"If you could give me one word of advice in ministry, what would it be?"

I thought to myself, "that's a good question..."

I know it is one that many young men and women who have given their lives to the life of ministry have thought at one time or another. It is something I thought about 21 years ago when I first gave my life to ministry. One word. I only need to take it one sentence at a time. I can't take too much in at one time. That's too much. My head will explode.

My one word of advice...

THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK

Think before you speak. You don't learn that in Youth Ministry 101 or Worship Leading 101 or Pastoral Ministries 101. You learn that by NOT doing it. You speak your mind and whatever that is never passes through any filter whatsoever and then all of a sudden you are meeting with the pastor or the Deacons.

There will be times in ministry where you will want to tell people exactly what you think of them, what is happening to you, or what is going through your mind at the time. But I guarantee you, Satan uses those times to ruin our ministry.

When you go into ministry there are several things you give up. You give up the right to grip about anything in the church. You give up most of your opinions. You give up most of your Saturdays and Sunday afternoons. You give up a lot of free time. But most of all you give up the right to speak freely.

Think before you speak.

Think about what effects your words will have on those who hear. Think about how your words will effect the body of Christ you work with. Think about how your words will affect your family. Think about how your words will affect your ministry. Think about how your words will affect everyone who hears them or hears about them...from the little kid who wants to make every move you make to the little old lady who loves the way you make her laugh...

Think about it. Is it really worth it? Will it be profitable?

In the body of Christ, no matter what it is...the situation or the day, we are told to "speak the truth in love" (Eph. 4:15). So many times we want to speak the truth. Our mouths crave to speak (possibly shout or scream) the truth...but we often forget to include the LOVE part.

Think about it.

Joey