91福利社

Tell us about yourself and your calling into ministry.

I grew up in Georgetown (South Carolina). I wasn鈥檛 raised in the church. At 12 years old, I was invited about the hundredth time to go to this student ministry at a local church. I finally obliged and went. I walked in and the first person I met was a man named Wes Patterson, who was the student pastor at the time. Wes led me to the Lord when I was 12 years old and was baptized shortly after. It was not long after that that I was given the opportunity to become a leader within our student ministry. I wasn鈥檛 in any way, shape or form as biblically literate as many, not being raised in the church and a new Christian, just trying to understand what it meant to live a Christian life, let alone be a leader within the Christian church. But I took that to heart. As I was raised up in that student ministry, I took any opportunity I could get to lead.

When I was a senior in high school, I felt a very intense call internally and then got external confirmation that I was called to ministry. I鈥檓 a big believer and have been for quite some time, ever since that moment, especially that when you know God鈥檚 calling you to do something, you don鈥檛 delay. So I began to pursue what that looked like.

I believe that your call to ministry doesn鈥檛 need to be something that you just see in yourself and it鈥檚 not something that鈥檚 taken lightly, but something that must be walked through in a season of time so that you can have that confirmation with others around you as well. And that鈥檚 something I began to experience and to take steps in.

Tell me about coming to 91福利社.

When I felt called into ministry, the objective was to find a school where I could get a theology degree鈥� I wanted to stay in South Carolina but my desire was to not stay so close to home that I couldn鈥檛 begin to make decisions on my own and grow up a little bit.

I visited Anderson, and from the moment I stepped on the campus, it became very clear that was where I was supposed to be, based upon loving the Upstate of South Carolina鈥攁 love that I still have; but also the intentionality of every little aspect that I saw鈥� If I was going to be called to ministry where I felt like I was going to be called to people, I wanted to be with people that felt called to people鈥攖hat was very clear and evident at Anderson. I liked that while it was a Christian education, it was also liberal arts and I could have a diverse education in that way.

What are some favorite college memories?

I was in the intramural department and then eventually I became an RA (Resident Assistant) as well. My personality is to get to know a lot of people and it allowed me to do that. A lot of the greatest memories I have is from being on different intramural fields interacting with people. I think there were about 2,600 people on campus then. It felt like half of the people that were on campus I was getting to interact with in some way, shape or form in building relationships. In a lot of ways, whether I was helping lead in it or I was participating in on campus sports or whatever it may be, those are some of the fondest memories.

What were some highlights of your studies?

The thing I tell people about Anderson that I appreciated so much is the practical aspect of it. I have a lot of friends in ministry, a lot of people that I鈥檝e gotten to do ministry alongside of or meet in ministry. We鈥檙e taught often about the 鈥渙pen the book, read the book, answer the book鈥� type of education that they had, and that just wasn鈥檛 the case for me, especially when I think of Kris Barnett. When I think of Dr. Barnett, he showed me a lot, probably in ways he didn鈥檛 know. By having his office door open, I could go to him and ask him questions鈥� and he would always be willing to answer them.

Other guys were Drs. Neal, Chuck Fuller, Tim McKnight, Crisler and Dr. Duduit鈥攕o many men who serve in the church as well. I know Dr. McKnight has now launched a church plant. They are not just about the classroom but they鈥檙e about the practical application of an education.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to lead in a lot of ways at a very young age and I attest at least the beginnings of that to having an education that wasn鈥檛 just about knowledge but about applying that knowledge into the real world, not only in leadership within the church but also a deeper understanding of biblical literacy.

Let鈥檚 talk about your ministry when you graduated from Anderson.

When I graduated from college, I had been working for the North American Mission Board through their SEND program. I built a team of 91福利社 students. I spent about four months, and they spent about two months in Brooklyn, New York, working with church planters. My objective was to lead them to best serve that community and partner alongside them. Church planting is big on my heart.

Before I had done that, I had gotten connected to Cross Church and began interviewing with them to be an associate kids pastor. I had a few different places I was talking with. Cross Church is in Northwest Arkansas, a state that I couldn鈥檛 have told you where it was on the map鈥� I tell people, when you grow up on the east coast they don鈥檛 teach you anything outside the original colonies when it comes to American History (laughs). I was engaged to my now wife Jordan right after college; we鈥檝e known each other since we were 12.

I could tell you where I was in Brooklyn when I knew the Lord told me that we were supposed to go to Arkansas. I got done in New York on August 7. On August 14 I was in Northwest Arkansas. August 16, 2015 was my first Sunday at Cross Church-Fayetteville, and I was the associate kids pastor. I was still 21, about to turn 22. I didn鈥檛 know that Cross Church was a multicampus megachurch. Fayetteville was kind of the baby at that time. It would have been almost five years old at that time as the third campus and we鈥檝e been three campuses since.

About nine months later I was given the opportunity to become the kids pastor. I got to see a lot of God鈥檚 hand of favor on what we were doing and the families of our church got to see the church begin to explode.

