The FOG OF WAR is a term used to describe the uncertainty in situation awareness experienced by participants in military operations.The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding own capability, adversarycapability, and adversary intent during an engagement, operation, or campaign. -Wikipedia

Anyone who has been in ministry for very long has experienced something similar… The FOG of MINISTRY. It is the feeling of being overwhelmed, uncertain, and fearful with regard to what you have been asked to do in ministry. There was (is) ways something that could be done at church: more phone calls to make, more preparation to pull together, more people to see, more notes to be written, more meetings to hold, more study to do, more details to execute, more leaders to shape etc…… it creates a “fog” in the heart of the ministry leader that makes him uncertain and timid….it also robs him of his joy.

THE BEST “FOG LIGHT” I KNOW IS TO FIND “YOUR MINISTRY” WITHIN “YOUR MINISTRY”

ASK YOURSELF THESE TWO QUESTIONS…

1. WHAT IS IT ABOUT MINISTRY THAT GOT YOU “JAZZED UP” IN THE FIRST PLACE? Do you remember? For me it was several things…

• Seeing the “light come on” with people. Helping people “get it”! So I started to incorporate a lot more Teaching into the way I executed my assignments.We also started a ministry called “Wingmen” that allowed me to teach a bunch of guys each week… The fog began to lift….
• Leadership Development – I am wired to exhort and encourage folks in their walk with Jesus so it is a natural overflow of that tendency in my life. So I started meeting weekly with the young staff members who were new to the staff…the fog dissipated.
• Shepherding – I am a Sheepdog and not a German Shepherd so I intentionally tried to see my staff and volunteers as “sheep to be lead” and not “cattle to be driven”. Joy crept back into my “ministry”.

2. WHAT WOULD YOU DO “FOR FREE?”. In other words, if you did not receive a paycheck from the church, what would you be involved in for the cause of Christ? For me it was pretty simple, I would…

• Systematically “disciple” younger guys in their marriages and “Walk with Jesus.
• Volunteer to teach any large group gathering that would have me…
• I would direct (shepherd) a LIFE group
• Probably be a greeter at the Welcome Center

What I have discovered is that I can effectively shape my ministry responsibilities to fit how I am wired. I am called to “equip the saints for the work of ministry”…so I teach, develop and shepherd in a way that accomplished this…..see?

I think Moses was in the “FOG OF MINISTRY” when the following passage was written….

EXODUS 18:17-23

¹⁷ Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. ¹⁸ You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. ¹⁹ Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. ²⁰ Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. ²¹ But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. ²² Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. ²³ If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”