This Stinks

**Title:** The Reality of Ministry: It's Not Always Joyful

**Podcast Summary:**

In this episode of "Beyond the Mic with Mike," Mike Yates opens up about the often unspoken challenges of ministry. Mike candidly discusses how there are inevitable moments in every minister's life where the demands and responsibilities might not align with personal joy or fulfillment. His message is clear: it's normal not to love every aspect of your calling, and acknowledging this can lead to healthier ministry practices.

**Key Insights:**

1. **Ministry Challenges Are Normal:**
   Mike emphasizes that feeling overwhelmed or underappreciated is part of being in ministry. He assures listeners that such feelings don't indicate failure or a lack of faith, but are common experiences for anyone deeply involved in pastoral work or ministry.

2. **Separation of Personal and Professional Spiritual Life:**
   He advises ministers to maintain a distinction between their personal relationship with God and their professional roles within the church. Mike stresses the importance of not letting one's personal spirituality be solely defined by their ministerial duties, as this can lead to burnout and disillusionment.

3. **The Importance of Transparency:**
   Being open about the struggles one faces in ministry can foster a more authentic and supportive community. Mike encourages leaders to share their challenges with trusted colleagues or mentors, which can provide emotional relief and practical advice.

4. **Sustaining Passion and Commitment:**
   Mike discusses how to keep one's passion alive in the face of routine and adversity by reconnecting with the foundational reasons for choosing a life in ministry. He highlights the importance of regular personal reflection and maintaining a strong, personal connection with God.

**Conclusion:**

Mike Yates' podcast serves as a reminder that ministry, while fulfilling, is not without its hardships. By acknowledging and discussing the less glamorous sides of spiritual leadership, ministers can better prepare themselves for the highs and lows of their calling, ensuring a more resilient and enduring commitment to their faith and their community.

Transcript

  Welcome everyone you tuned in to Beyond the Mic with Mike, where we share our experience and passion to offer encouragement and advice to new ministers and anyone working in the ministry.  I am the Mike, beyond the Mike, Mike Yates. Well, praise the Lord.  I feel I have some explaining before I get started. 

It has been.  The longer than usual since my last episode,  I had it recorded.  It was a pretty good one. If I do say so myself,  actually, it wasn't that good. That's why I'm rerecording it, but I had a thought  and I was recording it.  And then something happened at the, at the house and this great big distraction came in and I just kept recording it, you know,  I mean, the show must go on, right? 

But then I needed to do something about that noise.  I did find out, you know, all the other podcast professionals that I know  told me it's not coming out, you need to rerecord, but I did find an app that brilliantly removed that, that noise. And I could have posted it,  but by the time I found it,  it was just a few days ago and it was almost a few days before  I was supposed to, before Friday, when I tried to.

Release the episodes. And I didn't want to release two episodes too close together.  I'm sure in the podcast world is fine, but in my world,  I didn't want to.  So  I listened to it again.  I didn't like the way I delivered some of the, some of the points. I was like, yeah, I need to rerecord that anyway,  between those two things.

I said, okay, I'm just going to wait until Friday. So here we are.  Well, I didn't mean to wait until Friday. I thought I may get it done, but other things came up such as life rerecord. Here we are.  So here we go. You ready?  Today's episode is titled this stinks.  It's going to discuss the issue that sometimes you just might not like what you're called to do. 

Let's get started.  With a title like that, and with that kind of introduction to it, you may think that I have a negative outlook on ministry, but I promise you I don't.  I love being in the ministry. I love helping people. I love serving Jesus.  But I'm willing to admit. That I have not loved every minute of what I've been asked to do. 

And I don't feel that this gets talked about enough when talking to new ministers.  In fact, I don't really remember. And maybe they did. And I just don't remember. I'm not as old as some, but I am old enough where I no longer remember things that I used to. So maybe they did, but again, my memory fails me. I don't remember being taught.

