This article is especially for those of you who feel called to vocational ministry.
When I changed careers from business to ministry, I had a decision to make. Did God want me to build a ministry based solely on my individual contributions as a teacher, speaker, and writer? Did he want me to join Campus Crusade or similar? Or, did he want me to build an enduring organization that would give people who shared my calling a platform, and that would continue after I was gone?
No one idea is superior. Each has its place. Rather, it all boils down to calling. We can figure out that calling by asking and answering, “What does the Master need?”
From the start, the scope and scale of the issue God was calling me to address—“the men problem”—inspired me to dream about reaching millions of men. And that would take an organization.
As part of God’s divine plan, I had previously built one of Florida’s largest privately-held companies and had been the president or managing partner of 59 companies and partnerships. In the process, I had learned a lot about how to build and run an organization.
God didn’t waste that experience. His new calling consolidated the best of what I had already learned. God has a way of leveraging our experience for his purposes.
REFLECTION: What are the experiences you’ve had that God can leverage? Are you at your best when you’re solo or part of an organization? What are the advantages and disadvantages of both? What does the Master need?
Yours for changed lives…
Pat
