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For around four years I was a major part of a local youth ministry. To me every day was just a day to prepare for service on Wednesday. I did everything I could to help the Pastor’s day go smoothly and I did a good job doing so. I was pretty much his assistant; doing things that made things run smoothly. I helped set up the service and also took care of the power point presentations. For awhile this was life and I enjoyed it immensely, going to events such as ATF was the highlight of my year and I didn’t expect it to end for a very long time.

Sadly that wasn’t the plan, the church decided the Pastor was too ‘cutting edge’ and not working in the manner they desired. I saw all the ins and out of the man’s life and his passion was to serve young people. His only motivation was to see them succeed and to serve his purpose as God intended. Services were heart changing and several teens, such as myself, saw their lives transform into something wonderful as we learned who we were in Christ. The fact is that this area (Tri-State) is rather stale and churches are boring and very unattractive. Pastor Joe did things differently by keeping God’s word first without being boring and mundane. His teachings were never outlandish and stuck to the true context of the Bible; it was a guarantee that you would learn something new at each service and you would often be left questioning your lifestyle and habits and you would be left desiring a better relationship with God.

The size of services grew to a decent size and were steady in growth. I’m sure if he was still pastoring at this church that it would be double the size he left it at a year ago. Despite the positive growth, the obvious fruit and the heart changing messages the church wanted something different and sent Joe off to where he now resides, in Texas, where he is busy building the foundation of his own ministry. There’s no doubt that Pastor Joseph Canfield is destined to bless lives no matter where he goes, even though I speak so highly of him he is rather humble and knows his place when it comes to the glory. God has always been the reason behind what he does and when you match that with an unshakable faith you are looking at a formula that will shake any opposition.

For the past year I have had mixed feelings about this whole ordeal. I have gone from being ready to walk a thousand miles to be in his church to deciding it wasn’t for me. Through it all I have kept the attitude that I want to be where God wants me to be. I have always felt that I needed to support this ministry until told otherwise and to this day I have not been told otherwise. Leaving my place of living for the 21 years of my life will be hard but I know it is what I must do. God has a calling for all of us and if we do not follow His voice we will have to settle with mediocre results that we scrape from the bottom of our daily lives. Listening to the calling voice in the distant is the key to success; sacrificing whatever is necessary to obey God will always return ten fold. Not everything happens for a reason but I know good things can come from the bad. Even though him leaving wasn’t necessarily bad his presence was a blessing to all those he encountered and to be without his fellowship leaves all of us slightly cold.

I was watching Joel Osteen the other day and was struck by his topic of discussion. It could have been a coincidence but I choose to believe that God does small things sometimes to trigger something bigger in us. He was talking about this very subject; about being where God has called you. To be able to reap God’s utmost blessings you need to be where he is calling you. This hit me strongly because even though I know I need to go I have recently struggled with it. Leaving our families behind will be hard and I often have let that tug me back. I love my family and know I will miss them but God’s directions are more important than my family. If God is tugging you somewhere and you are finding excuses not to go through with it you need to find the strength to pull forward. God will bless you in your place of being but how greater the blessings will be when you are standing beneath His target.

Listen to the message I am referring to.
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