Hey Tony C...there's absolutely nothing wrong with My plan.

I've written extensively about my passion to minister to young adults, and the fact I believe that to be my true calling. That doesn't mean, however, that while the mission has been clearly stated, my execution has at times not struggled.

After I finally started listening to God and received my marching orders, I was...like most people...eager to get started. On my bed stand to this day is the brainstorming journal where I logged my ideas and plans to fulfill the mission I was beginning. Pages and pages of thoughts and expansions of those muses are crammed inside. About halfway through the journal, on a single page, circled numerous times for effect, you find the words:

WEBSITE- STICK WITH JESUS!!

From that point, all the following notes revolve around developing that single idea. A website dedicated to providing information for young adults struggling with issues of faith or looking for information about the Christian faith.

Awesome.

I spent much time in prayer asking for more direction and, more importantly, blessings for the project. After several month, the crude website went up and began filling with information. Day and night I combed through online forums and chat rooms plugging the site at every chance. While I was extremely proud of stickwithjesus.com, the traffic count I has originally target never came close to transpiring. So, I prayed even more.

The site putted along for almost a year with the daily traffic count never breaking the 200 hit mark. What had I done wrong? Why wasn't this working? Did I misunderstand God's plan for me?

My passion had overridden my reason in this case. First off, I wasn't formally trained for website design, so my site never had the look or feel that it should have to appeal to my target audience. Secondly, mush can be said about the limitation of the proverbial army of one. Don't take that wrong. God could have easily overcome my personal limitation. So, why wasn't He? Finally, the realization that launching a big website might have been more about me and less about glory to Him.

I'm a stubborn person. There. I admit it. So, I stepped back and looked for another avenue to reach out. At the time, MySpace was all the rage. I learned all I could learn about this new social media site and put up a page. Next, I started blogging and sharing my thought from that page.

Almost immediately, the response to my page took off. I started connected not only with Christian youth all over the world, but I made some very meaningful connection with young people in my own backyard.

As social media became THE buzzword of a generation, I was smack in the middle. Blogs, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and more! It became clear to me that my role wasn't to stand out in a crowd among the internet billions, but rather to blend and mingle while sharing the goods news with that same crowd.

God has blessed me with a job and the temperament to fulfill this roll. A part of my day, every day, is connecting with someone in His name...just like now. The target group I believe He challenges me to minister to are, by far, the largest group I reach. Not the only group mind you, but now I have resources in the form of other mature Christians who have their own personal journeys to share that may more easily relate to someone I'm in contact with struggling with their faith.

From this role, I've been invited to teach and speech in a number of different venues. I've been able to share resources and encourage others in the ministry as they counsel young adults. I have the privilege to teach a Sunday School class for college-aged young adults. Starting soon, I will be branching out to local radio in a daily devotional/encouragement piece centered around my blogging experiences and stories.

Absolutely none of these blessings are about me! God is moving through SO many people these days. Just look at the tremendous writers I'm blessed to share with on this blog that just continues to grow in quality, as well as, quantity of readership!

I'm just so thankful for the small part He has for me in the building of His glorious Kingdom...Hallelujah!


* Pastor Mark Harris is running the domain Stick With Jesus now and doing a great job. Check his site out, as well as, his Facebook page. God bless you brother!