My Worst/Best Day in Ministry

By Doug Franklin January 18, 2011

My worst/best day in ministry was many years ago but I think about it often. The day sticks with me not because the things people said to me but because of what God said to me. I was working with a great group of students and parents at a growing church and for the most part I had very little conflict in the ministry. My numbers were high and my expenses were at budget, a good combination for a youth pastor. Even with the smooth sailing, God had been speaking to my heart and pushing me to leave. I couldn’t see what he saw, which was a young sr. pastor who going to make lots of mistakes. Following God’s leading I went to the church and said I was going to leave in six months and that  I would help them find a good replacement. They took my resignation happily. A few weeks after the announcement a couple of  elders and the pastors asked to have breakfast with me.  They had a problem with my leadership style; they thought I was too focused on being right and did not leave enough room for other people’s thinking. They were right, so I listened closely and accepted their insight. Then they went on to tell me how I was a good second man and would always be a second man and that was OK, I just needed to accept the fact that I was a #2 man and stop trying to to be a leader. I was shaken for all my life people had told me I was a leader. I enjoyed leadership and had made it the center of my youth ministry. Now the people I looked up to were telling me just the opposite. I remember standing outside the restaurant and asking God, is this right? He responded with, “no why did you think I led you to leave?”

I know many of you in ministry are facing tough days. You have questioned why you’re in ministry and why you’re in the place God has you. All I know is what I have learned from walking with God. He is there and he has got your back. You may not know how he is going to come through but I know he is with you.