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A Passion For Ministry
# Mar 6, 04:44 AM
In 2 Timothy 1:6, the apostle Paul reminds Timothy to “fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” Pastors are not the only one’s called into ministry but we get to encourage others each day to stoke the fire God has placed in our hearts. I love being a pastor. I wake up and go to sleep every day thinking about how I can serve God each day. Ministry is my passion. I love people so much that no one has to remind me that people are important. I want to see thousands of people coming to know Christ and growing in Him before I breathe my last. Sometimes I don’t spend enough time organizing those people but I always love people. Sometimes this passion takes priority over my family and sometimes I am able to balance this passion. I knew a pastor who was at his office each morning at 830 and left every day after five. What most didn’t know was that he was reading the paper, doing his bills and playing cards. He had forgotten that real ministry is not just showing up at the office. At the pastor’s conference this week I had the opportunity to have several conversations with pastor’s about their staff and their schedules. The summary was that pastors who are always in their offices are not doing ministry. I think the only exception to this is business administrators. (Poor folks) A pastor’s job is this strange combination of phone calls at home, visiting hospitals, eating multiple meals with people each week, performing weddings and funerals at all different times and so much more. These things need to be done while not forgetting my personal spiritual needs and the needs of my family. Balance is a tough thing. I remember one pastor I worked under wanted the staff to have time cards. I asked him if he would give me a clock at home every time someone called, every time I wrote an email and every time someone stopped me at the grocery store to tell me about their life….. He looked at me contemplatively and said, “forget it, you are right.” He then shared with me that he was just trying to motivate some of the staff. I then let him know that I didn’t think he could motivate passion and a heart for ministry. Some staff just have to move on to secular jobs. (By the way Andy Stanley says that you never hear of someone quitting their job and becoming a pastor because of the easy schedule but you hear of thousands of pastors each year quitting to do something easier) This is where ministry is vastly different from any other work I have had. See, ministry is not a job it is a calling. It doesn’t take long to figure out if someone has lost their passion for ministry. They don’t visit anyone, they don’t desire to learn about ministry, they come in and leave at the same time each day. From the time I surrendered my heart to Christ I was in ministry. As a senior in High School I used to take kids to breakfast each week. I continued this habit of meeting people weekly until a few years ago when the adults I ate breakfast with stopped showing up at 530 to meet me. I guess adults can’t take a nap during school hours. Now I just each later breakfasts and lunch. I can tell when someone has a heart for ministry because no matter what their other job they find time to minister to people. That is why I love our church. I see so many people who have other jobs to pay the bills but their real passion is ministry. They do other things but all they think about is how to help others grow in Christ. I just love that. When someone says they want to go into ministry I look to see if ministry is a part of their life. No one can pay you for ministry because ministry must be a heart motivation. I must admit that I have a pretty funky schedule but I try to always be accountable. I don’t think my days are quite as long as when Coastal first started but I still have a passion to see people’s lives changed. Even when I am not in the office on a weekday my secretary always knows where I am. I love to visit people at work, eat breakfast and lunch with them and most of all, encourage them in their walk with Christ. Sure, ministry is so much fun for me that I can’t imagine doing anything else. I even get to play golf with people and call it ministry. However, I also know that I could do so many things that are easier on my time and my family. Every once in a while someone still says… “must be nice to be a pastor and have nothing to do all day.” I usually, just look at them and smile and say, “yeah you should apply for a job”.Commenting is closed for this article.
