Dustin is a youth ministry major at Hillsdale FWB College in Moore, OK. He is about to enter into his Senior year and is currently a Young Adult Ministry Intern at The Donelson Fellowship.

 

#1 Be a learner

I have heard that to be a good leader you have to be a learner. Part of being a good learner is learning to be a reader. I am not the guy who likes to curl up on the couch with a good book. I prefer to wait for the movie to come out. So reading doesn’t come naturally to me; I have to be proactive about it. The more I learn about being an effective leader, I find it to be very true that I need to constantly be reading. I am learning more and more that other people have been in my shoes and are ready to help people just like me, so learning from them and seeing how they walked through a certain situation can be very beneficial. Being a constant learner from well-respected authors, pastors, and other wise leaders is one of the things that the Lord is showing me the importance of in this stage of my life.

 

#2 Be fully invested

In order to be the best minister I can be, I’m realizing that I need to fully invest in those I am trying to minister to by reading after them and listening to them as individuals, while also understanding the culture that they live in. God has recently called me to minister to young adults specifically. In order to effectively minister to young adults, I have to know where they are culturally, as well as personally.

I also have to be fully invested in helping them grow. That is the ultimate goal of ministry. We want for people to grow closer to Christ. In everything that I do, that has to be my mission. I have to be fully invested, however I can be, in helping young adults grow closer to Christ.

 

#3 Be approachable

I am also learning more and more to be approachable. Having a good attitude and being friendly is a huge part of ministry. As a minister, I am called to help people. I need to be deliberate about making sure that I am approachable so that anytime someone needs anything (prayer, advice, a helping hand, etc.), I am available. If I am a person who isn’t easily approachable, who people don’t feel comfortable coming up to and hanging out with, then I will quickly fail as a minister.

 

#4 Be intentional

Being intentional about every aspect of my life is a big part of what I am learning right now. I need to be intentional about being a man of integrity and faith who is daily studying God’s Word and faithfully praying so that I can be the best man that I can be. I need to be intentional about my everyday encounters, to be acceptable to the people whom God has placed on my heart to minister to. My passion is reaching and ministering to young adults, and I have learned that I need to be intentional about every area of my life in order to let people know that I am a person who they can freely approach, who they can trust, and who will do my best to help them grow closer to the Lord.

 

#5 Be real

Along with everything else that I have said, I have to remember to be real. I can’t get too caught up trying to do all of these things that I have listed and end up being fake. I have to be sure that people know that I’m not just doing things on a checklist, but that I really do care about them and I want to do all of these things out of a genuine passion to love them. God has created me in a specific way for a specific purpose. Being real and true to who God has made me to be is the biggest aid to investing in those I’m called to.