Discipleship Network Forum

Recently I woke up thinking about an intriguing phrase in Paul’s statement to the Colossians:

²⁷ to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. ²⁸ We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. ²⁹ For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me (Colossians 1:27-29 NASB).

Wow. Paul knew what his purpose in life was! He realized he had a mission to proclaim Christ and make disciples, and he also recognized that God’s mighty power within him was enabling him to fulfill that mission.

So what is YOUR mission and MY mission? Do we have a clear grasp on the answer to that question?

Of course, to some extent our mission should be exactly the same as Paul’s – the Great Commission given to every Christian. However, in other ways, our purpose is a unique and personalized calling the Lord has given us. For example, Paul and Peter were contemporaries and both were apostles. Yet they didn’t have exactly the same calling and focus.

A few more thoughts…

• Paul said he had been given a “high calling” and “upward call of God” (Philippians 3:14). In the same way, we should recognized that we’re called to go HIGHER! We must resist the temptation to settle for a LOW or substandard Christian life.

• Acts 13:36 says David “served the purpose of God in his own generation.” That should be our objective too! In each generation, God has certain things that are particularly on His heart. Do we know what He desires to do in this generation?

• For each of us, there are SEASONS for how God’s calling is being walked out in our lives (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, Ecclesiastes 8:5). For example, when we’re raising young children we must inevitably give that responsibility a great deal of our time and attention.

So…

I encourage you to prayerfully write a personalized mission statement like Paul did, ending with his conclusion: “for this purpose I labor.”

Psalm 84:5 promises, “Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage.”

Blessings to you on the pilgrimage to your high calling!

If you’ve never been in an escape room, I recommend you try it sometime. Recently I had this fun experience with some family members during a holiday trip in Ohio.

In this popular new craze, a team of players is put into a room where they cooperatively discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks in order to escape. There’s usually a one-hour time limit, and in our case we weren’t able to solve all the clues in this allotted time.

As we head into 2020, I’m convinced that an escape room is a fitting metaphor for many people’s condition. Feeling “stuck” in one or more areas of our life, we’re searching for clues to escape our humdrum existence and rediscover our zest for living.

A few days ago, I had a conversation about this with a friend named Marcus. “Why doesn’t God give me some clues about what I’m supposed to be doing?” he complained.

I could sympathize with my friend’s frustration. Marcus was dealing with a number of situations that seemed to have no remedy. Although he could quote Bible promises about God providing us with “a way of escape” in times of temptation or trouble (1 Corinthians 10:13), something was clearly missing.

At that moment, I remembered the escape room I’d encountered in Ohio. You see, an escape room contains all the clues necessary for success. In fact, most of the clues are within plain sight, but simply overlooked until someone on the team points them out.

So I explained to my friend that God had probably already given him all the major clues he needed. “Take another look around the ‘room’ you’re in,” I told him. “What are some clues from your past that point the way toward God’s plan for your future?”

Marcus still struggled to think of any clues that would open the door to his escape.

“Even though you don’t like your present circumstances, take a few moments to remember events that brought you exceptional joy and fulfillment in the past,” I encouraged him. “Those experiences are powerful clues to God’s calling and purpose for your life.”

I reminded Marcus of a quote from famous Olympic runner Eric Liddell, “God made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.”

Then I asked, “Marcus, what are some times in your life when you sensed God’s pleasure in a special way?”

Soon my friend was recounting several joy-filled times when he had notably experienced God’s presence and pleasure. However, Marcus was troubled by the fact that most of his time and energy in recent years had been diverted to other activities – having nothing to do with the pursuits that once had brought him great joy. “No wonder I’ve felt locked in an escape room,” he concluded. “To make it worse, I feel like time is running out on the clock.”

“But Marcus, think of all the progress you’ve already made in the past few minutes!” I pointed out. “You’ve discovered some clues to the things that bring you joy and glorify God in your life. And if you patiently and persistently follow those clues, I’m confident you’ll find your way of escape!”

