God Does Not Call the Qualified, He Qualifies the Called

I spent the next several months after the youth mission trip to Mobile Alabama debating with God.  He was calling me to youth ministry and I was trying to convince Him that I was the wrong guy.  I promise I had more excuses that Moses’ ever dreamed of having.  At times, I would think to myself; “I can do this.  All I need to do is be more like this youth pastor or that youth pastor.”  I was always looking at the ministries of other pastors trying to figure out how I could mimic their gifts, talents, abilities, and methods.  However, I would always come to the same conclusion; I cannot be that person.  Then I would say to God "see I told you so."

Sunday February 14, 2010 is the day it all came to a head between God and I.  I was sitting in the front pew of the church waiting for the morning services to start.  Everything seemed routine and normal; there was nothing out of the ordinary.  All of the sudden I began to hear in an audible voice "Are you, or are you not going to surrender to ministry?"  I know it was not an audible voice that others could hear, neither was it an audible voice I heard in my own ears.  It was however an audible voice I could hear coming from within my soul.  I cannot explain it, but I just know it was audible and it came from my heart not my head.  I tried to tune the voice out and ignore it, but I could not. 

Worship music started and I began to sing.  The louder I sang the louder the voice inside my soul spoke.  Again I tried ignoring it, but I could not.  My heart began to pound in my chest and my voice began to quiver as I was singing.  It got so bad I could not sing any more.  When I could no longer sing and all I could do was listen, the music began to fade. Then, God said something different.  I heard this; "The answer is either yes or no.  If yes, I will do great things in and through you.  If no, I will be finished with you and I will ask no more."  Immediately tears began to stream from my eyes and I said "yes!" 

After saying "yes!" to God, I walked over to our pastor Brother Steve.  The worship music was still playing but that did not stop me.  I told him I was surrendering my life to ministry.  Brother Steve smiled, patted me on the back and said, "It's about time."  At the end of the service, I went before the church and made my profession of commitment to ministry public.  I never felt so excited about my faith before than like I did that day.  God was not looking at my qualifications all He wanted from me was a simple yes.   Yes meant that I would surrender all my trust upon Him.  He would do the qualifying for His calling on my life. 

The excuses I had were all about me and not about what God could do.  Ministry should never ever be about the pastor or leader; it should always be about God.   God created us in His image and we try to recreate God in our image when we try to justify God by our qualifications.  How sinfully wrong we are in this thought process.  God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called.  Therefore any ministry built apart from God’s qualifying abilities is a failed ministry.  May I go as far as saying that any ministry built apart from the qualifications of the living God amount to nothing more than idolatry. 

The picture is CHAGY the Clown ministering and sharing the gospel with some kids in Nicaragua.  If you know anything about clowns, they can act pretty foolish.  CHAGY is one of the most God qualified evangelists I know.  

I Corinthians 1:25-31 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. 26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

May my life be the proof and evidence of Christ’s love!

Shutting God Down, How Dare You

Years ago a good friend from college contacted me. He was on the board of directors for the local Christian radio station, KCMH radio. My name had apparently come up in a meeting as a candidate for becoming a board member. I was somewhat shocked; I never thought I would be considered for such an admirable position. I went to the next board meeting where I was officially nominated, and then unanimously elected to serve on the board.

My obligations were necessary but minimal to the radio station. The Board would meet once per month and go over budgets, projections, scheduling, programming, and other general business issues. It was a great opportunity and an honor to serve our local community in ensuring that our Christian radio station was meeting the needs of the community and that they were maintaining good stewardship of what God had given them. To this very day, KCMH is a top-notch local Christian radio station.

In November of every year, KCMH hosts an annual dinner. All the board members are invited along with all the sponsors. The first dinner I attended my wife and I sat by some friends of ours Larry and Pat. After dinner, Pat asked me "Bill, have you ever thought about going into children's or youth ministry?" Without hesitation I replied, "No not really, I don't see God using me that way."

After my quick response of "no", Carri gave me the look. You know the look your wife can give you that immediately sends the message, "you are in trouble, I am not happy with you." The one that sends chills of fear and trembling down your spine because you have no idea what you did wrong, but it must have been bad. The "you are goanna sleep in the doghouse look ", that is the look I got.

In the car on the way home from the annual meeting, Carri did not say a word for several minutes. Then I just had to ask, "What did I do, I didn't do anything wrong." "Oh really, nothing wrong, is that what you think?" "Yea, that is what I know, not think." Then Carri said, "Let me tell you what I know. You shut God down, why would you shut God down?" I asked, "How did I shut God down?" Then Carri said this, "by immediately saying no to God using you in ministry. Maybe God wants to use you in ministry. You could have said, If God calls me then yes, I would. But you did not and instead you just simply shut it down and said no." In a half mad and half-encouraging voice Carri then said, "Bill, you have a voice. You have a story that God wants to use and people need to hear it. If God calls you to ministry, you better do it."

This was not the first time I had shut God down. A couple years earlier, I did it at church camp. I was the group leader for our church. I had been leading our kids with bible study, and church group times throughout the week. One of our older saints, Mrs. Ramona was helping us that week. Mrs. Ramona said this to me one day, "Bill, you are really good with these kids, have you ever thought about going into children's or youth ministry?" I am sure my answer was the same as it was at the dinner, "No, I don’t see God using me that way." Whatever I said, I know it was a "no."

Why did I always shut down the idea of God using me in ministry? Because I believed, I was not good enough. In my mind, if God was going to use you it is because you were qualified and good enough. Boy was I wrong.


The picture is me ministering to some kids in St. Louis Missouri during an MFUGE mission trip with a group of our Youth


I Corinthians I:27-29 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.

May my life be the proof and evidence of Christ's love!