It’s really hard to believe. Twenty-five years ago this month I transitioned from my job at City Hall to a full-time ministry position.
A lot has changed since then.
This picture of me with my oldest daughter, Kayla, was taken on my first day as a pastor. That little girl is grown up, married, with a real job and a mortgage. I weigh more and I have a lot less hair. But my looks and Kayla’s new adventure as an adult aren’t the only things that have changed in the last 25 years.
I was still in my twenties when this big transition happened. I had just received a glowing review from the City Council—my “bosses” at City Hall. At the same time, I had been wrestling with the opportunity to pursue my true calling. As a result, I submitted my resignation, took a healthy pay cut and became a pastor at Granger Community Church near South Bend, Indiana.
From City Hall to the Church Office
About two months before I handed my resignation letter to the City Council, I was at a Sunday service at Granger. I grabbed a church bulletin (remember those?) and sat down in the auditorium by Emily. As I flipped through the bulletin before the service, I noticed the ad for an office manager position.
I remember leaning over to Emily and telling her, “I think I’m supposed to apply for that job.”
For those who are new to my writing, I used to be a city manager. At the time I saw that office manager job listing, I was leading a staff of about 150 people who included the police chief, fire chief, public works director and many great public servants. (Don’t believe everything you hear about government workers. Most of them really are faithful servants who work hard for less money than their private-sector counterparts.)
Though the job titles both include the word “manager,” there was obviously a big difference between my job of city manager, leading all the city departments including a $20 million budget, and that of the office manager role for a church.
Even with that in mind, Emily and I decided I should pursue the position. I had no idea that the office manager role would evolve into becoming a pastor at Granger, so, as you might imagine, this was a huge decision.
I’m forever grateful to Emily for encouraging me to take that step. I had invested many years and a lot of money in two degrees, internships, moves to different parts of the country and opportunities to move up the leadership ladder. I was in a position of leadership most 20-somethings don’t have. Emily was encouraging me to surrender all that and give my life to helping others experience the same transformation that God had made in my life.
It was a big risk. At least—it seemed big at the time.
It was actually about two years before I saw that job listing that God started to fuel my passion for engaging the ministry of the local church. A friend gave me a copy of Rick Warren’s Purpose-Driven Church. It was the first time I had read about a new way of engaging ministry to reach people outside the church and outside the faith.
I read the book through cover-to-cover in a very short time and soaked it all in. Then I read it again.
This idea of a church reaching people far from God was captivating to me. So captivating that Kayla, who was only two at this time, started referring to that book as “Daddy’s Bible.” It’s a good book, but it’s not that good. (Sorry, Rick.)
After finishing the book a second time, I remember two things:
First, I remember that sense that God was preparing me to be a part of a church like Rick Warren described in his writing. I had this strong pull to serve a church in a leadership role. Though, I certainly didn’t think it was going to be as a pastor.
Second, Emily and I had created a list of specific prayer requests that we were trusting God with as we were about to move to South Bend, Indiana. One of those prayers was that God would lead us to a church like the one described in Purpose-Driven Church. We had no idea that he was preparing me for full-time ministry just a year later.
A few years before I read that book, I stood in the auditorium at Willow Creek Community Church for the first time. This was the early 1990s. My friend Matt invited Emily and me to go along for some youth ministry training in Chicago. (Yes, I used to volunteer in student ministry… although it was called “youth group” back then.) After the training that Saturday, we drove over to Willow to attend a service on Saturday evening.
That was the first time I ever heard anything other than an organ or piano involved in church music.
It was the first time I ever sat in a sanctuary without pews.
It was the first time I ever saw a pastor teach and address real-life issues.
It was the first time I realized it was permissible to be the church without being churchy.
That first service at Willow brought back vivid memories of a recurring dream I had in the years after I accepted Christ. Though I had never experienced a worship service like it, I dreamed the sanctuary was full of people. Having fun. Enjoying each other. Worshipping Jesus. Engaged by the teaching. Laughing. Crying. Applauding. Again, I had never experienced worship like that before. If you knew the faith tradition in which I grew up, you would understand that the Sunday services weren’t designed to evoke that kind of response.
