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00:00:01
#3: Why Does My Ministry Matter?
55 Plays4 months ago
In this episode of NextGen Matters, Rich takes us deep into the life and calling of Jeremiah, God’s prophet during Judah’s collapse, to remind us of the unshakable difference between calling and ministry. With warmth and clarity, he unpacks four timeless reasons why your ministry matters—today, tomorrow, after you, and for eternity.
Through powerful stories of faithfulness within unseen impact, on quiet students, and generational influence stretching from D.L. Moody to Billy Graham, Rich shows how ministry fruit often outlives the moment. You’ll be encouraged to see your leadership as part of God’s eternal timeline, where even small acts of consistency ripple into lives you may never know.
This episode closes with three practical steps you can take right now:
- Encourage a younger leader with prayer and affirmation
- Thank a mentor who shaped your journey
- Name one blessing God has given through your ministry
Your ministry matters because the gospel matters—and its impact echoes far beyond what you can see.
Resources Mentioned.
• Moody Church – https://www.moodychurch.org/• Moody Bible Institute – https://www.moodybible.org/
Timestamps
• 00:01 – Welcome and framing the core question: Why does your ministry matter?
• 00:57 – The aggressive and subtle challenges that make leaders question their impact.
• 04:13 – What ministry isn't rooted in: not titles, numbers, or visible success.
• 06:14 – A clear contrast between calling and ministry: definition, focus, scope, and meaning.
• 13:20 – Jeremiah as an example of steady calling expressed through shifting ministry.
• 16:22 – Four reasons your ministry matters: today, tomorrow, after you, and for eternity.
• 20:22 – How your faithfulness impacts students in ways seen and unseen.
• 22:54 – Your ministry’s ripple effects across generations.
• 28:28 – The eternal significance of serving in God’s story.
• 29:53 – This week’s practical call to action.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Ministry Leadership Podcast
00:00:01
NextGen Matters
Hey friend, welcome to the Next Gen Matters podcast, a show for ministry leaders seeking to move beyond overwhelm and move into leading with clarity, with confidence, and consistency. I'm Rich Brown, and in this episode, we are diving into a core question.
Significance of Ministry Work
00:00:16
NextGen Matters
It has all to do with why does your ministry matter? Not just what you do in ministry, but why the work you do carries great significance.
00:00:27
NextGen Matters
So I got my coffee cup. You got yours. Let's get ready for this conversation. Remember, you and I, we're rita we're at a coffee shop and we are just chatting about ministry.
Common Frustrations in Ministry
00:00:38
NextGen Matters
And today you've asked me a simple question. You're like, dude.
00:00:41
NextGen Matters
Everything I'm doing doesn't even matter. And I can sense the frustration on your face and I can hear it in your voice. So maybe you have asked that question in a very quiet moment or even out loud.
00:00:57
NextGen Matters
Why? What you do, does it even matter? Maybe you've been wrestling with this even now and you've even been struggling with some very aggressive hits.
00:01:10
NextGen Matters
And here's some. You've been hit hard with some heavy conversations, some difficult conversations. You maybe even lost a friend or two.
00:01:21
NextGen Matters
Maybe you just got some anger parents and all it takes is one. Come on. You have an anger parent, which then can multiply, you know, unfortunately. Maybe you've had a very Terribly negative review and you think everything's going fine and all of a sudden your supervisor has this review and it Doesn't go well and you realize I'm not walking on water like I thought I was and it's just been hard How about this one your students you thought they loved you And then you saw their social media. Yeah, dude. They're blowing you up
00:01:58
NextGen Matters
Maybe you've gone through some very difficult board meetings where the holy men of God are not always acting holy. And it was just plain ugly.
00:02:10
NextGen Matters
I have been through all of those. whether in the church setting as a student pastor or even in the academic setting as a professor. Oh, have you ever heard of course evaluations?
00:02:22
NextGen Matters
All it takes is one and it just seems to crush you.
True Value of Ministry
00:02:29
NextGen Matters
So that's the aggressive side. And you could be asking yourself, why does this even matter what I'm doing?
00:02:35
NextGen Matters
But there's also that quieter, let's say benign side. Maybe you got these conditions. You have apathetic students. I mean, they just sit there, bumps on the log, arms folded, slouching down, scrolling on their phones.
00:02:54
NextGen Matters
They just don't care. Maybe your attendance is struggling. It's just holding its own or even beginning to slide. And when attendances go down, you start to worry about your job.