Brother Yates, you, you will have moments where you don't  enjoy your ministry. You'll have moments where this stinks.  You know what we are taught though?  We're taught so much about being in all of the calling.  And that's a good thing. You know, you want to teach respect for your calling and that's, that's vital.

That's more important than this lesson, I would dare say.  But this lesson is still vital because  without recognizing this lesson, we can do ourselves a disservice.  So I'm here to set the record straight. Amen. Amen. You're not always going to enjoy your calling.  And if anyone says that they have enjoyed every second of their calling.

In my opinion, they're either brand new  or they're lying to themselves.  Now, I'm not saying I dislike pastoring. I like pastoring. I'm just reflecting back on the thing on my life. This podcast is about the  things I have done in my experiences and my observations, so I don't want anyone to Currently attending the church thinking, Oh,  he's talking about, uh,  no, I'm just reflecting on my observations and experiences as a whole. 

So I want you to know that these feelings are normal because we're human beings and we get tired  and it's so it's okay to admit that, but we don't want to admit we get tired. We're scared to admit that we're human.  We feel like if we're getting tired, we're weak. We're not. Well, we are weak. We're supposed to be weak. 

Jesus is strong.  If, if we weren't weak, we wouldn't need them, but it's,  it's not the kind of weakness you're afraid of. You're not any weaker than you're supposed to be.  And when you won't admit this, that's when things get dangerous.  So we need to go ahead and let's,  let's put on our thinking caps and let's deal with this topic today.

Let's think about why it matters.  Well, first of all, we need to go ahead and tell yourself that you're not broken.  Okay? You're not. Like I told you, it's normal.  But on the flip side, if you won't admit it, ask yourself why.  Why won't you admit it? What are you afraid of? Is it your pride?  Is it your ego? Are you afraid to admit that you can't deal with things in a healthy manner?

The world don't need phonies. 

The world does not need  a picture  of what to look like. They need real people showing them, okay? And real people are not perfect.  God doesn't use phonies. The world doesn't need phonies. The church does not need phonies.  It needs real. God expects you to be real. So we need to just get over ourselves and be real. 

And when I said you're not broken, I don't want you to take that too far and say, well, I'm too broken.  I've dealt with that myself. I understand that extreme. We are not too broken to be used.  The hope of this podcast is twofold. One, to prepare you that such moments exist where you're going to say, this stinks.

And two, to help you overcome these moments.  First, let's introduce a little scripture to the lesson.  Before I do, I'm going to tell you that I borrowed this thought from Pastor Jay Jones in Kentwood, Michigan.  He posted the thought.  I went and grabbed the scripture that he was referencing, okay? So his post does not show, if you go look it up, you won't see the scripture.

You'll just see his reference to the scripture.  In Matthew 28 and 18 through 20, and I'm reading the King James Version.  And Jesus came and spake unto him, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.  Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,  and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,  teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. 

I am with you always, even until the end of the world. Amen.  Let's go back a few chapters to chapter 22, still Matthew. Let's go to verse 36 through 38, still King James.  They asked him, said, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart  and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. 

This is the first in great commandment.  The first set is known as the great commission.  Remember I read to you, go ye therefore make disciples. That's the great commission.  It's where Jesus gives the what. This is what I want you to do. I want you to go. I want you to teach. I want you to baptize. I want you to make disciples.

I want you to grow the church. I want you to evangelize. That's the what. That's what we're supposed to do. That's your calling, if you will.  Every ounce of your calling is pointing to that  great commission.  You're called to serve. That's your what.  But the second  scripture I gave you, the second text,  That is the Great Commandment. 

He called it the greatest law. To love the Lord thy God  with all thy heart, with all thy mind, with all thy soul. And then he added another one right up there with it. He said to love thy neighbor as thyself. Upon these two laws hang all the laws and the prophets.  Now here is the crux of what Jay Jones said.

This is his actual quote.  I must not be more committed to the Great Commission than I am to the Great Commandment. End quote,  man. I like that.  We cannot be so busy  worrying about the what, because sometimes the, what stinks. Okay.  Sometimes the, what is hard. Sometimes the, what it's heavy. Sometimes the, what breaks you down.

