Podcast Ep 17: Finding Your Sweet Spot in Ministry (Pastor Marshall Benbow)

I am sure you can identify with these following comments: I wish I was preaching more. If only I could take on more responsibility, I would be happier. I wish the board would let me start that ministry program. Even if you are not a pastor or in ministry you have longed to do something that fits your gifts better, or to find what we are going to define today as your sweet spot.

I remember during one of my ministries I found myself restless and in that restlessness concluded that perhaps I need to make a change. It was during this time I was introduced to the idea of finding your sweet spot in ministry. Several years later, I was led to a ministry that seemed to fit all my gifts, and seemed to meet all my passions and ideas of where I was best suited for ministry. While I enjoyed in many ways falling into my sweet spot it did not at all mean that ministry got easier. It actually became harder, and in that ministry I ended up facing some of the strongest opposition I’d ever encountered been hard, but I was in my sweet spot. So today we want to talk to those of you who are searching for your sweet spot in ministry. In this podcast I will be talking to a pastor who patiently found his sweet spot in ministry. I love the balance that Pastor Marshall Benbow brings to this conversation because, while we both agree that pastors should be seeking to serve where they are best suited and gifted, there will be times where we will struggle through that process and even acknowledge that we may not love where we are, but it might still be where God wants us.

Pastor Marshall Benbow graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1997 with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism. He then worked for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at UNC-Greensboro and Guilford College as a campus minister until 2006. He then served as an Area Director for InterVarsity, supervising campus staff. Marshall also developed and coordinated G.U.P.Y (the Greensboro Urban Project,), an InterVarsity Urban Project which brought college students to the Glenwood neighborhood for spring break and summer missions trips from 2004 until 2011. Marshall joined the pastoral staff at Grace in 2008 as the Director of Outreach and now serves as the Discipleship Pastor. He also serves on the board of Glenwood Family Ministries, which overseas Hope Academy, Glenwood Dance, and Glenwood Tutoring. He graduated with his Master of Arts in Religion at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Charlotte, in May 2017. He and Diane were married in 2000 and have three children – Eliza, Psalter, and Jacob

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