Reflections on Ministerial Identity

Rasbury 1

Reflections on Ministerial Identity

Wes Rasbury

Foundations of Theology of Ministry

BIBM 603.01

Dr. Brady Bryce

December 2, 2013

Firefighters, race car drivers, police officers, doctors- these are all fairly common answers that kids give when asked what they want to be whenever they are older. ‘A minister’ is usually not one of those professions that makes the list. In fact, it was not even on my own list until my sophomore year of high school. I was certain that I wanted to go into the field of either computer technology or software engineering, and I was already gaining experience through taking classes at my high school for both of these. However, during the course of my sophomore year, my youth minister planted a seed in my head that has continued to grow ever since. Today, through the encouragement of my youth minister and countless others, through the opening of different doors and opportunities, and through the great experiences that I have had working in the field, I can confidently say that I feel called to pursue a career in parish ministry, and am in a program of ministerial formation and preparation for this purpose.

My father was a preaching minister for twenty-five years of his life until he somewhat recently switched careers to go into the field of insurance. As the child of a preacher, and a member of the preacher’s family, I was exposed to certain scars and wounds caused by the different members and congregations we were a part of. Through seeing the experience of my own dad and other ministers that my family and I knew, ministry, to me, seemed like a place and vocation where one could be over-worked, abused, and then replaced. It was not even on my radar, as far as careers go, because I had witnessed how scary ministry can be through watching my dad. That is not to say that there were not any good times in my dad’s ministerial career- in fact, he would admit the majority of his experience was good- but there were definitely some rough patches along the way, and some of these rough patches cut quite deep. Therefore, I decided that I did not want to take a chance in ministry at all- I did not want to get my hands dirty with people, but instead I wanted to work with computers, (which are not nearly as messy as people can be).

As stated, I was fairly certain and confident in this pursuit of technology- either in hardware or software. I was so excited about it that I took a class in high school called “A+ Computer Repair,” which trained us for the A+ Certification. Not only did I take this class, but I also saved up all of my money for a long period of time, bought all of the separate pieces for it, and built my own desktop computer.

It was this version of myself which my youth minister at the time, Dave Berry, offered to drive home one Wednesday night, and it was this version of myself which found itself in a conversation with him on the way home about the future for me. He asked me what it was that I thought I wanted to pursue in college, or if I even knew at the time. He was well aware of my passion for technology, and I promptly responded that I wanted to pursue said passion that I had, either as a computer technician or as a software engineer. He responded by first validating that answer, but then by adding, “Have you ever thought about youth ministry? I think you would be good at it.” I told him that I never had before, and honestly pushed that thought to the back of my head at that moment. However, although the conversation more or less ended with that, Dave had planted a seed for ministry, especially youth ministry, in my head that would grow and change the course of my life.

It was also about this time that my parents decided to leave the church that we had been at for thirteen years and go to another church, still in the surrounding St. Louis area. Due to this transition of churches, and due to both the size and the makeup of the youth groupat this new church, I was very much invested in by Jeremy, the youth minister at this new church. Thus, this was the second youth minister that had chosen to truly invest in me and my abilities. (Granted, it helped that Jeremy was, ironically enough, a family friend of ours and had known me my entire life). Nonetheless, this was the second youth minister of mine to invest deeply in me, to the point where Jeremy gave me many opportunities to lead- as a small group leader, as a group leader on mission trip, and even as a teacher for Wednesday night class.

It was because of these very formative years of being poured into as well as being challenged and pushed to lead that I found myself entering college as a Broadcast Media major with a minor in Bible. (Apparently my passion for technology had shifted from solely hardware and software to image capturing and editing). My intent was to go into youth ministry with this major/minor combination for a certain amount of time, but to have the journalism experience as a backup. However, as I narrowed down my list of choices for colleges, finally decided upon ACU, and drove down to Abilene for my official campus visit, I ended up changing everything.

