Welcome everyone you tuned in to Beyond the Mic with Mike, where we share our experience and passion to offer encouragement and advice to new ministers and anyone working in the ministry. I am the Mike Beyond the Mike, Mike
Yates.
Today we're talking about. Know your place with Pastor DeRay Aldridge, who has pastored in Elizabethtown, Kentucky for going on five years. And before that he pastored in Hardin, Arkansas for 30 years. He, before that he evangelized for around two years. I couldn't think of a better person than my pastor to talk to us about knowing your place in the ministry.
Brother Aldridge, thank you for coming today. Appreciate you.
Brother Yates, it's an honor. After that introduction, though, I feel like I'm such an old man. I don't know what I'm doing on your podcast, but thank you for the invite.
You are my first broadcasted guest. I can't say you're my first recorded guest because I cheated and recorded someone else, but you are the first one that I put out there because I have to honor my pastor.
Now, for those who don't know It's a pleasure. The one who had to put up with me. He was the one who told everybody that I went to someone else's church because he didn't want to take the blame for all the shenanigans that I was up to.
Just trying to help my brother out.
Yes, right. But, but now he calls me when he hears me preaching something that he taught.
He wants a piece of the offering. So.
Absolutely. You always need a good church to pay your tithes into, Brother Yates.
We titled this Know Your Place. What does that mean to you in context of this conversation?
You know, when I think about that title, To Know Your Place, that's a worthy title, because I think that's the main thing that, especially young ministers starting out, trying to identify their calling, trying to see exactly where it is that they fit into the scope and the scheme of things, I think that's the part that's the biggest struggle.
All right. It's not accepting the call that we feel placed upon our individual lives that God gives us. But I think the struggle becomes a reality, whatever it is. She's trying to identify what is that place? How do I utilize that call that God put on me to make sure that it's in the right place that God would have me to labor within.
So I think that's a good title for tonight. Excellent.
Thank you. And that's what we're going to talk about. Cause it gets tricky. People, they feel a call in. In today's society, when people think of ministry, they think of the pulpit, but there's so much more to it than just the pulpit. And I don't, we're not going to talk about beyond the pulpit, despite the title of the podcast, but we're going to talk about, no, make sure you answer your call.
Peter said to make, make your election and calling. Sure. I've known pastors who really should be evangelists. You know, or what we what we call evangelists and I'm using that word loosely. I'm not talking about the biblical word of one who goes out and sells a seat. I'm talking about the traveling minister.
I've seen them get tied down to a church, and they really should be out about going from church to church. And I've seen it vice versa. I've seen pastors going about traveling when they should be tied down to a church. Have you seen that before, Brother
Aldridge? No, absolutely. I think anybody in the ministry has seen that.
Maybe they've experienced it for themselves. You know, the number one question that seems like it always comes to mind Is somebody has asked is everyone who is in their place is doing the kingdom of favor. And you know, when you really stop and think about that, the number one ask of that young minister is, I feel God has placed a call upon my life, but I'm just not sure what it is I'm supposed to be doing.
And we as senior ministers or pastors, we need to be able to system a guidance to help them to find their ministry. in their place in the kingdom. Matter of fact, I was listening to, uh, uh, your podcast. I don't know if it was last week or whenever it was, but you're identifying some of the things that sometimes pastors overlook.
The first thing that we want to do is go back in and borrow in from our pastor, whatever we accept are our call underneath that man of God and what his expectations were. And I thought you did a wonderful job on that podcast when you was honing in on that, that that's not necessarily true. You don't have to make them, I think on that podcast you talked about cleaning the toilets, working the bathroom, serve in a position of humility for X amount of time, etc.
I think that ought to be looked at and examined on an individual case basis. And what I mean by that, you may have somebody comes in your office and tells you they've accepted a call of God upon their life. And they may have already exhibited a very beautiful spirit of humility. So why are you going to be focusing all your time trying to cultivate that young person and demonstrating that spirit of humility before they can actually rise to a higher rank within a leadership position?
