I have good news to share but first a recent blog post by the awesome Dr. David Wike has prompted me to clear the air about a similar situation in my life. Some of you, Dr. Wike included, have probably heard this story from me before for which I must apologize. Not for sharing the story necessarily, but for how I presented it’s details. I won’t go into too much detail of the events (simply because I’ve come to realize that they just don’t matter anymore), but here’s a 10,000 ft view of things:
I’m a relative newbie to Ebenezer Baptist Church. Prior to that, I’d been a life-long member and congregant of a small Methodist Church in Darlington. I was involved with their Children’s and Youth Ministries from 2003 until an unexpected illness forced me to sit at home for the entire month of October last year. During that time I’d come to realize that while I’d spent the past five years ministering to Youth, I’d overlooked my own spiritual needs. Granted, Youth Ministry has it’s own way of offering enlightenment back to it’s leaders. But, there’s simply no substitution to personal time with God, allowing him to work directly within you instead of Him having to work in you through something else. In other words, I came to the point where the only time I’d “spend time with God” was either with the Youth or with the Youth in mind. He was getting my prayers and concerns for the Youth, not those for myself. That needed to change. The Church had great Children’s, Youth, and Senior Adult ministries. But, there really wasn’t a group a people my own age I could bring my newfound concerns to and discuss with in the context of my life. So, after much prayer and deliberation (and, yes, an unfortunate disagreement with a few members of the church), I decided to find a group I could plug into. That search lead me to my Aunt and Uncle’s church, otherwise known as Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Contrary to what, I now realize, some may believe, my decision to leave Indian Branch had NOTHING to do with any personal disagreements I may have experienced with fellow members of that church. It had EVERYTHING to do with my weakening walk with Christ and my personal desire to strengthen that walk by associating myself with Followers my own age. Yes, those disagreements had indeed affected me more severely than I’d originally realized. As a result, I’d allowed myself to dwell on them, causing me to publicize THEM as the reason for my departure and not my search for GOD.
So, now to those who received the flawed version of this story: I’m sorry. If I haven’t already said this to you in person, bare with me, I will.
Now, on to the good news…
Once at Ebenezer, God led me to a small group Bible study that was just beginning. In this group, God introduced me to a group of young adults (YAHTZEE!) that have, honestly, changed my life. A few weeks after beginning that class, I ran into the one and only Paul Frazier, who invited me over to the Youth House on Wednesday night. I hadn’t initially come to EBC looking for a Youth Ministry to plug into. But, God had other plans. So, I went along for the ride, and have been hanging out at the Youth House for several months now, and it’s been awesome. Thanks to David, Tory, Justin, and an awesome bunch of teenagers known as CRASH, I began to feel something I hadn’t felt very strongly in quite a while. I began to feel what I’d been missing. I began to feel God speaking directly to me. And it felt GOOD!
So, what was God telling me? That he doesn’t want to see me just sitting in a pew on Sunday morning; that, for me, to be actively engaged in ministry to His Youth is to be actively engaged with Him. That I should also take time away from that to care for my own relationship with Him and to share my concerns with people my own age. That I was where He needed me to be. That I was home.
The last several months have been the most spiritually enlightening of my life and I sense that there is much more to come than I could ever imagine. With that said, I have decided to “make it official” and transfer my membership to Ebenezer Baptist Church and rededicate my life to Christ and pledge to strengthen His youth in any way that I can.
So, what’s this “pledge” all about? Well, as I said, one of the things God planted in my head since being at Ebenezer is the idea of becoming a Youth Minister not only in practice, but in profession. I’ve always had a passion for witnessing what God can do in the heart of a child (excuse me… young adult), but the pieces never really came together for me to turn that into a degree. Then, one day in Crash, Justin announced that he will be taking a group of interested adults to New Orleans to visit the Baptist Seminary down there. Was this a sign? I believe so! God may as well have handed me the invitation Himself! So, yes, in October, I am going to New Orleans, LA to check out the campus and programs of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in hopes of soon pursuing a degree in Youth Ministry.