00:03:08
NextGen Matters
Or maybe you're facing a season of tiredness. We all know ministry is hard work, but there are certain times where it's just really tiring. And hopefully not, but I live in Realville.
00:03:23
NextGen Matters
Maybe you believe you're entering the door that goes into the room called burnout.
00:03:31
NextGen Matters
But my goal is during these next moments we have together that you're gonna have a deeper sense of yes, in the midst of the hard times,
00:03:42
NextGen Matters
In the midst of the struggles, I can recognize again my ministry does matter. So here's my promise to you. Here is the truth. Your ministry does matter.
00:03:54
NextGen Matters
Your ministry does matter. but Let's not for a moment attach your ministry to your title. And titles aren't necessarily wrong. It to do with our role and even our responsibilities.
00:04:07
NextGen Matters
But my title does not give me the sense of why my ministry matters. your Your ministry having a sense of mattering is not attached to the numbers of your ministry.
00:04:19
NextGen Matters
It's not attached to the visible signs of success. Your ministry matters because it is rooted in the calling that God has placed on you to steward his service.
00:04:34
NextGen Matters
So I beg of you to lean into this episode. Again, let's just have this sense of we are having a cup of coffee together. We're just sitting down across a table having this conversation.
00:04:49
NextGen Matters
And if you've not yet asked yourself that question
Understanding Calling vs. Ministry
00:04:52
NextGen Matters
of why does my ministry matter? Oh, I absolutely guarantee you will someday. It'll come out. It'll hit you hard. It'll it'll come out of sometimes out out of the the blue, as we say.
00:05:04
NextGen Matters
It'll come out of nowhere. And you'll be like, does this even matter anymore? Why does my ministry matter? We're diving into that question. And I want you to see the hope that we have in the one who called you into ministry.
00:05:21
NextGen Matters
So speaking of calling, you see, that was the last episode. And I want us to take a moment to reflect on that episode as we spoke into your calling and why that calling matters.
00:05:33
NextGen Matters
You see, calling in ministry can sound very familiar. So when we talk about ministry, I don't want us to think they're one in the same because yes, there is significant overlap, but there also is very significant specifics to each one of those two.
00:05:55
NextGen Matters
What I'm going to do is I prepared for you a a contrast of calling versus ministry, a contrast. And to do this, looking at the word calling and the word ministry, I've actually created this these four words, kind of like a template or a framework,
00:06:15
NextGen Matters
that we're gonna work through. The four words are, we're gonna look at the definition of calling a ministry, we're gonna look at the focus, the scope, and the meaning behind the phrase, why am my calling or why my ministry matters.
00:06:28
NextGen Matters
So let's look first of all at calling, its definition. Your calling is the God-given purpose, the God-given identity, and the God-given direction for your life.
00:06:44
NextGen Matters
It's about who you are becoming and what God has uniquely designed you to do. That's your calling. Say it again. Your God-given purpose, identity, and direction for your life.
00:06:57
NextGen Matters
Now, during this cup of coffee, you're going to push back and you're going to say, Rich, my identity is not in what I do. My identity is found in Jesus Christ. Yes and amen.
00:07:09
NextGen Matters
Big I identity? Absolutely. Absolutely. I in a disciple of Jesus and I am a son of the Most High God.
00:07:21
NextGen Matters
If you're woman listening, you are welcome. I'm so glad you're here. You are a disciple of Jesus and my friend, you are a daughter of the Most High God. That is your big eye your identity.
00:07:33
NextGen Matters
I also want to keep in mind when the apostle paul writes various letters Philippians 1. He'll say, I, Paul, a doulos, a bondservant, a servant of Jesus Christ.
00:07:47
NextGen Matters
To Timothy, other letters, to the Ephesians, to the church at Ephesus, to the church at Colossae, Galatia, etc. He'll say this, for example, I, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ.
00:07:59
NextGen Matters
See, he will give that sense of calling, small-I identity. Yeah, I have been a pastor.
00:08:10
NextGen Matters
I have been a professor I also am a ministry leader. Those are, yeah they're kind of titles.
00:08:19
NextGen Matters
I'm not wrapped up in them, but it is part of the calling that God put on my life. Focus. Internal. Your focus to your calling is internal.
00:08:30
NextGen Matters
See, your focus is rooted in your identity, your vocation, and the obedience that you are doing in fulfilling what God has called you to do.