If I'm going to try to help somebody, you know, exhibit that spirit of humility, it's going to be somebody that I think that has a problem with their ego as it is. Maybe that's an area that God's leading us on to help them in. So I think each one of these is very important points. So, yeah, everyone that is in their place is doing the Kingdom of Favor.
Yeah, if they're in their place. But it's up to us to help them find that place. Good point.
But into the counterpoint, if they're in their place and they're serving exactly where God called them, if there's, if they're called to the foreign missions, if they're called to North American missions, if they're called the pastor, or they're called to not to neither, just sit under a pastor, if they're doing what you're called to do, then they are doing the kingdom of favor.
But to the flip side, if they're out of pocket, then would you say they are doing the kingdom of
disservice? And, uh, you know, that's another, that's another good point. And I love discussions such as this, because when I think about everyone who's misplaced is doing the kingdom a disservice. Now, when you really hone in on that, everyone that is misplaced is doing the kingdom a disservice.
I don't think I'd go as far as to say that if you're misplaced that you're doing the kingdom a disservice. Because either way, a work is being performed for the kingdom. See what I'm saying? It doesn't matter if they're in place or out of place. If they're working for the kingdom, then the work is being performed for the kingdom.
So I wouldn't say that they're doing the kingdom a disservice. I might reword that to say they're doing themselves. A disservice not finding what that row is of a fill in that row to the best of their abilities and their talents. Yeah,
I understand completely my immediate thoughts is not, uh, I just want to ask a follow up question just for my better understanding.
Sure. Let's take someone who is. Call to pastor, see if I can work this right, because, you know, I have a problem getting Yates land into real world, right? If, if they're called to pastor, In one city, that's a bad example. Let's say they're, they're currently preaching out because they, they've been preaching out and they're evangelizing and they have their circuit.
They've been successful at it and, and it's hard to walk away from a successful evangelistic field because it's hard to get that. So if you, if you are fortunate enough to be routinely called in that, there's a comfort in that. And then when a church opens up and if, let's just say that we don't know, but if God knows that's where he wants you, but if you don't take it while you are doing a work, if God wanted you to do something different, what are you missing out on?
Would that not be, would God be happy with five when he wanted 10? Does that
make sense? Yes. Yes, it does. It, but at the same time, you've got to be able to answer to your calling, and I really assentiate that while you are in your calling, because this is so true and so important. You might be successful in a different role, but is that role that you're successful in is that you're calling.
Now, I say that, that's not a play on words, I say that because you would know in your heart. What you're calling is so it doesn't matter what your success when that's just like in the business world. I can be very successful in my row in my secular job. Okay, but I'm not getting a benefit of that fulfillment out of that row.
I'm making money, I've got a great retirement, I'm doing well, but at the same time, there's something that's missing. And what it is, it's not bringing pleasure to me, it's not fulfilling that call. That's why you've got to know what your call is. It is so true and so important because we can't all be a Brother Kilgore, we can't be a Brother Mangan, we can't even be a Brother Jones or even a Brother Huntley, just to name a few.
But we have to understand the importance of defining our calling as unique as it may be, doesn't matter what role that may be in. Now I've seen God use several men to pastor in areas that others wouldn't be able to do so, so do their uniqueness and their individual styles. And everyone doesn't relate to everybody.
Therefore, God calls us individually to be ourselves. So it was Peter that stated it best when he said in 2 Peter 1 and 10, he said wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and your election sure, for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. And it's so important to identify.
What that call on your life is early in your ministry, and this is how I coach young ministers, if I can use that word coach, because I think that's our role as senior pastors and bishops is a coach and develop our younger ministers. And the first thing that we can do by helping them is identify. What that call of God is on their lives so they can fulfill that early on in their ministry.
Because you don't want to stay in an area for 10 or 15 years because it's profitable if it's not your calling. Because when you finally get in the area of your calling, now you've lost that valuable 10 or 15 years that you could have been applying to where God wanted you to be. Well said. Well said.
For those who don't know, my pastor knows me.
