{"id":859210,"date":"2025-11-06T05:00:32","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T11:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=859210"},"modified":"2025-11-05T11:20:02","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T17:20:02","slug":"10-things-i-wish-i-knew-when-i-started-ministry-at-age-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/10-things-i-wish-i-knew-when-i-started-ministry-at-age-20\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Things I Wish I Knew when I Started Ministry at Age 20"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ll be 65 years old in two months, but I hang out with a lot of young people in my role as a seminary professor. In fact, I started in full-time ministry at age 20 \u2013 not much different from where my students are now. Here are some things I wish I\u2019d known when I was their age:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n
      \n
    1. The world doesn\u2019t revolve around me.<\/b> I arrogantly thought it did then, but now I know the world is much, much, much bigger than I am.<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. Decisions I make today will affect the rest of my life.<\/b> You never think about it at the time, but I still carry regrets over decisions I made decades ago.<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. If it\u2019s God\u2019s plan, He\u2019ll provide a spouse in His time.<\/b> I worried too much about getting married when I was in my 20\u2019s, but God knew I needed to grow up a bit before sharing my life with someone else. He brought me Pam when I was 30.<\/span><\/li>\n
    4. My calling is more general than specific.<\/b> Back then, I thought my calling was only to pastor a church, and I limited my thinking to that role. I\u2019ve learned since then that God can use me in other roles, too.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    5. Popularity and power are fleeting.<\/b> In those days, I was aiming for something I now know doesn\u2019t last long. Regardless of how popular you think you may be, most of the world still doesn\u2019t know you at all.<\/span><\/li>\n
    6. Intentionally building a savings account and retirement funds matters.<\/b> The sooner you start saving and preparing for the future, the more compounding interest will help you in the long run. I learned that truth early, but still I missed some years of saving.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    7. I need the church.<\/b> I needed the church when I started pastoring \u2013 but I saw it as a job more than as the family of God to provoke me to godliness and faithful living. Now, I know how much that family means to me.<\/span><\/li>\n
    8. I need to pay attention to the world\u2019s events.<\/b> I was hardly a global Christian in my 20\u2019s. Now, I think much about the billions of people around the world who don\u2019t know Jesus.<\/span><\/li>\n
    9. Life is seldom as bad as it seems.<\/b> In the midst of chaos and problems, we sometimes think our life is catastrophic. In my younger years, I sometimes let pessimism drive me to discouragement and despair. Life\u2019s seldom that bad, though.<\/span><\/li>\n
    10. Reading the Bible and praying are more than \u201ccheck the box\u201d disciplines.<\/b> That\u2019s what they were to me back then; now, though, I know they\u2019re life-giving components of a relationship with God who loves us.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      I\u2019m sure I could list other things, but perhaps my thoughts push you to remember and reflect, too. What do you wish you knew when you were 20?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019ll be 65 years old in two months, but I hang out with a lot of young people in my role as a seminary professor. In fact, I started in full-time ministry at age 20 \u2013 not much different from where my students are now. Here are some things I wish I\u2019d known when I…","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":859215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,184,175,177,191,14796,180,194],"tags":[21379,20346,107,19054,21380],"class_list":["post-859210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-discipleship","category-grow","category-lead","category-mind-body-and-spirit","category-monday-wednesday-featured","category-outreach-and-evangelism","category-preaching","tag-10-things-i-wish-i-knew-when-i-started-ministry-at-age-20","tag-calling","tag-church","tag-ministry","tag-seminary-professor"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n10 Things I Wish I Knew when I Started Ministry at Age 20 | Church Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I\u2019ll be 65 years old in two months, but I hang out with a lot of young people in my role as a seminary professor. 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