Sometimes the, what puts you in places that just will flat out ruin your life as you know it. People will step on you. People will rob you. People will. Mistreat you  sometimes the what states  we cannot be so obsessed with the what that we forget the why I Will love the Lord thy God with all my heart with all my soul with all my mind It is love that motivates us love for Jesus  keeps me going  now pay attention to this dear listener  Love for Jesus is different than love for your ministry. 

Two different things. Do not confuse them. You must separate them and guard them separately.  Love your ministry. Sure. Protect it, guard it,  because people can disqualify themselves from the ministry, but they'll always be haunted by that calling. So you got to protect your ministry, but your love for Jesus is different. 

Just because you're busy with the ministry does not mean you still have a love for Jesus.  Sometimes you can get so caught up in being busy that you forget to love him.  You can do something for the church every day of the week. And that does not mean you love him.  That means you just got used to the lifestyle and you like being busy for the church. 

That does not mean you have an ounce of love for Jesus.  So be careful. Otherwise you'll base your love according to your ministry.  And a lot of us,  well, we got a problem with success as we see success.  What do you do when your ministry is not successful as you see success?  And if your love is built on your ministry,  there goes your relationship with God. 

So you got to be able to love Jesus when nobody comes to church  for years.  That love for your ministry, you got to be careful with your ambitious motivations.  Make sure you're not loving Jesus, just confusing loving Jesus with wanting to pastor a large church. Amen. Amen.  You know, we like the rah rah, we like the, the cheerleading, we like the pat on the backs.

Man, I love this.  No, you just, that's your ambition. You, right now, you're in a season, you're popular, maybe you've got charisma, maybe you've got natural talent, and people are responding to that, and you're confusing that with love.  In the secular world, we would call that infatuation.  They look good, they make you feel good, but that's not love. 

If we're not careful, we can confuse our ministry with an unhealthy lifestyle. Unhealthy need to be a success.  We think that's who we are,  but it's not.  You may be called the pastor and being a pastor means you worry about every soul that comes in.  You know, right now our church is doing good. We've got folks coming back and got one that.

Is not coming back at the moment and  I don't mean to,  you know, be ungrateful for those that are there, but I'm, I'm worried about the one, okay, I'm, I'm hugging those that are and  crying over the one that hasn't been there in a while.  That's the role of a pastor. Okay. And, and I've got a small congregation. 

If the Lord was to provide a thousand,  I don't know what that life is like. How do you notice who's not there?  So I can't relate to that. I've never attended a congregation. Worked in a church that large. I don't know.  See what I mean? There's there's things that you need you need to separate your love for Jesus  from the from your ministry  And then your idea of what a successful ministry is. 

That's it. That's a whole other lesson on what what a successful ministry is I just wanted to talk to you about separating  your your love from your ministry versus your love from Jesus  You need to understand that  and I need to say on this topic I'm reading my notes, and I'm I write shorthand notes  That way I don't read to you. 

I just read and realize what the next point is. So if you sometimes hear me start and stop, go back. That's what I'm doing and read my next shorthand and realize I gotta go back.  Sometimes we get so caught up in our ministry  that we confuse ourselves in rhetoric.  This is what I'm supposed to say. This is what I'm supposed to do.

This is what gets the response. They like it when I say this. They like it when I say that.  And we, and we build up a good habit of God talk,  but it's not always God's will.  And that will play into you not liking your, your role because your heart's not in it. You're just going through the motions  and that, and that's, uh, that's another division of loving your ministry and not really loving Jesus  because if you love Jesus, you wouldn't play to the, to the reaction.

You wouldn't play  to. The emotions  you would play to the call that Jesus is given,  whether the congregation likes it or not.  So we just need to make sure that we're aware of where our heart really is.  Make sure that you're serving.  And, and ministering and not just busy.  You are not called to just be busy. 

