As college ministers you may find yourself continuously fearing to take risks in your ministry or trying to please everyone in your ministry instead of resting in the peace of God and fearing only Him.  Guy Chmieleski recently wrote the following blog about fear and its place in the minister's life.  I hope the article is as encouraging to y'all as it was for me.

This article originally appeared on Faith on Campus' Blog on October 12, 2011

What are you afraid of?

Fear can be one of the most crippling ailments that can befall a leader.

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? (Luke 12:25)

How is fear going to help you?

Fear is not always sin, but what will you do with it?

Fear can manifest itself in a number of ways.

Who are you afraid of?

It shouldn’t be anyone but God.

When you fear someone you cannot love them.

Fear of man will prove to be a snare,
but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe. (Prov. 29:25)

Who are you in awe of? Who has too much influence in your life?

Do you bend to peer pressure?

Are you a people-pleaser?

Are you functioning as a co-dependent.

These are all different manifestations of fear.

And one of the things we fear the most… criticism.

Why?

Because criticism today is:

1.    -   instant
2.    -   constant
3.    -   global and
4.    -   permanent? (Rick Warren)
5. 
   

But fear is not how we’ve been called, as a people of God, to live!

Fear is vision, without hope.

Fear is not always rational, but it is powerful.

Fear is about not getting what we want.

Fear preaches a false gospel. A false hell. False heaven.  And a false savior.

Fear turns us into false prophets.

The answer to fear is — Fear Not!

This is the most frequently listed commandment in the Bible.

It’s an invitation.

God usually says it to a leader. He’ saying, “I will be present with you, I will be near.”

God keeps saying this because we keep forgetting.

As we lead, God doesn’t say:

“Here’s what you need to know,” but

“Here I am.”

Time and time again in the Bible we see God showing up to be near those He calls and loves.

Jesus, at the end of his life, says to his disciples,

“I will be with you always… to the end.”

Everything may not be OK.

But God is (more than) OK with us, so we will be OK.

What are  you afraid of?

For those of you who don't know, we are holding an event on October 22-23 at Southcliff Baptist Church called mi-eXchange. The video below is our promo video and I thought it would be helpful for me to let you guys know what the event is all about.  We provide training for young adults (college students and young singles) to engage various peoples and religious groups found in the DFW metroplex, but also across the globe. 

Specifically we will focus on Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims and train young adults to engage in conversations with these various religious groups. We provide various training tracts based on your experience with these groups as well as your level of comfort.  At the conclusion of our training young adults across the metroplex and surrounding areas will visit local temples and mosques to converse with the people there.  The ultimate goal for mi-eXchange is to get young adults comfortable in engaging different world religions so that eventually they can share the Good News of Jesus Christ with these religions.  For more information on how to register for mi-exchange visit: sbtexas.com/miexchange

Mi-eXchange 2011 from Lance Crowell on Vimeo.

Kenneth Priest's webinar on October 3rd titled Bonsai Theory: Reaching your Full Potential in Ministry is available for download through our SugarSync account.  

The link to obtain the download is as follows: Kenneth Priest Webinar 

Join us this morning at 10:30 am to hear Kenneth Priest, Church Ministries Associate SBTC, talk through some of the basic things that become barriers to growing a ministry.  This is the stuff that no one will tell you but if you don't know it, you will never grow like you should.

Many collegiate ministries, without knowing it, function with barriers which virtually assure they will not grow to their potential.  If we can remove these barriers, the ministry will grow in a supernatural way and naturally proportionate manner as God has intended it to.  Bonsai Theory provides some basic tools to help ANY ministry break through these barriers.

We hope you can make it for the webinar.  For more information on how to attend the webinar please visit www.collegiate-ministry.com/webinars

Join us Monday Morning at 10:30 am to hear Kenneth Priest, Church Ministries Associate SBTC, talk through some of the basic things that become barriers to growing a ministry.  This is the stuff that no one will tell you but if you don't know it, you will never grow like you should.

Many collegiate ministries, without knowing it, function with barriers which virtually assure they will not grow to their potential.  If we can remove these barriers, the ministry will grow in a supernatural way and naturally proportionate manner as God has intended it to.  Bonsai Theory provides some basic tools to help ANY ministry break through these barriers.

We hope you can make it for the webinar.  For more information on how to attend the webinar please visit www.collegiate-ministry.com/webinars