“I want to do what you do.”
Over the last ten years,this is the phrase that has been uttered to me the most from youth pastors and volunteers all over the country. In case you are wondering all that what I do entails, here are some examples:
- Eat subpar cafeteria dining on a weekly basis
- Run my middle-aged body all over an ultimate frisbee field
- Shoot 13% from inside the paint during pick-up basketball games with people half my age
- Travel with a sleeping bag in my trunk just in case the youth pastor forgot that I was coming
Everybody loves the stage. Anybody who God calls to preach relishes in the opportunity to stand in front of a group of people and direct them towards God. However, counting the cost of that means that you realize the days away from your family and friends. To do itinerant work means that the entire family buys into the mission. For every fun aspect of doing this, there are numerous difficulties that no one considers.
However, that is all just peripheral. The main thing that I desire to do-the thing that matters the most each time I sign up for an event-is walk through Scripture and show the Jesus is present on every page. I pray that the God that I worship will be more to the hearer than just ink on paper. I pray that, in spite of me, the Holy Spirit will allow believers to understand the call of Christ on their lives through what has been to revealed to us in the Word. I ask God to draw unbelievers to Himself by revealing Himself in the Bible. I want to see men and women see God in more than just the general sense and believe that is done by showing Him alive in the Word and the world. I want His name to be made great in mission because the entire Bible declares that to be the purpose of mission.
In 2005, I sat down with Ed Newton and we talked through a future where we groomed men to preach the Bible verse by verse. Regardless of scale, we want youth groups, churches, assemblies, and conferences to be full of men who want to show Jesus in the text. We started Youth Evangelism Summit in 2011 with Mac Cockrell and have developed a network of accountability with the hopes of developing Christ-centered Bible communicators. After much prayer and consideration, we have rebranded this as “Clear” because we want the Bible to be preached with clarity. If you feel called to preach, join us on May 7-8 in Orlando and become part of the Clear Network. If those dates do not work please be looking for future gatherings. For information, please email me at: chad@chadpoe.com.
Chad
