My Philosophy of Ministry

By Larry Seeley

      My journey to ministry began roughly 4 years ago with two men who would have major impacts and roles in my journey. Both of these were true men of God, one was a minister and one my current pastor. The minister started my journey by convincing me to return to church after having been gone for a length of time, which then led me to recommit my life to Christ and get baptized. This minister then began to mentor me and instill lots of scripture into me along with holding me accountable for my actions and the life I was leading. This minister counseled me in the Way as God would. Soon after I got bored with the church I was attending and felt like I was going nowhere in life or within the church and I left the church but all the while holding on to my faith and searching for where I belonged.

    During my search for a church home where I could grow I still maintained my contact, counseling, etc with the minister but had now come into contact with the man who would become my current pastor who kept trying to convince me to check out his church and finally one Sunday I broke down and went, well I would later realize that God did that not me. I ended up loving this church so much that I brought my wife with me and she got saved and baptized and we are now both full members. So back to my journey, my pastor and I grew very close as he took over being my mentor, counselor, and spiritual guide, shephard who took an interest in me and apparently seen my future before I did.

    While going to church every Sunday I became active in so many things the church had to offer including bible studies and a Discipleship class my pastor teaches, the more I learned it seemed as if God was speaking to me and telling me that I have a future in ministry of which my pastor had already picked up on so he started encouraging me and wanting me to do more as each step of the way he held me accountable and continuously reminded me of my potential and that my future held big things in it for me. I began pushing myself and holding myself to higher standards started studying the bible and Gods word even more and longer and I yearned for more, as I continue to help people so at this point I have also joined the Christian Motorcycle Ministry to minister to bikers everywhere and my pastor encouraged me to take this course and become a chaplain.

    When I began this course I did not realize what huge doors and opportunities this step in my journey would open for me and my ability to minister to others as a chaplain. My philosophy of ministry is that though the journey is not easy there are many ways and opportunities to minister to others regardless of sex, age, nationality, religion, issues, etc. I never realized there were so many different chaplains, but I have come to realize that there are many different types of chaplains who basically all do the same tasks but in different locations and in different matters and represent different people and backgrounds in even odd places. Chaplains minister even on different subjects and issues but all for the common cause of showing and teaching the love of God.

    As a chaplain candidate I would look forward to becoming a chaplain and going out into the field taking ministry to the streets of my city and ministering to the lesser and unfortunate ones, the homeless who matter to me so much and need to hear and feel the love of Christ and to let them know that not only does God love them and want to help them but I love and care about each one of them and their salvation. I also have a goal of getting elected as chaplain next year in the motorcycle ministry I’m a member of which will even expand my ministry to others even more and as I do all this I know that none of this is me it is Gods doing I couldn’t do any of this without God who makes everything possible and I know with God I can achieve anything so this is my philosophy of ministry and its all about making more disciples for Christ and teaching others the word of God and spreading his love!