get to know your pastor - family ministry
i love being involved with YOU - the student's of reallife.MINISTRIES. i enjoy getting together each week, hearing your successes, failures, fears, hopes. i love 'just chatting' with you either online or "unplugged" face to face. and i hope and pray that i'm making a difference in your lives in some way or another. (btw, i'm not fishing for compliments) (oh and in case you don't know btw stands for By The Way)but let me tell you something that i struggle with . . .
you see, if you ask me what is most important to me, i'd tell you hands down that it is my family. in fact this point was reinforced in my mind/soul when i recently listened to a message by dr. voddie baucham. you can listen to this two part message here: day 1 & day 2.
my family is the most important ministry i have. i will have the greatest impact on this earth by investing in, providing for, protecting, and otherwise ministering to my own family. (you really do have to listen to the messages to get the full impact of what i'm saying) i can do no greater thing than to love and influence my family towards God.
like i said i love being involved with you guys, but 'when push comes to shove'; youth ministry isn't as important to me as my family ministry. to put it even more plainly: you are not as important as my family.
so here's the struggle . . . youth ministry is easy by comparison to family ministry. youth ministry is more or less centered around events. we have youth services, outings, camps, missions trips, conventions, movie nights, parties, etc. and so as a youth minister i can focus on the next event. planning, preparing, promoting. and when it's finally come and gone and all the youth have gone home, i can have this nice story of how the "youth ministry was successful" and "lives were changed".
family ministry, on the other hand, is day in and day out, minute by minute, every moment of the day i have little eyes watching my every move. how i react to people, how i behave when other's aren't around, if treat their mother the same at home as in public. as deut. 6.7-9 says it's all the time, in every way!
in addition to that, i sometimes spend more time involved with youth ministry activities than i do in direct family involvement. so although my heart and head say one thing (family ministry is of utmost importance to me), my actions and energies say another (ah your family will be around tomorrow, you've really got to finish this task NOW for effective youth ministry to happen).
so what am i trying to say with all this . . . i don't know. but as the title of the post suggests, i think you've '[gotten] to know your pastor' a little more.
comments or suggestions welcome.
|| posted by reallife.MINISTRIES @ 10:26 PM
Comments: 2
2 Comments:
hey abe...i think that from my perspective (as a "outsider"), you make it very clear in the way you live your life that family comes first. I think that is awesome! You're an excellent example of what a Christian's priorities need to be.
I agree with what you said about events usually being the main focus of youth ministry... Honestly, I think in most cases lives aren't changed by events, but by discipleship. So even though events are necessary, I think personal connections should be priority.
abe;
sometimes it is hard to live up to the priorities:
(1) God
(2) Family and
(3) Work
And then it can get confusing about what is God and what is Work, huh?
I would encourage you to spend time with the Lord consistently to reaffirm your priorities as well as to understand how to implement them in individual daily choices.
I agree with Jessika; I think you are a great example to follow. So, your presentation 'at work' is excellent. And I definetely see you putting your family first.
Have the endurance to continue to run the race, and the perserverence to keep putting one step in front of the other as you are directed. At each step, you will have a stronger foundation and will grow in intimacy with your Lord.
Let me know how I can support you and your family (babysitting, etc.).
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