After graduating college, there’s ministry things you can only learn through real life situations. Being in Austin taught me a few of those, but there were a lot of things I hadn’t learned yet. There is always more to learn and can only be learned in different seasons and different places. The next step of my journey would be in Charlotte, NC.
I moved to Charlotte on October 1st. This was something completely new for me. New city, new house, new church, new youth ministry, new boss. I headed to Charlotte through the recommendation of a mutual friend of myself and the Senior Pastor. I’ve learned in ministry, opportunities often come through relationships. If you want to be successful, continue to cultivate relationships. People are doors through which your journey will pass. Relationships with the right people can open doors you could never open on your own.
I pastored at World Worship Church working with Momentum Youth.
World Worship works with a lean staff, relying on key lay leaders to lead ministries. Through that structure, I learned valuable lessons in evangelism and outreach through lay leaders like Trip Critz.
World Worship is also very gifted in empowering business people to be examples of Christ in their workplace. That might seem simple, something every church does. Yes, every church should be emphasizing it and most churches do. But World Worship seemed to be special in their gifting for it. Many people I talked to on Sundays were incredibly successful in business and in the marketplace. Even with great success, they still knew it began with their faithfulness to Christ and World Worship Church.
With all the great successes I experienced there, learning valuable lessons, seeing youth saved, and building friendships that I still cherish today, one thing was for sure, I did not fit there. Does that mean I was wrong for going there? No. Were they wrong for hiring me? No. To find out where you do fit, you also have to find out where you do not fit.
The culture and DNA that I had in me was not the same they had in them. The way I was accustomed to doing ministry, the models and methods, were not the same that they were accustomed to. Is there a perfect “way” to do ministry? No. Everywhere is different, every pot has a lid. There were many times we didn’t see eye to eye, there were many times we did not agree. But no matter what, there were many lessons I learned there, that I could ONLY learn there and not anywhere else.
Sometimes you’re going to be in situations that you don’t understand and you don’t agree with how things should be done. That does not mean you need to REBEL to show how your way is right. Power and freedom come through submission. Submission to authority figures that you don’t even see eye to eye with. Only there will you learn what you need to learn and grow in areas you need to grow in.
To find out more about World Worship Church visit their website: www.worldworshipchurch.org
To find out more about their Senior Pastor on Twitter: @LloydBustard
David Urzi 