Longevity was modeled for me by my father. Dad was a Youth Pastor for over 30 years and I saw in his life many, many times the benefit of staying in one area for a long time and maintaining relationships that moved from youth group through college and into adulthood. He even noted to me at times that it takes a long time for good things to happen. Looking back I think I gathered from him that longevity is the living out of the reality that things happen on God's time schedule.
For 11 years I literally stood in the same spot in my city. I was in the Dimond Center Mall basically everyday for 13 years and for 11 of those I was in Parachutes Teen Club and Resource Center. The benefit of that long term dedication to a location and a population (in this case high-risk and street-involved teens) is that I have the privilege of knowing a bunch of teens and young adults I would have never known had I only stayed for the 18 months to two years that most remain in a Youth Ministry position. I've seen the value of longevity in my life as it has opened the door to relationships and transformation. Often the youth we serve don't divulge to the realities of their lives and needs till years have passed.
I don't write this from the position of someone who has this figured out, is blowing his own horn, or is pointing the finger at those that have left ministry positions after short periods of time. Longevity is something I am still learning. I often think about moving on. I have gone through long periods of time where I have begged God to give me something else to do or a new place to be. But I think God is teaching me that there is power in not moving.
I'd already been thinking about this topic for a couple of days when yesterday I read When Risking it All for God Means Staying Where You Are. In that article the author writes:
"I can say that the risks I’ve taken to follow
God have come in many forms and actions. I’ve quit a job and moved to another
state to pursue a calling to ministry by going to seminary. I’ve stayed put in
a place during a very difficult time when it would have been easier to go—and
now look back to see the fruit God was bearing. I’ve jumped for the sake of
“taking a risk for God” and found that I was really just following my own
desire to be somebody—and landed flat on my face. I’ve stayed in a place when,
looking back, it was clear God wanted me to move on—but I was too scared to do
so. In any case, God used my decision, my risk, my going and staying, and I
learned something through it, something about myself, something about
Him."
I agree that there are lots of risks we can take
for God, but we don't often see those that stay put and stay steady as risking
anything. We want to see risk takers in life and in ministry, but how
often do we applaud those that embed in a place, with a people, and stay
for a long time? What if we started to see longevity, not as an
abnormality or oddity, but as one of the options for how we live a risky life
of following Jesus? What if we see both Paul's approach to ministry
(moving from city to city traveling and taking risks - the action packed
stories that fill the Book of Acts) and Phillip's approach to ministry (staying
in Caesarea teaching his four daughters to be prophets and barely being
mentioned in the book of Acts {21:8&9}) as valid?
Mike Yaconelli once wrote an article titled
"Getting fired for the glory of God," can we also stay put for
the glory of God?
Joel K
"Got to get behind the Mule
In
the morning and plow
Got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow...
Pin your ear to the wisdom post
Pin your eye to
the line
Never let the weeds get higher
than the garden
Always keep a sapphire
in your mind
Always keep a diamond in your mind...
Got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
Got
to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow..."
~ Tom Waits Get Behind The Mule
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