So lately, God's been working in so many ways in my life. He's blessed me with an incredible job at Chick-fil-A, and all of my supervisors seem to really like me. I've been working a lot more than I expected, which is great, because I'm getting the hours that I want. It's a delight to work at a place that plays Christian music, where I can serve our Raving Fans with honor, and where I've found so many great friends in my coworkers. I'm so thrilled and humbled to work at such an awesome Christian restaurant and work with such an awesome group of friends.
God also has been working through the church. The youth group of my church, Madison First Baptist, and three other Madison-area youth groups have something called Unite. We meet once a month on a Sunday night to join together in worship, to hear someone speak from the Word, and to fellowship as brothers and sisters in God's kingdom. I can't begin to count the many friends I have now from Unite. The cool part is it's two Baptist churches, one Methodist, and one non-denominational church meeting together. How cool is that?! How often to you hear of so many different denominations meeting together willingly once a month, worshipping God as one body, and actually befriending each other and loving each other? God's really blessed me with Unite.
Also, from Unite, has come B.O.B. and Her. Believe it or not, six kids, representing all four churches, joined together to created a band (their name stands for Band of Brothers and Her, because it's five guys playing the instruments and the lead singer is the girl). Now dubbed the Unite band, the six of them have played three times (four if you count Unite which is this Sunday night) since they joined back in late April. Two of my best friends are in the band, and so I've had the opportunity to hang out with the band and be around them a lot lately.
This is where it gets really cool: The same time the six band members got together and made a band, God had been working in my heart to start preaching and teaching more often. Since two of my best friends are in the band and I've got four really good friends in the band, I talked with them about my passion to speak. Two weeks ago tonight, my best friend (who is in the band and one of two band leaders) and I were talking about it and he admitted that he wanted me to speak through the band. After talking more and getting excited, we went and got the other co-leader of the band and discussed it. The two of them seemed more than pumped to let me somehow become part of the band as a speaker. So we got the whole gang together and talked about it. Everyone all agreed that they really wanted me to become their "traveling pastor", as they put it. They basically wanted me to be their chaplain, a guy who, if they led worship at a church, I might be the guest speaker. I'd also be sort of a spiritual "mentor/friend." I say friend because the word "mentor" isn't right, yet that somehow best portrays my position. Since then, God's done some awesome stuff through the seven of us, even though the band hasn't even played again and I haven't preached yet.
What's more is that in the past few days, God has so blatantly put the desire in my heart to preach. I confess that I have felt hesitant, unsure of that inner calling. I know it's what God wants me to do, and I feel as if born for the role, yet somehow my false humility makes me hesitate. I don't feel quite worthy of such an important role, or I don't feel smart enough, or I feel too crazy for wanting to be some kinda pastor. Put shortly, I don't feel comfortable being the "spiritual leader/teacher." Don't ask why or how, I just don't feel comfortable, in spite that I'm a natural leader and love to be in command. But lately, God's been showing me that it isn't about any of that; God's gifted me, He's impassioned me, and He's opened doors for me. For me to hesitate because I don't feel worthy of a leadership position is simply stupid in light of the many signs that point to this being exactly what God wants me to do.
So my passions have returned to preach, and I feel as if I might explode if I don't do it soon. Yet I'll be at camp for the next six weeks basically, and it's hard to preach when I'm eight hours away. So I believe God is leading me to a time of preparation, a time of prayer, and a time of growth. I feel God's guidance leading me to a time period where I should bathe the band and my future with prayer. I feel like God's going to use my being at Life Action for His glory, to prepare me for what He has in store when I get back in late July. I'm excited because I can't wait for God to teach me, because there's no better place to be than in the arms of Christ.
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