I honestly can’t remember a lot of details from that Saturday evening at Willow. All I remember was the experience and thinking to myself, “This is what I’ve been dreaming about all these years. I think this is what church is supposed to be.”
About five years before I experienced that service at Willow, I was with a bunch of my high school friends at my youth pastor’s house. I can’t remember the occasion. That’s been more than 35 years ago. For whatever reason, though, our senior pastor also stopped by the house. At some point during that gathering, Jack, the senior pastor, pulled me aside and said something along these lines, “Tony, one of these days, you are going to be in ministry. God’s going to use your gifts for the Kingdom.”
Words matter. I was a high school student.
I remember initially thinking, “That was a very ‘pastory’ thing to say.” I shrugged it off in the moment. But it’s funny how, all along the way, those words stuck with me even when I thought it was the furthest thing from reality.
A couple of years before that, I sat in Charlie’s living room. Charlie was a family friend. He was my former junior high principal. I was a sophomore in high school at the time, and I was wrestling with life. Looking back on that season, it was probably the first time that I really experienced anxiety issues that have been a part of my adult life on and off. Fortunately, it’s been years since my last panic attack. It’s amazing, though, how the challenges in our lives also shape the ministry opportunities we have in other people’s lives.
But back to Charlie. In the weeks that followed, I met with him every Saturday. He’s the first person to encourage me to open the Bible. He’s the first person who took the time to explain who Jesus was and the sacrifice he made for me.
And several months after I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior, he’s the first person who encouraged me to engage in ministry by teaching his Sunday School class. I was a brand new believer. I’m not sure why Charlie thought that would be a good idea, but I’m glad he pushed me to do that. I’m guessing he didn’t realize he was beginning to equip me to do the work of God.
In the twenty-five years since I transitioned into full-time ministry, I’ve had opportunities I could never have imagined I would experience.
I’ve stood in the water and helped baptize hundreds of people in one afternoon.
I’ve seen over 800 people give their life to Jesus over the course of one weekend.
I watched God heal friends physically, relationally and emotionally.
I’ve also seen the body of Christ at its best when people are grieving the loss of parents who were way too young to be with Jesus.
I’ve seen leaders gather from all parts of the world to learn and grow so that they could help their churches have a greater Kingdom impact.
I’ve watched my friends in ministry help hundreds of churches get unstuck and pursue sustained health.
I’ve counseled and coached many pastors who have become friends in ministry, and then celebrated with them as they’ve helped one more person meet and follow Jesus.
I really can’t believe this has all happened. And, if I can be honest, I still don’t think I deserve the opportunity to do what I do every day.
That said, I’m grateful for how God reveals his plans for our lives.
By the way, I have never heard the audible voice of God. I do think God designed us to share life with other people, though. As you can tell by my journey into ministry, God used several people to direct my path:
Charlie introduced me to Jesus and gave me my first ministry responsibility.
Jack intentionally spoke into my life and helped me see something that would take years to comprehend.
Matt invited me into youth ministry, let me have leadership responsibility as a volunteer and then gave me opportunities to learn and experience aspects of ministry that I had never experienced.
Tim (I refer to him as First Timothy) gave me a copy of a book about church leadership knowing it would fuel my passion and understanding of what the local church could and should be.
Emily encouraged me to fully surrender my life to Jesus. Yes, I became a Christ-follower many years before, but it wasn’t until the summer of 1998 that I fully understood what it meant to surrender everything.
Mark and Tim (Second Timothy) hired me to help pasto a church when I was overly qualified to be the office manager they were originally hoping to hire.
Andy started to mentor me almost 20 years ago and continues to this day…even though he doesn’t even know he’s mentoring me. (Let’s keep that our secret.)
Amy, Tiffany, Sean, Mark, Jacinta and the rest of the team at The Unstuck Group challenge me to equip faithful leaders to build healthy churches that help as many people as possible follow Jesus.
