Garrett Kell: Remember Your Calling

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Garrett Kell
And I think it’s one of the most important things in ministries, is is to never stop cultivating personal relationship with Him, the freshness of His Word. You’re not just getting a you’re not just doing a sermon for other people, but the sermons first for you. You’re studying first for you, because you need it more than anybody else. You

Garrett Kell
the biggest mistake I made is a brand new pastor. Well, there’s a lot of and it depends on who you ask. I think, I do think it was, I was worried way too much about what people thought I loved the Lord. I wanted them to love the Lord. But I call it photo bombing Jesus, where, you know, you want Jesus to be central, but you kind of want to be in the picture. You’re like, I was there and, you know, you I felt like there was, that was my early years in ministry. I I just kind of wanted some of the glory, you know. And in one sense, it makes sense, right? We’re created to help people to see His glory. So it’s, there’s fulfillment there, there’s joy there, but there was, there was too much of me early on, and that creates a whole lot of problems. I don’t think I was, well, I know I wasn’t honest about personal sin struggles. There was. I had a I had a personal struggle with pornography for a number of years that I felt like if I was honest about that people would not believe the things I was saying about Jesus and that I didn’t know what would happen to me, and it was a really scary place. And I kept thinking, I’ll get out of this. I’ll keep get out of this. And then, you know, eventually it comes to the place where, by God’s grace, you know, I was, I stepped into the light by His mercy, with the help of some friends and the Lord, the Lord changed a whole lot about the way I think about life and ministry, but, but I think it began with the fact that I I wanted to be thought well of. And I think what we have to remember is that the only opinion matters is the fathers, and that if we’re in Christ, that there’s no condemnation, that we’re loved, that were sought, that were kept, and that that needs to be enough, and that’s where I think I wasn’t open about some of those, those struggles early on, in a way that I just need to be more humble. And you know, you can either, you can either be humble or be humbled. And the Lord has a way to navigate, and it’s not always enjoyable, but he’s always faithful, and I’m thankful that he’s helped me to not be perfect now, but to learn to walk in the light. Lots of things I love about being a pastor. I think my favorite thing is watching God change people through his word. It’s more than this, but you prepare, but you show people Jesus in His Word. And when you encounter Jesus like he can, he can change anybody. And I get this like a front row seat all the time, to watching God meet people in good situations, hard situations, impossible situations, and to watching the Lord often more a little slow, slower than we’d prefer, but in really unique ways that that only he could do show up and it’s constantly according to his Word. And I love seeing God keep his promises to his people time and time again. You know, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden I would give you rest and to watch people trust that and lean in, and to see Jesus show up and walk with them through whatever they’re going through. And so I think my favorite part about being a pastor, whether it be, you know, preaching and watching the word just do work eventually, whether it be in, you know, one on one, discipling or leading with other people, or whatever it may be, I have the honor of just being front row seat to constantly watching God work in the midst of all of our messes. And there’s, there’s no greater joy for me, somebody who’s who’s in ministry and feels discouraged. First of all, you know, don’t be surprised by that. I mean, you know, Peter said, Don’t be don’t be surprised by fiery trials when they come. And those fiery trials come in lots of ways. And, you know, everybody has hard jobs in lots of ways, but being a pastor is uniquely hard in the sense that it’s constant spiritual warfare. Don’t assume that it means that God is not happy with you. Don’t assume that that it’s not working, right? I mean, we don’t see, we don’t measure things according to the flesh. Like we don’t, we don’t fight our battles, not against flesh and blood. We it’s a different sort of thing. So I think, first of all, just let the word inform what’s true. Like this is, this is this is going to be hard. Secondly, I would say, make sure you’re surrounding yourself with with people who are. Who are helpful for you. So as a pastor, you can’t do it all alone. Whether you’re a pastor and just ministry, whatever it may be, you can’t do it alone. You have to be around other people. So I try to surround myself with people who love me and are not impressed with me. Those are the best people. They’re the safest people for my soul. They’re more worried that, do I love Jesus and am I going to make it home to see him face to face? Am I going to persevere in faith like that’s the primary thing? And I would say, take the pressure off of performing and getting metrics and whatever everybody else thinks is important, and help help, invite