I have something personal that I would like to share on the blog today. I will be writing tomorrow about the importance of Breakfast to give a deeper response to Jerry's question concerning it's importance.
I realized and remembered that this month marked my 28th year of ministry with Upper Room Christian World Center! I started 28 years ago in a small basement church in Brooklyn, NY called Upper Room Ministries. The Apostle of the work was Bishop Anthony D'onofrio and he ordained the Pastor I ministered with Pastor Vincent Salonia.
I started as the Bass Player in the basement of a three family home in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. The church had about 60 people that met twice a week to Worship God and experience His love through our praise, worship and the preaching of the Word of God. I saw and experienced some wonderful things in that small cramped basement.
As the Presence of God increased in the meetings so did the size of the group attending and there were often people listening from the outside steps of the basement that we were in. As the church grew in size we moved into larger and larger buildings until we bought a movie theatre on Kings Highway. From the Basement to the Theatre was approximately 8 years and there was a congregation of 600. The signs and wonders continued as the Love and Message of the Gospel went forth. But, the best was yet to come!
Through the prompting of the Lord, with much prayer and the counsel of my Pastor and my Apostle, my wife and I decided to move with our four young daughters to Long Island, NY to join our self directly with our Apostle and the wonderful work he and his elders were doing on Long Island. We sat for two years and just helped out here and there as needed. The Lord was giving us a rest and a time of reflection.
I then started playing the bass again as well as volunteering for youth church. 18 years latter I am a Pastor here on Long Island. I am also the Vice Principal/Dean of Students for Upper Room Christian School. My wife and I do marriage counseling through the Church's Marriage Team Ministry.
Ministry is service! Service to God and service to mankind. It is the giving of yourself to the Lord and for others. This is the core message of the Gospel. God sent His Son. His Son sent us! The service you do is not as important as the way in which you do it! First we minister in Faith that works through the Revelation of the Love that God has given us to give to others. We do everything AS UNTO THE LORD with all of our effort just like Jesus did. We lay down our life for each other. We believe the best about each other. We edify each other.
Whether you are a janitor, nurse, sanitation worker, lawyer, homemaker, Pastor, or ANY OTHER PROFESSION, God wants to use you as His minister, His ambassador. Second Corinthians says, "All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation". And Colossians says, "And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.”
The best 28 years of my life have been my years of service in God's House in whatever He had need of at the moment. From cleaning toilets, to setting up chairs, to playing bass, to running a coffee house, to making money to fund the move of God, to being a puppeteer, to wrestling with "The Power Team, to Pastoring the most precious people in Queens and on Long Island. And THE BEST IS YET TO COME! TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!!
Grace and Peace,
Ed
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