I could go on and on and on naming names. They’re mostly people you’ve never heard of, but every one of them shaped who I am today.
This is what I’ve learned:
If you want to know God, you need to know his people. If you want to know God’s will, you have to share life with God’s people. If you want to know God’s purpose for your life, you have to be willing to enter the messiness of other people’s lives. If you want to live a fulfilled life, you have to love others.
In other words, it’s not about me.
After all of these years, I’ve learned one big lesson: For us to experience the life God wants for us, we must love God and love others.
It’s so simple and yet it’s so difficult… especially when I get in the way.
My family knows I’m weird about celebrating birthdays. I don’t like it when the attention is on me. That’s why many years ago, rather than getting gifts from my family on my birthday, I started giving gifts to them instead. (It’s good to be in the Morgan family. Two birthdays!)
Because of that, as I celebrate 25 years of ministry, I don’t want attention and I certainly don’t want gifts. Instead, I want to thank you. If you are reading this article, I know that you are on this same mission with me.
Thank you for your sacrifice. Many of you could have made a lot more money in the marketplace, but you’re making a much bigger impact in people’s lives.
Thank you for enduring when it would have been easy to leave the ministry. Please don’t give up.
Thank you for loving others…even when they’ve we’ve been hard to love.
Thank you for remaining faithful to people in your lives and to your calling.
Thank you for committing to helping people meet and follow Jesus. Well done.
And thank you, Jesus, for giving me this mission for these last 25 years. Until you call me home… Here am I; send me!
Podcast Episode Transcript
Amy (00:03):
Well, Tony, this is a fun day, as we are going to be celebrating your 25 years in full-time ministry. I can tell by the look on your face, you’re already uncomfortable because you hate being the center of attention, which you probably liked our gift to you ’cause we all wrote you notes and created a little video you could watch in the privacy of your own home.
Tony (00:22):
That’s right.
Amy (00:23):
But today, we’re gonna take it to the podcast because 25 years is a big deal. Some of our listeners may have been around for your 20th-year celebration, but I thought it’d be fun, Tony, just to talk through your journey in ministry. I’d like to hear what’s changed, you know, since your 20th, and then just really explain how Tony Morgan got where he is today.
Tony (00:43):
Yes, I am cringing, Amy. As one of the folks on our team said, I’m a reluctant celebrity. I don’t see myself as that, but I, I do see myself as reluctant. But, yes, I, I, it’ll be fun to talk about what God’s done over these last 25 years and, honestly specifically, how he’s used other people to shape my life. So I am looking forward to that part of the conversation.
Amy (01:07):
And I believe you also wrote an article that is shared about this journey, as well, that our folks can find on the blog, so.
Tony (01:14):
That’s right.
Amy (01:14):
Well, a lot of people, Tony, who don’t know your backstory, probably assume that you went to school for ministry and then you began working in ministry straight outta college. But that’s actually not the case. So can you explain where you were before you accepted your first role in full-time ministry?
Tony (01:30):
Yeah, so it’s still crazy for me to think about this, but when I was still in my twenties, and I can’t believe I had the opportunities that I did back then. But when I was in my twenties, I was a city manager in Michigan, leading a staff team of about 150 people who included the police chief, the fire chief, the public works director and many other great public servants. And I had invested many years and a lot of money into two different degrees, internships, several moves to different parts of the country and really opportunities to kind of move up the leadership ladder.
Amy (02:05):
Mm-hmm.
Tony (02:06):
And I recognized this is highly unusual, but I was in positions of leadership that I know most 20-somethings don’t have. And on top of that, I had just received a glowing review from the city council, who are kind of my bosses, if you will, at City Hall. And at the same time, though, I had been wrestling with an opportunity to pursue my true calling. And about two months before I handed my resignation letter to the city council, I was at a Sunday service at Granger Community Church near South Bend, Indiana. And I grabbed a church bulletin. Amy, do you remember church bulletins?