He knows I'm speaking out of my guilt complex. I'm scared to just
make
a wrong decision. But for those that listen, you may know. So he's used to dealing with me, but that's so I'm scared to death of not making the right decision. And, and that's what he was that he's used to me. You're going to learn me as you continue to listen to the podcast, but he mentioned your calling and that's crucial because I've got, I mentioned last podcast again, God has greatly blessed me with wonderful help.
And they vary. I've got two preachers, and I've got a teacher, and I have a jack of all trades, so to speak. And they're, they're really vital in that role. You know, the one I call Jack, she's, she, she does not have a pulpit ministry, but I do let her speak so she can continue to grow. Uh, but I, and she gets frustrated because we're a small church, and there's not a whole lot of opportunities to do things, because again, there's just not a whole lot of, you know, Room, but I tell her the fact that you are available for whatever I need you to do right now.
That is your calling as your pastor. I'm telling you, that's what I need you to do. If I need you to teach Sunday school on this day, that's your calling today. If I tell you I'm going to be out for work Wednesday, and I need you to step up and teach the adult or teach, you know, stand behind pulpit on Wednesday night in front of everyone and teach a lesson.
That's your calling. If I need you to run this Save Our Children campaign, that's your calling. So whatever your calling may be, it may vary, but you're, you got to answer to that, not the calling you want or the calling your wife wants you to have. Have you seen ministers? Miss their calling . We've all, well, don't, don't answer that question.
I say, you really want me to go there on our podcast? But anyhow. But, but you know, you're, you're right brother. H you, you are right. And because you've got to answer to, to your calling. You're right. And the way that we do that. We have to be true to ourselves. We've got to be comfortable in your skin. And if there's any young ministers that are listening to this podcast right now, let, let, let me just branch off on that just for a moment, okay?
I love Shakespeare, and I love Shakespeare's quotes, and he stated very well what Shakespeare said, to that own self be true. If you never write anything else down in the back of your Bible, I encourage you to write that down right now in the back of your Bible, as a minister. Do thy own self be true?
Because I recall when I first started out in the ministry, I had several minister friends coaching me to evangelize. I don't know how many. As soon as my buddies within my district already heard that I accepted my call to preach, they all came around me. And I'm talking about ministerial buddies, alright?
They all came around me and said, Man, you got the personality. You just need to be evangelist. You need to hit the ground running. the field. You need to get on out there and fulfill the call that God has placed upon you. Well, I listened to these voices, okay, from these seasoned ministers telling me that I ought to be out there evangelizing.
So, therefore, I thought I'd give it a try. My wife and I were bivocational at the time, so we started scheduling revivals within a specific geographical region. Now, God blessed our ministry. This goes back to what you were talking about earlier. God did bless our ministry, and we stayed on the field for about a year and a half.
Now, it could have been much longer. The revivals were there. But I knew in my heart during that time that God didn't call me to be an evangelist. Because God called me to be a pastor. Now, the whole time that God was blessing our ministry in the role of evangelist in reaching new souls, I would always park that church at the close of the week or two week revival, wondering if those new lambs would be able to grow and flourish.
in that environment. Now, not taking away from that pastor or their ministry. I'm not talking about any pastor of the churches that we preached in, whether or not they had the tools needed. I just had a burden and a love for the people, the sheep. And therefore, when I saw these new lambs coming in, being born into the kingdom of God, then we had to pack up our vehicle and pull out of town that following Monday morning, you always wondered what happened.
To the sheep. See, that's, that's the call of a pastor. That wasn't the call of an evangelist. Evangelists, you hear that say so many times, evangelists, and I know you probably have evangelists at your podcast, so I hope nobody starts sending me any kind of emails or whatever. But, but an evangelist is blessed because that's the honeymoon phase.
You get to go in, you get to love the people, you get to be the person that is, the person that's there to bring in revival, and the people look up to you to expect, take expectancy, and it's, it's a great rah rah ree feeling. It is. There's nothing like it. It's, it's, you run off that adrenaline, okay, in seeing the power of God and God touching these lives and bringing them in.