Yes, it is an insult to God. If you're not busy doing anything, why stand ye idle? We could preach on that,  but at some point you can get to the other extreme and it can, rather than being a badge of honor, how busy you are, it should be embarrassing of how busy you are.  But we don't see it that way. We, well, look at what you're getting done, but how much are you  letting slip through the cracks? 

So don't confuse busy with love.  Recently, we were able to host some missionaries,  Michael and Dan and Benson  from Benin, wonderful couple. I had a lot of fun, kindred spirits. I've still texted them several times since they've left.  Sister Benson told a story, and I don't think she would mind, matter of fact, I told her I was going to share the story, so I know she doesn't mind. 

They, they did aim for a little bit to Africa, and then they come back, she knew,  well,  they, they knew they were going to be full time missionaries, but that's not the role she was pursuing.  She had been working in the medical field. She had been at EMT, a secretary, and that's where she really loved it. She was really good at it. 

And she put herself to R in school.  And she said, as she was driving over the bridge every day, going to school, she would weep because she knew she was not in the will of God,  even though she was succeeding in that field, excelling in that field,  that's not what God wanted from her  when she went and talked to her pastor about it.

And he said, I was wondering how long you'd keep this up.  So her and her husband agreed. He didn't know.  They're going to become missionaries.  Can you imagine  let's, let's put ourselves, we are in church. We get it,  but just for a moment, let's pretend we're not in church. Let's pretend that we are our coworkers, that we are our friends.

And let's be  the people at the nursing school  as sister Benson.  With a 4. 0 in RN school, which is incredible  because I can tell you, I've known precious women very near and dear to my life, go through RN school. And it is incredibly difficult,  especially to have a 4. 0. Anyway, she turns in her resignation  and tells them she's going to Africa. 

How crazy does that sound?  And they were like, what, what do you mean? You're not going to be a nurse. You're going to Africa.  When? I don't know. I don't have money yet.  Why aren't you doing this?  Because this is what my God wants me to do.  She cried because that's not what she wanted to do.  She wanted to be a nurse. 

Her husband told her, Dannon,  you want to be a nurse, but God wants you to nurse the world.  And now she is so happy, would never give, you know, would never give it up. So glad she made that decision.  But I'm, I'm  sharing it with you to illustrate.  That sometimes you got to make a decision and it's going to stink it's going to cost you something  It's going to be hard. 

Did god ever ask anyone in the bible if they wanted to go?  Did he ask abraham if he wanted to leave his family?  Did he ask moses if he wanted to matter of fact he moses said no and he's they argued about it and god won that argument  Did god ever ask anyone their opinion  about what they wanted to do?  I guess the closest you can come up with is Solomon,  what, what can I do for you? 

But that's not the same thing. And you know, it's  not going to care if you think you want to go here. If you think you want to go there,  you might get lucky,  but you know what? Sometimes he won't give that to you. Cause it'll be a distraction.  I've had places. I wanted to go serve ministry and it never happened.

And I know now that it would have been a distraction because I would have had my mind on other things.  I would have enjoyed. The, uh, events in that area  and God didn't call me there for those events. He called, he would have called me there to minister and it would have been a distraction.  Now,  it's got to be in that way. 

Sometimes you're going to say this stinks,  but you have to be willing to say you're worth it, Jesus,  whatever you need from me, Jesus,  I love you, Lord. With all my heart,  thank you for counting me worthy to serve Jesus.  Can you feel that in your heart? Can you feel that in your soul?  There's going to be days when you say it stinks. 

As to what?  But you need to remember the why.  That's our podcast for today. Thank you for listening.  I sent out a link asking for  comments or requests for topics. I did get one. I'll be working on that. It may be a little bit, but thank you for whoever, whoever submitted it. I did receive it.  Just let me know if any other topics that you may want me to talk about and I'll start working on them.

I just, I take it seriously. You don't want to throw something together too quick. So  thank you all so much for supporting the podcast. Give it a like a follow, subscribe, and. Pass forward.  Have a blessed day.