What you’re doing seems fine…but I still wish you would just go back to a church and preach. Isn’t that what pastors do? Isn’t that why God called you into the ministry? Isn’t that the better thing?
Those were the words of my grandmother to me when I told her how I was transitioning to work for LifeWay to launch their new emphasis in church planting and multisite (albeit, she did speak those words in Korean).
God’s call on our lives is a mysterious thing, isn’t it? There were times in my life, where I was convinced that God had called me to a specific place and role (sometimes also to date a particular girl), only to discover that the circumstances didn’t pan out the way that I wanted them to (that means I was rejected).
“Was God’s initial call wrong? Did I hear him incorrectly? Is there sin in my life?” These were the types of questions that I would wrestle through when things didn’t go the way that I wanted them to, or expected them to.
My wife and I have gone through many transitions. Since getting married, we’ve lived in six cities and three different countries. I’ve served in a number of roles in four different churches ranging from a church attendance of 100 – 50,000 people. And most recently, we’ve moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to work for LifeWay – in a role that my grandmother apparently doesn’t approve of since I’m not preaching 🙂
By now, I could probably write a book on how to transition, but that’s beside the point. One thing that has stuck with me through all these transitions is that,
In this exciting journey of following God, if our eyes are on him and our hearts are directed towards knowing him and doing his will, then God will lead us through different chapters and seasons of life. And we all know that a story wouldn’t be engaging if there weren’t the highs AND the lows…how true is that for life…and God knows that I can personally attest to both the highs and the lows. In transition (and really, in all of life) we need to make sure that we’re coming to meet God afresh daily.
A few years back, I wrote a post on how I saw myself as a ligament in the body of Christ. Never did I imagine that the three areas that God had ingrained on my heart would come together like this, through my role at LifeWay, in this season of my life. I wish that more people, my grandmother including (and I love my grandmother by the way…she just has an old school paradigm of ministry), would understand that ministry is more than just pastoring – just like the body of Christ is more than just the mouth.
So there it is. Here we go! My blog will be shifting in the coming weeks to focus more on church planting, multisite, multi-ethnic church and leadership.
Oh and by the way, just for fun, here’s a picture of Ed Stetzer and I dreaming of the exciting possibilities that lie ahead for the Church in regards to planting, multisite, multi-ethnic church and resources!!