But that pastor. That pastor is the one that's left there to labor with those people, not only through the honeymoon phases in their life, but the broken marriages, the loss of a loved one, financial ruin, all these moments as well. So that's why it's so critical that you make sure that you're comfortable in your own skin by being true to your own self like Shakespeare's son.
Yeah, I love that. Love that quote. Try to live by that quote, as you know.
Now, Pastor, you may not know this about me, but I'm a little different than the average Joe. You may not know that.
I can't wait for you to expound on this. I'm all ears, Brother Yates.
The new listener who doesn't know me, Has no idea, but all my friends that just tuned in probably just threw their phones down laughing at me when I said that, because I am definitely quirky to put it kindly.
But believe it or not, when I first got started in the ministry, I really did try to play the game. I went to the, this, to the minister's conferences. I went to the banquets. And I really did try to shake hands, and I really did try to be what I felt they wanted me to be. And I felt fake. And not that they wanted me to do anything wrong.
Not that they were asking me to do anything shady. But there's, there's a relief. There's a comfort in being able to be me. And who I am is sarcastic. I am blunt and I know that it goes both ways. Some people love me. Some people don't. So there is a pro to it that I'm comfortable. I have not had to worry anymore about, about trying to put on a fake face.
But on the downside, my phone don't ring as much no more. So listener, it depends on who yourself is. If you're going to be true to yourself. There is a piece to it because God called you. There's, there's people that, you know, who I, who has come across my ministry, and this is not directed to the beautiful saints of the Pentecostals of DeWitt, but through all my life, my ministry, I tend to reach a lot of mentally broken people.
In Pensacola, there was a mental health facility. Man, I clicked with them. I've been in a lot of jails, a lot of prisons, a lot of juveniles, and I seem to click with those that are mentally challenged. Just take it for what you will. That's, that's my ministry. I'll never be on the general conference stage, but I'm at home, those people, and I feel good about it because I know that I feel like that's where God has put me.
I feel like that's what I can relate to. I speak a language that they understand. They feel accepted around me. And man, that makes me feel like I'm serving God, but it does come at a cost. So be careful. The pros and the cons of being true to yourself.
No. And that's, that's valid. That's valid, brother. Yeah.
It's because you're right. A lot of people won't accept that. Being so true to yourself that you let people see who and what you really are, because that's something you have to be very cognizant of moving into the ranks of the ministry. If you want to relate to the people that you can, you can pull the sheep's wool over, you can be anybody you want to be to any of the other ministries, ministers in your district or outside your district, but people have a tendency.
Say. That's, that's what a lot, that's why Jesus referred to us as sheep is because the Bible tells us sheep know their shepherd and sheep have that canny ability to know what shepherd really cares and what shepherd doesn't care. And that's that's where being true yourself and being real. That's where you relate to the people around you that that are hurting and in the world that we're living in today.
People are hurting and they don't need the shenanigans. They don't need the pretense. They don't need to show the raw rate. They need a, they need something that's got. Substance. It's about like that old Starkist tuna advertisement years ago. You saw it in a good housekeeping. Yeah, there you go. Come on, Charlie.
Charlie, you know, what is it? Sunkist? Starkist? What is that tuna? Yeah, they don't want tuna that looks good. They want tuna that does what? It tastes good. People want something that's real that they can relate to. You got it.
That's that is no excuse to stay at the bottom of your ability. So you still have to work on improvement.
Pastor made me read. He didn't make me, but he gave me a reading assignment. How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie. So you really need to just because we're telling you to be true to yourself. If you're naturally a jerk, Bob says you've got man who has friends has to show himself friendly.
You still have to,
you know, you still have to show the fruits of the spirit. Still got to be kind, loving, gentle. You still have to work on improvement and always work on yourself and don't just be lazy and competent. Well, this is just who I am. People think I don't have a filter, but I really do. I really, really,
I want to have two Facebook pages, one that everyone sees now. And one for the means that my wife won't let me post.
