I was around 10 years old when this picture of my siblings and I was taken, and little did I know then what all God had in store for my life and ministry. One that is still taking shape and unfolding even as I type...
I was recently contacted by an awesome young lady who used to be a student in my youth group back from the days when I ministered in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She is now enrolled at a Bible college, and one of her assignments was to ask a few people that she knew in vocational ministry their story of being called into ministry.
As I sat down to write my response to her question, I thought that it could be a helpful teaching tool for you as you assess God's calling on YOUR life and ministry too. I have copied below my response to her (in dark green), but below that, I'd like to share a bit more of my thoughts and encouragement to you for your life and kingdom ministry that the Bible says ALL believers are called to participate in.
What I've written below is definitely the short, but true story, and I can take zero credit for any of it. May the Lord Himself continue writing the story of my life and ministry 🙏🏼
I remember being a little kid (around 5 years old), and I loved God so much and would talk to him throughout my whole day. I have always been working to maintain or get back that “child-like” faith that I had as an actual child. I remember sharing my faith in Jesus with friends at school starting from when I was in 2nd grade and on. I was baptized when I was 14, and I was baptizing others by the time I was 16. Looking back, the calling on my life into ministry has always been there, but it took me a lot longer to begin discerning what that truly meant for my life.
Throughout middle school and high school, I thought that I would grow up to be a school teacher so that I could have my summers off and pour my time into youth ministry. My parents had gone through a divorce, and God used it to deepen my faith even further, but it also took my mind away from the thought of doing ministry as a vocation. It wasn’t until I was starting my sophomore year at a Christian University that God began to give me more clarity on how that calling into ministry might look.
In college, I was in a Christian singing group that traveled all around the Eastern half of the United States, and we sang and talked about Jesus wherever we went. It was a ministry that was rich and full of opportunities to minister to all kinds of people and ages. I loved it, and ministry was all that I could think about and all that I wanted to spend any free time or opportunity doing.
One day, a professor pulled me aside after class. He asked me, “What keeps you from switching from an education major to a Bible major?” I had never thought of this question or considered it as an option, but my heart leapt at the thought of pouring my full-time energy into direct ministry (it still does). I took his words seriously, as if it could have been a word from the Lord, and I began praying more specifically about this decision in front of me. Ultimately, through no miraculous signs or wonders, I felt a deep peace and clarity about switching my major and accepting the call into ministry.
Every believer is called into ministry (Matthew 28:19-20; Ephesians 2:10; Ephesians 4:11-13; Hebrews 13:20-21; 1 Peter 2:4-5+9-10), but there are some, either for their entire life or for a specific portion of their life, that they are called to fully devote their time and attention to ministry within the kingdom of God. Ministry can look so many different ways for different people. For me, it has included mission work over seas, music ministry, youth ministry, pulpit preaching, church planting, and now house church ministry as well as local and online missionary work through the ministry of “Better Equipped”.
My heart desires to stay fully devoted in full-time ministry, and I have been blessed to be able to do that over the last 15 years, but ministry is difficult from a financial stand point. You’re not selling a product. You’re not providing a service or doing it for the money at all, yet you still need to find a way to support the needs of the ministry and provide for your family. This has required much faith and trust in Jesus, while often feeling as though I am required to walk on water with Jesus. I don’t know if or how the Lord will provide for me to stay in full-time ministry throughout the future, but I still feel the calling to follow Jesus wherever He leads and to serve Him in any way that He allows. Deep down, this is the calling to ministry; not a job that pays an income, but a heart posture and desire to serve our Savior and others around you no matter the cost.
How does my story strike you in the midst of your story? For the believers reading, have you ever accepted the calling to ministry, or has that been strictly reserved for the paid professionals who have been called into full-time vocational ministry? Have you settled for simply being a stay at home mom, a hard working dad, a tough-as-nails working mother who still manages to keep things running in her household, a busy grandparent in retirement, or a student in school?
Can you personally envision yourself living out the implications of these verses below?
Matthew 28:19-20
"19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Ephesians 2:10
"10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Ephesians 4:11-13
"11 So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."
Hebrews 13:20-21
"20 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."
1 Peter 2:4-5+9-10
"4 As you come to Him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to Him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ...9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."
Ministry truly is far less about what you do (or a title), than it is about your heart posture toward God to allow Him to use anything and everything in your life as a service to Him and to those around you. Do you desire to be used by God for ministry to others? Have you cultivated a humble, servant heart toward the Lord and others? Healthy and effective ministry, regardless of your day job, flows entirely from your connectivity to the Lord and His truth. Personally, my favorite ways to stay deeply connected in communion with our Lord is through (but not limited to): prayer walks, reading/listening to the Bible, dialoguing faith topics with brothers and sisters, and podcasts/audio books on various topics of faith that I feel a need for specific growth in.
Please reach out if you need prayers or encouragement discerning what ministry needs to look like in your current season life and circumstance. I too am always trying to keep my heart fully available to the Lord and my ears acutely tuned to hear my Father's voice more clearly (I'll take your prayers in that too).
Cody Balch
.