00:08:40
NextGen Matters
It's your obedience to God's voice, your scope, or your view, your lens. The scope of your calling is broad, and it's it's lifelong. In other words, it's long range.
00:08:52
NextGen Matters
That scope is almost like a telescope versus a microscope. Your scope, how you view it, it's broad. It's left and it's right. It's big and it's deep.
00:09:03
NextGen Matters
It's long. It's long view, lifelong. It may include multiple seasons in your life, your calling. I know mine has 40 years in, for real. fort Crazy to think about, right? 40 years in, multiple seasons in my life,
00:09:21
NextGen Matters
multiple roles in your life, in my life. For example, and I've shared before, I'll say it again, first 18 years of professional ministry in the local church as a student pastor.
00:09:34
NextGen Matters
That transitioned for 16 years in the classroom as a professor. The last six years, that's that's transitioned again as a peer to other peers in ministry with NextGen Matters.
00:09:49
NextGen Matters
While my role has changed, the calling has not. And I said that last week. The meaning of the phrase, why am I calling matters? Well, that asks the question about your God-given identity and your purpose, that they have significance regardless of your specific roles or context.
00:10:09
NextGen Matters
Why am I calling matters? Because again, that's asking why your God-given identity and purpose do have significance regardless. because God called you. Now that's calling. Look at ministry.
00:10:21
NextGen Matters
The definition of ministry is the practical outworking, you ready, of your calling. It's the specific service.
00:10:32
NextGen Matters
It's those specific times of leadership or the work you do as you serve others, you make disciples, and you build up the kingdom of Jesus Christ. The focus Whereas the focus of the calling is internal, this focus of your ministry is external.
00:10:51
NextGen Matters
It's rooted in action. It's rooted in service. It's impacting people around you. The scope. The scope is narrower and it's very contextual.
00:11:03
NextGen Matters
See, ministry can shift depending on your season, depending on your place and location, even depending on your audience. And unless you're in your very first ministry and in your first few years of ministry, and you may have not yet seen a shift, for most of us five years and in more, we've gone through various shifts.
00:11:26
NextGen Matters
Could be location to location, church world, church to church. Maybe you've gone from local church to parachurch, working in a Christian organization. Maybe you've gone even in your same church and they've put you in different roles.
00:11:40
NextGen Matters
Maybe you've gone from working with different audiences, genres, people groups. right? You've gone maybe from children's ministry into student ministry or student ministry into young adult ministry, or even a step above that, which means you're overseeing all of it in a next-gen role.
00:11:57
NextGen Matters
Phrase of the meaning behind the the meaning of that say reg the meaning to the phrase, why my ministry matters. Ask why the particular work you're doing right now is important.
00:12:12
NextGen Matters
Ask how it serves people and fulfills God's mission. Now, there's a key distinction between the two, calling and ministry. Here's the key distinction.
00:12:23
NextGen Matters
Calling equals identity and purpose, who you are and why you exist in God's plan. Ministry equals expression and service.
00:12:38
NextGen Matters
what you do with that calling in a given context. I want to pull out of the Old Testament one of my heroes, the prophet Jeremiah.
Impact of Ministry on Lives
00:12:52
NextGen Matters
As you know, if you've heard me for even just a couple of times or you know me well personally, I'm big fan of reading the Bible through every year. Been doing it since I was 14. I love the chronological Bible. Been doing that for well over 20, 25 years.
00:13:08
NextGen Matters
It was just at the time of this recording, two months ago, I read of the life of Jeremiah. He's God's man for God's people as the entire kingdom of Judah is coming to an end and the Babylonians are marching in and destroying everything.
00:13:27
NextGen Matters
Let's look at Jeremiah for a moment, his calling in his ministry, his calling, Jeremiah 1.5. Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you and I called you.
00:13:40
NextGen Matters
His calling was to be a prophet, God's voice. He was set apart even before birth to be God's voice and God's representative to God's people.
00:13:51
NextGen Matters
His ministry, he was speaking God's words to the people of Judah in a very specific time, literally as everything was crumbling, literally Yes, spiritually it was crumbling, and he was even there in the city of Jerusalem as the walls crumbled and people were being bludgeoned to death in the streets of Jerusalem.
00:14:13
NextGen Matters
He survives. The Babylonians actually protect him, and his ministry is in Jerusalem. Well, wouldn't you know it, the people of God then revolt again against the new regime.