Do you know if your followers on your podcast, if they get only. I don't really know the real mic behind the mic, and I remember the days whenever Brother Yates was in charge of doing our church bulletin back at Heart and New Life Apostolic, and I stepped up out of faith and I gave that ministry to Brother Yates when he first accepted his calling to the ministry.
I thought that'd be a good way to cut his teeth. And boy, did I learn quickly. It got to the place. I had to scrutinize what was going into the bulletin before it was ever published.
Being oversensitive.
Yeah, I got, I got blamed for that many times, but the saints thank me for my scrutinization, if that is a word.
Dear friends and listeners. One of the complaints was. Was a picture of a, it was a cartoon of a man and he had some salad tongs and it says nobody was impressed with Larry's ability to speak in tongs. I, I don't think that was sacrilege. I thought it was just a play on words. Next thing you know, I'm having to email brother Aldridge all my pictures in advance so he
can approve them.
All
the disapproved pictures, but. The only reason why I didn't do that was for copyright issues, because I had all the copy marks. I couldn't go back and find the owners and get copyright permissions.
You know, we might have been able to utilize that in our building program. Well, you know, getting back, getting back just a little bit here, though, you was talking about the value of self improvement.
And I think that's another big one too, Brother Yates. I'm glad you, uh, alluded to that because the reason why we should always work on improving ourselves. Look, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what your resume looks like. Doesn't matter what kind of pedigree you have. Uh, there's always room for, for self improvement.
Matter of fact, self improvement is the key in being successful in the ministry. Paul stated in Ephesians 4, 11 and 12, and he gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. For what? For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ.
Now I ask, how can we effectively assist in perfecting someone else if we don't work on our own self improvement? See, Paul also told Timothy, stay to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rather he dividing the word of truth. So we don't keep our reservoir full, we have no water to supply to others.
So just because you feel like you've made it, Because you now have your local license, or you feel like you're really starting to crawl up the ladder, so to speak, because you got your journal, now you're working on your ordination. And I don't care if you've had your ordination for the last 25 years, there is always room for self improvement within every one of us.
Because we want to be the best that we can be for the Kingdom of God. I think God expects us to be the best that we can be for the Kingdom of God. Amen. Absolutely. Thank
you. I told it. Obviously, that's the purpose of the, this whole podcast is for improvement. I'm a big believer in that. So you're absolutely right.
And I like that. That's part of the magic of yours and I relationships is I'm always asking you questions and always trying to improve and. Call you out. Maybe, you know, if you, if I heard you mispronounce a word or, and I don't do that out of disrespect, but I know you appreciate it. I know that you've actually complimented me on that.
And you and I have taken each other to new heights. It's just your wife. Oh, pastor.
See what I mean. I wrote the cardinal rule, brother Yanks, I humbly apologize for that, but I did not insert on this podcast. I didn't want to make that point. I let it go into voicemail, but you know, that's a valuable point, a very viable point that you just brought out.
You need somebody. I don't care how long you've been in the ministry. I don't care if you're a brand new minister starting out. I don't care if you're a seasoned pastor, you need somebody in your ministerial life that will give you that feedback. And you have to understand early that feedback is a gift.
It's not criticism. It's not putting you down. If you don't have somebody in your life that will give you that honest feedback, Then you'll never be able to improve at the level that God would want us to improve. And that's what I always enjoy. That's what Brother Yates was alluding to here because when we work together at the church there in Arkansas, I look forward to our sessions one on one, myself and Brother Yates, because I would look forward to to receiving that feedback, because I would ask him, I ask all our ministers, we're blessed to have three ministers in my tenure there.
And I ask them all that, you know, we had to be able to give feedback as a gift because it helps us to improve. It helps you not to keep using the same word a thousand times over. It helps you make sure you're pronouncing your words correctly. It helps you on your delivery. It helps you on how you're handling yourself behind the pulpit when you're addressing the audience of the congregation.
All these things are things that come into play when you're talking about self development and improving yourself to make yourself better in the calling that God has placed you in. Yeah, good point, Brother Yates. Glad you brought that up. And to
wrap it down, this is not going to be 30 seconds, but this is our final point.
