Pursue Your Passion... Please!

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman

When God led me to start America’s first-ever athletic prison ministry in 1987, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that that was what He was calling me to do. Why? Because I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else. Ask anyone who was around me at the time and they will attest that I ate, drank, slept, and dreamt The Saints Prison Ministry.

In fact, my work with the Saints so consumed me that – over the course of time – my role as executive director became my identity. Dale was the Saints and the Saints was Dale, if you know what I’m saying. And so, it was no wonder that I burned myself out after 24 years at the helm and had to step away to rediscover my true identity in Christ… a long and grueling process that is still ongoing.

I will always treasure those decades of prison ministry and the bonds that were formed in the spiritual trenches. And yes, I dearly miss the athletic competition as well as the camaraderie of my teammates. But I have learned that Dale Glading is much more than just a prison minister or a second baseman. I am a husband who has been blessed with a beautiful bride and a strong marriage of almost 40 years that has produced three saved children, two in-law children, and six precious grandchildren… and they are my greatest accomplishments and my true inheritance. Most importantly, warts and all, I am a child of the Most High God.

I am also the pastor of a small church, which means that each week I get to study God’s word and then share what I have learned with our congregation on Sunday. And instead of ministering to inmates, I mentor at-risk youth in the hopes of reaching them for Christ before they get into trouble with the law. Plus, virtually every weekday I get to do something I dearly love – and which people have been kind enough to tell me I am reasonably good at – which is to write. Sitting at my desk, God leads me to write five devotional messages and three faith-based political blog posts each week… and I enjoy that privilege immensely.

Paraphrasing Howard Thurman’s advice, I have tried to find something that no one else was doing or that needed to be done and to do that to the very best of my God-given ability. Hopefully, He has been glorified and others have been blessed in the process.

And so, my question for you is this: what makes you feel really alive? And if you aren’t doing it as often as possible – perhaps even vocationally – why not?

The clock is running and neither of us is getting any younger, so pursue your passion for God’s glory!

“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…” Psalm 139:14 (NKJV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President