Despite our conversation, Marcus hasn’t experienced a complete new beginning yet. As for any of us, his liberation is a process. Yet our escape begins with recognizing the clues God has already placed in the “room” where we find ourselves – and Marcus is well on his way.

Open Eyes, Open Doors

One of the significant ingredients of an escape room experience is that it requires teamwork. No individual is capable of spotting all the clues.

In the same way, we each have blind spots regarding our own strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes God sends us a friend to illuminate a clue we’ve been missing.

It’s amazing how blind we can be to a clue that seems unmistakable in retrospect. For example, I love the story in Luke 24:13-27 where the resurrected Christ appears to two disciples who were walking on the road to Emmaus. Despite having quite a conversation with the Savior, they didn’t even recognize Him!

In the same way, Jesus is walking on the roadway next to you and me today. We can complain all we want about needing more clues to discover our purpose and destiny. But the biggest clue of all is standing right before us. We just need to have our eyes opened to recognize Him.

So, if you find yourself locked in an escape room as you begin another year, don’t despair. You just need to recognize the Lord’s presence and take notice of the clues He’s placed all around you.

Your escape may be closer than you think. Soon you will knock, and the door will open!

After Billy Graham died at age 99, many people wondered who could ever replace him. In some ways, the answer might be no one – for Graham was a unique minister of the gospel and ambassador for Christ. Like Queen Esther, he was anointed to speak to kings, presidents, prime ministers, and the entire culture “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).

But there’s another answer that might surprise you. When looking for Billy Graham’s replacement, you need look no further than your mirror. Believe it or not, YOU have a wonderful chance to be Billy Graham’s successor.

Alright, I’m not implying that you’ll necessarily have a worldwide ministry or share the gospel in huge stadiums. And it’s highly unlikely you’ll have opportunities to pray with every President in your lifetime.

However, there’s Scriptural evidence that you can expect something powerful to occur in your life this year – the year when Billy Graham died.

Let Me Explain…

One day the prophet Isaiah had a stunning vision of the Lord: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple” (Isaiah 6:1). The passage goes on to describe a heavenly scene where angelic creatures continually cry out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” (vs. 2-3).

Notice what it says about WHEN this vision occurred: “In the year that King Uzziah died…” Uzziah had been a good king, the type of king people put their trust and confidence in. We certainly need godly leaders like him today, in both the political and ministry spheres of influence.

However, there’s a downside to good leadership! When a nation, a movement, or a church has a strong, godly leader, we tend to put our hopes in that leader instead of in the Lord. Meanwhile, we tend to absolve ourselves of personal responsibilities, assuming the leader will take care of bringing about the needed changes in our society or our church.

Some evangelical Christians did this when Ronald Reagan was President, becoming complacent in our prayers and activism, because he seemed to represent our values. In the same way, many in the African-American community left it to Barack Obama to deal with race relations in our nation and assumed he would bring about transformation in inner-city neighborhoods.

The psalmist warned about our tendency to overly rely upon our human leaders: “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in people. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes” (Psalm 118:8-9 NLT).

When a good leader like King Uzziah dies, we’re presented with an opportunity. If we’ve allowed them to eclipse our vision of God, we need to repent. In Isaiah’s case, he wasn’t able to clearly see the King of the universe until the earthly king was removed. But Uzziah’s death provided an opportunity to experience a heavenly encounter with the Lord, which resulted in a new commission.

Perhaps you find yourself in need of a fresh encounter with God today. Maybe you’re bored by your substandard Christian life, crying out to the Lord for new instructions. Like Isaiah, you’re ready to say once again, “Here am I! Send me” (v. 8).

A New Lease on Life

Isaiah’s story, and the death of Billy Graham, illustrate why your new lease on life may be much closer than you think.

Billy Graham faithfully served God throughout his life, but now he’s gone. No longer can we put our trust in him to take the gospel to the nations or speak to the world’s political leaders.