While you're here, I want to tell folks, and help me explain this where I don't sound rude or ugly, but it's okay to not be a mirror reflection of your, your pastor or your dad or your hero. You don't have to do everything they do and preach just like them and sound just like them. It's okay to be yourself, isn't it?
I'll amen that, Brother Yates. I will. I think that's, that's another great point you're bringing up today is because so many times a young minister wants to bear their pastor, okay, or their mentor, that spiritual advisor that they look up to. You see, we all have great men of God in our lives. that we look up to.
It doesn't matter whether it's your dad, a pastor you sit under, it could be a camp evangelist that you love to, you know, just hold to a higher standard. But keep in your mind that they were called to utilize their gift of their calling in the area that God designated for them to. Now, God has specifically called you.
Those of you that are listening in on this podcast today, God has specifically called you. For your specifically designated area of your calling. And if I was writing that out, I would capitalize that Y O U R. Because it's your calling. Not to mimic someone else's ministry, but to be you within your own ministry.
We can always learn to emulate those we look up to. But remember, God didn't call Aaron to lead the people. God called Moses to lead the people. So trust not in your own understanding, but trust in the God who has called you. I'll say this in quote, there is nothing greater in life than being called to minister in the kingdom of God.
I want you to understand that. Not just you, Brother Yates, but I'm talking to your audience right now. You hear that, but it's so true. That's the highest calling a man could ever receive, is to be called to be a minister in the Kingdom of God. And it's been said, and it's so true, your calling is greater than that of being the leader of a free world, a rise to wealth and fame.
So don't cheapen it by thinking otherwise. You are blessed. You are blessed to be called of God. And don't ever think that you're unqualified, inadequate, because I'll leave you with this right here. God would never have called you had he thought you were inadequate. It's a feel that call. He would have never done it, man.
I tell you, I love, I love the ministry, but he knows that I hope you on the podcast can pick up on that. I love what brother Yates is doing here, putting this together behind the mic with Mike for for young ministers or, or pastors that may be struggling with certain issues in the ministry, whatever.
We've needed this for a long time, and that's why I'm glad to see our men, like Brother Yates, getting such a burden for our ministry. Those that are just now stepping out, and those that have been in it for a while as well, because we need this time to sit down and talk about these issues together. This is, this is great.
Kudos to you, Brother Yates. Great job. Thank you,
Bishop. Uh, I want to give my final thought, if I may, not that I could do better My, my pastor, but I
just No, absolutely. This is your podcast, . Yeah. But yes, sir. I, I
want, I was just, this was not in the notes I gave you, I just was thinking, reflecting back, if I could summarize everything with one particular Bible story.
We was talking about your calling and how the, the different callings that we have and different levels and success differs. What we call success and what God calls success are two different things. Um, you know, we, we measure success by events and hype and numbers, but God may not look at any of that.
And I remember John laying on the breast of Jesus and Jesus just told Peter, you're going to die and you're going to be crucified. And then Peter looked over at John, snuggled up to Jesus, and he said, what about that guy? Well, I get it now. And if you don't get it and you've had a cushy ministry, I promise you.
But if you've had hard times, if you've had a tough calling, then you get it. You look over at some people who feels like they've got a cushy. It looks like they just snuggled up to Jesus and you're the one been sentenced to death and you wonder what about that guy? And what did Jesus tell him? It's none of your business.
I've called you. So listener, it's your calling. You can't measure it against anyone else's calling. You can't compare it to anyone else's calling. You just got to serve your calling to the best of your ability and be thankful that he trusted you with what he needed you to do. Did I explain that okay, Pastor?
Great job, Brother Yates. Absolutely great job. Well, I
appreciate you so much coming on. Uh, I won't hopefully if you don't mind, just come back again
sometime would be very honored to absolutely. And thank you so much for this invitation to be here with you today. Enjoy it. Thank you.
Listeners, appreciate you.
Don't forget to give us a like or subscribe so our podcast be easier to find. Appreciate you very much.