00:14:25
NextGen Matters
The new governor from the Babylonian Empire is now in Jerusalem. bunch of guys get together, assassinate him. They then exit stage left. They go south into a different continent, into Africa, and they're hiding out.
00:14:39
NextGen Matters
And who do they take with them? They take their trophy. They take Jeremiah. So here's Jeremiah, God's man for God's people in the city of Jerusalem is now God's man for God's people, God's people question mark, right? Well, there's still God's people, but they weren't acting godly. Okay.
00:14:54
NextGen Matters
True, true, true, true. So they're God's people and they're down there in
00:14:59
NextGen Matters
in Africa. and And here's Jeremiah with them, feeling extremely lonely. And yet he's still doing ministry. So.
00:15:10
NextGen Matters
Lifelong calling, unchanging. The minister was contextual and expressed through his prophetic work. So ask yourself this, why my calling matters?
00:15:22
NextGen Matters
That is about the foundational significance of your identity in God's plan. And then why my ministry matters? It's about the practical importance of your current service to others.
00:15:37
NextGen Matters
So that's the difference between calling and ministry. How are you doing on coffee? You good? I'm good with mine. You still good? Now we're flipping. Now we're going to go into the deep end of the pool, looking into the four reasons of why our ministry matters. I'm looking at it from a timeline.
00:15:52
NextGen Matters
The first of the four is this. Your ministry matters. It matters for today. It matters for today. Two thoughts. It matters for today. One, because your ministry impacts others in ways that you can see.
00:16:10
NextGen Matters
You can see it. If you stop and just consider, look around yourself right now. Think about the lives you are currently impacting and you have recently impacted.
00:16:22
NextGen Matters
Think about the people you're impacting now. They're there. In the middle of some difficult times, in the middle of where you're wondering, does this all even matter?
00:16:34
NextGen Matters
Recognize that it does matter. It is mattering to someone one even now. Look, we all receive those wonderful emails, maybe not from students, but you know from parents, texts, phone calls, high fives and fist bumps, words of encouragement,
00:16:52
NextGen Matters
watching on YouTube, I'm at my desk. And right here, I have a drawer full of the last couple of years of people who have sent me words of encouragement, cards, et cetera. I keep them. I don't throw them away. I keep them in my in my file here.
00:17:07
NextGen Matters
You've received those words of encouragement. You are recognizing even now there are people that have actually been impacted by what you do. Yeah, so it does matter. But there's another aspect to this mattering for today because your ministry impacts others in ways, you ready? You do not see, at least right now.
00:17:30
NextGen Matters
You see, you may never get the feedback that you think you deserve and you do. You deserve it. Come on. but you're not getting it. Yet the impact that you're doing in others' lives still was needed in that student's life just at that right moment in time.
00:17:50
NextGen Matters
they j They may just not say it to you. They just may not communicate it. That parent could be very grateful for what you've done. They, for whatever reason, just don't let you know.
00:18:02
NextGen Matters
There's something going on behind the scenes. of the goodness of God, how he's using you, and you just don't yet see it. But what's happening, you're walking by faith, you're not walking by sight.
00:18:17
NextGen Matters
You see, i also think like this, there's there's that quiet student, we all have them, that quiet student, they're on the fringe. Maybe they're new, newer, or they've been around for a long time.
00:18:28
NextGen Matters
And they're off to the side. They sit in a corner, they sit in the back, they're kind of up against that wall to use that metaphor, very quiet. They don't and go don't get involved. When it's you know hype time, they're not gonna be there hyping up with you.
00:18:42
NextGen Matters
Every Wednesday night in our ministry, you know, we need three volunteers to come up and do this game. They are, dude, they're never going to, never going to get up front to do anything like that. And yet it's your grace.
00:18:56
NextGen Matters
It's your consistency. And it's your love that's going to reach them. And you may not even know it, but you're making an impact.
00:19:09
NextGen Matters
Here's another aspect. And I'm going to mention this one and really hit this one hard next episode as we talk about how my struggle matters. Here's this one, how it impacts others in the way you don't see. You ready?
00:19:25
NextGen Matters
Your faithfulness. Your faithfulness in difficult seasons demonstrates God's faithfulness to others.
00:19:36
NextGen Matters
Your faithfulness in difficult seasons demonstrates God's faithfulness to others. So matters for today. It matters for tomorrow because your ministry impacts the future of your students.
00:19:49
NextGen Matters
Remember, please remember, the fruit of your ministry isn't just in what you do now. It's in who you equip now. And out of that equipping comes fruit later on.
