What I Learned From This Experience At The Lenox Road Baptist Church Essay

I have many years of mid-management experience, am much more mature than the average new pastor, I am also much older than average. This does not mean I will not face certain pitfalls in my ministry. I have dealt with a few and have come to understand more recently. There are three major issues I feel I have in my life which can, do, or likely will interfere with my effectiveness as a minister of the Gospel, isolation, losing my awe for God, and forgetting who I am and who God is are the issues I will focus on in my personal ministry plan. I will discuss each as they relate to me and how I plan to avoid succumbing to them and in turn damaging or destroying my ministry.

Sheila, your interview with the Pastor of Student Ministry clearly displays positive leadership in the church. Pastor Spencer was on point when he indicated that ministry is about serving others and honoring God. Effective leadership and followership consists of selflessness and putting God first in order to succeed. Consistent with Maxwell (2002, pg.131), in order to be a contributing member of a winning team, you must put the needs of others before your own. I can relate to being selfless. In my job, I am consistently putting the needs of others before my own. I would not have it any other way. It brings me joy and a sense of self satisfaction. When staff members ask me for things, I try to jump right on it and make sure they get exactly

Since I realized that God calls me to be a pastor not only to feed but also to take care of God’s people, I have been pursuing to be a pastor serving for a local church. So, I always pay attention to preparation for sermon, Christian education, and the demonstration of pastoral leadership. That is, my concern has been mainly limited to ministries within the church. Yet, this summer PMM makes me participate in ministries outside of the church. Involvement in two organizations (Homeless ministry and the ministry for North Korean refugees) has me think of a possibility of working at organizations outside of the church as a pastoral leader. It also makes me find out how I should take care of ministries outside the church other than church ministries.

This journal piece has challenged me as a pastor to become more psychological in my studies and further deliberate in my method of teaching. There should be a continuum of information that is given out not just from the pastor but from every auxiliary leader so that the message is not just heard but is embedded to all that are receiving the message. This will lead to the sustainability of a message and a life of character change, which will lead one to a life of self-gratification, healing, love and respect for self and others.

I am Pastor Beatrice Vaughters. I have been sent by God to preside as Overseer for the Ambassador’s Churches. I am so glad God chose me to be a witness of the glowing, illuminating, shining light of his Glory. The duty that is of the utmost importance to me is to make sure the people of God reach their greatest spiritual potential. As well as ensuring that they know and obey the Church and the laws of the land.

I started my leadership in the Church through a program called Parish Ministry Associate (PMA). My pastor and my congregation recognized the leadership qualities and wanted me to be a pastor. However, I refused to do so, but agreed to go through this lay leadership program. After doing theological studies for 3 years I was installed in 2007 and served a congregation in a rural area, preaching and sacrament ministry. I value this program very much. My congregation identified two members who would be good lay leaders, who love to share the word of God and asked me to talk to them.

This past year taught me about the ups and downs of how to integrate myself into a new staff. As the year began I set up meetings to have with staff members to see what my involvement would be within ministries. I had a mix result with the meetings. I had a great meeting with the pastor, as well as, other administrative staff members. When it came to the co-workers in charge of ministries, the results of the meetings were not as reassuring and I left with confusion, after going in with much excitement. These meetings, in a way, foreshadowed what was to come, in regards to communication and collaboration with the ministry leads at Holy Family.

I had a tendency to wait for people to begin talking about God, instead of my reminding them of God. This was a result of my perception of and experiences with some caregivers who did not use God language genuinely. For example, it was difficult for me to say to someone, “God loves you,” because of the great overuse of this statement. But, with the help of my CPE group peers and supervisors, I am able to incorporate statements about our hope in Jesus Christ and the promises of God, sincerely into my pastoral situations.

made up of mostly older adults. This led me to believe that the service may

Nobody quite understands the stress and strain of working in ministry. When one imagines being a minister, they may originally understand it to be a once-every-Sunday job, yet I can personally attest to it being far from this. I’ve seen the inside workings of churches for years, as my mother has worked for them for as long as I remember. She has finally settled in as the Youth and Families Minister at Big Canoe Chapel, which has turned out to be a much more demanding job than anticipated. Ministry continues through everything that she does, forcing her to be on the job in every social situation. The ache of this is that ministry is largely about caring for others while abandoning your own needs and desires. Over time, this has taken an enormous

One year ago, my husband and I, were given a pastorate. One that my father in law and mother in law nurtured from infancy. I easily took for granted every new comer that came through our doors, and every late-night call they rushed to answer. I was a child in spirit, only wanting to be fed and nurtured. However, from the young age of twelve, I was told that one day I would become a pastor’s wife, I remember laughing and saying: “well that will be a while!”. And yet, here we are. Now with new eyes, I see the arduous work it takes, the unseen battles in spirit, the tears and depression that come knocking. But we find comfort in Psalm 91: Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Highest will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the

It made me realize the toughest ministries are some of the most needed ministries. When I signed up to be a small group leader a for a group of high school girls in Junction City, I had this picture in my head of sitting down with sweet girls, we would read our Bibles, talk about our lives, laugh and pray for one another. I had no idea that I would be breaking up a few fights, chasing down students who ran away when the conversation got too deep, laying hands on the wrists of a student who was struggling with cutting, and providing the only home cooked meal many of them would have that week. Ministry is tough, but it is incredibly rewarding. That semester I witnessed several students give their lives to Christ for the very first time and three were even

John MacArthur is the pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, as well as an author, conference speaker, president of The Master’s College and Seminary. Pastoral Ministry How to Shepherd Biblically, was written by MacArthur and other faculty members at The Master's Seminary. It is a guide to the biblical standards of the pastorate. The pastors primary activities based on several scriptures and especially 1 and 2 Thessalonians are examined and addressed throughout the book. (MacArthur 11)

Memories flooded my mind like a raging storm. I saw the pastor that everyone looked up to. I remembered how immersed he would become with his prayers. My favorite sermon he performed was at my sister's wedding. All he had was an index card, yet he knew exactly what he needed to say. Everyone in the audience was pulled into his words that we barely noticed it started to lightly rain, and that he went over about twenty extra minutes. Another time when he driving me to church and he was just smiling the whole way while humming “This is the Day” by Fred Hammond. He wasn't paid much, but everyone knew he adored his job.

Paul David Tripp says, “Personal ministry is not about always knowing what to say. It is not about fixing everything in sight that is broken. Personal ministry is about connecting people with Christ, so that they are able to think as he would have them think, desire what he says is best, and do what he calls them to do even if their circumstances never get "fixed." It involves exposing hurt, lost, and confused people to God's glory, so that they give up their pursuit of their own glory and live for his.” Supervised ministry has allowed me to work with others with the hope of connecting others to Christ on a personal level. In this paper I would like to reflect on the ministry assignments I was given over the past few months and talk about