By Doug Beutler
During COVID-19 I heard a lot of pastors ask this question, “Does God still Call People to Ministry”. Times were tough and they still are for many in the church. Many pastors have given up on the ministry, given up on their call, and given up on the church. What we need to remember is that our calling from God is what helps us to survive the hard times. I know I need to remind myself of this constantly.
The Apostle Paul remembered His calling when he faced so many challenges as he traveled the world to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.” (Acts 13:2-3 NIV) That memory must have flashed through Paul’s mind hundreds, if not thousands, of times whether he was in a synagogue, in jail, or in the marketplace.
I still remember vividly in 1980 at First Missionary Church Pastor Mark Klinepeter asked people to come forward if they felt the “Call” on their lives to go into full-time ministry. My fiancé at the time, who later became my wife, walked to the front of the church with me to give our lives to God and to go wherever He called us to go. Looking back it has been quite a road with stops in Van Wert, Ohio, Goshen, Indiana, and Ft. Wayne, Indiana. I have served in YFC, Lifeline Youth and Family Services, and the church. I have had the privilege of ministering in Campus Life clubs and youth groups of 100’s, churches in the 1,000’s, and now for the past 27 years pastoring in churches under 100.
There are 3 things I have learned about a calling from God:
1) The Location can be different but the calling is the same!
God has called people to serve Him. He has called pastors to lead their flocks. Sometimes it’s in our hometowns and sometimes it’s in places we have never heard of. Sometimes it’s in a living room of 20 or a large auditorium of thousands. God leads us to places that He wants us to be. The details are different but the call is the same. I remember moving to Van Wert, Ohio a real small town to serve as a Campus Life Director. It was my first ministry job. It was a great learning time, ministry time, and God moved in that area. After a few years I felt the tug on my heart that God had something else for me. So I moved my family to Goshen, Indiana to serve as a Campus Life Director there. The club I was assigned to was a small group and when I arrived they were struggling with their past director being gone. I sat down with the kids and told them about what I wanted to see happen with the club. I called them to help me impact their school for Christ. They were extremely excited and went out and impacted their school the next few years I was there. I have been called to serve God in ministry and I have experienced that call in various locations and contexts. I have learned that the context can be different, the location can be different, but my calling has always been the same. This is what keeps me going through the difficult times.
2) Faithfulness to God is the key to fulfilling His calling!
There have been times when everything I tried went wrong and there have been times when everything I touched went right. I have experienced people knowing my name and wanting my advice and I have experienced no one knowing who I am or cared about my advice. All that activity is just outside noise. I have tried to be faithful to what God has called me to regardless of what is being said or not said. No matter what is happening in my life and ministry, whether it is good or bad, I need to be faithful to God first. This focus has been the key for me. I remember a season of ministry where everything was going wrong. Everything I tried failed. I lost my confidence and people in my church were losing confidence in me. People were asking me, “What are you doing wrong?” The answer…”NOTHING”. I wasn’t doing anything wrong. God was teaching me a very important lesson. He was teaching me to be consistent in loving people and being faithful to God. I have learned that the outcomes of ministry are up to God, they are out of my control. My job is to remain faithful to what God has called me to.
3) God is always on the move so keep up with where he is going!
A couple of years ago I thought that my ministry may be coming to a close. I was in my early 60’s and as I looked to the end of my ministry I was happy with what God had done through me. But I remember clearly last year that I felt God was saying to me, “I am not done with you yet. Retirement is not an option for you right now.” I was surprised. I was like “God what do you want me to do next”. I felt like He was saying to me, “Be patient and I will show you.” In the spring of 2024 my wife and I had a very unique spiritual experience where we both felt the leading of the Holy Spirit to minister to small churches and their pastors while remaining at LifeWater. That led us to start Seeds of Change and gave us eyes to see the amazing disciple making that had been happening in our church. We began to see the impact that our church was having in our community. We began to see the impact that our church was having in making disciples. We began to see the multiplication in disciple-making to the 3rd and 4th generation that was taking place. We began to see the relationships that our people were making with people in and outside of our church. It was like God was saying “I am moving this way…Keep up!!”
I am excited about what God is doing in my life, in my family, and in my church. I am excited about where God is going and I desperately want to stay up with Him. Pastor, Youth Pastor, Children’s Pastor, Church Planter, leader, volunteer, you can have this same excitement and connection with God. Is God calling you to ministry? Is God calling you to be a pastor? Is God calling you to Go Make Disciples?
We had our church leadership retreat recently and in this retreat I had our leaders go and spend some time in prayer for what God was calling us to do. One of our young leaders later told me, “I heard one word: ‘Go!’” God is calling this young man to go. I don’t know where that going will lead and neither does he. I don’t know when that going will take place and neither does he. I don’t know what going means and neither does he. But what this young man needs to remember is that God knows. Let me encourage you to remember the location can be different but the calling is the same, faithfulness to God is the key to fulfilling His calling in your life, and God is always on the move so keep up with where he is going.