But events like Mr. Graham’s passing give us an opportunity. It’s a chance to once again see the Lord high and lifted up, and also an opportunity to rediscover our own calling.

The principle shown in Isaiah 6 is found in a number of other Bible passages as well:

• Joshua’s commission: “After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lordspoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: ‘Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them – the children of Israel’” (Joshua 1:1-2). After many years of being mentored by Moses, now Joshua’s revered mentor was dead. Unable to rely on Moses anymore, it was time for Joshua to “arise” and “go” – the same commission God is giving to us today.  

• A double portion: Since the prophet Elijah was a great hero in Biblical history, it could have seemed a great tragedy when his ministry ended. However, his protégé Elisha received a “double portion” of Elijah’s spirit, and ultimately performed twice as many miracles (2 Kings 2:1-15). I’ve been blessed to experience many spiritual movements during my lifetime: the evangelical movement, Jesus movement, charismatic movement, prophetic movement, apostolic movement, church growth movement, and many others. I’m thank for what God has done in the past, but could it be that He’s preparing a new move of the Holy Spirit – a spiritual tidal wave that will dwarf everything we’ve seen in previous decades and even centuries?

• Greater works: Before the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus made an astounding statement to His disciples: “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father” (John 14:12 NLT). Although some commentators try to explain away Jesus’ words, His message actually fits in perfectly with the “greater works” pattern throughout the Bible: Joshua was called to take the Israelites further than Moses was able to do; Elisha had double the effectiveness of his mentor Elijah; the New Covenant was far more glorious than the Old Covenant; and the new temple had glory surpassing the previous one (Haggai 2:9).

A Great Time to Be Alive

Moses is gone. Elijah is gone. Uzziah is gone. Billy Graham is gone. And Jesus physically ascended from earth to be seated at the Father’s right hand in heaven.

At this strategic time in history, will we discard anything that has eclipsed our vision of the Lord? Will we heed His commission to arise and go? Will we allow Him to stretch our faith to do greater works than we’ve ever seen before?

When great human leaders like Billy Graham are taken away, we have a fantastic opportunity to see God do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within US” (Ephesians 3:20 NIV).

An exciting future awaits when you gain a fresh glimpse of the Lord and your personal commission to change the world.

Not long ago, my computer froze up. As I always do in such cases, I called the IT Department in desperation.

“Have you tried rebooting?” they immediately asked.

Doesn’t it seem like that’s always the first solution when your computer—or your life—gets stuck? You have to reboot in order to function properly again.

That got me thinking about my life these days. While many things are going great, in other ways I’m sure I could use a reboot.

But I couldn’t help wondering: Is a reboot even possible at my advanced age?

Fortunately, the Bible answers that question. Some of its great heroes were even older than me when God rebooted their life and gave them greater fulfillment and impact than ever before.

One of these leaders was Moses. He spent the first 40 years of his life growing up in the lap of luxury in Pharaoh’s palace. But after killing an Egyptian one day, he ended up fleeing to the backside of the desert, where he spent the next 40 years herding sheep.

By the time he reached 80, Moses had an uneventful, unexciting life. He was stuck in the wilderness, both literally and metaphorically.

Little did he know that everything was about to change…

In Exodus 3 the Lord suddenly appeared in the midst of a burning bush. This started out as a mere novelty but turned out to be an encounter that would transform Moses’ life forever. His mundane, ordinary existence was rebooted into something extraordinary and world-changing.

Although I’m not 80 yet, I can see it from here. I think I might be ready for my burning bush, and perhaps you are as well.

