Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.
(by Adam Wormann)

It’s official, Fall is here. Ministry has probably kicked into full gear, or is just about to. You know what that means: Tons more kids, with all the kids that moved up and the new interest/excitement, freshman that were much smaller than any other freshman class, kids that freak you out because of how big they are and you know you couldn’t stop them if you tried, feeling inadequate as far as staff and ability…all that kind of good stuff. I know that for me, summer went way too quick and I always feel overwhelmed in September, no matter how well prepared I am. Somehow though, God always shows up and works in awesome ways. The best part is, he never fails to show that it’s not because of me.

I was reading about Gideon in Judges 7. I’d encourage you to take a quick look at it right now. Break out your Bible, or click here and take a minute to read the chapter. Think about that, what’s going on here. He seriously has an army of about 32,000 people, and it shrinks down to 300. That’s less than 1% of the size army he started with. What would that look like in our ministries? If we had 1% of the staff? 1% of our students? 1% of our congregations? We’d look at that as catastrophic. We’d close doors because we couldn’t support it, and even if we could, we’d be too discouraged to do anything. If we didn’t feel like failures, we’d feel totally inadequate and like we wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything for the year…maybe even the next 10 (That’s what the Mets call a rebuilding year…you try to fix your team and get it better, and the process really takes decades).

For Gideon, the stakes were much higher. This is life and death. This is literally an attempt to conquer a nation. Once again though, God points out that it’s not about us, it’s about Him. He can accomplish whatever He wants through whoever He wants. He’s not dependent on our strength. I could always use that reminder.

So as you start off the year, and thoughts often go right to ministry, take an inward look first. Are we trying to accomplish things through ourselves, or through God? Do we need to take a minute to humble ourselves and point back to God? Forget your ministry, how are you fully dependent on God?

And while we’re at it, if we are dependent on God and and really trust Him, let’s take on something really BIG!

Questions for reflection:

How is your attitude towards circumstances right now? What’s the most difficult thing you’re going through, and how does that make you act and feel?

_____________________________________________________________________________________
Adam Wormann is a Youth Pastor in Old Bridge, NJ where he’s been serving for the past 8 years. He is also one of the mentors at Life in Student Ministry and the editor of the “Time Out” series. You can stalk him on Twitter and Facebook.

Posted on September 13, 2010