My first ministry opportunity was at Sheridan Christian Church in Sheridan Missouri. I was the intern youth/associate pastor to a very wise man by the name of Jeff Blain. He was a hard working man with a past. When you think of a stereotypical farm boy you would get this man. He went 100% into everything that he did. He was a man you could look at with his preaching ability and see that he obviously was in love with the Lord. I can remember one of the first tasks he asked of me was to help out at a camp named Flaming Spirit with 5th-7th graders. Me being a young 18 year old with my first ministry I was full of ideas of how the camp would be.
I had this idea that I would have the words of Billy Grahm and every youth I spoke to would accept Christ on that first night. It was anything but that easy. I mean there were times that the kids would not talk and I couldn’t relate. I was using stories I thought for sure would make the kids make a decision. It wasn’t coming and honestly I was getting a little down on myself about the lack of decisions. It was hard, I didn’t know what to do. The more I worked on getting the kids to speak in my group, the less they seemed to pay attention.
After the third night of camp I stayed up a little later. The kids had all gone to bed and I asked for some advice from one of the older staff named Chris. He was the Youth Pastor at Ravenwood Christian Church and had a lot more experience then myself. I was asking him “Why are these kids not responding the way I want them to respond?” Chris answered with another question “So they are not being what you expected them to be this week?” I responded with “Yes.” He then came back with one of the easiest yet wisest responses that I could have ever heard. He said, “Why don’t you stop trying to get them the way you want them and start trying to get them where God wants them.” “Tell them stories of Jesus and allow them to listen to Him. Not You” It was so easy to say that and I knew he was right.
I wanted things to flow the way I wanted them to and I had been using my methods. I wasn’t even thinking about the Holy Spirit moves. I took the advice Chris gave me and we prayed together. After that prayer an amazing peace came over me and I wouldn’t know why that peace was given to me until the next night. The next night one of the girls would come up to me and tell me about her life. She would say stories of what she had went through and how she wanted to change. I could not believe what was happening. This child was opening up and sharing. That peace that came over me was that power of God and that same power was moving through her. That night this child gave her life to Jesus and I was able to baptize her the next day. It became the highlight of my summer and my ministry. A new life was born.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:17