I encourage you to read Exodus 3 for yourself, but here are a few observations that might spark your own burning-bush experience:

1. We all need fresh fire from time to time. Moses’ experience ignited new passion and vision in his life. But notice that this reboot was based on a supernatural experience, not just something Moses gained from reading a self-help book.
2. God wants us to be on-fire for Him, yet without burning up. Moses was startled that the bush seemed to have an inexhaustible energy source (vs. 2-3). We live in the most burnt-out generation in history, desperately needing the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to fill our lives with new energy as we learn to abide in Christ (John 15:1-5).
3. God knows our name and where to find us. After 40 years, it’s likely that most of Moses’ friends and family back in Egypt had lost track of him. But the Lord knew exactly where he was and what he was doing. In fact, his 40 years of taking care of sheep was Moses’ God-ordained training ground to prepare him for a much bigger task ahead.
4. When God calls, we must make ourselves available. After hearing the Lord call out from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!,” the immediate reply was, “Here I am” (v. 4). We’re never going to experience much of a reboot unless we’re ready to listen to God’s call and be available for the new mission He has for us.
5. If our new assignment is truly from God, it will almost surely be overwhelming. The Lord told Moses he was being sent to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, where they had been in slavery for more than 400 years. What a daunting, seemingly impossible, task! Moses asked, just as we surely would, “Who am I…?” (v. 11). It took some convincing, but eventually Moses recognized that God was capable of giving him success in this incredible new venture.
6. No reboot is complete without a new revelation of the nature of God. We will never complete our mission unless we’ve had a genuine encounter with the living God. The Lord told Moses He was “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (v. 6). But that fact wasn’t good enough for Moses, nor will it be for us. Why? Because a reboot can’t be based on secondhand faith or a spiritual legacy from our ancestors. Instead, the Lord revealed Himself as the present-tense God, with a most unusual name: “I AM WHO I AM” (v. 14).

If you find yourself in need of a reboot today, it must start with a vital question: Do you have a present-tense relationship with God, or just memories of past experiences? If you’re going to BE who He has called you to be, you must know He’s with you now as your great “I AM.”

Even if find yourself stuck today, hanging out in the wilderness for months or years, God is the one who can give you…

• Fresh fire—supernatural enablement that will keep you from burning out.
• A new and exciting mission—but one you can only accomplish with His help.

Someday you’ll look back, as Moses eventually could do, and you’ll realize that God had a sovereign purpose in every experience He’s brought you through. Every step of the way, He was preparing and equipping you for such a time as this. 

Have you ever had a “voice from the past” remind you about important aspects of who God created you to be?

That’s what happened recently when I was contacted by Matthew Donovan, a friend I hadn’t seen in the nearly 20 years since he moved away from Charlotte. We were able to spend several hours together at the Panera Bread Company, catching up on things and then praying for each other.

Part of the conversation was especially illuminating for me…

“Have you been speaking at many churches lately, Jim?” Matthew asked. Back when we were hanging out in the 1990s, he once traveled with me to minister in a church near Houston, Texas. I preached, he led worship, then we prayed for people and gave some input to the pastor. It was a very memorable and impactful time.

“No, I rarely speak at churches these days, Matthew,” I admitted. “Although I love to preach, the opportunities have been very few.”

“What about being a church consultant?” he queried. “You always enjoyed that sort of thing.”

“No, I’m not doing much of that either,” I said.

“Well, I know you’ve always had a heart to mentor young leaders,” Matthew reminded me. Back in the 1990s, he was one of those young leaders I tried to help and encourage.

“I have a few young guys I get together with, Matthew. Yet I surely would like to impact a lot more.”

You can pretty much see where the conversation was headed, but Matthew went on to ask a final question about my current activities.

“Have you written some good books in recent years, Jim?” he wanted to know. I think he may have remembered that I wrote my classic book on leadership many years ago, Walking the Leadership Highway—Without Becoming Roadkill!

“I’m writing more books than ever, Matthew,” I told him, “but only as a ghostwriter, not as the author.”

Our conversation was a surreal experience for me. Through his questions, my friend was reminding me of the person I used to be in days gone by. He was painting a clear and challenging picture of the Jim Buchan he used to know.

Reflecting on my time with Matthew, I’ve concluded that the Jim Buchan of today still has the very same passions, but somehow I’ve gotten off track the past decade or so. To make matters worse, I’m not really sure HOW I got off track, nor do I fully know what it will take to reverse course and revitalize my diminished vision and functionality.

