What Is Your Passion For?

For the past few weeks or maybe even months, it seems as if God has been talking to me about what my passion in ministry is about.  I felt the call to serve our awesome God in full-time vocation the summer before I entered my senior year of high school.  From that time to the present, I have had a strong passion about student ministry.  I have always loved working with teenagers and their families to see God do great things.

I guess where it all began to change was when I listened to a chapel service from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary when Vance Pittman (senior pastor of Hope Baptist Church in Las Vegas) spoke.  You can see the chapel service by clicking here.  He said something about as ministers of the Gospel, we should have a passion for a people/city, not a position.  This seemed like one of those "duh" statements at first, but something began to churn within me.  It seems like once every day or so, I'm hearing this same thought again: "have a burden for a people/city, not a position."

What was my passion for?  Student ministry?  Pastorate?  Church Planter?  Missionary?  All of these things are good and callings of God... but are they truly what God is calling us to have a passion for?  Or is God calling us to have a passion for a people/city?  When you have a burden/passion/whatever you want to name it for a people, the title that you have or the role that you carry on a business card really doesn't matter. You just focus on seeing those people you are burdened for come to know Jesus better.

The Apostle Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 26:17-18).  He wasn't called to hold an office or position.  He was called and set apart to reach out to a group of people who were far from God (Gentiles).  This is what we are to be for the lost and dying world that we find all around us.  An ambassador... a representative... a disciple of our Lord Jesus.  Is our passion in being a pastor/student pastor/speaker/church planter or is it in seeing people come to faith in Jesus Christ?