I was in kids ministry for a little over five years, but two and a half years ago at 27 I was given the opportunity to become the campus pastor at our Fayetteville campus which means that I now oversee everything associated with this campus. I can go deeper into what we鈥檙e getting to see God do here and what that鈥檚 supposed to look like, but that鈥檚 what my ministry journey has been.

August was eight years I鈥檝e been at Cross Church-Fayetteville. I never really expected it to be that way, but I鈥檝e also learned a whole lot about longevity in one place and what that means and how you can love on and influence people when you鈥檙e at one place for a long amount of time.

How many people are attending?

This semester we鈥檙e averaging around 3,800 on a Sunday. It鈥檚 pretty amazing.

If you were to give an elevator speech about Cross Church, what would you say?

From a grand sense, we are part of the Southern Baptist Convention. Cross Church, more than anything鈥攚e are about the Word of God.

I鈥檓 grateful to be serving under a pastor in Nick Floyd, who is never going to deviate from that, never going to shy away from what the Bible says. We鈥檙e going to do worship really well. We鈥檙e going to have great outreach and discipleship, and those things are things we can be known for, but we want to be known for being about the Bible and nothing else. Often when people are talking about different studies and different things like this, I鈥檒l say 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got the best book in the world in front of you; use it.鈥�

Our mission is to reach Northwest Arkansas, America and the world for Jesus, so we鈥檙e going to do everything and anything we can do, being led by the Holy Spirit to do that. In our church, we operate from August to August. We are on week eight of our church year, and at our campus we鈥檝e seen 90 people baptized in those eight weeks, probably 140 people saved. I get to lead a staff of 30-plus people. I tell them often that we work as hard and give our best because God deserves our best, but we do that to get out of the way so the Holy Spirit can do what He wants to do.

Of all the ministries Cross Church does, are there any that are particularly close to your heart?

Right now, as a church, we鈥檙e in something we call the decade of LOVE. The letters 鈥淟-O-V-E鈥� all stand for something.

The first is 鈥淟鈥� for 鈥淟egacy.鈥� That鈥檚 our heart to reach the next generation.

鈥淥鈥� stands for 鈥淥bedience鈥� to Christ鈥檚 Commission, which is to go out and reach the world. We plant churches and mobilize people to share the gospel and their faith.

The 鈥淰鈥� is for 鈥淰ulnerable.鈥� We lean in heavily on the ministry of feeding the community. We feed more people every year than any other organization in Arkansas. We don鈥檛 charge for anything we do. We feed and clothe. We have a ministry to the homeless community called Hope for the City that we have locally in Fayetteville. We do jail ministry. We have a ministry to widows and widowers, we have a battered women鈥檚 shelter we started. We have a foster care organization. A plethora of things.

The 鈥淓鈥� is 鈥淓ncouraging pastors and missionaries.鈥� We created something called the partner family where there are churches we see all across Arkansas and America that may not have the resources we have, so what we鈥檝e done is made everything we have available to anybody who wants it as long as they鈥檙e part of a like faith and like belief. Anything we teach, do make鈥攜ou can have it. We put on a conference every year, our Called to Lead Conference, which is a free leadership conference. We had almost 500 people at it this year where we bring our pastors we partner with and bring their wives and say 鈥淐ome on, let us invest into you and to any church leader in the area.鈥� It鈥檚 also something we do in our partnerships with our church plants that we鈥檙e planting both locally and internationally that we get to invest in them as well. I would say that under that vein they way we reach the next generation, the way that we plant churches, the way we serve our community through a myriad of ways. Then the way that we encourage pastors and missionaries鈥擨鈥檓 really grateful to be part of a church that prioritizes those things.

Called to Lead is always available in person and online. It鈥檚 a one-day conference we put on, and it鈥檚 offered to anybody and everybody.

Describe Northwest Arkansas as a ministry field.

Northwest Arkansas鈥攖hat鈥檚 Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, Bentonville鈥攁re kind of this one grouping and they have their own kind of identity.

Fayetteville is known because of the University of Arkansas. Everything about this town is about the Razorbacks. There are 32,000 people on campus鈥攖hat鈥檚 a lot of people.

Then you go to Springdale, which is five minutes away. Then there鈥檚 the Tyson headquarters, the largest poultry company in the world. Then in Rogers there鈥檚 J.B. Hunt, the largest transportation company in America.

Then you go a few minutes north and there鈥檚 Walmart.

What that gives us is a diverse grouping of individuals. We have people that are living in poverty and then we have some people that are listed on the top 100 wealthiest people in the world. We have those people represented in our church even.

Specifically to the context of Fayetteville, we are in a college town, so we gear a lot of the things we do to reach college students, so our college ministry is something we invest heavily into. Last night they had just under a thousand college students at their worship service, but we also have a large population here, around 94,000 in the city of Fayetteville. We reach a lot of our families and a lot of our schools.

We鈥檙e in a unique corner of Arkansas that honestly looks a lot like Dallas, Texas. It鈥檚 not as big, not maybe as saturated with wealth.

So I鈥檓 really passionate about that.

