The Vision of Desert Road Ministries
I haven’t met a Christian yet that has escaped a season of hardship in their life. We all have our desert road to walk. Those times in life that are just hard. These times can lead to a feeling of depletion and emptiness, a nagging critical spirit, and discouragement over where we are. Ministry leaders are not exempt from these seasons.
“Failed leadership costs lives.”
This is a belief that Tim Webb, founder of Texas Leadership Summit, a non-profit geared towards the strengthening of Christian leaders, takes seriously. When ministry leaders struggle — those they serve struggle. Desert Road Ministries seeks to look at these hard seasons as an opportunity. Below is the vision we have held from our beginning:
We envision a worldwide spiritual awakening led by ministry leaders and their families who have encountered God on their personal desert roads.
If you read between the lines of our vision statement, there is a crucial player in this worldwide spiritual awakening: the church.
A life changing blessing of becoming a Christian is the adoption into an eternal, heavenly family that begins at the moment of faith in Jesus. This family is worldwide. In this family, believers are loved and served by one another as Jesus modeled to His disciples. It is a community where individual strengths are used to build up the whole body. It is a place to grow up and mature in Christ — to learn about God’s word, His truths, and how to live a life devoted to Jesus. In this family of believers we are supported through whatever comes our way.
How can a community like this not have an impact in the town we call home? In a troubled, dark world where the focus on self overrides care for others. Where there are no spiritual, mental, or physical boundaries. Where the focus is on attaining “empty glory.”1 Where everyone is their own Higher Power running around to build their own kingdoms.
How does a Christian community not make an impact?
Well, we see it every day. You, reader, could be potentially living it.
It’s when we blur the lines between earthly and heavenly value sets. When I say earthly, I am speaking of individuals who are still living surrendered to Satan. They’ve bought into the belief that salvation and happiness can come from something in themselves or their external experiences. A heavenly value set comes from faith in Jesus and surrendering self to God’s character, will, and authority. Salvation and fulfillment come from God alone.
So what happens when ministry leaders blur the lines? A subtle, weird shift takes place where energies turn towards self-indulging pursuits under the guise of a Christian mission. The love of God and self battle each other with each ministerial task.
Christianity, capitalism, and self-promotion do not sit well together but are apparently necessary elements in American ministry. How do ministry leaders keep their heads on straight? How do they not lose their first love while attempting to promote Him?2
A church cannot flourish under leadership that has misplaced priorities and combatting focal points. This is not a condemnation or judgment, but an open acknowledgement that ministry in capitalist America is difficult.
If ministry leaders and their families battle to maintain focus, how can the congregation be any different? If our leaders struggle with authenticity, owning up to sin, and feel disconnected from God — what do we expect of the church body? And if the church family — leaders and all — are treating each other no differently than their unbelieving neighbors… what’s the draw to Jesus? Another weekly event to add to a crammed calendar?
Desert Road Ministries is a place for ministry leaders and their families to wrestle with these realities while holding on tight to their spiritual and mental health. When there’s nothing more to do than look up and surrender, that is when freedom happens. The acknowledgement that it is God who wills, works, saves, and transforms. What a relief! And what an adventure to live for God under that reality. This freedom overflows onto the church body, thus, leading to an overflow of God’s love and truth into every community around the world.
Will you partner with us?