In Reply to: Why do you want to get into "ministry" Jesse? posted by Donny on February 14, 2003 at 09:10:07:
My main source of inspiration comes from www.air1.com. I have been going thru a lot of anxiety in my personal life due to some people I work with (harassing my Christianity with very nasty remarks amongst other things) and other people in my life. I won’t go into all the details but it’s been the worst anxiety I’ve been thru since I can remember. I emailed my church asking for prayer for something and got no response. I had also attempted to join a singles group with my church calling someone leaving my phone number twice. I got no response. I emailed the church complaining that this person wasn’t responding. He finally called me weeks later and promised to research the best group for me to get into and promised to call me the next day or the day after. He never called. I was left on my own. I feel that had I been in fellowship I would have been better able to withstand the emotional strain that hit me hard. Once I was in the midst of this emotional hell I emailed www.air1.com and got a very loving response from one of the pastors with a lengthy list of verses and encouragement. I attended my church for 5 years and got no help. Very sad. I had also gone to the head pastor when I first joined the church and asked for a contact for my brother who was having a serious problem. I got no response from the pastor back then either. Www.Air1.com really helped and encouraged me whereas the church left me out in the cold. I listen to the music daily and it’s a tremendous inspiration and encouragement for me. That’s all I would attempt to do if I copied their format. Just send out Christian music and encouragement. They helped me and the church with all it’s resources did not. I’m not saying that all churches are bad. I’m attending another church now and the pastor is much more involved and gets the people involved in ministry and it makes a big difference. Many people have criticized the church I’ve been attending and have left. The church is now about 50 % of what it was 5 years ago.