Fayetteville, Arkansas is a unique area, but the Lord obviously is moving here. We pray for revival often and we just want to be a part of it. If God will let it start here, we want to be a part of it. We see 90 baptisms in eight weeks and hundred and something people give their life to the Lord. Every single one of those people has a story that鈥檚 unique. I鈥檝e seen people go from death to life and have their lives transformed. We have a lot of people here searching for something and thankfully we鈥檝e got the something that everyone we know is searching for.

A lot of people want to come here. Our growth rates are really strong.

At the end of the day what gives you a feeling of accomplishment?

I get to be a part of a special move of God here in Northwest Arkansas.

I鈥檝e been able to be a part of some cool things and amazing stories of God changing people鈥檚 lives. At the end of the day, the thing I have to concentrate on in my life is my own personal walk with the Lord, my own sanctification. I can see great things happening everywhere yet miss my own walk with Him. When I get to the end of the day and my head hits the pillow and I鈥檓 exhausted because I鈥檝e poured out everything I have for the Kingdom and advancement of the Kingdom鈥擨鈥檓 good. Not only do I sleep better and wake up better, because I get up at 5:30 in the morning, but I just know that I鈥檝e done everything in my power to look more like Jesus in my personal walk with Him, my time with Him in the morning and I鈥檓 very passionate that it has to begin in the morning. But also throughout the day as He draws me to Himself. That I led my wife and loved her well. And that I invested in and loved my children. I have two children that we adopted six years ago. I did everything I could to love them and show them Jesus in my life. And if I can do all of those things and I still have time to invest in someone in our church, or someone in our community or share the gospel, then that was a good day.

That鈥檚 what makes me feel a sense of accomplishment, that I am walking in the journey that God has placed before me first in my relationship with Him, then my relationship with my wife and my children, and then to what He鈥檚 called me to do in the local church. If I can do that, I think I鈥檓 walking in what God鈥檚 calling me to do and that鈥檚 how I feel a sense of accomplishment.

What advice would you give to someone who senses God鈥檚 calling into ministry?

A call to ministry does not mean that you are going to be perfect in any way. It鈥檚 kind of like the conversation that you have when you鈥檝e surrendered your life to Jesus. It鈥檚 not a call or a belief that you鈥檙e going to be perfect, it鈥檚 a belief that you鈥檙e going to serve a Heavenly Father that loves you in spite of that.

I think what happens often, especially with men and women who feel called to ministry who are achievers, is that you can put so much pressure on yourself to be perfect that it kills you. I believe a lot of burnout happens because of that.

I speak that out of someone who is an achiever by nature and somebody who wants to accomplish things. I have to often remind myself that I鈥檓 just the vessel God is working through and that He uses imperfect people and He uses whatever it may be for His Kingdom and for His Glory and His honor and that鈥檚 what I鈥檓 here to do.

When I know that it鈥檚 all up to God, it relieves a lot of pressure off of me. The next thing I would say is to take it slow.

I just turned 30 years old a couple of months ago, which gives you mixed feelings and emotions. It鈥檚 okay to take your time in discerning your call to ministry. You also should listen to people you trust and listen to what they say. I also believe that one of the reasons that we may see so many men fall out of ministry after a few years is because they may not have been given a clear understanding of what that call to ministry looks like in the first place. And then when you get into it you realize 鈥淥h boy, this is more than leading a Bible study.鈥�

We have a residency program here called the School of Ministry. I was meeting with a guy who went through a one-year residency and he was getting towards the end. He said, 鈥淣ick, I don鈥檛 have a job lined up in a church, but I know I鈥檓 called to ministry.鈥� I said to him 鈥淚 want you to understand something. Just because God doesn鈥檛 have you in a ministry position right now does not mean that you鈥檙e not called to ministry, it just means that you鈥檙e called to minister in a certain way right now.鈥� I said, 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 understand or like that, you have a misunderstanding of how Paul went about his life and how Paul went about his calling into ministry.鈥�

If there鈥檚 a 17 year old kid like me that鈥檚 going to 91福利社 and they鈥檙e wrestling with that call, it鈥檚 okay to wrestle with that call.

A lot of the things in our Christian call and our faith, let alone when you鈥檙e a pastor鈥攖here鈥檚 a lot of wrestling that goes on, a lot of growing that goes on; it鈥檚 okay to struggle with that, but it鈥檚 also okay to realize that you feel called to ministry that does not mean full-time vocational.

Sometimes that means you鈥檙e called to be the ultimate minister because you are the greatest accountant鈥� God has called you to that and to be a minister within that.

But there are people like me who are called to the local church or they鈥檙e called to education with ministry. It鈥檚 just okay to take your time and to continue to seek God first in that and then to listen to godly advice around you and ask for honest godly advice鈥攏ot from the people who would tell you what you want to hear, but people who would tell you what you need to hear as you continue in that journey and that walk.

And it will be okay, and if you鈥檒l talk to God and you鈥檒l sit in silence and solitude and listen to Him, He鈥檒l tell you. He鈥檒l lead you where you鈥檙e supposed to go.