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Breakthrough

Sketched VII Day 11 My Shaping Moments

March 23, 2020 by Guest Writer Leave a Comment

Read His Words Before Ours!

1 Timothy 1:12-20
John 12:23-28
1 Corinthians 15:35-49

Sketched VII, Day 11

I can feel my coffee cooling as time passes between us. I fix my gaze on Billy, hunched across the table from me, head hanging low and shame creeping up his neck. He has every right to be upset: his home life is a mess and his girlfriend just broke up with him.

This. This moment is everything to me as a youth pastor. And yet, during my training, I never saw it coming.

In high school, I developed a deep, lasting friendship with my youth pastor. He called out the best in me, challenged me, and saw something in me I’d never seen in myself.

Following an abrupt change in pastoral leadership during my senior year, I volunteered to help lead a mission trip. Thus, I became the first unofficial youth ministry intern.

As I served under the discipleship of my youth pastor, my faith became real. I began to long for others to experience the magnitude of God, as I had. I am most alive when I see others take steps forward in their faith, steps from death to everlasting life. It is my life’s devotion.

I’m brought back to the present by Billy’s shaky sigh. He’s on the verge of speaking. I wait, allowing the silence to penetrate his soul. I’m in no rush. This moment in time is just for Billy. 

These moments, teetering on the cusp of breakthrough, are pivotal. My best days in student ministry have never been behind a desk, prepping for a catchy Wednesday night message. No, my best days have always been at a table shared with a kindred or hurting spirit.

It took me a while to learn this. I landed a job at Living Stones Community Church before my college graduation.  On my first day of work, I rolled up in my car with a backseat full of textbooks and the latest and greatest resources.

With my pride-puffed chest and irremovable smile, I approached the lead pastor as he watered flowers and we began chatting. “Adam,” he remarked a few minutes later, “you’re going to find out ministry is more than just sermon prep.”

My face remained attentive while I silently scoffed, “That’s what you think. People are going to be changed because of MY convicting sermons. Just you wait. Living Stones isn’t going to know what hit it.”

I began spending my days preparing my sermons. I would sit and dream, praying about what God wanted me to teach my students.

And yet, I was working completely alone. It was lonely, isolating, and depressing.

Then, a mentor told me, “If you want to shepherd but hate sheep, you need to go home.” 

BOOM.

It was the punch-in-the-gut conviction I needed.

I couldn’t just sit behind a desk preparing sermons,
or change the name of the youth group to make it sound catchier,
or buy the latest youth packages available,
and call my efforts discipleship or even pastoring.

I needed to love the students where they were, in hospitals, schools, at basketball games, and school performances. God began giving me a Gospel-ache to help other student pastors love their sheep well. 

Eventually, I began a Student Pastor Network in our area. Once a month, we pray for one another and share ideas.

I also began getting a little dirtier with my students.
I sat in their mess with them.
I stopped preaching at my sheep and began loving them.

I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for the transformation He’s worked in my heart. If I’d remained unchanged, I wouldn’t be sitting with Billy, helping him navigate hard questions and confusing times.

“But, Adam?” Billy says. “All of this mess, all of the hard times and sad nights and even loneliness, it’s all worth it for one life, isn’t it? If I get to see my dad come to know Jesus because of everything I’ve been through, it’ll be worth it, right?”

I understand his question; we ask our youth group, “Who is the ONE LIFE you’re praying will come to know and trust Jesus? What is your role in the process?”

I wonder if Billy is also asking if he’s worth it to me. Billy joined our youth group in the midst of my chaotic personal life, and came to know Jesus when I shared the messy truth even pastors are faced with tremendous losses and life-altering, hard decisions.

“Billy,” I say, “it is completely worth it. You are the one life who’s made my struggles worth the pain. My trials aren’t easier, and my messes aren’t cleaner. But God used you to remind me I have hope and purpose.” Billy’s eyes soften as truth settles over him and soothes his heart.

As Billy and I wrap up our time together, I pray over him and ask if I’ll see him at FCA the next morning. I’ve learned connecting with teenagers doesn’t just look like chatting with them when they’re at church, or sharing memes during my sermons, or even trying to use their slang when interacting.

The truth is, I’m going to grow more “out of touch” as I grow older, and it’s ok! I don’t need to be one of them, I need to be with them. I work hard to become a student of my students.

Teenagers are charting new waters, ones many of us have never faced. They are learning to navigate the world not only in person, but digitally. These days, students are bolder with their thumbs than with their mouths, and they need help ensuring what pours from their mouths and their devices reflects what’s inside their hearts. That’s just one of my jobs as their pastor.

I strive to unite all of the roles I fill behind my ultimate calling to preserve the bride of Christ. The Church is certainly not perfect, but she is beautiful, and I want to live and pastor as He leads.

I pull into the church parking lot and give our lead pastor a little wave as I head back inside; he’s watering the flowers again.

It’s been eight years since I began working at this church, and I’m a different man. Our pastor knows I’m heading inside to prep my message. But he also knows I came from meeting with Billy.

It turns out, he was right. There is so much more to ministry than sermon prep.

