It Began At My Home

After a car accident three years ago, God used the recovery period to hone my old skills and birth new. Over the course of the process, He repositioned me for a different journey. The new path led to a transition from a secular K-12 setting to Christian higher education; yet, still within the context of supporting a diverse student population. My purpose became preparing and teaching ministerial leadership in a

After I turned sixteen (16) years of age, I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit calling to me and directing me to serve as a missionary in the field. My internal strength is always my sense of faith since I feel so strongly that my destiny lies in helping my neighbour as well as seeking a higher purpose that my faith leads me towards a path of tranquillity and harmony with my Father. As a result of my predilection of helping others, I have decided to act onto God's will and gravitate towards missionary service rather than talking but, in fact, executing my quest. In addition, the realization of assisting altruistically my fellow man on a global basis added another layer of purpose that serves my Father on several levels towards my missionary life. For example, I’ve always felt a need to help other to seek a better life for themselves spiritually, physical, and mentally since I have made a consciousness decision to follow my desire help others for the greater need of others rather than my own needs that is more than satiating my need to work with those in need of life skillsets.

Earley & Gutierrez (2010) “Ministry Is…How to Serve Jesus with Passion and Confidence” (Nashville: Broadman & Holman).

Ministry is more than just choosing a vocation for life; ministry calls the individual and beckons them to follow. At 53 years of age, I have taken a long journey to get to where I am today in ministry, yet I can say with all honesty, "I have not yet arrived." In describing the ingredients to a lasting ministry, Kevin Miller states, “A ‘call’ to ministry is not easily defined, but nothing could be more solid to most pastors. The call of God is

In chapters 4-6 of Every Good Endeavor by Timothy Keller, Keller focuses on the frustration and fruitlessness of work. He even set it up perfectly in chapter four saying "something can be a vocation or calling only if some other party calls you to do it, and you do it for their sake rather than your own.” In most cases, our callings do not add up with what we had hoped for our lives. I have met so many people who are in ministry school or new in ministry who had plans to be in the medical field, but God called them to kids ministry. Back in high school, I had a mentor who ended up choosing an internship at a church, that would lead up to her directing a ministry school, over medical school at Oklahoma State University. Being called by God to

I am a student who is beginning the second semester of the third year at the Lutheran Seminary at Gettysburg. I have discerned a call towards Word and Sacrament ministry and thus far have loved every minute of the time spent at the seminary. From the relationships with the professors to the education I receive in the classroom, working on campus and studying in the library, it is evident that God is at work in this place calling and sanctifying leaders to serve God’s church.

One text that has been incredibly formative in helping me understand my calling is “The Summons”, by Dennis McCallum. This is the story of a young girl being called by God to accept Christ and to share his teachings with others. McCallum uses a narrative format to share several wonderful sermons with the readers. There is one section in particular that touched my heart. The bible study instructor is asking the group to open their hearts to God. “This is what God wants for you tonight. He doesn’t want you to commit to keeping a religious discipline. He wants you to come to Him with empty hands and an honest heart, and forge a relationship with Him” (McCallum, 1993, p. 79). Reading these words forced me to reexamine how I was living my life. I attend church regularly. I even work for my church, but was I really developing my relationship with God? I found that I was going through the motions. I needed to truly commit my whole life to the Lord, not just part-time. My relationship with God needs to be nurtured and cared for, just as any other relationship in my life. That is why I want to attend seminary. I want to learn everything I can about my Lord. I want to be able to share His word with others.

God placed that direction of life on my heart. The first person I told was Jeremiah. He was ecstatic from the moment I told him. I can even remember the squeal of enjoyment he gave as he wrapped his arms around me in a loving embrace. From that moment, he’s been on board with this mission I have. Every opportunity he gets, he’ll challenge me to see how my Scripture study is going, making sure I am on task to get to my goals. He’ll also join me in on his own personal challenges, as we are now working together to start a fellowship club to help spread our faith at school.

My journey began approximately twenty-four years ago when I began volunteering in the summers at the local nursing home and at summer camp as a camp counselor with children and adults with special needs. This was when I realized that I felt good when I helped others and that I cared about their well-being, health and happiness. At that time, I sensed that God was calling me to care for others and meet their needs but I was still unsure as to how I could accomplish the task.

