Your Ministry Career as a Race

During high school, I lettered two years in track. I did the pole vault, high jump, and ran 880 yards, which was twice around the track. Looking back, I see that some 44 years of ministry have been much like that 880 run.

Let me begin by saying that God’s calling on my life as an extraordinary event. The Holy Spirit’s leadership led me to not be a dentist like my Dad. It even impacted who I would marry or which church or denomination in which I would serve.

So, let me blur the lines a bit between that 880 yard track event and how I’ve seen others running the race.

Some guys get their education, like a doctorate even, and expect their career to begin in a sprint to the top. In my case, some would say that I sprinted to the top because I was invited to work at the IMB home office at the age of 24 years old.  God clearly led Mary Leigh and me to move to Richmond, Virginia, to work there. And the Lord led me to take classes at Southern Seminary while working at the Kentucky Baptist Convention. I earned my Masters in Communications while working at the IMB.

Let’s get back to the track for a second. When running the 880, I saw some guys race off like rabbits and they wore out after sprinting a lap. Others ran too slow and got trapped in the back of the pack. I was trained that the smart runners stayed near the fastest two runners. They developed a kick in that last quarter of the race in order to begin to run everyone down to the finish line. In ministry, it's sometimes like that. You may not be the flashiest or smartest, but you need to be a lifelong learner. Hey, I’d do good to break two minutes running the 880, but the world’s best could do it in 1:50!

My wife’s cousin asked me once if I had 30 years of experience or one year of experience 30 times over and over. I had to say that the Lord guided me to continually learn, adapt, and take on new responsibilities.

The worst opportunity I ever had was a ministry that was strapped for money to the point that we weren’t sure we’d make payroll each month. I was prevented from taking classes or going to seminars or workshops. In that environment I did two things – I went to public library in order to check out leadership books and I studied leaders in the Bible. The Book of Joshua is still a favorite study of mine. Then, while at the IMB, I found that they would pay part of my tuition to have a masters degree. It took three years, but that study period has proven to be a real blessing.

The biggest opportunity came when I was thrown into a group of consultants in missions. In track and field terms, they were Olympians! Our IMB team leader, Clark Scanlon, insisted that we each learn each other’s roles. That’s when I had church planting drilled into me and I then drilled strategic communications, diffusion of innovations, and integrated marketing strategies into the other guys. At the end of the year, I had picked up church planting strategies, community development skills, Bible Storying, research and statistics, leader training, and cross-cultural evangelism. As I traveled to dozens of countries, I led seminars that were my strength, but I would also interact and ask evaluation questions given to me by the other consultants that helped the missionaries identify gaps and opportunities.  

When the Lord closed out those roles and He led me to work in other ministry places, I looked around at people who had skills that I needed. I learned coaching, counseling, educational scope and sequence that way at the NAMB.

So, nine years ago when I became the director for the Cincinnati Area Baptist Association, my resume didn’t fully represent who I had become. That helped my interview process become invaluable. It wasn’t a way of bragging, but praising God for opportunities that could be used in His service up to the minute.

When I posted on social media a photo of me leading the State Evangelism Conference at the Missouri Baptist Convention, a colleague who was still doing the same job some 15 years after I knew her asked, “Will the real Mark Snowden please stand up?” After I preached at my hometown church, a high school friend complimented me by saying, “I see you’ve grown.” I’d like to think he was not talking about my waistline.

The point of all this today is to encourage you to become a lifelong learner. And focus your learning! Seek the Lord’s will to see what He wants you to learn. Keep looking around. Be an aggressive learner. Master skills that fill gaps in your knowledge. Then don’t be afraid to use it and develop the knowledge or skill to the glory of God. That way one day, years will have passed and you find yourself still in the race with an eye fixed on God’s finish line.

Mark Snowden has served 9 years with the Cincinnati Area Baptist Association and some 35 years in primarily SBC-related roles including three entities and two state Baptist Conventions.

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