Personal Mission Statement

If I wrote this paper 20 years ago while I was attending North Central Bible College, my thoughts on what I believed was the personal call on my life and of my plans for ministry after college would have created an essay that is significantly different than what I am writing here. My interpretation of a calling was probably like most of the students that attended NCBC, that it is a divine mission placed on your life, meaning that your life is dedicated to the furthering of the Gospel through the means of full-time career minded ministry. As a very typical Assembly of God church attendee that grew up in the church, my understanding was that this calling would take on the form of a staff pastor at a local Assembly of God church, such as a children's, youth, music, associate, or a senior pastor. At that time I believed that I would eventually become the senior pastor at an Assembly of God church. Although many ascribe to this interpretation, and I thank God everyday for those that have that calling, I now believe that my interpretation is no longer defined that narrow. Simply, I no longer believe that my personal calling is for fulltime pastoral ministry. The journey I took that lead me to realize this fact was initially very exciting, but quickly turned into a very disappointing one and has been a source of much discouragement and insecurity over the years. Only within the past 10 years or so have I discovered and accepted the true calling that God placed on my life.

My early understandings of what I believed was my calling to ministry started with a question when I was thirteen years old. I was attending a youth gathering at our newly hired senior pastor's home when he questioned if anyone thought about or planned on enter...

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...m going to be a pastor, but I will not say never. I am focused on my family and my secular management career now, and my immediate plans are to finish my bachelor's degree and then pursue a MBA degree. This degree may provide me some ministry opportunities in a business sense in the future, but I will leave that to God to show me those opportunities.

My personal mission statement is as follows: To ever pursue the knowledge of God and of His grace and mercy, to be a Godly husband and father, to love my wife and children unconditionally, to adequately provide for my family, to be honest and ethical in all personal and business situations, to embrace who I am and not become who another thinks I should be, to resist negativity and negative company, to be ever increasingly sensitive to the plight of my fellow man, and to deeply care for all who I come in contact with.