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Who I amReside in St. Louis Missouri currently, Lived in California & Colorado.Husband.Father.Pastor.Football Enthusiast.Teacher.Learner.Dreamer.Reader.Friend. [thoughts & comments blogged here are my reflections living life trusting Jesus as God]

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Ministry Minutes

Ok so consistent blogging will resume now that internet is up n running at the house (where i do most blogging).

Here are some thoughts i have had about ministry that i have wanted to blog about-in short script form of course

Ministry is never supposed to be done alone-

I value the friends in ministry that I share life with. I value their families like my own, i value their hearts, the differences we have and how we encourage each other to grow. I also value them enough to not overextend myself. I find it funny how often so many leaders in ministry try to meet with 'everyone else' in ministry. Those relationships are so shallow. Usually consist of a 5 minute talk or the short email correspondence over time. Not that connecting with others isn't good, but for me i choose to connect deeply with a few than in a shallow way with many

Ministry can become too philosophical and stray from the heart of God

It is very hard when ministry becomes philosophical talk and strays from the heartbeat of God. When all we do is talk about ideas, fads, direction paths of discipleship, blah, blah, blah- when do we get to redirect what God wanted? If we stray from the understanding that even before creation God existed in relationship with one another, in creation we see relational design is how we are made to exist, Christ's' message came with a relational foundation between man and God and man with each other; these are the things we cannot 'put a spin on'. I value a common verse that is almost always used out of context, Matthew 11:28-30. Most pastors use this verse as your run of the mill 'just trust Jesus, put all your concerns in his hands and they can/will go away' well i can share with you that before my faith journey with Christ started as well as after just telling God to take away my burdens never has worked. But what is true (about this verse and our relationship with God) is that if we understand the Truth, Jesus, that God desires a deep relational connection with us and for us to step into the life that our souls are called to every moment (John 1:4) we need to realize that ministry is about LIFE not ours, but Christ's.

Ministry leaders need to lead

We are human, therefore we are faulty. If we are leaders we will be attacked, questioned and even used as examples in public forms (websites, emails and in conversations). If we are leaders we are also going to be asked to do a bunch of things that aren't a conviction of ours, which means we will say no and people won't like us. We also will see things others don't and when we call something black, even if it is black, someone else will swear it is white and depending on the situation, we will be the ones called "idiots". We have two choices, worry what others think or say (the poser in us would like that-see Brennan Manning's book Poser, Faker & Wannabees) or realize that our identity is found in the fact that we are a created child of God. I choose the latter and it makes difficult situations a whole lot easier to deal with.

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