Amy (02:44):
I do.
Tony (02:46):
Yeah. Sat down with Emily, my wife, in the auditorium. And as I was flipping through the bulletin before the service, I noticed an ad in the bulletin for an office manager position at the church. And I remember distinctively leaning over to Emily and telling her, “This is crazy, but I think I’m supposed to apply for that job.” And though the job titles both city manager and office manager include the word manager, there was obviously a big difference between my job of city manager where I was leading several city departments, and that included a $20 million budget for the city.
Amy (03:24):
Wow.
Tony (03:24):
And the role of office manager at the church. But even with that in mind, Emily and I decided I should pursue the position. And I had no idea that once I submitted my application for the office manager role, that that would eventually evolve into a pastoral position at the church. So as you might imagine, Amy, this was a huge decision. And with that, I am forever grateful to Emily, my wife, for encouraging me to take that big step because certainly God has used that step of courage to allow for, goodness, some opportunities we could have never imagined.
Amy (04:04):
Well, that’s certainly a big leap of faith. And I’m sure if you told that 20-something-year-old Tony and Emily what that opportunity would lead to, they’d be pretty surprised. And by the way, 20-something-city-manager, that’s kind of a big deal. Look at the 20-year-olds we know; that’s a big deal. Now I’m curious. I think you should take us back even further because I’m sure this inkling of a calling into ministry didn’t happen because it was an amazing service. It didn’t happen overnight. Can you tell us more of that story?
Tony (04:35):
Yeah, Amy, you’re right. It was actually two years before that that I think God really started to fuel my passion for engaging the ministry of the local church. It was a friend who gave me a copy of Rick Warren’s Purpose-Driven Church, which, younger generation leaders, if you haven’t read that, you really do need to go back and pick up a copy of that book and read through that. And as I read Rick’s book, it was the first time I had read about a new way of engaging ministry to reach people outside the church and outside the faith. That was the key distinctive. And as I read the book through cover-to-cover in a very short time and let it soak in it, it certainly impacted me and kind of my thinking about the role of the church. In fact, I, I was so consumed by it, I quickly reread the book again. But this idea of a church reaching people far from God, it was just captivating to me. In fact, so captivating that Kayla, our daughter, who was probably only two at the time, saw me reading that book so much in just a matter of days she started referring to the book as Daddy’s Bible. And I’ll just say it’s a good book, but it’s not that good. So sorry about that, Rick Warren. But after reading the book a second time, I remember two things. First, I remember that sense that God was preparing me to part, to be a part of a church like Rick described in his writing. And I also had this strong pull to serve in church leadership, though I certainly didn’t think it was going to lead to me be becoming a pastor later on. And then, secondly, Emily and I, we, we in that season created a list of some specific prayer requests that we were trusting God with as we were about ready to move to South Bend. And one of those prayers was that God would lead us to a church like the one described in Purpose-Driven Church. And we had no idea that in doing that he was preparing me for full-time ministry just a year later. But, Amy, even a few years before I read that book, I stood in the auditorium for, with Emily at Willow Creek Community Church for the very first time in Chicago, and this was back in the early 1990s. My friend Matt invited Emily and me to go along for, it was youth ministry training in Chicago. So yes, I used to.
Amy (07:01):
Are you in youth ministry?
Tony (07:02):
Used to be a volunteer in student ministry, although they called it youth group back then, Amy. Mm-hmm. Their, their branding has shifted a little bit in recent years. But after that training for youth ministry, on that Saturday, we drove over to Willow to attend a service on that Saturday evening. And it was the very first time I had ever heard anything other than an organ or a piano in, in a church, a service. It was the first time I ever sat in a sanctuary without pews, as an example. It was the first time I ever saw a pastor teach and address real-life issues. It was the first time, just to be honest, that I realized it was permissible to be the church without being churchy. But, Amy, that first service at Willow brought back vivid memories of a recurring dream I had in the years after accepting Christ. And though I had never experienced a worship service like it, I had dreamed previously about a church where the sanctuary was full of people. People were enjoying each other. They were enjoying time together. They were worshiping Jesus. They were engaged by the teaching. People were laughing. People were crying. People were applauding. And again, I had never experienced a worship service like that before. So if you knew the faith tradition that I grew up in, you would understand that the Sunday services weren’t really designed to evoke that kind of response. But, honestly, I can’t remember a lot of details from that Saturday evening service at Willow. But I do remember that experience and thinking to myself, this is what I’ve been dreaming about all these years. I, I think this is what the church is supposed to be.
