Two Important Ministry Questions

Jon French did a quick interview with me on his blog and asked these two questions:
1. How do you know you were called into ministry?
2. What is the one thing you now know that you wish you would have known your first year in ministry?
If you are interested in how I answered those questions, click over to Jon's blog.

What I would like to know is how would you answer those two questions.  Leave me your answer.

Comments

[Dale Schaeffer]

1. I pretty much always felt a "call" to ministry. Can't explain it in any other way. I wanted my life to count and I'm grateful that God has allowed me to be a part of his mission in the world.

2. I can't do it alone. I need a gifted and diverse team of leaders around me to accomplish the mission God has given us.

[Eric]

1. I was a 15 yr. old camper at a church camp the summer of 1987. I had listened to our main speaker talk about all Christians being called to ministry, some to be pastors, teachers, leaders...etc. I spoke with one of my camp counselors/mentors about feelings drawn to work as a Youth Pastor. We prayed a commissioning type prayer at the altar...he encouraged me to apply to be a counselor in training for the younger camps just the next week...I did! When I walked on that campground, no longer jst as a sheep but as a shephard, I felt that I had found my 'fit.' I have been involved in Youth Ministry ever since & have loved this roller coaster ride of Student Ministry ever since.

2. I wished I would have known that sometimes the 'church' people are the ones who can hurt you the most and that 'church' people have a propensity to 'eat their wounded.'

[Dustin Gallup]

1. In High School, there were no adults who stepped up teaching the students in ministry. At camp, I felt God's call to step up and lead those younger than me. That calling is the one thing that has kept me secure years later. It's never gone away.
2. The discernment to choose the difference between what people want and what God wants us to do as leaders. Especially when it comes to drawing boundaries with my family.

[Chris Land]

1. I was about to start my senior year of High School when God called me to the ministry. Even though I have had a lot of ups and downs in the ministry, the desire to serve him has never been taken away.

2. I wish I knew how bumpy the road was. I have been burned by some many churches because of unrealistic expectations that it made me feel if this was really worth it.

[Jeff]

I really did not get a call to ministry until I was 41. I had already spent a good bit of my life chasing the career before God got ahold of my heart through an encounter with a family at a homeless shelter.

Since that encounter in 2003, I have come to understand that God's purpose for me does not revolve around chasing the dollar amount of my W-2 nor whether my name is on the firm letterhead and door or not.

Initially, I thought I was going to pastor a church. God had different ideas. I am still in the transition between career (still have the mortgage and one daughter starting college) and where God wants to take me, but I do serve in the areas he called me to - pastoral care/chaplaincy with a sprinkling of writing and teaching.

Cannot answer the second question because I've not been there yet. I have been fortunate enough to realize very early on that in the role of a chaplain in a hospital that I do not have to have all the answers nor should I try to provide them when there are none.

[reg]

jeff i can understand what your saying. i am in my 40's i get alot of affirmation to be a multisight pastor even though i do something totally different. whats "the call" feel like what does that mean exactally

[Jeff]

reg - my "call" so to speak was not what others have described as "I knew from the time I was in high school" and the certainty with which folks make that statement. Mine was more of awareness that I may have chosen a career, but God created me for something else.

My encounter with God happened through a 3 1/2 year old little girl at a local homeless shelter. God used her and her family to open my eyes. My whole world and foundation was shaken to the core. I was able to minister to them for the first time out of the love of Christ and the awareness that there was more to life than making the world go around one more day was very strong.

I walked away from that experienced with a completely new perspective on people and with a glimpse of how God viewed them. Somehow in my heart I KNEW that I had gotten a taste of what it was like to operate within the will of God.

The "call" if you will has grown over the last 6 years as I have sought to deepen my relationship with God, discovered and began using my gifts for His work and a daily surrender to align my priorities with Him and to serve Him.

I have also had to set aside my desire to "help" God script the timing and pathway that He want to lead me on. Once I understood that it was all about Him and not me and agreed to simply follow wherever He led, I have been amazed at the places God has taken me to, planted me down and said "Here is where I need you".

I still have to do the "career" thing because of family responsibilities and that creates an inner conflict. The older I get the more I want to invest my time and talents in the lives of people and the less I want to spend it simply making the world go around one more day. Therein lays the conflict.

I know this is lengthy, but I hope it helps. You ask an excellent question and all I can do is share how it has worked in my life.

Take care and don't give up.