Life Changes
The journey for me has been the most transformational piece to my walk of faith and ministry. I thought at first that this would be another program to help me address my ministry and personal problems. I didn’t realize that it would completely transform my walk with the Lord, my relationship with my family, and better define the ministry God has called to me to.
I found myself at a place in my life where I had run out of energy, hope, and passion. My preaching became dull, only to be filled with biblical knowledge and stories of past moments of faith. My true inner life lacked peace and transformation. Love for my family, staff, and the congregation became distant at best, and I began losing the desire to serve them. I felt that I was on a perpetual brink of leaving ministry and maybe even my faith all together. That is a terrifying place to be, especially as a pastor and family man. I was depressed and angry almost every day. My family, friendships, and faith were all suffering as a result and I believe that it was only a matter of time before everybody, including God, would see the failure I’d become. I felt alone and worn out. I was completely trapped, so I put on a mask and kept working week after week.
It wasn’t until a friend recommended I get ahold of Renew Alaska that I saw any light, and even then, I was skeptical. I didn’t know who they were, or what their method of counseling was, but I thought maybe I could at least be honest. As we spent time working through the different elements of my life, I found myself just wanting a list of things I thought I needed to do to be a better pastor and leader. And to my frustration, a list wasn’t being given. In fact, Josh was helping me discover that, perhaps for the first time in my life, that there isn’t a list at all, but rather a position to hold as an adopted son of God, and that is of far greater importance than any list I could accomplish. As he repeatedly told me, “Mike, I’m not your guru or answer man, I’m just helping you lift you eyes to Jesus.” I now understand that there was a chasm between who God says I am and what my experiences had led me to believe about him and myself. The truth is, I was too busy doing things for God to even realize the chasm existed. Even if I did, I don’t think I could’ve admitted it, because my “job” was to be the guy who projected a life of faith and ministry success. Through the few months we met together, I began truly discovering that there’s a life to live in the constant presence of my heavenly Father that I had never truly experienced. And from that presence and position as a son, comes the life and ministry I was always meant to live. The life of a son and not a slave. The life of surrender and not self-reliance. The true John fifteen “Abiding Life.” For my whole ministry career, I truly believed that if I just worked harder, got up earlier, fasted longer, memorized a little more scripture, prayed with deeper passion, pleased more people, and delivered better sermons, I would produce the fruit that Jesus wanted. But I just became exceedingly exhausted. I discovered that the only way to truly live a fruitful life, is by having a constant gaze on the Lord in every thought, action, and motivation of my heart. I have a Father who is committed to helping me live that life, and who also wants to abide with me. I no longer feel the pressure to perform for him or anyone else. My soul is free to simply enjoy him and his people. I am learning the secret to the true abundant life of joy and rest, even in the busyness of ministry demands and family life. I can already see the fruit of Christ pouring out all around me. The ministry of disciple-making now has a clear path forward, and it all begins and ends with fixing my gaze on him.
— Mike
I have been in pastoral ministry for six and half years, and going through the “Renew” process has been the single most helpful tool I have applied in my personal leadership and spiritual growth. The things I have learned by going through this have truly been transformative in the way I do ministry and lead others. The most important thing has been gaining understanding on what abiding in Jesus and experiencing his true rest look like. For years, the concept of abiding was a vague and ambiguous concept to me, but now it is a lifestyle I get to live everyday that brings so much freedom and wholeness to every aspect of my Christian walk. I would love to see every pastor in this community be able to go through the Renew process to experience freedom from performance, and the joy that can truly be experienced by abiding in Jesus.”
–Paul
I went into the process of meeting with Josh thinking I was going to go through the journey and be able to refer it to other guys who needed it, from a place of experience. I didn’t think that I “needed” to work through anything as I’ve been through a number of different “inner healing” ministries over the years. During our first session, God made it very apparent that this process was for me and I did in fact have things that I needed to work through. Josh has a gentle but no-nonsense approach to helping you find the truth about how God sees you, how He desires to work in and through you, and what needs to change in order to live a life of surrender and rest.
Josh has a great deal of experience working in and alongside the church so he can relate to the stresses of pastors and those who work in ministry. At the same time, Josh can easily relate to those who have burned out from overworking themselves in the pursuit of validation through self effort and performance. I highly recommend this journey for anyone, whether currently working in ministry, going to work in ministry, burned out from working in ministry, or just living life thinking you’ve got your crap together.
— David
Everyone abides somewhere. Often times, we don’t abide where we wished we did. We know mentally where we should live, but life has a way of directing us elsewhere. Renew Alaska offers a great journey that I would encourage every person to go on. Whether you’re currently in a difficult place in life or find yourself enjoying the sweet spot of life. The journey with Renew Alaska begins with establishing a solid understanding of how we can find ourselves in a tough place in life. Filling our lives with unhealthy thoughts and actions. We realize those things will never fill us, but we keep pouring into them in hopes that we can keep our heads above water. The journey that Renew Alaska offers is a step by step process to move from abiding in chaos to abiding first in Christ
— Joe
RenewAlaska moved into the office space right next to mine at Band of Brothers. Curious, I stopped by and asked about this “Abiding Journey” they were offering. I had heard that this ministry was focused on helping church pastors rediscover their personal walk with the Lord. Yet, I’m not a pastor.
In my office next to Josh’s, I served an extraordinary international ministry to men. My position with this ministry entailed helping churches in Alaska develop their own men’s ministry. When I started in 2014, I certainly thought the job was going to be easier. There are few Alaskan churches that have a ministry to men beyond offering a Bible study or the classic pancake breakfast. As all ministry representatives, my desire was to serve the Lord to the best of my ability. Which, most times looked like I was falling short. Of the options to improve, “work harder,” usually seemed to be the best way to go. Why wouldn’t it, right? I was curious what Josh was doing with Renew Alaska, and of course, it was at least polite to stop by.
I listened again to John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” Isn’t that what I wanted, to bear much fruit in my ministry! What I also heard, though, were the misconceptions about this fruit; and do I “bear it” or “produce it.” I walked out of our meeting conflicted with “my” understanding of ministry and what I just had heard. I settled back in my office and considered my need to go through this journey with Josh. Two hours later I was signed up!
Fourteen weeks later, I was digesting so many truths with a new freedom in ministry! So much so, that I gave thought and prayer to shifting my ministry focus. I will always be a men’s ministry advocate to intentionally disciple our men. And there isn’t a better place to help disciple men than Band of Brothers. But now, I have committed to help Josh with Renew Alaska. This time, I’m focusing completely on my total dependance on Christ Jesus, “The Vine.”
-Rob