I’m a Preacher — But…

I didn’t start out after my first theological degree at age 22 thinking that preaching would be my main ministry passion, it just developed that way over time. It’s a realization that God has gifted me to do that task, and when I am preaching I just “know” that this is what I’m made for. One of my main joys is watching the light bulbs click on in people’s faces when God has used me to help them see his grace in the Bible and I can actually see them realize how the Bible applies to them. Amazing.  I like to tell people jokingly that in my sixteen years of being a pastor I did all the other stuff during the week so they’d let me preach on Sunday. I loved pastoral ministry, so that’s a joke, but there’s a good bit of truth there too. So after those years of ministry, advanced degrees approaching six figures in cost that are specifically in preaching, and then being a professor of preaching, with hopefully much more of that to come, I know that I am a preacher. I love it, I’m passionate about it, and I’m dedicated to it.

But you know where my main ministry is right now? Do I preach to hundreds, or even thousands each Sunday? No, my main ministry right now is being a Sunday school teacher to anywhere between four and ten 3rd and 4th graders at College Wesleyan Church.

[pullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]You might say, “Wait, that’s not preaching! Isn’t your giftedness, passion and education wasted in that setting?! Don’t you feel less fulfilled?” Let me answer those questions three ways.[/pullquote]

NUMBER ONE: I absolutely do not feel wasted or unfulfilled in that setting, just the opposite! I’m not going to lie and paint myself as a hero. It took me several months to settle into this calling and it was a bit rough on me at first, especially as a person with ADHD in a room with “energetic” kids. I also felt a bit sheepish when my preaching professor colleagues would see me in my class, this was in my mind and nothing they projected, but I felt like maybe I was a scrub and this was the only gig I could get(that was the devil talking, btw). But after a while I started to realize how important that role is. I started to watch the light bulbs clicking on for “my” kids as I worked to make God’s Word relevant to them and taught them about God’s active and persistent grace. Each Sunday we do a brief review of the things we’ve been talking about in the weeks before and the kids are getting it! Not only the details of the Bible, but they are getting the theology behind the stories. I always teach the Bible story or passage and then talk about what it tells us about God and how he relates to us, and then what that passage says about how we should relate to God and others. They are getting it. Man, I love that. Wasted? Are you kidding me?! I want to be right where I am right now.

NUMBER TWO: My church had a need, simple as that. Our children’s ministry director, Jil Mazellan​, put out the word that she needed Sunday school teachers and when we heard we prayed about doing it. But not a long time. It was obvious that because there was a need, and we were free during that hour at church, and had the aptitude to lead the class we said yes. We didn’t need to seek God’s will for weeks before jumping aboard. We already knew it’s God’s will to communicate his love and his Word to everyone, especially children, and so we knew that it was God’s will for us to do this. (Read that last line again, please) So, Sharie​, is the creative director for the class — she’s the friendly, peaceful, focusing and encouraging presence, and I do most of the talky-talky stuff. How long will we be Sunday school teachers? I don’t know — a few more months, twenty years, time will tell. I suppose it depends on how long there is a need, and when and if God directs us in another direction for ministry. But we’re going to do it right now and trusting God to guide and empower us.

NUMBER THREE: It’s not about me anyway. Ministry is not about me being fulfilled or happy. No, Obi Wan, I don’t need to trust my feelings! Ministry, like love, is not built on feelings. The fulfillment and satisfaction of seeing results does happen and it gives me a boost, you’d better believe it. But those things are just the icing on the cake of what God is doing in the lives of those kids. I thank God for the good feelings that come from teaching those kids, but that’s not what it’s about ultimately. It’s not about me, it’s about God’s Word and God’s love and those things intersecting with the lives of a bunch of bouncing, energetic, sometime frustrating, always fun-loving, question asking, rabbit trail inducing, spiritually hungry children of God. God is blessing Sunday school and I want to be right there, a part of what his will is and what he is blessing.

[pullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Yeah, I’m a preacher — but…I’m God’s child first and I follow his will. I serve HIM. I follow him to the pulpit if he leads there, absolutely. But I also follow him to the classroom, or the parking lot, or the offering basket or communion tray, or the choir room, or…[/pullquote]

Application Steps:

1. Pray for God to show you where you can be a part of his will, then…
2. Look for ways to serve that are already part of God’s general will instead of obsessing over what his “specific” will is for you, then…
3. Think outside the box, then…
4. Look for obvious ways to serve that are already under your nose, then…
5. Commit, then…
6. Watch God move, then…
7. Realize that you are part of God’s bigger plans.