At this point in the blog, you’re probably expecting me to write about some epiphany I’ve had about how to regain my lost calling. Well…stay tuned. Right now I don’t have any solution other than drawing near to the Lord and listening for His instructions on my new assignments. It’s clear that returning to my true calling must begin by a return to my “first love,” my personal relationship with Him (Revelation 2:1-4).

Surely I’m not the only one who has ever experienced this troubling sense of having drifted from my spiritual gifts and true calling. In fact, Paul advised his protégé Timothy, “Fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you” (2 Timothy 1:6 NLT). Our spiritual embers inevitably grow cold in time if we neglect to maintain them. 

What about you? Like King David, can you truly say you are serving the purpose of God in your own generation? (Acts 13:36 NASB) Are you serving in your true spiritual gifts and making the maximum impact on the lives of others?

If you have some advice for me on how to get back on track, I would love to hear from you. We’re in this together, after all. And I’m still hoping that the rest of our life can be the best of our life.

I have an exceptional ability to juggle lots of balls at the same time. I don’t mean literal balls. My hand-and-eye coordination isn’t good enough for that. But, better than most people, I’m able to successfully juggle multiple projects, activities, and relationships.

Many of my best friends are only able to focus on one project at a time. Sometimes I envy them, for being a good juggler is both a blessing and a curse.

Almost anyone can successfully juggle one ball from hand to hand. And with a little practice, most people can handle two or three balls. Juggling four or five balls is far more difficult, though. Even if you can juggle four or five balls for a short period, the problem is sustainability.

I’ve found that when you’re a good juggler, people keep giving you more balls. It’s not really their fault, but your boss, spouse, kids, and friends seem to think your capacity is unlimited. So you go from juggling one ball…to two…to three…to four. And everything goes splendidly at first.

Yet when you’re a good juggler, you inevitably end up with one more ball than you can handle. Sadly, you seldom see how hazardous this progression is—not until ALL the balls end up on the floor.

Those of us who are good jugglers typically end up juggling many of the wrong balls. We have a hard time saying NO. Instead of prioritizing and focusing, we try convincing people of our nearly superhuman abilities.

There’s an old gospel song that says, “He’s got the whole world in His hands.” The challenge for good jugglers is that we often forget Who this song is referring to. God is able to simultaneously juggle all the balls in the universe—but we’re not God.

If you’re a good juggler like me, my heart goes out to you. As the Scriptures advise, I hope you’ll learn to cast your cares on the Lord, remembering that He’s the only limitless juggler. May you regularly seek His wisdom on which balls are meant for you, and which ones aren’t.

If you’ve taken on too many balls, running the risk of dropping them all, I pray you’ll recognize your precarious situation before it’s too late. In the end, you’ll be far more productive—and much happier—if you focus on your true calling. That’s where you’ll find God’s grace and strength.

If you’re like me, the word “anchor” has some negative connotations. For example, dictionaries say an anchor is a device for preventing or restricting a ship’s motion. I certainly don’t relish the thought of having my motion prevented or restricted, do you?

Another undesirable connotation of “anchor” is that it either ties you to where you ARE (your present circumstances) or where you’ve BEEN (your past). In either case, that kind of anchor sounds very dreary to me. Who wants to remain stuck to their present circumstances or their past?

However, the Bible describes a very different kind of anchor, one that connects us to a hope-filled future instead of to our present or our past:

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf (Hebrews 6:19-20).

While faith is a “now” kind of reality (Hebrews 11:1), hope is an optimistic attitude about our future. The writer here says God wants us to have His supernatural hope as “an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”

Look at how revolutionary this is. While maritime anchors lock a ship in place and prevent progress, this spiritual kind of anchor is tethered to the positive future God has promised us (Jeremiah 29:11).

How do we know this? Because we’re told the anchor goes before us, tied to “our forerunner, Jesus.” It’s not an anchor that settles for our present circumstances. Quite the contrary, it’s an anchor that’s pulling us toward a whole new realm of living.

