I worked five years as an assistant pastor in Georgia as youth pastor and bus ministry director.
One of the ministries that the church oversaw was a radio station, actually two stations. The man who was in charge of the stations was named Ken Johns. He is a delightful man who I still consider a close friend today. Every Thursday, Ken would play tennis with Jere Lipnick, Rick Henderson, Jeff Andrews, David Thomason, David Holcomb and myself. We had a great time together.
I take my tennis very seriously.
By that I mean I am passionate. I play hard and can get quite vocal in my games. I never broke a racket, but I have shouted my frustrations for the world to hear. Mostly, I get frustrated at myself. Occasionally one of the guys would make a bad call on a ball that I hit. Then I might get frustrated at them. It was never personal. It was always just part of the game.
At the conclusion of each Thursday night, I would make a sincere apology for my outbursts and promise to do better the next week. These confessions were met with laughter, mockery and disbelief.
One night, Ken Johns, who I nicknamed “Smokey” due to his wispy grey hair, told me that I taught him something that changed his life and one day he would let me know what it was.
I couldn’t wait to hear it. I knew it had to be good. I wondered if it was some deep spiritual truth he heard when I was preaching. Maybe it was something I had written. Maybe I taught him some great leadership principle while serving in my ministries. Whatever it was, I knew it would be prestigious.
The day came when I resigned and Shannon, the kids and I made plans to move back to Flint to start Lighthouse. It was during our saying of goodbyes that Ken Johns (whose pronunciation of the word “dollars” is “dollas” and I still use that myself today) told me how I had changed his life. He said, “You taught me that serving God could be fun.”
Oh man, was I let down. I thought for sure he was going to tell me something far more grandiose. No such luck.
As I look back on it now, I have different feelings. I watch people who go through the motions of religious duties with difficulty and dread. Others cannot bear to drag themselves into a church for fear of being bored to tears. The idea of living for God is anything but a good time.
Now I have a different opinion. You see, I love serving God. Ever since I was fifteen years old and began my life of faith, I have had an amazing time. I love my church and the people in it. I love the manual labor and I love serving people. I love vacation bible school with the kids, activities with the teens and working with our adults. I love preaching, listening to preaching, singing, worshiping, working in bus ministries, baptizing people and telling folks about Jesus. I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life.
And if showing people just how much fun it is to serve God is the reason He has put me here, I’m good with that.
Joel Stiff's Adventure 