Day 1 of 365: Goodbye To (Some) Dreams

 

Dreams, we all have them. They can be life aspirations (dream job, vacation destination, etc.) or dreams pertaining to a person's vocation. Regardless, when that dream does not come to pass and dies, I believe an awakening of sorts happens. Allow me to explain as I kick off another 365 days of blogs. Keep in mind…many have dreams that pertain to their job. A pastor is no different. Allow me to share my story.

When I was 22 years old and entered my first staff position as a youth pastor I had two great aspirations. One was to be the best youth pastor I could be. It didn’t matter what other youth pastors were doing. I wanted to be the best that I could be for this group of teenagers in Bay View which is the south side of Milwaukee, WI. Second, that maybe someone might take notice and I could speak into other youth pastors lives that did not take the traditional route of going away to Bible college in order to do so. 

Looking back on those great years as a youth pastor, I can say I did my very best with what God gave me. We saw a youth group grow from 15 to 80+ in a church of maybe 80 people. Though my desire was great to be a sectional youth rep. (It’s an Assemblies of God thing) there to I was passed up a couple of times. Perhaps it was due to the size of the church or the fact that I was not one of the boys (graduate) from the area A/G university. Regardless…per capita we had the largest youth program. It was once said a youth group should be approximately 10% of the church size. You do the math.

One other great aspiration of mine…and my mom’s by the way was to be invited to speak at the church I grew up at. I figured since I went into full time ministry that this might happen. I have seen others come and go to minister in the church but that never did happen. It was always exciting as a young man to see others that left the church to take a ministerial position elsewhere to stop in on occasion and minister. The lack of invitation however drove into me a desire to not be that way. That if I had a kid(s) from my youth program or church end up in full time ministry…the door would be open for them to come back and share a message. 

I can honestly say those dreams have died. Not even a desire anymore namely because one, I am not a youth pastor any more. Second, my mom has since passed away and it would have brought such joy for her to see her son preach in the church her mom (my grandma) helped start.

While being a youth pastor there were a couple of opportunities afforded to me to teach a course called “How to run a ministry on a shoestring budget”. It wasn't until after I left the youth ministry that more opportunities were afforded to me from outside of the group I am affiliated with. 

In this blog you will read many stories from my past. It will be brutally honest but I hope insightful as well. Being a pastor is not for the weak but rather for those that can sustain. You will read about my thoughts on MANY different subjects. You might stick with me through it all or you might bail. Either way I will press on and see where this goes.

Thank you for taking the time to read my musings. See you tomorrow!