Also notice that our spiritual hope isn’t supposed to be based on anything we see around us. Just as a ship’s anchor disappears below the water line, the hope described here “enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.” This hope isn’t locked in to any kind of earthly circumstances or events, but rather to God’s destiny for us in the unseen realm (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

Just as an earthly anchor will prevent a ship from drifting, an anchor of hope serves the same purpose. Yet there’s a key difference. If you pull on a maritime anchor, you will go nowhere. But when you pull on your anchor of hope, you’re propelled forward into more intimacy with Jesus and greater fulfillment of His plan for your life.

Even on cloudy days when your circumstances look bleak, you can count on this anchor to hold. Your Forerunner has already overcome death and defeat, and He’s the One your hope must be constantly anchored to.

May your soul find rest in Him today as He draws you forward into His presence and His purpose.

The Perils of Forgetting Who You Are

There’s a lot of amnesia going around lately, and I wonder if you might be a victim. To my surprise, I’ve discovered that I’m a recovering amnesiac myself. More on that in a moment, but first let me give you some background on the kind of amnesia I’m referring to.

Several years ago, my wife and I watched a rather lame made-for-TV movie on the Lifetime network. A woman was comatose after a serious car accident, and when she awoke she had no idea who she was. Eventually she regained her identity and reestablished her relationship with family members, but it wasn’t easy.

There’s a similar scene in my favorite musical, “Man of La Mancha.” Don Quixote has fallen into a coma after suffering what amounts to a nervous breakdown, and he’s seemingly on this deathbed. When visited by the love of his life, the “virtuous lady Dulcinea” (also known as the barmaid Aldonza), he doesn’t even recognize her. Even worse, he doesn’t seem to recognize himself as the valiant knight who had once pursued “the impossible dream.”

It’s a terrible thing to forget who you are. But fortunately, Don Quixote rediscovered his dream and remembered who he was. Reawakened to his destiny, he was ready again “to march into hell for a heavenly cause.”

I had a similar experience recently. No, I wasn’t in an accident, nor did I fall into a coma or experience a nervous breakdown. I certainly wasn’t on my deathbed, at least not physically.

But just like the woman in the TV movie or Don Quixote, I had forgotten who I was.

My recovery was triggered by a phone call I made to an old friend named Jim Byers. We live in different states, and I had lost touch with for more than a decade until the day I happened to stumble across him on Facebook.

At first this phone call was a little awkward. What would we talk about after so long? I considered ending the call after just a few minutes, saying something like, “Well, it was great hearing your voice again, Jim. I just wanted to say hello.”

But like a mighty locomotive, the conversation slowly gained momentum. We talked of old times, when we joyously ministered together and reached out to pastors and churches across the state of Ohio in the 1980s. God really used us, and we had a blast in the process.

Although I lost track of how long we talked, it must have been more than an hour and a half. I rarely talk to anyone that long, but it was worth it.

So what does any of this have to do with amnesia?

After my marathon conversation with Jim Byers, I concluded that I had forgotten a piece of who I am. Oh, it’s not that I have a bad life now. I have some friends here in the Carolinas, and I believe my preaching and writing have never been more powerful.

Yet there was something special about the way God used Jim Byers and me to encourage pastors and help them find the resources they needed for greater vitality in their churches. I miss those days, just like I’ve missed the depth of friendship I experienced with Jim.

Of course, there’s another side of this. Paul says we should forget some of the things in our past so we can press onward toward our calling in Christ (Philippians 3:12-14). Yet he also told Timothy to REMEMBER and “fan into flame” what God had spoken to him and done in his life in the past (1 Timothy 1:18, 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:5-7 NIV). If Timothy was to “fight the battle well,” he needed to remember who he was.

What about you? Have you, by chance, forgotten some important aspect of who God has gifted you to be? Do you need to read some of your old journals or have a conversation with a friend you haven’t talked to in decades?

