A couple of days ago, I had an amazing and humbling experience to be on the opposite end of an intern Q&A. Our church has 5 amazing interns from Liberty Univ. this summer, and they are all anxious to learn. Every week, they have an opportunity to interview a pastor. I am not a pastor….but my boss/Student Pastor was the man of the hour, and decided to pull my co-worker and I into the mix. I’ve never really been a part of something like that. Yes, I’ve had many conversations where people asked questions or advice of me, but never an outright Q&A panel. These interns asked some amazing questions: what’s the toughest part of ministry? Who inspires you? How has your background effected your ministry? My favorite question, by far was simple: what advice do you have for a newbie in ministry? I love this question because it is so honest and simple. They are basically saying, “I know nothing, I want to know tons, how do I start? What mistakes can I avoid?”
In my time in ministry, I’ve been surrounded by amazing mentors; people who care about me and see potential in me. I was lucky enough to learn from so many brilliant men and women, and be warned of so many newbie mistakes that it was nice in the moment to pay it forward. There is so much you can say to answer this question, but I broke it down to three simple things:
Protect your relationship with Christ. I know that is a little weird/obvious/dumb. But to be honest, working at a church is one of the worst things that have ever happened to my relationship with Christ. It is so easy to get caught up in serving, praying, and reading because it is your job. But in the meantime, when you only do those things because it is to get the job done, you are not building a relationship, you are building a resume. As ministry leaders, we need to be teaching out of the overflow of what God is teaching us. Your relationship with Christ is more important than your calling, so protect it!
Remember you are just a servant. I have never met someone starting out in ministry who lacked a servant’s heart. Unfortunately, I have met ministry leaders who have been in the game that have seemingly lost their heart to serve. We are all just servants, following the example of our King. As a leader in ministry, you should never loose touch of your servant’s heart, it is honest and pure and honors God. No one, not a pastor or deacon or director, is ever too good to stack chairs or clean poop off the floor or take out garbage. We are all servants, blessed with the opportunity to share the love and truth of Christ. Title does not dictate the things we cannot do, it displays the things we get to do.
Make yourself irreplaceable. One of the biggest lessons interns need to learn is to take initiative. This does not mean going above the head of your leader, but it does mean taking a project and owning it. When I first became an intern, my mentor told me to make myself irreplaceable. I haven’t forgotten that advice. As someone starting out in ministry, if you are not needed, you are not doing your job. So choose to take initiative, find something that needs improvement and own it. Find an area that has no leadership, and lead it. Find a project that has been neglected and give it value. This is not about job security, this is about improving your ministry to the best of your ability. The important thing to remember, however, is that you are always replaceable. It is important to build up your ministry, make it amazing, make yourself irreplaceable, and then replace yourself. That is a true leader.
None of these are things that I have mastered the art of. Instead, they are constant reminders to me as a young leader. They are things that I have excelled at, struggled with, and fought through multiple times. Just my thoughts, my experiences, and my lessons learned (often the hard way).