people to help you to see what God says is most important, and lean into that. So don’t be don’t be surprised. Surround yourself with people who love you and care about you and and then I would just say, Don’t give up hope. You know, sometimes there are seasons that are that are dark and that are hopeless, and that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love you. Doesn’t mean that you’re failing. The Lord will be with you in the midst of it and and he wastes nothing. So whatever you’re learning in this dark season, you can trust that he’s going to use it in your life and in the lives of those that you’re leading. So so don’t give up hope, but don’t do it alone. And remember that soon, and very soon, we’ll see his face, and it’ll all be worth it. The most important thing about being a pastor that didn’t learn in seminary, I may have just missed it. So I a couple things. First of all, you got to remember that seminary and everything that you do in your studies are a means to an end, not an end in itself. So a lot of times when you’re going through school and you’re trying to, you figured out what a book means, or the original languages, or what’s the ministry thing, or your systematics and your, you know you’re you’re doing your test, and it feels like it can be an end in itself, but I think it’s got to be a means to an end to, well, a couple things. First of all, you study the Scriptures so you can see Jesus and love him. And I’m sure that was said at my seminary. I may have just not noticed it as well, but I think I felt that a lot of times, and I feel that a lot with people who are in seminary, sometimes it can you can forget that the reason you’re studying is so you can know Him like you want to be at his feet. You want to come like, like Mary, and say, teach me, you know. And secondly, you’re, you’re learning for your own discipleship with Jesus like this. I want this to help me to not just see him and help others see but I want to follow him, and I want to want to persevere, and I want to love him more, and it’s for others. So like, you know, in my Bible, I carry on our church’s membership directory. And like these are the brothers and sisters who we’ve committed to help one another follow Jesus. And so when I’m in seminary, I need to be thinking, who are Lord help me to learn so I can help others. Because if you’re calling me into ministry, my job is to help them, and so to always have it as a as a conduit, not a cul de sac, like we’re going through to them to help them to follow Jesus. So again, I don’t know if I heard those things in seminary, but if I was talking to me in seminary now, I would say, remember, you’re going to see Jesus, you’re going to help follow Jesus, and you want to help others follow Jesus. And that’s got to be, it’s got to be the end. Do depends on which difficult day, you know, because all the difficult days aren’t the same. And this is the beauty of God’s Word. Is that there’s, there’s never a bottom. So whatever the trial might be, which has been one of the sweetest things of following Jesus for these years, is he always, he always knows what you need so, and I think it’s one of the most important things in ministries, is is to never stop cultivating personal relationship with Him, the freshness of His Word. You’re not just getting a you’re not just doing a sermon for other people, but the sermons first for you. You’re studying first for you, because you need it more than anybody else. And I think that keeps the manna fresh for whatever the season may be. So I know those verses I come back to all the time. You know Matthew chapter 11, Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest like it’s and it’s a cool thing about God’s promises is that you can use them and they don’t wear out. You can’t use them up. It’s like, it’s like something that you polish and they just get brighter. There’s no, you can’t exhaust them. So I have a couple verses like that. You know that I that I cling to Matthew five eight has helped me tremendously to bless her the pure in heart, for they shall see God that you know the purity and whatever the area may be, it’s a means to an end. I want to see him. I want to know him like he’s the reward.

Garrett Kell
I do come back a lot to the end of all things and reading in Revelation, 21 and 22 so you know, Revelation, for me, has really become one of my favorite books. Now, there’s the weird stuff in there, but if you step back and see what it is, it’s the. Revelation of Jesus Christ, and he’s revealing himself and the fact that he conquers, and he’s given it to these seven churches because they need to hear because they’re about to endure all of this hardship until they get to the land where there’s no more crying and no more tears and no more pain and no more funerals and no more goodbyes and no more betrayals, and all that’s going to be done and and what he gives is he gives himself, and he shows himself as the conquering king. So in this season, I’d say the book of Revelation is uniquely sweet for me, just to see that sin doesn’t win and death doesn’t win, and suffering doesn’t win, and cancer doesn’t win, and all the stuff that it just doesn’t win, Jesus conquers. And that if you, if you trust Him, that he’ll hold you fast and you’ll eat of the Tree of Life, and I’m ready for some of that.