If you’ve been an amnesiac like me, this can be your day to reawaken your dreams. It’s time to remember the glorious quest that once brought great joy to your heart.

I’ll never forget the day I knelt in prayer beside the bed in my college dorm room and popped the important question: “Lord, do you want me to serve You full-time?”

Almost immediately, the clear answer came, “Why, of course, Jim!”

I was thrilled. The following Sunday I went to church and proudly told my friend Bob Hahn about my call to ministry.

“Bob, while I was praying yesterday, I asked God if He wanted me to serve Him in full-time ministry. He said He did!”

My older and wiser friend paused, then looked me right in the eyes when he responded. “That’s good, Jim, but I’ve been seeing lately that full-time ministry doesn’t necessarily mean what I once thought.”

Quickly concluding that Bob was just jealous that he wasn’t called to full-time ministry, I didn’t hear much of the rest of his explanation. Looking back, though, I wish I had listened closer that day.

Now having the advantage of more than 35 years of hindsight, I think I have a better understanding of what Bob Hahn was trying to tell me about full-time ministry. At times I’ve indeed been a “full-time minister” as a senior pastor or staff pastor. But at other times I’ve been an attorney or done other “secular” jobs. Often this is described as “tent-making” or being a bi-vocational minister.

It often surprises people when I tell them my ministry while I was an attorney was just as fruitful as when I was a full-time pastor. Perhaps even more fruitful.

When I supported my ministry by means of a secular job, I was much freer from people’s expectations about what my “ministry” should be. In contrast, when my paycheck came from the church, I sometimes ended up serving church activities more than I was serving God!

When I was supported by my work as an attorney, it was far easier to tell people “No” when they wanted me to do something outside the sphere of ministry God had given me (see 2 Corinthians 10:13-16). When I was a full-time pastor, however, there was a great temptation to do whatever people expected, regardless of my calling or the Lord’s will.

I found that another pitfall in full-time pastoral ministry was that it tended to separate me from the “real world” where most people were living. It was especially difficult to have meaningful contact with those who didn’t yet follow Christ.

Too often, pastors who go directly from college, to seminary, to full-time ministry end up secluded in an ivory-tower world, with experiences quite different from those faced by the people we are endeavoring to disciple and lead. While we try to encourage those in our flock to reach out to their unsaved friends and co-workers, our friends and co-workers are all church folks!

By glamorizing the importance of full-time ministry, we perpetuate a myth that has seriously weakened the church for many centuries now. Bob Hahn was trying to tell me that, in a sense, every Christian is supposed to be serving the Lord “full-time.” Even if we gain our livelihood through work at a secular job, we are to see it as a ministry—for we are working as unto the Lord (Colossians 3:22-24).

Paul told the Corinthians that everything he did was “for the sake of the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:23). But sometimes that included working with his hands to make tents in order to support himself. Think of it: The mighty apostle was willing to be a manual laborer and small businessman at times, rather than beg for offerings!

I also love how Paul said the fragrance of Christ was supposed to be manifested through us “in every place” (2 Corinthians 2:14). He didn’t say believers should emit Christ’s fragrance just “in every church meeting,” or “every time we preach,” or “every time we lead worship.” No, his vision of “ministry” was much bigger than any of that.

Because of their detachment from everyday living, many “full-time” Christian leaders struggle to give their flock clear, practical instruction on how the gospel can be lived out in the marketplace. As a result, we give the faulty impression that ministry is something done mainly in church buildings.

It’s time to regain the perspective that every Christian is called to be a minister. Our ministry began the day were saved, because that’s when Jesus ordained us to serve Him and bear fruit for His kingdom (John 15:16). 

If you are being obedient the Lord full-time, you ARE in full-time ministry—no matter whether a church gives you a paycheck or not. You have the great privilege and opportunity to minister to people every day and in every place—whether in office buildings, banks, construction sites, grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, neighborhoods, athletic fields, schools, and in every other place where people are found.

So what are you waiting for? If you are committed to full-time availability to God, your full-time ministry has already begun!