Amy (08:48):
Wow. Well, it’s clear that from the very beginning, Tony, God was putting the local church on your heart, and I’ve heard you mention a few key experiences that happened even before you felt a pull to ministry. You know, that looking back, it’s clear God was speaking to you. Can you tell our listeners about that?
Tony (09:05):
Sure. Yeah. So, let me give you a couple examples. One, I was a sophomore in high school at the time, and I was really wrestling with life. And I sat in Charlie’s living room. Charlie was a family friend and my former middle school principal. And looking back on that season, Amy, just to be honest, it was probably the first time in that season that I really experienced anxiety issues. As you know, that’s kind of been an on and off challenge that I’ve even carried with me into adult life. But Charlie was really critical in some of those conversations in that season. In the weeks that followed, I met with Charlie every Saturday. We would either meet at his office at the school or his wife and he would open up their home and I would go to their home. But he’s really the first person to encourage me to open the Bible. He’s the first person who took the time to explain who Jesus was and the sacrifice that Jesus made for me. And several months after I accepted Christ as, as my Lord and Savior, he’s the first person who encouraged me to engage in ministry by teaching a Sunday school class. And, Amy, I was a brand new believer, and I’m not sure why Charlie thought that was a good idea. But I’m glad he pushed me to do that. And I’m guessing he didn’t realize it, but he was beginning to equip me to do the work of God.
Amy (10:29):
Mm-hmm.
Tony (10:29):
A few years after that, I was with a bunch of my friends at my youth pastor’s house, and I can’t remember the occasion. But, gosh, it’s been 35 years ago, and for whatever reason, though, our senior pastor at the time stopped by the house. And at some point during that gathering, Jack, our senior pastor, pulled me aside, and he said something along these lines. He said, “Tony, one of these days you are going to be in ministry and God’s going to use your gifts for the kingdom.” And I remember initially thinking, well, that was a very pastory thing for the pastor to say. And I honestly, I kind of shrugged it off in the moment, but it’s funny how all along the way those words stuck with me, even when I thought it was the furthest thing from becoming reality.
Amy (11:19):
Mm-hmm. Again, it’s amazing how God uses others to speak to us like that. And I’m sure at the time, Charlie and Jack had no idea what their words really meant, but they clearly saw something in you.
Tony (11:31):
Yeah, absolutely. There is no doubt about it, Amy. And as I reflect on my journey into ministry, God has, has used several people along the way to direct my path. So Charlie, again, Charlie introduced me to Jesus and gave me my first ministry responsibility. Jack. Jack intentionally spoke into my life and helped me see something that would take years to comprehend. Matt invited me into youth ministry. He let me have leadership responsibility as a volunteer and then gave me opportunities to learn and experience aspects of ministry that I had never experienced before. Tim, who I lovingly refer to as First Timothy, Amy, Tim gave me a copy of a book about church leadership, knowing that it would fuel my passion and understanding of what the local church could and should be. Emily. She encouraged me to fully surrender my life to Jesus. And yes, I had become a Christ follower many years before, but it really wasn’t until that summer of 1998 that I fully understood what it meant to surrender everything to Jesus. Mark and Tim, who I refer to as Second Timothy, they hired me to help pastor a church when I was overly qualified to be the office manager that they were originally hoping to hire. Andy. Andy started mentoring me about 20 years ago and continues to mentor me till this day, even though he doesn’t even know that he’s mentoring. So let’s just keep that our secret. And then, gosh, Amy, you, Tiffany, Sean, Mark, Jacinta and the rest of the team at The Unstuck Group, you continue to challenge me to equip faithful leaders to build healthy churches that help as many people as possible follow Jesus. So I could go on and on, naming names through the years, people that who have, who have influenced me, have influenced my ministry, influenced my life. They’re mostly people you’ve probably never heard of, but every one of them shaped who I am today.
