Changes in Ministry

Whew, the changes just keep coming. This past Sunday, one of my co-workers announced his resignation. He's not leaving to go work at another church, he's decided that he needs to get out of ministry for his own spiritual health and relationship with Christ. In talking with him over the past few weeks as he has dealt with this decision, it has of course, made me start thinking about the same sort of things and how I deal with these feelings when they come up.

I am saddened anytime I hear of someone getting out of ministry, especially for personal spiritual health reasons. I respect my co-worker for his insight and recognition of what was happening in his life and his relationship with Christ, but I'm still saddened to see him step out of ministry. He is just one of several friends of mine that have gotten out of ministry in the past few years because of similar reasons.

What his decision got me thinking about was how I "take care" of my spiritual health to make sure I don't get to a point of "burnout" or something like that. I know that Satan attacks everyone who tries to serve God with their lives, and I know that I am always susceptible to those attacks, and that is the reason I make it a prioirty to have some of these things in place in my life and my ministry.

Shiloh plays a major role in keeping me "spiritually healthy". She is always encouraging me to take days off, to ask for help, to just spend time with God, and most importantly, she is always praying for me and tells me so. That gives me such strength and gives me such confidence that it is truly God working through me, rather than me doing anything on my own.

I also have several people close to me that I can go talk to when I'm having spiritually dry times, or just simple bad days. Volunteer parents in the Youth Ministry at University, friends in Youth Ministry at other churches, and even friends that have no interest in my ministry (sometimes the most important support!) are great friends that check up on me and that I can go to when needed.

The main two things that I try and do on my own are 1) taking "solo" days throughout the year and 2) reading books and listening to things that grow my spiritual life apart from my ministry. What I mean with my "solo" days are not just days off...but sort of like spiritual retreats by myself to refocus and just slow down. And the books that I read are not just books about Youth Ministry (or any other ministry), I also make sure to read things about making myself a better praying husband, or other things that are outside of my paid ministry.

And probably the biggest thing that helps keep my focus where I feel it needs to be in my ministry is that I know that it is God working in this ministry...not anything special that I am doing. I have been even more convinced of this in recent years and months. Watching the Spirit guide our teens, our class discussions, and even our Mission Trip makes it much easier on me to not feel the burden of needing to be THE one leading anything. Most of the time, I'm just convincing myself to get out of the way and let the teens see what God is doing.

So when these changes that do come up (it seems everyday) happen in my life and ministry, I feel comfortable dealing with them because I have made setting these supports and helps up in my life and my ministry a top prioirty.

And speaking of those changes...it seems that the "big one" is going to happen almost any day. This limbo of not knowing when Addison will come, and the fact that she could come at any time, is really going to be stressful!

Get Real & Live It!