered the storms and come out intact. I pray that you would consider joining me in developing a network of ministers seeking to simply uplift, encourage, and possibly raise others in this joyous calling.