I was recently asked...
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What has been the most challenging and/or rewarding event in your ministry?
I spent two years in Africa as a church planter and evangelist in the midst of my Master's work. I lived in a concrete house with a tin roof in the middle of a Maasai village. I learned to weld so I could install solar panels and have limited electricity during my second year there. I was alone most of the time, surrounded by people who didn't speak English, and when the drought ended if I had a shower it was cold. During that time I had occasion to eat rice with feces in it, drink after a man who spit a logy into my tea to cool it off, and bury a little boy beside whose doctor decided to take him off his IV because the doctor wanted to go home early and whose father didn’t want his body. Fully two-thirds of the days I spent in Africa were terribly hard. Yet, they were the most challenging and most rewarding days of ministry I have experienced to date and I wouldn’t trade a single one for any other experience I have had related to service in the Kingdom.
Share with us an example of how you have dealt with a personal weakness in your pastoral ministry.
In college I directed a drama ministry through the Baptist Student Ministries. I had enjoyed being a player in the troupe and the Assistant Director, so I thought I would take naturally to leading the ministry. I had some good ideas, and believed in what we were doing. What I didn’t have was any appreciation for the fact that I was working with volunteers. I demanded a lot from the team at first, more than was fair. After all, these were college students with classes, part-time jobs, and friends. They weren’t professional actors. They just wanted to share Jesus with people and maybe have fun while they did it. The rigor and exactness I demanded from them was unfair, and it quickly doused their excitement for the ministry as a group. Fortunately, my cousin was in the group and loved me enough to help me see what was happening. Thus, I gathered them together, confessed my poor understanding, and listened to what each of them wanted from the ministry. I then washed their feet and we worshiped together. The rest of the year was a joy for all of us.
What vision has the Lord given you that cannot be accomplished in your current position?
I am called to pastor, teach, and encourage others in their personal ministries as we follow Jesus together. I want to walk with a congregation in the discipleship of Christ. I want to lead, celebrate, worship, mourn, and do life as a body. I want to be part of a church that hungers for God, and wants to share His love with others in the families, at work, and around the world. I want to establish deep relationships with missionaries and native believers in other parts of the world, particularly Israel. Currently, I am not in a paid ministry position. Except for my two years in Tanzania, I have never been in full time ministry. I am preaching on rotation at an inner city ministry, filling in for other pastors in our rural churches, and volunteering at our home church. I have the education, but God has been teaching me to wait. I trust His wisdom, and believe the vision He has given me will be fulfilled in His time. My task now is to wait upon the Lord until He provides the place for that vision to be accomplished.
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What has been the most challenging and/or rewarding event in your ministry?
I spent two years in Africa as a church planter and evangelist in the midst of my Master's work. I lived in a concrete house with a tin roof in the middle of a Maasai village. I learned to weld so I could install solar panels and have limited electricity during my second year there. I was alone most of the time, surrounded by people who didn't speak English, and when the drought ended if I had a shower it was cold. During that time I had occasion to eat rice with feces in it, drink after a man who spit a logy into my tea to cool it off, and bury a little boy beside whose doctor decided to take him off his IV because the doctor wanted to go home early and whose father didn’t want his body. Fully two-thirds of the days I spent in Africa were terribly hard. Yet, they were the most challenging and most rewarding days of ministry I have experienced to date and I wouldn’t trade a single one for any other experience I have had related to service in the Kingdom.
Share with us an example of how you have dealt with a personal weakness in your pastoral ministry.
In college I directed a drama ministry through the Baptist Student Ministries. I had enjoyed being a player in the troupe and the Assistant Director, so I thought I would take naturally to leading the ministry. I had some good ideas, and believed in what we were doing. What I didn’t have was any appreciation for the fact that I was working with volunteers. I demanded a lot from the team at first, more than was fair. After all, these were college students with classes, part-time jobs, and friends. They weren’t professional actors. They just wanted to share Jesus with people and maybe have fun while they did it. The rigor and exactness I demanded from them was unfair, and it quickly doused their excitement for the ministry as a group. Fortunately, my cousin was in the group and loved me enough to help me see what was happening. Thus, I gathered them together, confessed my poor understanding, and listened to what each of them wanted from the ministry. I then washed their feet and we worshiped together. The rest of the year was a joy for all of us.
What vision has the Lord given you that cannot be accomplished in your current position?
I am called to pastor, teach, and encourage others in their personal ministries as we follow Jesus together. I want to walk with a congregation in the discipleship of Christ. I want to lead, celebrate, worship, mourn, and do life as a body. I want to be part of a church that hungers for God, and wants to share His love with others in the families, at work, and around the world. I want to establish deep relationships with missionaries and native believers in other parts of the world, particularly Israel. Currently, I am not in a paid ministry position. Except for my two years in Tanzania, I have never been in full time ministry. I am preaching on rotation at an inner city ministry, filling in for other pastors in our rural churches, and volunteering at our home church. I have the education, but God has been teaching me to wait. I trust His wisdom, and believe the vision He has given me will be fulfilled in His time. My task now is to wait upon the Lord until He provides the place for that vision to be accomplished.
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