{"id":756,"date":"2025-09-02T19:36:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T19:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adnamis.info\/?p=756"},"modified":"2025-09-05T14:41:35","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T14:41:35","slug":"you-are-a-cog-in-the-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adnamis.info\/index.php\/2025\/09\/02\/you-are-a-cog-in-the-machine\/","title":{"rendered":"You are a Cog in the Machine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\"cog\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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This article originally appeared on Dave Blok’s Substack<\/a>. Adapted with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI feel like a cog in a machine.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what I blurted out in my very first ministry position out of college. I was 22, the energetic and overly dramatic middle school youth director, confessing my angst to the Senior Pastor.<\/p>\n

His reply? \u201cWell, that\u2019s what ministry is. You are a cog in the machine.\u201d<\/p>\n

That answer didn\u2019t sit right with me then, and it still doesn\u2019t now.<\/p>\n

Over time I realized what I was bumping up against: I didn\u2019t fit the box they were trying to put me in. Ministry isn\u2019t one-size-fits-all.<\/strong> God builds some leaders to manage and sustain the institution\u2014to do the same faithful work over and over again. Those leaders matter. We need them.<\/p>\n

But there are also leaders God designs for the edges\u2014for the frontier. They don\u2019t fit neatly inside the box. They are starters, explorers, experimenters. Trying to contain them doesn\u2019t work because they were built to move.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In those early days, I didn\u2019t want to become a pastor because I assumed that meant squeezing into the wrong box. What I didn\u2019t realize yet was that my calling was real\u2014it just looked different. Later I came to see that part of my role is to help the next wave of leaders imagine a bigger vision for how God can use them – so they don\u2019t have to wait to figure it out on their own.<\/p>\n

A Movement, Not Just an Institution<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Church was never meant to be a rigid system. At its best, it\u2019s a movement with institutions\u2014dynamic and Spirit-led.<\/p>\n

Paul paints this picture in Ephesians 4:<\/p>\n

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\u201cAnd he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God\u2019s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ\u2019s fullness.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Body of Christ needs multiple nutrients to grow into the fullness of Jesus<\/strong>. It takes teachers who guide us into truth, prophetic leaders who call us back to faithfulness, evangelists who carry the message outward, apostolic leaders who mobilize and pioneer, and shepherds who care deeply for people.<\/p>\n

Imagine a superhero team where every member has the exact same power. Four different people\u2014but all of them just stretch like Mister Fantastic. That\u2019s not much of a team.<\/p>\n

The Church is stronger when we live into our God-given diversity of callings.<\/p>\n

Discovering Your Place in the Movement<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I once told a friend, \u201cMaybe you should be a pastor.\u201d He quickly shot back, \u201cAbsolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n

But when I asked what he felt called to, he said, \u201cI want to reach people in my sphere and shepherd them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now\u2014he may never stand on a stage and preach a sermon. But does that sound like a shepherd\u2019s heart? Absolutely. The problem isn\u2019t that he lacked a calling. The problem was that he thought \u201cpastor\u201d only meant fitting into a box we\u2019ve created, so he sat on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why we started a rising leaders cohort at the ministry I lead called Plant 616\u2014to help people discover their place in God\u2019s movement.<\/p>\n

We believe there are restless disciples in every church\u2014faithful volunteers who feel there\u2019s something more they were made to do. That \u201csomething more\u201d often can\u2019t be contained in a program. It usually looks like a burden for the unreached, a gap that needs filling, or a deeply relational calling.<\/p>\n

And those callings are as diverse as the people themselves:<\/p>\n