Ever had one of those days you wish you could push the rewind button and start over. Maybe you are having one of those months or years. A fresh start can be a good thing.
While on my prayer retreat I have already written about going back to my early call into ministry. As I began meditating on starting over I went back to those early days. My first ministry assignment called for me to give my testimony to some students. I was nervous and finished in seven minutes. I was excited about the opportunity.
The other opportunities did not come so readily. I rarely got to preach until I came home my first summer after my freshman year at Howard Payne University. My pastor gave me and a friend the opportunity to start traveling around Lake Sam Rayburn and preaching at different camp sites. At least that was the original vision. We ended up planting a church at the Shirley Creek Marina. We did not know we were planting a church. We just preached and visited people. We dutifully set up chairs on the shore of the lake early each Sunday and alternated preaching each week. We traveled down to the marina during the week to make visits. To this day the church still holds a service inside the marina even though now they have built a church facility of their own.
After that I got a few opportunities to fill in for some preachers here and there. I relished those opportunities even though the preaching was woeful. Eventually I became a youth pastor and well you know the rest of the story.
Taking a new start I have thought about the excitement of those early days in ministry. I want to translate that same enthusiasm to my ministry now even though that has been twenty-nine years ago. We have been wounded by churches during that time. We have also been blessed by churches during those near three decades. We have rejoiced in revival and wept with the grieving. We have dreamed big and at times suffered long all for the cause of Christ.
I do not want my enthusiasm for ministry to wane. Not in the good times or the tough times. Yesterday we participated in the homecoming parade with a float from Faith Community Church. Our theme was highway to heaven. We had little cars on the sides of the trailer with kids sitting behind throwing out candy. Older kids walked alone side the trailer passing out little toy cars. Each car on the trailer had part of the Roman Road written on it. On top of the gooseneck we had a large white cross with a highway leading up to it. It measured over fourteen feet high from the road. I enjoyed passing out cars and interacting with different people in the crowd. After that I worked in the concession stand during the community wide pep rally at the football stadium. I made the nachos and frito pies and had a blast. Again I had the chance to interact with a lot of people. I had a good night.
I am reminded people make ministry worth it. It is the tangled web of relationships I enjoy most about serving as a pastor. I have enjoyed those relationships from east Texas to west Texas and several points in between. Tomorrow I will get to teach a handful of people a Bible study. I look forward to that opportunity and Sunday I will again stand before a congregation to communicate the truth of God's word Lord willing. I have preached thousands of times in the past twenty-nine years. I don't want it grow old. I want a fresh passion in my heart for ministry no matter how long I have been doing this. I want to start over like each Sunday is my first Sunday with joy and passion.
Ministry can become a grind if you let it. There are trials and hardships and my family is no stranger to them. Still I am called to this and for as long as God gives me strength and mental health I want to serve Him faithfully wherever He wills and plants me. When I first started preaching the size of the crowd did not matter. I was glad to just get to preach. I want to carry that same enthusiasm to my grave. I am grateful to get to preach and to have a flock to serve. I am also grateful for a chance to rewind and start over.
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