While in a conversation with the Bible department, specifically Robert Oglesby, I was told that if I switched my major and minor, if I became a Youth and Family Ministry major and took on a Digital Media minor, the Bible department would give me a scholarship. Although this may sound like a trivial reason to switch my major and minor and to totally change my career path, it was a door that was opened for me. Due to my father’s career change not two years before this, (as well as to the fact that I have two older sisters who both went to ACU), my parents took nearly a fifty percent cut in their finances, and I had no idea how I was going to pay for college except through racking up exorbitant amounts of debt in student loans. Thus, this offer from the Bible department was truly a door that was opened, and since I already wanted to pursue youth ministry, (if only for a couple of years), I decided to make the switch to become a Bible major and Digital Media minor.

As I went through my freshmen year, and was enrolled in three different Bible classes throughout that year, (one being a senior-level course, and thus very intensive), I not only had to step up to the plate academically, but also theologically. I remember a few different times specifically where I was completely shocked at what we were learning about or discussing in class. I would call my parents and talk to them about it, and even study up on these different issues myself. I was hearing and talking about things that I had never heard before- i.e. some biblical accounts are allegorical, some Bible passages were added by scribes, Paul probably did not write all of the letters that we attribute to him, etc. Thus, I was forced to go through a faith crisis, and not even as a seminary student, but as an undergraduate freshmen. However, this experience helped me to think about these issues and others differently and more thoroughly.

As I continued on at ACU, I continued to be formed, shaped, and challenged by my classes, as well as through conversations with my professors and friends. Although I cannot say that every class was extremely beneficial to me and my formation as a minister, or that every class helped to confirm my calling to ministry, I do think the experience I was able to have here at ACU was very formative and affirming as a whole.

Another very formative experience for me throughout my undergraduate college career was theopportunity to intern during each of the summersbetween my years. The first summer, between my freshmen and sophomore years, I was able to intern with a youth ministry at a church in the Dallas area. Then, for each of the other summers between the other years of college, (including this past summer between graduating from undergrad and transitioning into graduate school), I had the opportunity to intern with a church down in Clear Lake, (Houston). Each summer brought different experiences and challenges with it, and each summer was completely different than any of the others, even though three of the four summers were spent with the same church and the same youth group. However, each summer was very helpful in forming me into the person, Christian, and minister that I am today.

Although I can say with absolute confidence that each of these four different summers spent interning with youth groups was helpful in teaching me more about youth ministry, and although this would arguably be one of the largest gains from each of these opportunities, I think there was an even greater benefit from each of these experiences. In my opinion, this greater gain would be the fact that I was affirmed, both directly and indirectly, in my choice of ministry as a vocation, (particularly youth ministry), by each of these different experiences. My first summer spent with the church in the Dallas area was one in which I did not know anyone from the youth group or the church before I went there. Yet, although I was thrown into this metaphorical pool seemingly headfirst, I was able to build connections very fast with the students, as well as with my co-interns and with the youth minister. It ended up being a fantastic summer, and I was verbally affirmed by many of the parents and students. I also felt affirmed through this experience simply because it ended up being such a good summer with people I did not know previously at all.

The summers spent with the church in Clear Lake were a little different than the other church because I knew a couple of the students, the two youth ministers, and my co-interns beforehand. In fact, one of the youth ministers was another family friend of ours, one whose dad was a mentor to my dad, and whom my dad was a mentor to as well. Admittedly, this second summer was slightly easier to jump into, and I was able to connect rather well the youth group and with the ministry staff. (This may explain why I was able to continue interning with them for two more summers,as well as why I remain connected and involved with this group). Although my summer with the church in Dallas was very affirming for me, the three summers I have spent with this other church and with the ministry staff down in Clear Lake have probably been the most formative and affirming times for me in my own life and in my ministry. Not only did the three different summers with the students in this group help to give me a sense of affirmation and encouragement this trajectory of my life, but the youth ministers have also become very close to me as friends, partners in ministry, and mentors.

