Saturday, September 29, 2007

Mishaps of Ministry


So last night is over… Obviously. But it’s a little surreal for me.

In case you haven’t caught up with me, I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off for the past month because of the first 2007 visit day/ nightly concert—Both events in which I had oversaw. Mind you, this is the first time I had ever oversaw these kinds of events, so the whole experience was very educational.
I woke up this morning feeling like a new day. No, not because they are both over, but because I feel that God worked in both events. The visit day produced all of 12 people who came and spent the day on OCU campus. All 12 submitted applications, and the concert produced somewhere between 100-150 people. Of course the numbers were a bit shabby, but I really really felt like God worked in the Shaun Groves concert. 13 children were sponsored, and healing began to take place in the lives of individuals.

Somewhere between the fourth song and the last min of the concert, Shaun began to describe the church for the 20’s age group today. Non- existent. As I look around the room, I began replaying the stories of the individuals who surrounded me. When you become part of the small college community, it’s pretty hard to not get to know everyone, their mom, and their first cousin’s dog. I’ve hear a lot of “church stories” most with a sad ending. As I looked around the room, I saw broken people all within the 20 somes age range who hung their head as he talked about the neglect the 20 somes feel. I saw tears. I heard sniffles. I saw body language that feared exposure. The stench of brokenness hung over the 100-150 people who sat in the huge auditorium. I could relate… I felt broken…

He talked about the church who reminds us what we are saved from rather than what we are saved for.. Sometimes, I think we need to be reminded what we are saved for. What does Christ want to do through me? As early youth we are taught in the church that we can be anything, do anything, God has no limitations or barriers.. We cannot be held down. This is not bad, not at all…But I think that because of this, 20-some Christians today were never taught to deal with barriers and obstacles that would hinder them from ministry. I think we have a lot of 20-some Christian visionaries. Visionaries who were never taught the art of execution… They weren’t aware of the real barriers and obstacles that would arise and were never taught how to deal with them so we stay in our happy safe place where we can dream about the perfect church with the perfect ministries, because we are afraid of the obstacles and the unknown outcome. My generation is afraid of failure.

For example… I know that I have a heart for the mission field…I have felt a distinctive call to missions work almost 5 years ago. But I also know that if God said “go now”. My actions may be limited by financial barriers, emotional barriers and the tyranny of the “what if.” What if I’m not effective? What if I can’t raise the money?

Faith. It’s a simple truth that has been quenched from our instant gratification generation. We live in a world of minimum barriers, instant emails, and self help books. If something is too difficult and there is no easy way around, we give up.
Anyway, sorry for rambling, I suppose I have just came to grips with some of my own flaws and mishaps of ministry. Anyway, I’m curious, what do you think about the mindset and roles of the 20-somes age group of the church?

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