Great outcomes are often attributable to patience and persistence. You know this firsthand if you’ve ever been part of a church building project or on the search committee for a new minister. If those examples are too painful to ponder, think of the time and devotion required to turn relatively basic kitchen ingredients into piping-hot and incredibly fragrant cinnamon rolls.
Such is the argument made in the book Don’t Quit: The Best Things in Ministry Come Over Time. The cinnamon roll analogy becomes a bit stickier because co-author Gina McClain says of her own cooking, “Sometimes, it’s just bad!”
Fortunately, for ministry leaders and volunteers everywhere, McClain is a great writer and an even better collaborator. Don’t Quit, co-written with Jessica Bealer, acknowledges you may feel ready to quit your ministry role each Monday morning. Instead, they passionately encourage you: Just. Keep. Going!
Interestingly, McClain’s foray into full-time ministry came over time, as well. At the age of 18, during the Sunday service set aside to honor graduating high school seniors, McClain felt a distinct call to ministry. More specifically, she felt the call to preach—which didn’t align with the roles she saw women filling in the church. She spent five years in college, feeling confused about her calling, and then another five years in the banking industry before becoming a teacher in her church’s Mothers Day Out program to stave off the new-mother boredom she was experiencing. From there she became director of the MDO program before transitioning into a variety of roles under the children’s ministry umbrella.
About her career path McClain says, “It was such an odd transition that for years I thought I was an ‘illegitimate’ children’s pastor. It wasn’t what I’d envisioned doing with my life; it was just the path I went down. I felt my initial call needed to be stifled. Now it’s become a passion, a platform. I want to elevate younger women, helping them into levels of leadership that I may never see.”
In Don’t Quit, McClain and Bealer offer not only encouragement but real wisdom and solutions born of a combined 37+ years of experience that includes missteps, highs, lows, wins, and losses. When you finish the book, you will be eager for the next series of “best things” awaiting you and your ministry.
Recent Comments