The thought simply occurred to him while driving home from church one morning: Why not pursue youth ministry? The question came with the understanding that he simply enjoyed working with those who were younger than him, helping them grasp topics concerning Christian spirituality. Returning to college the very next morning, Sean met with his academic advisor and decided to weave ministry classes into his schedule in order to double major in Intercultural Studies and Youth Ministry. Eventually this gave way to a full-fledged Christian Ministries major with a focus in youth ministry.

I can remember in vivid detail when God called me to start my own business. It was a night during teen camp at Lake Geneva Christian Center my freshman year of high school. The speaker was preaching on how we all have our own unique gifts and calling from God, and how we as Christians need to answer that call, whatever it may be. Growing up the son of a pastor I always felt a pressure to go into the ministry, never directly from my mother of father, but it always seemed to just be there. So during the alter call I saw many of my fellow friends being called to become missionaries, pastors, and worship leaders, while I felt a calling to open my own business. I questioned myself for a while thinking, how am I going to be helping make an impact in the kingdom of God if I 'm not involved in the ministry somehow? The doubts eventually disappeared with prayer and more confirmation from God. Scripture from Jeremiah gave me much comfort in my times of question, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and

Following and understanding the journeys of the ministers before us is significant in the light of our own ministry. Each person should look up to a minister in their lives and understand their methods along with their past and current positions. An interview is one of the best ways to discover these. The person I interviewed has been my pastor and guide since I was born. He has pastored at Community Baptist Church, the church I attend, my whole life. He has taught me most of the things I knew concerning God previous to attending Barclay College. He baptized me when I decided to accept Jesus as my savior at seventeen years old and helped keep me with Christ throughout the years. This man’s name is Richard Bishop, informally known as Pastor Rick. I inquired of him the answers to four questions; “How long have you been a pastor, and is Community Baptist Church the only one you’ve pastored?”, “What do you consider to be your philosophy in ministry?”, “What type of education did you receive in order to become a pastor?”, and, “What is the story behind your call to worship?”.

Recently I sat down with my pastor to discuss my future in ministry. I had some very heavy things weighing on my heart. After laying them out, I stated that “I often feel like I don’t have the needed self-confidence to do this ministry thing” and that “I think that I’m going to need a very supportive pastor in order to survive my first pastorate.” It was there that he stopped me cold and made if very clear that I could not and should not enter into ministry with that mindset. I could not expect my self-confidence to come from other people. I had to seek that from God. In the moments to come, through some very introspective conversation, I realized that I had been approaching the entire idea of ministry from the wrong direction. Without realizing it I had made it a “strong on the outside” thing. I had completely avoided the true spiritual formation that needed to be occurring on the inside.

Many questions plague college students these days: why is Christmas break not already here? Will I get a good grade on my Introduction to Old Testament paper? Perhaps one of the most pressing questions for young people is “where am I being called to in life?” When it came to deciding whether or not to volunteer at CFUM the past several months I was faced with a similar question “ Am I called to volunteer with this organization?” After all, God did not miraculously speak to me through a burning bush or even touch a coal to my mouth. When examining the Hebrew bible there are several text of regular old men and women being called by God, and asking themselves similar questions. When it comes down to it calling might not always have to happen in big miraculous events, perhaps it occurs with more subtle hints. Perhaps God uses people’s gifts, and passions to call them to serve the people around them.

The church mission began with the love of God for the people. According to John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life." God sent his Son out to the world to reconcile the people back to him. The key to theology of mission is man relationship to God and obedience to his will. According to global ministries, "Mission is the story of God’s dealing with the world. It is the heart of Scripture, church history, doctrine, preaching and worship, ethics, and counseling." In this paper, the writer will introduce a theology of Mission as it relates to the congregation where the writer serve. The writer desire to spend time in the community where she serve as an associate pastor, this concept does not bother the constituents because they do not share the same feelings about going into the community and witness, pray and search out and fill the need of the community/members who has not attended church service in awhile. The writer and the other associate pastor and the pastor 's time are not taken away from the constituents because the church need is taken care of first, however, to tend to the need of the community, the church must go outward if not on foot, at least through a letter of thoughtfulness.