Ministry Habits

As I reviewed some of what I've said in my last post and talking to some people about what I'm doing right now, I realize that I appear to be in dire trouble. It appears that the current lifestyle I'm living will lead to ministry burnout. I do recognize that currently I'm making myself too available to the students. Despite the fact that at this time I am single and have no family of my own to take care of I'm setting precedent for unhealthy habits. Although, I am allowing students an inordinate amount of access to me, I'm doing so in the hopes that I will not have to spend as much time with them later.

I'm really trying to lay a ground work for the spring semester and the future. My hope is that by spending as much time as I am now mentoring and teaching the students in my care, that they will use their memories of time spent with me and the lessons they've learned to develop future leaders. My hope is that this Spring the current leaders will begin aggressively training future leaders and spending time with younger people because I've done it with them.

I will never teach or ask someone to do something that I have not done or am willing to do myself. I will not expect someone to do something without me having demonstrated it first. I firmly believe in leading and teaching by example. I firmly believe in pushing myself and setting the standard so that those I teach will see that with a teachable attitude and faithfulness God enables us to do much.

I also recognize that my time here is short and I want to make the most of every opportunity. I try to live each day in view of eternity. I do my best to live each day in view of my obituary. That being said I know that the current pace of life I have is not realistically sustainable for more than this semester so please be in prayer for the young people I'm working with to grab hold of the vision and take ownership of the ministry they are a part of. Pray that a culture of discipleship, teachability, and leadership is cultivated in the ministry of Christian Challenge and Priority College Ministry.

In regard to leadership, specifically the kind of servant leadership displayed by our Lord Jesus Christ. One of the greatest obstacles of college students and Christians is to be people of substance. Not just people that say they are Christ followers, but people who by their actions show they live a life yielded to Jesus. Our leaders need to be people that are consistent in what they say and what they do. Many people have a disconnect between what they say they want to be and who they are. They aren't even aware of the discrepancy between their speech and actions. Pray that God would confront them with their speech that they become people whose word means something. That our leaders would not be people whose word is empty and hollow but full of life giving substance found in the Living Word.

The biggest challenge I find with those whom I work with is a challenge I struggle with daily. And it's simply to be authentic. To be consistent. So that what I say and teach becomes more than speech, it becomes action. So that when I say that we should pray, we pray. Not when I'm at home or in my car alone. All the things that I say and teach need to be shown. They need to be immediate. If those I'm leading never see me do any of what I say. And if they don't see me do it immediately, they will not begin to establish these spiritual habits and disciplines. They will not understand the urgency of applying habits to their lives now. So please pray that I am consistently demonstrating all that I say to my students setting a model for them to follow.