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What Are You Looking Forward To?
Debbie and I recently returned from a 36-day trip. (We combined two cruises.) This was by far the longest vacation we had ever done. We wanted to celebrate after completing 45 years in ministry and retiring from my Kid’s Pastor job at Living Word.
It was a relaxing trip to Africa and Europe and we saw some amazing sites, but the primary purpose of our trip was to unplug from ministry and have some focused time to pray and seek the Lord about our future.
I spent quite a bit of time reading and meditating on Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians, which was written while Paul was in prison in Rome.
It dawned on me that Paul may have been considering retirement when he wrote Philippians. Not retirement as we think of it in the 21 st century, but it’s clear that Paul wants to go to heaven and be with the Lord.
“I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.”
Reading between the lines Paul may have been thinking thoughts like, “Is the Lord done with me? Have I fulfilled my assignment?”
In the end, Paul realizes that he still has work to do.
“Knowing this I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow.”
In the Third Chapter of Philippians, Paul writes these famous words. “But I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize.”
I see that Paul chose to do four things here and I choose to do the same things.
- Forget the Past. – We need to forget the past. That includes past failures and past successes. One good thing that happens when you change jobs is that you learn from your past mistakes and start over again. It’s also good to not spend too much time living in the past and thinking about the good old days. The past is gone and today is a new day.
- Look forward to what lies ahead. – The truth is that ministry is something we don’t retire from, however, one of the nice things about where I am in life and ministry is that I can focus on the aspects of ministry that I look forward to. What do I look forward to? What do I enjoy? I enjoy teaching kids. I enjoy mentoring future Kid’s Pastors. I enjoy helping pastors build strong children’s ministry teams. I enjoy writing books and curriculum.
- Press on to the end of the race. – Press on means, don’t stop. Keep doing ministry and keep serving others. We will continue to serve the Body of Christ, but instead of focusing on one church, we will have the ability to help many churches.
- Receive the Heavenly Prize. – More than anything in life I look forward to hearing the words, “Well done.” In the end that’s all that matters
So, what does all this mean? What is next for Mark and Debbie?
Our ministry exists to help the local church. Churches are our customers.
One way that we will help pastors and local churches is by mentoring future kids’ pastors.
We have a two-pronged strategy:
- Lamplight Academy. Lamplight Academy is an online school for Kids Pastors and Children’s Ministry Leaders. Through this online school, Kids Pastors can learn from my 45 years of experience in kids’ ministry. They can learn from my mistakes and my successes. For more info go here.
- One-On-One Mentorship. You may not realize this, but there is a nationwide shortage of Children’s Ministers and Kids Pastors. There just aren’t enough candidates to fill all the vacancies. I regularly get calls from lead Pastors asking if I know of any Kids Pastors who are looking for a job.
My usual response is, “I don’t know of any, but I can help you by coaching and mentoring someone who is already part of your congregation. If you find someone, who loves God and is committed to your church, then I can teach them how to pastor kids.”
Of course, I can’t guarantee it will work, but I have observed that this strategy is more successful than bringing in a new leader from outside your congregation.
If One-On-One Mentorship is something you are looking for feel free to reach out to me at Mark.Harper@SuperChurch.com
There are other parts of our vision that we will be sharing in due time.
Thank you again for the opportunity to serve your church.
