Who’s Coaching You?

In 1982 at 20 years old we began the journey of serving Jesus as the youth directors in our local church.  We were on fire for the Lord and looked for every opportunity to love and serve him. We were having a blast!  Working with kids, serving on outreach teams, leading bible studies in our home, leading people to Christ and mentoring them in the ways of Scripture.  It was a crazy, wonderful 8 years of loving God in the present moment and preparing for the future.

Very early on we knew we were called to full time service in God’s kingdom. Together we pursued the will of God in prayer, education and service. Our education and interning resulted in our coming to Marshall as the founding pastors of Crossroads church at the ripe old age of 28. One of our mentors on earth, Dr John P. Kelly, told us that we were going out as a prototype of a new kind of ministry. He said we would be like Aquila and Priscilla. Our team ministry style was a call to teach the power of “team”.  There were not too many team role models in those days, so we didn’t have the blessing of a “couple” on earth who could mentor us. Lots of individuals to serve as coaches, but no couples.  We looked to Aquila and Priscilla as our mentors.  With as little as is said about them in scripture, they have helped us navigate this journey of pastoring a church as a team.  Some of the things A&P have taught us:

• Power of generosity
• Power of courage
• Power of hospitality
• Power of teamwork

You may not have thought about this but there are Bible mentors that have been coaching you and have been helping the Holy Spirit to form you.  Think about someone in scripture that makes you feel like they know you and their example has helped you become the Christ follower you are today. What skills have these mentors/coaches taught you?  What words spoken by these mentors/coaches or written about them are words that you can you live by?

God chose these people to be in scripture so that we would learn how to worship, love, serve and become all He created us to be. We hope you can join us live, or if you’re out of town by internet, as we spend this summer meeting some of the great mentors and coaches of scripture.

Still learning after all these years =)