Where keeps you up at night?

I was once asked a question that has stuck with me, and will stick with me for the whole time I am in ministry. No matter what I am doing, whether it is youth or just cleaning a church. The question, I think is one that is vital for being to driven to work hard and work efficiently.  Without this question, I don’t know how heart you have for where you are serving.

What keeps you up at night?

Simple, but the answers can be limitless. I was asked this question by my youth minister when I was a junior in high school. I was going to CIY in Gettysburg PA. As we taking the 8 hour drive to the “Burg” my youth minister and I were talking a lot about ministry. Around this same time I was confronted by someone I have never met before who worked in the mid west. I used to host the services that our youth would put on sunday mornings, and he came up to me and said ” when you were on the stage every eye was on you, thats a gift.” I’ll be honest, I didn’t really care or really notice what he was saying because as a junior in high school, I didn’t know him so I didn’t really care, unfortunately. So when John, my youth minister and I were talking about ministry, I asked him how he knew he was supposed to do youth ministry. He answered “what keeps you up at night? For me, it was when I couldn’t sleep because I was too worried about my friends down the street not knowing who Jesus was.”

What keeps you up at night? What is your heart hurting for?

When I told John that I was interested in youth ministry, he asked me this question: ” what is keeping you up at night? why do you want to go into ministry?”

My answer goes along the lines of, I know and have been through a lot in my youth. I will still go through a lot, and I will never have all the answers, but if i can dedicate my life to helping students learn how to navigate through the crap that life will throw at them, and focus on God in the forefront of their minds, then that is what I want to do.

The Great Commission is a task set before us by Jesus to go and make disciples of every nation on earth. I think the next step of that is to know where you need to be serving. Some will have talents and gifts to work with kids, some with students, some with adults, some may not be people persons’ but they are amazing builders, or accountants, or writers. It doesn’t matter how or with whom or when you are accomplishing this commission, the only thing that matters is that you are fulfilling it.

Where are you hurting? What keeps you up at night?

Look at Ephesians 3.

Set your minds on the things ABOVE, and not the earthly things.

You USED TO walk in these ways in the life you ONCE lived.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your lives.

What keeps you up at night?

For me, it is the youth of Northwest Indiana, and youth in general. I want to fulfill this mission, this commission that we have received from Jesus Christ by connecting and guiding students to a life fully devoted to follow Jesus and his path for their lives.

What keeps you up at night?