You Aren't Going Anywhere

In October of 2003, I packed up everything I owned into a U-Haul, put my 1996 Nissan Maxima on a car hauler, and drove 6 hours north to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to start a new adventure as the Student Minister at First Christian Church. I had just wrapped up a four-year stint as the Youth and Children’s Minister at Indian Creek Christian Church in Cynthiana, KY, and was ready for what was to come. Well, I thought I was ready, but what I was about to face almost ended my career as a minister.

This new church was almost three times the size of the church where I had just spent the last several years, but the youth ministry was only about 7 or 8 kids larger than the youth group in Cynthiana. It was the one ministry that was failing. When I arrived, I was given a hero’s welcome and was immediately whisked off to meet with the youth leaders who had been keeping the ship afloat for the last several months. They were a great group of people, and I felt grateful that I wouldn’t have to figure this out on my own. We had a team. Unfortunately, there was something going on under the surface that threatened to take everything down.

The more I met with people, the more I started to realize that very few in the church shared common beliefs on several key theological issues; the authority of Scripture, the role of baptism, and even the Trinity. Everything came to a head when I was meeting with a young lady about baptism, and her mother didn’t like what I was telling her daughter. We were, quite literally, reading Acts 2:38, and I was having her daughter recite back to me what that scripture said. She ended up taking her daughter and leaving my office. What I didn’t know was about to happen was that she then contacted several other parents and key youth leaders to talk about my false teaching. Over the course of the next several weeks, dozens of emails, and closed-door meetings, our church, not just my youth ministry, had a full-on split….and I was at the center of it. 

Needless to say, I was ready to be done at this point. I was just tired; tired of fighting, tired of disappointment, and tired of feeling like a failure. I had already contacted a friend back in Lexington, KY, about getting an apartment and was in negotiations for a graphic arts job. Ministry, as far as I was concerned, was going to become a very unhappy part of my past. In January of 2004, I set up a meeting with my Sr. Minister, Brian Henry, to discuss my exit plans and apologize for hurting the church. I wasn’t ready for the response I got.

“You aren’t going anywhere.” Those words were the first thing Brian Henry said to me after I told him my plans. “John,” he said, “You didn’t do this. I did.” What I really didn’t understand at the time was that the church had seen tremendous growth over the course of the last few years, due mostly to a move to a new building just off the interstate after being downtown for decades. After that move, people from all different denominations and belief systems began coming to the church and they brought those beliefs with them, even if they didn’t match up with the beliefs of FCC. One lady even told me she loved the church there because they didn’t actually force what they believed on everyone. You could believe what you wanted. Brian told me that HE had made the mistake of not teaching what the church believed on key topics like baptism and that I had actually done what I should have. He told me I wasn’t in the wrong, he was. To this day, I’ve never seen a leader with so much humility in my life. His example, to this day, has been an encouragement to me in ministry to face up to things when I am at fault.

Over the next four years, Brian discipled me. He took the time to show me what a minister looks like. I was included in meetings where we shaped what the foundational beliefs of our church were going to be. I was given authority that I had never experienced in ministry before. Brian trusted me. Over the next few years, a youth ministry that started out with 72 kids, dropped to 45 kids, then rose to over 140 kids found its footing. Several students went into full-time ministry, and others are heavily involved in the church today. None of that would’ve been possible if not for the humble discipleship of Brian Henry. 

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
James 1:2–4

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:1

Discipleship takes work. One of the most important aspects of discipleship is the character of the discipler. If you want to disciple someone, you have to take inventory of WHO you are. Am I humble? Do I display the Fruit of the Spirit? How much time do I take for prayer, fasting, and scripture reading? One thing is for certain. The disciple will take on the characteristics of the person discipling them. If you are patient, that will grow in the disciple. If you are humble, that will become apparent in the person you are discipling. If you are steadfast, the disciple will understand that we work through hard times and we don’t give up. That was the greatest lesson Brian Henry taught me. When the rubber meets the road and there’s friction, don’t run. Stay. 

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
2 Timothy 1:6–7

Brian knew that my calling was in ministry, not graphic art. He knew, as a young minister, I needed someone to pour into my life and show me how to be the type of disciple that I needed to be. Are you that person for someone else, or are you the person who needs poured into? Either way, stay steadfast, God has a plan for you. Don’t back out. In the words of Brian Henry, “You aren’t going anywhere.”