The third hill that I had to climb was patience.
You might find this hard to believe about me but I am not an incredibly patient person. I don’t like to wait in line at restaurants, I don’t like wait in line at amusement parks and I hate it when the internet is slow!!! (Don’t judge me…you are the same way!!!)
I entered ministry in 1990 as a volunteer and began a part-time job at a church in 1991. From 1991-1999 I spent a lot of time frustrated because I wanted to be doing something more than I was doing. I was working in a church and for some reason I felt entitled to a larger church. I was working in youth ministry and I thought I was capable of leading a church.
I was so caught up in who I wanted to be I couldn’t focus on who God wanted me to be.
I was so obsessed with someone discovering me that I lost sight of the fact that God was developing me.
As I look back over that nine year run that I had in ministry it was some of the most fruitful times that I had in my life. God had me do everything in the church. I worked with children (not my call—knew it was over the day a kid bit me on the butt!!!) I worked with youth. I even took the senior adults to the beach for a Senior Adults Convention one time (not my call—knew this when they would come to my door at 5:00 every morning and knock to see if I was awake!) I led worship (not my call!)
I did just about everything you could do in a church and in all of that God was preparing me to one day lead a church in which I could understand the people that worked with me rather than spout out theology and ideas and methodology in which I knew nothing about.
For those of you in a place that feel like you want to be discovered, my advice to you is allow God to develop you, because being developed is one of the greatest gifts God could give us.