Dear Readers,
Popular, though inaccurate, opinion is that servants in ministry do nothing but talk on the phone, and work on Sundays and sometimes Wednesday nights. If this were the case I would have shared each step of my journey as it came to me. However, since I have been super busy over these last couple months, I'll just try and give it all to you in one post. Ready? ....... Ok here goes....
As many of you know, I was living in Indianapolis prior to May of last year while attending Colonial Christian School, and serving as "music pastor" in every sense of the word at Faith Baptist. God had been working on my heart about being full time in ministry, and opened the door for me to be part of my dad's ministry. (Groves Family Ministries) The emotional and spiritual growth that I experienced here were incredible. I am so thankful that God placed me in that ministry. Late December 2010 God began to stir in my heart once again. My gut reaction was to resist because of the negative connotation that goes along with "ministry hoppers." God pushed and worked in my heart, and I still wasn't quite sure what he was telling me. If you were to ask my close mentors, they would tell you I surrendered to every ministry you could possibly think of and more. The problem was, I was basing my decisions off of convenience and the opinions of others. My pastor challenged me to "minimize me, and maximize Jesus." "Take time to pray and then wait on God."
WAITING....is the hardest thing in the world, but it pays. No matter what has gone on in my life, my source of praise has always been music. I love to preach, I love to encourage, and I love to praise, and the only way possible to accomplish all these things at once was my main calling: music. So, I loaded up on a greyhound bus for myrtle beach. There I was part of the Singing In The Sun for an entire week. Here, several of my musical heroes, took time to encourage me and counsel me on how to take the next step. Though several doors had been open to me before, I just couldn't get peace about any of them. Before the end of the SITS week, an old friend, Victoria Shirey, came for a visit. While we were talking she made mention that her family group was looking for a piano player. Talk about instant excitement...I couldn't tell you how or why, but I knew this was the one. She invited me for a two week trial tour, and before the end of the second week, they invited me to be a full time part of their ministry.
I am extremely excited about what God has for me and the Shireys in the years to come. So, what's next? Among our ministry to the churches across America, we will be part of the Branson Gospel Music Revival, the National Quartet Convention, and various cruises singing with many of our dear friends. Someone said, "well you're just living the dream now aren't ya?!" Well....our bus is dead so we are traveling in a small SUV pulling a trailer. Churches don't always know how to support a ministry. But, despite these things, we are having the time of our lives serving the Lord. I'm going to be changing the blog over to a new URL soon, so stay tuned! Keep track of our ministry at www.theshireysministries.com
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