Monday Morning...

My Monday mornings have been significantly different over the past few years. In the past Monday was a day filled with excitement as our team worked toward our big day of ministry on Wednesday. Everything in me was focused on getting to our program, doing our thing, watching how God was going to work in the lives of teens at our "youth ministry." I would not say it out loud then but what mattered most to me was not what happened on Sunday morning but rather what was to come in the ministry I lead. The church I was shaping in our student ministry not the church I served on Sunday had captured my heart. When I came here to Grace Community I was determined to never go back to this place. With Grace I was able to embrace my full role as a pastor, serving the church, investing in families and not just a pastor to teens. I believe our churches need more of us to embrace our role as pastor and care about them just as we care about the individual ministries we lead. Mondays should become days where we process all God did through our church just as much as we work toward our own personal ministry goals reaching kids, teens, or college students. If you are out there and your can't embrace the church you serve in this way it's probably time to begin to ask God to give you that kind of church where you can serve, love, and live life with the same passion to give you the ministry you are called to lead. Jesus never said he was going to build his kingdom on your children's ministry or youth ministry. The idea Jesus had was the church and it is time we fight for it as much as we fight for our personal ministry areas. Your church needs your leadership and creativity. Your church needs you to lead just like you lead in your ministry area! You are a pastor so start serving on Sunday mornings like it!