00:20:02
NextGen Matters
You see, this is just this is just the reality of ministry. Unfortunately, in student ministry, if you're on staff at a church, many times we do leave churches and we move on to a different location.
00:20:16
NextGen Matters
I have some great friends who've been in their same church. Shout out to Tim. Shout out to Mike. Shout out to Matt, who've been in the same church since graduation in our youth program back in 2008. And they knew who they are as they're hearing their names because they listen to these.
00:20:34
NextGen Matters
And you're in the same churches since 2008. That's incredible. That's also, unfortunately, not the normal.
00:20:45
NextGen Matters
And for many of us, we've had to, for whatever reasons, budget cuts, et cetera, we've moved on to different ministries.
00:20:51
NextGen Matters
But who stays are those volunteers that you equipped. So your ministry will impact the future of your students. right even now for the next couple of years, and definitely will impact for years down the road.
00:21:06
NextGen Matters
You see, ministry impact is rarely immediate. You are going to be amazed and praise the Lord Jesus years from now when you're going to hear something from someone of how you deeply impacted their life and you never knew it.
00:21:39
NextGen Matters
Now in the university setting, I had no idea that in 2008 I had a senior student who was contemplating taking his own life.
00:21:55
NextGen Matters
It was about 15 years later. that he reached out to me and he said, you don't know this, but I had my medication in my car and he was going to overdose on it to end his own life after class.
00:22:13
NextGen Matters
But there was something and he mentioned what I said to this day. I still can't remember what I said, but whatever it was, it caused him to hold on for another day. And he looked at me and he said, you saved my life.
00:22:26
NextGen Matters
for I had no idea. I can't even to this day tell you what it was then. And even after he told me, I still don't remember what I'd said. But whatever it was, thank God, it was enough to have him say, I'm not going to end my life.
Legacy and Lasting Impact of Ministry
00:22:41
NextGen Matters
Now, I had no idea. Because see, my ministry, your ministry does impact the future of students. There's a third of the four major areas.
00:22:55
NextGen Matters
Thinking of a timeline, it matters after you. Your ministry matters after you. And yeah, I'm talking about when we leave this world and we enter into the presence of Jesus Christ.
00:23:07
NextGen Matters
Our death. It is appointed unto us that we will die. It is realistic. I've lost both my parents, my brother a year ago. It's become more and more real to me of the the soberness and the seriousness of I will not always be here.
00:23:25
NextGen Matters
But I want the impact of my ministry to go to future generations. I want my ministry to go on to future generations in my home.
00:23:35
NextGen Matters
If you're watching a YouTube, some of those five grandkids are behind me on the picture. want... i want the future generations of rich and janet brown to continue in the gospel sake i also want from the ministry side my influence to continue last week i mentioned the book the life of d.o moody i have it right here with me i'm going to read part of it you see in 1858 a teenager named dwight had just moved to live in the boston area with his uncle
00:24:11
NextGen Matters
The deal, as uncle said, was going to live with me, and as he works as an apprentice in a shoe factory, shoe shop, he is going to go to church. And he, in that culture in the 1850s, you would join as a member of a Sunday school class.
00:24:27
NextGen Matters
His teacher was a man named Kimball, Edwin Kimball. And Mr. Kimball really took on himself the burden of this young man, Dwight.
00:24:41
NextGen Matters
who was a teenager working in this shoe factory, the shoe shop.
00:24:47
NextGen Matters
He realized, I need to go visit him where he works. And he did. And this is the account, word for word, I'm reading this from the book, of when Mr. Kimball met with DL at work.
00:25:03
NextGen Matters
This is what he says. I determined to speak to him about Christ and about his soul and started down to Holton's shoe store. When I was nearly there, I began to want wonder whether I ought to go in just then during business hours.
00:25:19
NextGen Matters
I thought that possibly my call might embarrass the boy and that when I went away, the other clerks would ask who I was and taunt him with my efforts in trying to make him a good boy. In the meantime, I had passed the store and discovering this, I determined to make a dash for it and have it over with at once.
00:25:39
NextGen Matters
I found Moody in the back part of the building wrapping up shoes. I went up to him at once and putting my hand on his shoulder, I made what I afterwards felt was a very weak plea for Christ.
00:25:51
NextGen Matters
I don't know just what words I use, nor could Mr. Moody tell. I simply told him of Christ's love for him and the love Christ wanted in return. That was all there was. It seemed the young man was just ready for the light that then broke upon him.
