An old preacher told me in my 3rd year of ministry that you aren’t fully a pastor until your 7th year (First Trimester). I was shocked at that time because I thought if you were ordained and had a building that everything would fall into place like television! Boy was I wrong and my ambitions were misguided. I have learned that it isn’t so much as being qualified domestically, spiritually or morally or having knowledge of scriptures, serving people, social media blogging, preaching or teaching in the beginning…its about doing those things over the long term consistently and effectively despite the odds (75% of ministries fail within 3 years and its higher if you are a new Non-denominational ministry). So I learned that one must pass the crucible and a crushing of the flesh during that time period…crushing of egos, crushing of dependency on temporal things and people. As my spiritual father would say “you need to depend totally on God”…its sounds simple but the urges to act in the flesh and compromise are powerful. BUT God through his grace and mercy found favor over us and allowed us to continue to this day…from having church at our house with choir rehearsal in the front room to where I am today…I learned that pastoring is not a career choice its a calling that is proven over the long term because people, like trees, grow and bloom “slowly”. I Learned that pastoring is not about verbal eloquence or how you can fundraise, how many chairs are behind the pulpit, the leading of teams or conducting “kingdom business”. Its all about the Gospel of Jesus, having sound doctrine, speaking truth to power and removing the filters of religion, tradition and ignorance from the eyes of His people in their journey towards Him. #thankful #7in2017 #neverwouldhavemadeitwithoutyou
In the Seventh Year
