Equipped to Serve Obediently
Success in ministry is about faithfulness, not merely response. In today's blog, Carl Kerby shares how he learned this important lesson and how, through our EQUIP ministry, we are teaching today's youth to respond to God's faithfulness with obedience.
This year, the theme for our EQUIP Retreats is, “Alive in Christ.” We want the young men and women we have the opportunity to share with to have a bold declaration of their life in our Savior. Please allow me to share why our mission to be “Alive in Christ” is now more critical than ever in these challenging times.
Recently, while speaking at Faith Baptist Bible College, several young men and women approached me with joyful hearts. They shared that hearing the message at one of our camps years ago was the very catalyst that strengthened their faith and even led some of them to enroll at the college. Praise God for these testimonies!
But the impact doesn’t end there ... At a nearby church, high school students excitedly shared how our Impact curriculum is being used in their Sunday School class and has ignited a fire for the Word of God. In addition, two young ladies, now in their late 20s and early 30s, testified that the seed planted at camps I’d spoken at years ago continues to bear fruit in their own lives. One is a devoted public school teacher who relies on our app and videos to help her stand firm in her faith, even in disagreement. The other lady is now a loving mother of two beautiful children. She and her husband are raising their two children on the solid foundation of God’s Word, using our resources to help. Glory to God!
Since Reasons for Hope began in 2011, we’ve seen the decline of faith in our culture—a troubling increasing trend of “nothings” (Those that have NO faith, supposedly) and a shrinking number of young people willing to declare Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. At Reasons for Hope, we’re passionately committed to taking every young believer who joins us at camp and equipping them to be bold, unwavering witnesses for Christ―no more hiding in the shadows as “undercover Christians.” We need a vibrant, vocal generation that stands firmly on God’s Word!
Remember, true power in ministry isn’t measured by grand gestures but by faithful obedience. Satan tempts us to believe that only “big” moves matter, yet Scripture reminds us of the Shepherd who left the ninety-nine to rescue the one lost sheep. It’s not the size of our audience, but our steadfast obedience to God that counts.
Allow me to share a story that forever changed my perspective on ministry.
When I was a full-time air traffic controller at O’Hare International Airport, I traveled on weekends to preach the Gospel. Every week, my pastor asked, “How did it go, Carl?” At first, I deflected with jokes like, “Nobody slept!” or “Nobody threw anything!”—unable to truly measure what success looked like in ministry.
Over three months, my pastor continued asking me the same question, “How did it go, Carl?”
Finally, I got real with him: I told him I didn’t know how to answer that question. As an air traffic controller, I could answer that question immediately at the end of my shift. “Nobody died, that’s a great day!" I could check how many aircraft landed during a given period and compare that with the optimum number. We had standards and goals to check to see how well we were doing.
In ministry, that’s a totally different issue, though. I told him that there were many times that I would go out and speak, and the people were like "ice statues”!
I would ask myself, “Are they even breathing?”
I would pour my heart out and see no visual response. So, the only time that I felt as if I’d accomplished anything was on the rare occasion when I’d have a father come up and share how he’d been convicted about needing to be more involved in his family and that he needed to become a better spiritual leader. Or youth would say they were so excited about their faith now that they would go to their school and start a Bible or Creation club to reach their peers. I even had a pastor at the end of a weekend conference stand up after it was all over and tell his congregation that, “I’ve been double-minded on the Word of God; from here on out, I’m going to stand firmly on the Bible!”
(Side note: That’s because I use James 1:5-8 many times in the Sunday morning service. These verses tell us that "a double-minded man is unstable and all of his ways." I’ll tell folks that we will be unstable if we try to put one foot on the world‘s wisdom and one foot on the Word of God. In addition, the world sees us when we live like this. It’s called hypocrisy when we say one thing and live another.)
James 1:5–8
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
To my pastor's credit, he’d been setting me up for three months, waiting for me to get real.
He looked at me and said, “Carl, you’re wrong!”
I asked him, “Why is that?"
He said, "How long did Noah preach?"
My response was, “It depends on how you read the Scripture, but anywhere from 50 to 120 years."
He then asked, “How many people responded? Not very many!”
His response was very impactful even to this day.
He then looked at me and said, “Carl, if you base your success and ministry on the response of others, you’ll always be lonely in ministry. You have to ask yourself, were you obedient? If you were obedient, you were successful regardless of the responses.”
True success is found in obedience—no matter how small the act. And that truth has echoed in my heart ever since.
So, I ask you today—“Are you being obedient, even in the little things?”
Don’t let anyone steal your joy or diminish your worth. Never compare your journey with another’s. See yourself as Christ sees you: His workmanship (Ephesians 2:10), His masterpiece! In the same way that two paintings made from the same materials can hold vastly different values based on the artist’s touch, your worth does not come from man’s measure but from the Master Creator of the Universe.
When you face challenges, remember this: You’re a child of God.
John 1:12–13
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Galatians 3:26
For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
2 Corinthians 6:18
And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”
He will never leave you nor forsake you.
Hebrews 13:5b–6
He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
Stand firm on His promises. Embrace your identity in Christ, be bold in your witness for Christ, and shine the light of Christ wherever you go.
Stand Firm and . . . Stay bold! (Because IN CHRIST, you are truly ALIVE!)
Matthew 5:16
Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
To learn more about EQUIP Retreat and to get your teen signed up, click HERE.
Recent
Archive
2025
February
2024
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
2023
February
June
September
No Comments