We all have them. A moment of enlightenment. An epiphany. Something happens and you’ll never see the world again the same.
What was your defining moment for ministry?
I’ve had two big ones. One of them has a lot to do with Orange and in some ways, I feel like I’m still experiencing that defining moment. The first one though happened in 2003. My pastor had just resigned and a new one was being interviewed. This new pastor sat with me one day and asked me a really simple question that stumped me. He asked, “What’s your process for minisry?” I didn’t even know what the question meant much less how to answer it. I spent several weeks thinking about this question. I took it to mean, “how are my programs working together to achieve a desired outcome?” I bought the book “The Purpose Driven Church” a few week later. I’d never read it and I thought it might help me with his “process” thing. Turns out it did. A few months later I was soaking up everything Craig Jutila had to say about purpose driven children’s ministries. I don’t lead a purpose driven ministry today, but this idea of being direction by vision, mission and values to help kids achieve a desired end is central to my heart. It all changed after this defining moment.
What is yours?
One of my defining moments was more like a process that concluded with AHA.
We were using a values based curriculum and I was frustrated with what I saw happening in the classroom. The value was the emphasis. (eg. faith, kindness, sharing)
The children were able to parrot the value, the memory verse and situations in which to demonstrate the value. Sound like success, right? WRONG! We were teaching the children to “be good, be good, be good” instead of opening their eyes to the wonder of who God is. The focus needed to shift to the author of the values. Know Him and we long to please Him. Know Him and the values are the fruit we bear.
Teach values, but Make the Main Thing the Main Thing!