The Realest Blog I Ever Wrote....

The Realest Blog I ever wrote…

 

Hi, My name is Tylre Butler and I’m on a journey…

 I was born into the privileged position of a P.K. (pastor’s kid). From a young age I knew I had a great call on my life.

If it had been prophesied once it had been prophesied 20 times: “You have a great call on your life.”

“You will preach the Gospel to the nations”.

And my personal favorite… “You have the roar of a lion”.

 My journey has had its twists and its turns like many others…

Ø  At times I have felt right next to the heartbeat of God…worshipping was easy, prayer was fun, and serving was obvious.

Ø  Many other times, because of my own choices, I have felt like God didn’t even know my name; I felt like I couldn’t be any further from His grace.

 I entered “full-time ministry” at the age of 22 and was quickly introduced to big ministry, big time preachers leading big time churches.

By no credit of my own I had the honor of meeting so many great men and women of God, many in & around my age bracket.  They were filling up conferences, preaching around the world…truly making a difference.  I wanted to be like them. I wanted to do something cool for God. I think the Drake lyrics explained it best “I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful”.

 I’m now 25 years old. I’m an associate pastor at the church I was born and raised in, and I recently went through what I called a “Quarter Life Crises”.

I began to ask myself questions such as:  “What have you done with your life?”

“What have you done to make a difference?”

And “What is your legacy going to be?”

 I began to wonder why my “ministry” wasn’t further than it should be. I wondered why men who said they would be my mentor hadn’t reached out to me since they made the promise. I wondered how long I would be in the space in between WHERE I ONCE WAS and WHERE I SHOULD BE…

 This last season has taught me a lot about myself and a lot about ministry and life in general. Here are a few things that you probably already know but have really hit home with me.

 

1.      Your gift will not take you where your character will not keep you.

 I’m not perfect. No one is. But there were some issues that I needed to and will continue to work on inside of ME. It is not anyone else’s fault, blame cannot be shifted; It was stuff that I needed to fix. 

My daily prayer has echoed that of David:

 

            Psalm 51:9-11 (NLT)

9 Don’t keep looking at my sins.

    Remove the stain of my guilt.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God.

    Renew a loyal spirit within me.

11 Do not banish me from your presence,

    and don’t take your Holy Spirit[a] from me.

                I will continue to work on my character. From the “small” things to the large ones. I want to be above reproach in every area of my life.  I need God’s grace every single day. I am so humbled that He loves me unconditionally and that His grace is all sufficient.

       2.      Keep your eyes on the street NOT on the stage.

 

I think I got caught up in the potential glamorous aspects of ministry; well actually I KNOW I did.

 

You know…

ü  Frequent Flyer Miles, nice hotels, big honorariums…

ü  Flying from one huge sold-out conference to another…

ü  Making friends with mega-church pastors around the country, even the world…

 

This is a disillusion that I fell into. I don’t know how but I did. I wanted to have all the benefits with none of the responsibility. I wanted to arrive at the destination without putting forth the effort of the journey.

 

A pastor once told me: “Son, ministry is spelled W-O-R-K”. He couldn’t have been more right.

 

Ministry is not about the glitz and the glamour. It is not about making your name known on the circuit. It is not about being in green rooms or on the stage.

 

It’s about the street. The outcast. The broken. The discouraged. The Lost.

 

I’ve found out that if you are faithful with God has put in your hand, then he will bless you with what He’s put in your heart.

 

 I’ve found a renewed passion for the 1. …

That 1 kid who needs me to take him to lunch and listen to his problems…

That 1 widow who says I remind her of her son…

That 1 man who needs help putting his life back together after a bad divorce…

 

Jesus cares about the 1 for He cares about Me. And I will do the same.

 

 3.     Comparisons into Competitions into Compromise.

In this “Twitter-world” that we live in it is easy to compare yourself or your ministry with everyone else. How many Twitter followers do you have? Who is speaking for who? Did you see the Instagram of their conference?

This is a dangerous place to be….

I will admit that in my deep desire to do something huge for God, I became slightly critical of those who actually were.

Instead of Celebrating with others I found myself comparing myself against them.

It’s not a place you want to be. It stinks. There is no room for it in the Kingdom.

2 Corinthians 10:12 has slapped me in the face on countless occasions…

12 For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. (NKJV).

 It is easy to get caught up in comparisons, but it’s not worth it.

I’d like to apologize for anyone who I ‘ve ever been even remotely critical of.

You ARE amazing and I feel so blessed to even be on the team.

 I’d like to thank everyone who has had an impact on my life and ministry. There are too many to mention, but just know that I love and appreciate each and every one of you.

I am excited for this new season in my life. God is in control. I’m going to do whatever He calls me to do. I’m going to encourage whoever I can. I’m going to make sure my character matches my gift. I’m going to keep my eyes on the street and not on the stage. I’m going to celebrate and not be critical.

 

This is my confession.

 I am on a journey...

   -Tylre