Finding my place in MINISTRY…

So my wife and I joined this wonderful church, Gethsemane Community Fellowship Baptist Church. It is so fulfilling to be a part of a healthy, wholesome ministry. What I’ve lately found challenging is the fact that I grew up in church. My parents were in ministry since I was like 8 years old. I started preaching when I was about 13 years old. The word of God is very important to me and I’ve spent many hours studying it… especially since the days that I found myself caught up in some very unhealthy and erroneous doctrinal teaching. Today, I have a voracious appetite for rich, solid teaching and preaching. My tolerance is very low for unstudied preaching and unfounded teaching. So I needed a pastor that could unpack things in the scripture that I hadn’t already heard but things that were textually and contextually correct. My heart’s cry was for a leader that could lead me to new depths in God’s word. I found that in Rev. Dr. Kirk T. Houston, Sr. Hallelujah!!!

One of the things that I loved doing when we lived in Atlanta was ministering at the Atlanta Union Mission. I had the opportunity to serve as a chaplain for the Women’s Division and subsequently the Men’s Division. This afforded me the chance to work one-on-one with several persons making the transition from incarceration back into society. It also allowed me a chance to minister to several persons who were homeless and finding shelter from the elements.

When we were invited to sing at Rock Church of Virginia Beach I met a wonderful family. The two children in this family have amazing stories. The fact that they are still alive is a testimony of the grace of God. For anonymity, I will use a fictitious name. The little boy, “Mikey,” just stole my heart. He loves God and is captivated by drums. Although confined to a wheelchair, he sits in the service and plays “air drums” during each song. He says that when he grows up he wants to be a preacher. Weeks after we performed at Rock Church, Mikey’s mom contacted me. She said that while planning for Mikey’s birthday party she asked him what he wanted for his party. Expecting him to request a clown or something of the sort, she was surprised when he said that he wanted “Michael M. Smith” to come to his house for his birthday. He said that he wanted to sit down with me and talk about the Lord. WOW!! I was so deeply touched by this request. My wife and I spent a wonderful evening with Mikey and his family. He and I sang, laughed and played together. He preached to me and demanded that I preach to him. It was so much fun.

As I left there, I was reminded of Jesus’ ministerial practices. He spent most of His time with people that needed encouragement and love. It felt as though spending a few hours with a physically challenged young boy was just what Jesus would have done. If only I had the power within myself to heal him. If only I were Jesus…

So with renewed passion, I was so excited when I received a call from one of the largest Gospel Music radio stations in the area (WXEZ Star 94.1) with an invitation to sing at a Thanksgiving dinner they were holding for homeless and less fortunate persons in the Newport News, Virginia area. Once again, I was ministering to persons that were in desperate need of encouragement and strength. A few weeks later, immediately after returning from our two-city tour in South Carolina, we went to the Union Mission in downtown Norfolk, Virginia and spent an evening singing and ministering to homeless men. That evening the presence of the Lord was very heavy in the room as several men gave themselves in worship and several received the Lord Jesus as savior and Lord. It was a powerful night.

It is my belief that every artist should discover your assigned audience. Some of us are called to minister to the world, some to minister to the church, some to minister to the youth, some to minister to older persons. But we are most successful when we are ministering to the people to whom we were designed to minister. I believe that I’ve been designed to minister to the body of Christ and to persons like “Mikey” and the men at the Union Mission, seeking hope and encouragement.

There is so much more for me to tell you about… like the SC tour… like my new production venture with a new up and coming artist… like the new opportunity God is giving me to work with my local church. So stay tuned.

Have a wonderful Christmas and Holiday Season. Don’t forget to take specific time out to worship Jesus Christ. He is God’s gift to us all. He is the Savior of the world.