Amy (13:37):
It’s amazing, Tony, and I know I speak for all of us at The Unstuck Group that we’re really so grateful for your leadership and that we get to work alongside you as you faithfully pursue the mission God has laid on your heart. And really, it just, it spills out of you in every conversation, every decision that we make, it all comes back to the mission that you set for our team. And I know, Tony, you don’t love talking about yourself, so before we wrap up, I wondered if you would share some reflections on what you’ve learned the last 25 years. I’m sure you have some words of wisdom for the leaders who are listening that may just be starting out on their own leadership journey.
Tony (14:17):
Well, Amy, I shared this in the article you referred to earlier, and I had to write this down so that I can make sure I get through this. But here’s the big takeaway. If you want to know God, you need to know his people. If you want to know God’s will for your life, you have to share life with God’s people as well. If you want to know God’s purpose for your life, you have to be willing to enter the messiness of other people’s lives. And if you want to live a fulfilled life, you have to love other people, the people that God places in your life. In other words, Amy, it’s not about me. After all these years, I’ve probably learned one big lesson: For us to experience the, the life that God wants for us, we must love God and we must love other people. And it’s so simple, yet it’s, it’s difficult, especially when I get in the way of, of, of what God’s trying to do in my life, in the, in the lives of other people that he has around me. And my, my family knows that I’m weird, as an example about celebrating birthdays, Amy. I don’t like it when the attention is on me. And that’s why many years ago, rather than getting gifts for my, for my family, for my birthday, I started to give gifts to them instead, which means it’s good to be in the Morgan family because essentially you get two birthdays every year. So that’s pretty fun. Because of that, as I celebrate 25 years of ministry, I don’t want attention, and I certainly don’t want gifts. Instead, I want to thank you because if you’re listening to this podcast today, I know that you’re on the same mission with me. So thank you for your sacrifice. I know many of you could have made a lot more money in the marketplace, but you’re making a bigger impact in people’s lives today. And thank you for enduring when it would’ve been easy to leave ministry. And with that, please don’t give up. Please stick with it. Please continue to press on with the ministry God’s called you to. Thank you for loving others even when they’ve or we’ve been hard to love. I know. Especially in recent years, thank you for loving others. Thank you for remaining faithful to people in your lives and to your calling, and thank you for committing to help more people meet and follow Jesus. Well done. I’m grateful that you’ve committed to that mission, and most of all, thank you, Jesus, for giving me this mission for these last 25 years. Gosh, in, in the 25 years since I transitioned to full-time ministry, I’ve had opportunities I could have never imagined I would experience. So with that, Jesus, until you call me home, here am I. Send me.
Amy (17:03):
Well, Tony, instead of asking you if you have any final thoughts, I thought I would give you a break and cover it today just to say a couple of words. Thank you, Tony, for your love for the local church and its potential. Your passion for the local church, like I said, permeates every decision you make and every decision you lead us to make. And thank you, I know it sounds odd, but thank you for all the content that you create. It’s such a natural gift for you. The, the blog, this podcast, your book The Unstuck Church, the Vital Signs and Unstuck Church Assessments. I remember when Covid shut the world down and shut the church’s doors for a while, you pivoted, you pivoted us and used your gifts to support and encourage church leaders through your gift of content. And you know this, but God has used you to help encourage and equip thousands of churches. I know we haven’t been onsite with thousands and thousands, but through this podcast, through all the content you put out there, you’ve done that. And I speak for the entire Unstuck team and the churches we’ve served to say it is an honor to be on mission with you. Happy 25th, Tony.