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A Note About Sketched
In this series, we are stepping into the shoes of various characters throughout history. Some are biblical, some are well-known in modern day times, and some are people our writers know personally. We do our best to research the culture and times surrounding these individuals to give an accurate representation of their first-person perspectives on life and the world, but we can’t be 100% accurate. “Sketched” is our best interpretation of how these characters view(ed) God, themselves, and the world around them. Our hope is that by stepping into their everyday, we will see our own lives a little differently!
Enjoy!
And keep watching for Sketched Themes to pop up throughout the year!

Join the GT Community and share your thoughts!

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Sketched VII Week Three! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Looking for other journeys from this theme?
Here’s a link to all past studies in Sketched VII!

Posted in: Deep, Dream, Faith, God, Holy Spirit, Hope, Prayer, Purpose, Shame, Shepherd, Sketched Tagged: Breakthrough, challenge, friendship, Moments, Shaping, Worth, Youth Pastor

Awaken Day 6 Still, Small Voice

January 14, 2019 by Audra Watson Leave a Comment

Read His Words Before Ours!

Psalm 62
1 Kings 19:9-18
Mark 1:35-39

Awaken, Day 6

I HATE silence!
It is deafening to me.

In college, I always had my headphones in.
I studied with music, wrote papers while watching television and took tests in crowded rooms. I have always, and still do, craved noise and busyness. When I am alone in a quiet place, I seek out something to drown out the incessant silence.

Counter to my noise-hungry-soul, 1 Kings 19:11-13 brings the story of Elijah, a servant of God afraid and running for his life, who, in the quietest of moments, encounters God’s voice.

Elijah is hiding in the wilderness and on the run from wicked Queen Jezebel, who would love nothing more than to kill him for threatening her power. While in the wilderness, depression and loneliness hit hard, and Elijah cried out to God.
And God showed up.
A tornado ransacked the area.
An earthquake shook Elijah’s cave.
Wild fires blazed around him.
But God was in none of these mighty things.
Just when God had Elijah’s rapt attention, the Lord God spoke in a still, small voice.
The God of All came near in a still, small voice, beckoning him to listen.

Through Elijah’s encounter, I have understood that God speaks in a hush.
And boy am I convicted!

Because if God speaks into the quiet,
then am I will never hear Him with all of my noise.

Being an extrovert, I seek out noise because it’s how God crafted me;
being around people energizes me.
While that is a gift and a tool to be used to build God’s Kingdom, I know God is teaching me get my energy from Him as I focus on listening to His voice. He is leading me to be still and quiet that He can have space to speak as He shows me more of Himself.

Many of us are busy and frantic, “doing things for God”, all the while missing out on quiet times with Him. When God whispered to Elijah it was an invitation to communicate with Him to be honest and transparent before the Lord. God spoke, but Elijah listened and was encouraged because he walked away knowing God better.
Tucked away in the midst of still, quiet moments lies an invitation for each of us for our relationship with the Lord to grow deeper, our faith to be strengthened, our hearts to know the Father better, and as a result, our lives will produce much fruit.

This noise-lovin’-girl finds herself questioning if “quiet time” and being still and listening to God is even necessary, but Jesus Himself shows us in Mark 1:35-37 how necessary it is.

“And rising very early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
He departed and went out to a desolate place,
and there He prayed.” 
Mark 1:35

Jesus had just begun His earthly ministry.
He had just preached the gospel in Capernaum and validated the power of His message by healing people and casting out demons.
The people had never seen anything like this before and were chasing after Him relentlessly. They wanted Him to perform more miracles, do big things, squelch the Roman authority, but Christ’s focus wasn’t on those showy acts.
He came to restore relationship with us that we might know Him.
Because relationship was His focal point, quiet prayer with the Father took center stage.
This was Jesus’ rhythm, this was His food, this was His necessity.

Regardless of all the things you think you need in the span of a day, I guarantee you need quiet with Jesus most.

Each of our days are furiously frenzied.
Find your quiet.

In the middle of folding laundry, you pull out your Bible to meet with Jesus in the midst of mismatched socks.
Rocking a babe to sleep and there, instead of scrolling social media, you meet with the Almighty.
Early morning.
Before bed.
The when isn’t nearly as important as the determined intentionality because you know you need it.

I need it.

The Lord knows that in order for us to accomplish what He intends for our busy days, He must first have our rapt attention that He might show us His heart and prepare us for the day ahead. If Jesus needed it, we absolutely need it!

Silence, the thing I’ve been running from, is actually becoming my “necessary”.

Sisters, I challenge you along with myself to take 30 minutes each day to be still, and listen to the Lord. Read His word and wait for His whisper.
No music, no phones, no distractions, just you and the Lord.
A challenge? Yes! But if it truly is our necessity, the Lord will strengthen us as we fight for space to hear His voice.

Come ready, expecting to hear God tell you things you’ve been too busy and distracted to hear before.

I am expecting that He will
answer questions,
send breakthroughs,
heal hurts,
reveal next steps,
and romance me as He shows me His heart.

May the prayer of the psalmist become our own heart’s cry with no exclusions:
“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.”  
Psalms 62:5-8

Share your thoughts from today’s Journey Study!
Can we pray for you?
Sign up to receive every Journey Study!
Join our Facebook Community!

Join the GT Community and share your thoughts!

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Awaken Week Two! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Looking for other journeys from this theme?
Here’s a link to all past studies in Awaken!

Posted in: Busy, Seeking, Stillness, Time, Wisdom Tagged: Breakthrough, Elijah, Encounter, Go Deeper, Noise, quiet

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