four winds….
I find my heart and ministry heading in four specific directions; youth, their parents, men, and friends in general.
Youth – having taken over the youth group at The Summit (after about a 15 year break from being a youth pastor) I have absolutely fallen in love with them and it. My brain is flying with ideas and I am so excited for this opportunity to be their friend and to come alongside them in any way possible.
Their parents – when I was a youth pastor many years ago, my kids were babies. Now, having a 13, 15, and 17 year old, I feel much more connected with the parents, their needs and their struggles. I want to join them and help them feel like they have a friend in this difficult endeavor.
Men – Men are called to love and lead with all of their heart. But that is very difficult and can be very scary. I want to come alongside them and encourage them. Being a man myself, and having dealt with (read that as “dealing with” the issues of a broken heart and its resulting dysfunctions, I want to help – to be a part of “two doing what one cannot.”
Friends in general – all of us have grown up with imperfect parents and in a harsh world. We have all developed a wall around heart, deciding to play it safe as opposed to loving with abandon as our Savior did. And most of this came by unintentional deicisions we made early in our life. I want to be an encourager to those who have decided to deal with those early decisions, and to scrap off those dysfunctions by dealing with those injuries.
Can I go at these four (related) directions in one blog? We’ll see. What do you think?
June 23, 2011 at 12:19 pm
You of all people can master that task of blogging in four different directions. I also wanted to add that I feel very lucky and privileged to be in 2 of those categories (3 if you include my child in youth group)…..having you on my side, walking with me, helping me when I stumble, encouraging me, just being my friend. Also I have watched you with the young adults in youth group for the past few years, and they are also very lucky to have you on their side and being their friend. You have such a passion and excitement about you when you are at youth group, that will spill over onto them and make them want to keep coming back to youth group and learn more about the Bible, and hopefully into these wonderful and amazing adults.
June 23, 2011 at 4:02 pm
wow, sweet words friend. Thank you so much for taking the time to share them with me here! btw, I have seen so much courageous stuff coming out of you lately! wow! keep up the great work. I hope you are starting to see results from your hard work.
June 22, 2011 at 3:45 pm
From my point of view, these things are so interrelated it would be hard for me to separate them into different compartments. Of course, there is a possibility that my opinion on this could be partially attributed to the fact that I am a woman and we supposedly think in a less compartmentalized way.