It was during my second summer with this group in Clear Lake that I got a random message from a friend of mine in Abilene who is a year ahead of me in college. He was the college intern at a church here in Abilene at the time, and he sent me a message asking me if I would like to lead a small group for this college ministry. I felt that this message was random and out of the blue because although I attended this church most of the time whenever I was in Abilene, I had not placed membership, and I was not involved in the college ministry much at all. Nonetheless, I thought it would be a good opportunity and agreed to it. Then, not even a week after I agreed to help with the small groups, this friend sent me another message asking me if I would consider interning with him and another friend of ours for the college ministry. Again, I thought this very random because I was not involved with this group- (I had not even gone to the college class but probably two times during the course of the semester)- not to mention I knew next to nothing about college ministry, seeing as how I had only ever interned with youth ministries. However, after many conversations with some of the ministry staff down in Clear Lake, as well as with my parents, I agreed to intern with this ministry for the first semester of my senior year of college. What I did not know at that time, though, was that I would continue to intern with the college ministry at this church for three more semesters after that, and that this opportunity would again bring a change to my path.

Although I felt as though I was thrown in, once again, into a ministry context where I was unfamiliar with the context and where I did not know much about the ministry itself, I continued to intern with this ministry for two years, and I loved nearly every minute of it. I have loved being exposed to a new type and context of ministry other than youth ministry, and being able to walk more deeply alongside those that I may even have classes with. I have especially loved the opportunity to go deeper into discussion and thinking with this group because they are college students and because they can handle more than middle school and high school students can. Although this ministry experience has exposed me to a new form and context of ministry entirely, it has still helped to affirm my choice of ministry as a vocation, and has even broadened my horizons of ministry to where I am now no longer solely interested in pursuing youth ministry, but am also considering college or university ministry, as well as adult faith or spiritual formation ministry. Thus, through my many different experiences growing up in the church and in the youth group, to my experiences and opportunities to intern with three different churches and in two different ministerial contexts, as well as through my different relationships with many different mentors and friends, I have felt both called to and affirmed in my calling to ministry as a vocation.

Since the end of Spring semester, 2014, I was uncertain if I would or should remain in Abilene or not. I had a dream of starting full-time with a church at the beginning or end of summer, and finishing this, my last semester, long-distance. Part of this was due to the fact that my university ministry internship would end at the end of the semester, and part of it was the lure toward trying to locate myself closer to my girlfriend Kylie. However, nothing came to fruition, and I remained in Abilene this past summer. I was able to intern with Global Samaritan Resources, a local non-profit that specializes in not only humanitarian aid, but disaster services, food shipments, and water purification and filtration systems as well. After a little convincing, I was able to use this as my ministry context for Field Education, and thus not only expose myself to another new and different ministry context, but also fully engage and observe this context. This position actually ended up working out perfectly because it exposed me to this great ministry which I did not know anything about beforehand, and it kept me in Abilene for the summer which was great because Kylie was actually here as well interning with a local church and their youth group.

I went through the summer knowing that I needed to find some other job to start when my internship with Global Samaritan Resources ended, but was unable to find anything for a while. Then, in middle to late July, the youth ministers who Kylie was working with approached me and asked if I would like to serve as the year-round intern with them and their youth group for the school year. Since the last week of August, I have served in this role and with this group. It is honestly the best of both worlds for me. Not only do I have the opportunity to work with students again, but I am also serving at the same church that I was before, simply in a different context. Granted, there are tasks that fall to me that I may not always enjoy, but I love every minute I get to spend with the different students. And, on top of all of that, this internship is giving me the opportunity to see how school year youth ministry is done, which is much different than youth ministry during the summer.

Even though I graduated from my undergraduate work with a degree in Youth and Family Ministry, I was drawn to continue on in my education and pursue a masters degree. I was encouraged in this by my parents, especially my father who holds a masters degree in preaching. However, I also wanted it for my own purposes, mostly because I wanted to learn more and delve deeper into study of Christian history and tradition, and of God’s word. I also, somewhat selfishly, wanted to help dispel the stigma of Christians, (and especially of youth ministers), that we are ignorant and that youth ministry is a “stepping stone” for people to go on to preaching ministry positions. I think, however, that ministry is a high calling, and that ministers should absolutely be trained in their fields and know what they are teaching or preaching, as much as we would wish a medical doctor would know what they are practicing. Thus, after considering different options of seminaries and theological education, I felt led to continue on here at ACU’s Graduate School of Theology, and to pursue a Master of Arts in Christian Ministry.