“What makes him think he can be a minister?”

“What makes him think he can preach to me?”

“When did he become so righteous?”

“He’s far from perfect: What makes him think he can lecture me?”

I’ve heard these questions loud and clear. Some you’ve asked consciously and some you’ve asked without words. Yes, I have seen the wheels in your head turning and the looks you exchange with friends and family. “Sure, it’s all in his head,” you’ve said.

It must have been a bit of a shock for you, when you learned I had become an ordained minister. Yes, a real minister. I can pastor a church. I can preach on Sunday mornings. I can marry people and preside over funerals. I can counsel people, baptize. I can lead and give Communion. I state these things because people do ask.

Well, you know what? I am no more righteous than you or anyone else. I simply need God’s promise of salvation just like everyone else. And yes, I am so far from perfect that I can’t even joke about it.

Of course, I can go on and on about my shortcomings in every area of my life, but we don’t have that kind of time, and that’s not why I’m writing this post. Also, I did not become ordained as a minister to lecture anyone.

I didn’t just wake up one day to find myself a new believer in Christ with the need to share His Gospel with everyone. Like many others, I grew up in and was confirmed in the church. I cannot recall any time in my life that I did not believe in God or in Jesus. But, also like many, I left the church and simply ignored God, Christ, and His Gospel, for much of my adult life.

Just over 10 years ago I found myself having time to revisit an old interest of mine; archaeology. In fact, I took quite a dive into it. Looking back on it now, I can almost picture God, in my mind, saying: “Ha! I got you now!”

It was my interest in archaeology that led me to opening my life up once again, to God. With the help of a distant family member living on the opposite coast of the United States, I got my first formal introduction to Biblical Archaeology.

The more reading and researching of Biblical Archaeology I did, the more I found myself opening the Bible.

Soon, I was not only researching and studying Biblical Archaeology, but I was equally and at times, more often, researching and studying the Bible. It’s rather difficult to research, follow, and study Biblical Archaeology without consulting the Bible.

I then spent years reading, studying and researching the Bible. I now specialize in Paul’s letters. But as time went on, I felt as though I had somehow hit a ceiling; or a roadblock. I began searching for more formal ways to study the Bible.

In 2015 I enrolled in a Bible College. Along the way, I experienced the Grace and Mercy of God, that only Christ delivers. I then found myself not just reading and studying the Bible and Christian Theology but being ordained as a Christian minister.

I felt God saying to me, “I know you’ve always believed in Me — But now tell others.”

And this is now what I do. My life’s work is now about proclaiming Jesus and His Gospel. But this work I now do is not about me. I am not here to lecture folks about me. Being ordained as a Christian minister has not made me perfect, nor anything close to it.

No! I’m not here to proclaim Clayton as a minister. I’m not here to be my own witness. I am here to be a witness for Christ Jesus, to our Father in Heaven, to His love, grace, mercy and the Salvation He offers us through Christ.

I am here to be a witness of Jesus. I’m here to tell you about HIM! I’m here to tell you what He did for me and what He can do for you; what He did for all of us, on the Cross.

Jesus did not say, “You will be your own witness.”

Jesus said, “and you shall be My witnesses…” (Act 1:8)

Jesus said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners,” (Mar 2:17).

Being a witness for Christ did not make me righteous. I will never be righteous in your eyes nor my own. But thanks to Jesus, I will be righteous in God’s eyes.

I’m not here to lecture you. I’m here simply proclaiming what I’ve always believed, but sometimes forget; Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the only one that can save us from ourselves. I am here to be Christ’s witness!

©2019 Clayton Moore All Rights Reserved!