What an honor!

"What!!!!!!! I am on a youth ministry conference brochure! What an honor!"

My journey through youth ministry has been an awesome ride! I have done a variety of internships, camps, community volunteering, boarding school, and student pastor positions! I also spent 6 great years earning two degrees from Liberty University and sitting under great youth professors like; Dr. Vandegriff, Dr. Vukich, and Dr. Brown! All throughout those times; I never thought that I would find myself listed on a youth ministry brochure. It has been a big encouragement to keep doing what you're doing and go big while doing it!

Maturity

Right now, I am holding my baby boy Nathaniel! It's almost 5 in the morning which he is sleeping in my arms while Mom is trying to sleep. He doesn't do too much; sleep, cry, poop, and move around. I wonder when will he sit up? When will he crawl? When will he walk? When will he talk to me? All future thoughts, of course.

You would probably think I was a crazy Dad, if I started telling people "there must be something wrong with this kid! I tried to get him to walk, but he just laid there." Or maybe you walked in the room and heard me talking to Nathaniel "Son, get up and walk over to me right now! Everyone else walks, I walk, Mommy walks and you should be walking." In this case, I would not make a great dad. It's pretty much the same thing when a lost person gives his life Jesus.

I think people are crazy when they expect a new Chrisian or a young Christian too act like they do! I want to turn to them and say: "how many years did it take you to get to place here you are? 20, 30, 40 years? Don't expect them to talk like you, tithe like you, act like you or "dress" like you! Granted, chances are I hope they don't turn out like you because we should want them to turnout like Jesus!"

For me to be a great dad, I need to teach and encourage Nathaniel at the right time. If I were with a new believer; I would have him start reading John and be with him in the growth process. There's a word for that it's called DISCIPLESHIP and it's simple! We teach people what we know about God, the Bible, and how we walk as a Christian. 

Is God involved?

I was thinking about churches moving forward into projects, outreaches, Bible studies, etc. without talking to God before diving in. Reminds me of the boyfriend who doesn’t ask permission from the girl’s father before proposing to the girl! The only thing worse than this would be asking the father for permission, not getting an answer, and still proposing to the girl. Do we do this in our churches? I think it happens more than we would think!

Prayer is huge in ministry! Asking God or even better the Holy Spirit to be involved in our decision making is a must. At the same time, we have to be careful not only to pray; but also be listening for an answer. Now I must say, there are times where we say “Let’s pray about this” and then never do anything about it. This is dangerous! Sometimes the reason the opportunity is right in front of us is because God placed it there and if we don’t act upon it, we miss it. This is    why a continued prayer life is so important because when those opportunities come up; we are ready. Also if we feel God saying do it and we choose to say we will “pray about it” we are sinning against God after the told us to do it. 

The take aways: 1. Work on a continual personal prayer life. If you are part of a ministry team work on a continual team prayer life. 2. Ask the Holy Spirit to be involved and then wait and listen. 3. If you know God is telling you to do something; then do it and ask Him to help you along the way