Teen Challenge and Letting God Write the Bigger Story

As soon as I said it, I knew it wasn’t the best way to promote my book.

I was being interviewed about my recent book, Giving Hope An Address and I was asked the question, “What do you hope is the most important message readers will takeaway from your story?”

I answered, “That in the greater scheme of things my story is not that important.” I back peddled my words quickly because even the interviewer looked a little perplexed.

I tried to restate with more clarity, “What I mean to say is what I have written is just a small fraction of the story of the ministry of Teen Challenge. But God has written a greater story that no writer will ever be able to capture about what Jesus Christ has done in the lives of people who have found hope through the doors of every Teen Challenge program.”

Phew! That was better and cleared up a few things for the interviewer.

My answer to that question was a lesson God had recently taught me about what it means to be followers of Christ and to serve in ministry.

You know that saying, “There is no I in the word TEAM.” Well, here is the thing. When God calls you into ministry: be it a church ministry, non-profit organization, or the mission field. There is no “I” in the word gospel. In other words, it is not about you!

When God calls you to reach others with the gospel message, you have to leave your pride at the door. You have to lay down the world’s ambition of success, popularity, loyalty, and recognition.

In other words, it’s God’s story. You are not the author.

Let me use my own family’s story as an example. Through my family, God used individuals to start a faith-based rehabilitation ministry to reach those addicted to drugs, alcohol, and people broken with life-controlling problems. Then God called others to build onto that ministry. He used the faithfulness of not only my family but many others who were called to reach those lost in addiction with the message of hope.

That single ministry grew exponentially for sixty years through thousands of people, each with their individual stories. The Adult and Teen Challenge ministry is now in 125 countries and directed and led by leaders all around the world. And guess what? Today if you ask many staff and residents of a Teen Challenge program, they have no idea where, how, or even who began the ministry of Teen Challenge.

Why?

Because the author and sustainer of Teen Challenge is God, it is not my family, it is not any director or leader of any program, but through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ who transforms lives and sustains the message that brings hope.

Now as a family member connected to the founding of Teen Challenge, I take great pride in knowing my family was used by God to begin a ministry that is now throughout the world.  It is why I wrote my book so that I could tell a new generation the founding story.

But here’s the lesson; we are not called by God to write a ministry story that we take credit for. We are called to give him the authorship of all of it.

Now, this is easier said than done. We are all human. We work hard in the kingdom of God just like in the business world. And we like recognition for our efforts even on behalf of God. But our objective as followers of Christ is to always point to a bigger story. The gospel story. The “author and perfecter of our faith.” (Hebrews12:2)

In my book, I quoted my uncle David Wilkerson who founded Teen Challenge. He said simply, “Give the ministry away.” He didn’t mean to let go of the calling on your life that brought you to your particular church or ministry. What he was implying was not to hold your ministry vision so tightly. If you release control and allow people to feed into your ministry with their gifts and talents, God will grow your ministry exponentially.  

So if you are feeling rejected, tired, overwhelmed, or unrecognized in your particular calling, remember that you don’t own the rights to the gospel message. It’s not up to you to write your ministry story. You will never properly serve people with the message of Jesus Christ if you are continually looking for self-recognition or feel it is all up to you.

To keep using the writing analogy: stop self-publishing!

The story has already been written. You are called to bear witness to that story of who the Author is. It’s only by God’s grace that He will sustain and grow your ministry through the people you serve and who serve along with you. The pressure is off. Your only responsibility is to promote God’s message faithfully. Let Him write the bigger story through you and beyond you.   

Don’t ever fall into the trap of taking credit for a ministry that was never yours to begin with. Then maybe one day, you’ll have the privilege of writing a book where you realize your name is on the cover, but God is the true author of that ministry story.