00:26:07
NextGen Matters
And there in the back of that store in Boston, he gave himself in his life to Christ.
00:26:14
NextGen Matters
That, my friend, was a youth ministry volunteer, a Sunday school teacher of young boys, who led a young man named Dwight Lyman Moody to Jesus,
00:26:28
NextGen Matters
in 1858. Listen to what takes place next. D.L. Moody becomes one of the greatest evangelists of the 19th century, preaching to millions, including even in England, and founding institutions like now called the Moody Church and Moody Bible Institute, which are still crushing it for the kingdom.
00:26:53
NextGen Matters
D.L. Moody had great influence over a man named F.B. Meyer. He was a London pastor who was deeply impacted by Moody's preaching, who then began over in the British Isles his own evangelistic ministry.
00:27:09
NextGen Matters
F.B. Meyer had a great influence over a young man named J. Wilbur Chapman, who was converted at a Moody meeting, but also greatly influenced by F.B. Meyer.
00:27:21
NextGen Matters
Chapman becomes a powerful evangelist and disciples many others. Chapman, in his preaching, leads to Christ's a major league baseball player of the turn of the century, 20th, not 21st, 20th century, early 1900s, a baseball player turned evangelist named Billy Sunday, who was saved under the preaching of Chapman.
00:27:46
NextGen Matters
Billy Sunday, under his preaching, led a gentleman to Christ named Mordecai Ham, who became a preacher in Charlotte, North Carolina, where there was a young farm boy named Billy Graham who walked forward to receive Christ in Ham's revival meetings.
00:28:03
NextGen Matters
And Billy Graham has been recognized as the most influential evangelical evangelist of the 20th century, preaching to over 200 million people worldwide.
00:28:16
NextGen Matters
Your ministry matters because your ministry, if you stay faithful, is going to impact generations to come.
Concluding Thoughts and Encouragements
00:28:24
NextGen Matters
And last, your ministry matters because it matters for eternity.
00:28:30
NextGen Matters
It matters because it impacts the eternities of others.
00:28:35
NextGen Matters
Your ministry will impact your own eternity. your ministry, not just your salvation. I'm thinking, dude, I'm thinking about in 1 Thessalonians 2, where Paul says to those people at Thessalonica, you are our crown. You are our glory.
00:28:53
NextGen Matters
That I will be in heaven rejoicing, seeing other people in heaven that I had a gospel influence on? Come on. Come And also, my ministry matters for eternity because it impacts the church of Jesus Christ and it's done for the glory of God.
00:29:11
NextGen Matters
So, as we begin to wrap this up, the ministry of God, the ministry of God's word, and the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it was here before us, it's going to be here after us.
00:29:26
NextGen Matters
But for this moment in time, this moment in God's eternal timeline, God placed you and he placed me as his ambassador for this very moment to these people.
00:29:39
NextGen Matters
So I urge you to stay focused, stay faithful, and stay firm in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
00:29:52
NextGen Matters
Well, here's our weekly call action. I think of three simple steps, simple steps. It takes no budget. It's free. Three simple steps to follow through and put these into your life.
00:30:04
NextGen Matters
One, call or text a younger leader with the encouragement that they need right now and offer to pray over them. I get multiple times calls from young youth ministers.
00:30:19
NextGen Matters
just really discouraged. And I can do what I can do just to try to love on him, pray for him, listen to him. But you know somebody out there, maybe he's younger in ministry, that would need what you have, your encouragement and your prayer.
00:30:35
NextGen Matters
I also want you to text or call someone who as you look back was a mentor, was a key influencer in your life. Maybe it was your Kimball who led you to Christ.
00:30:46
NextGen Matters
And specifically thank them for their role in your life. And finally, just yourself. Identify right now one blessing through your ministry that God has been so gracious in giving to you in someone else's life these last few weeks.
00:31:06
NextGen Matters
What is one blessing you have even right now? Leader, remember. Your leadership matters because your ministry matters because the gospel matters.
00:31:17
NextGen Matters
Hey, I'd love to hear from you. If this has been a blessing and an encouragement to you, please reach out, email, comment, reach out to me and just say, hey, I needed that.
00:31:31
NextGen Matters
I had a number of people last week, last episode saying that, and it encouraged me to know that this is an encouragement to someone else. All right, guys have a blessed week and stay strong.
00:31:46
NextGen Matters
Take care.