Influence: You Already Have a Ministry

Influence: You Already Have a Ministry :: Exploring Israel’s Life in Exile

VERSE: Jeremiah 29:4-7 (cf. Lamentations 1:1-2; 3:22-24)

TBI: You do not need to wait for a better situation, a different place, or a future season of life to begin serving God. Ministry begins exactly where you are. Using Jeremiah's letter to the exiles and God's surprising instructions to build, plant, and seek the peace of the city, this class challenges students to see their current environments, like their schools, friendships, families, and communities, as places where God has already given them influence. Everywhere we are, we have a ministry.

The Ministry Summit 2026

Conference Summary: The Ministry Summit Youth Track explores what it looks like for teenagers to live as people of God in a world that does not share their values, their hope, or their home. Across six classes, students will wrestle with questions about faith, doubt, relationships, the church, and influence. Here is the world you are living in. Here is what God says to do in it.

What a great day!

Hopefully you’ve heard at least one thing today that has sparked action or repentance.

You’re ready to leave today with something to do… an idea to pursue, a habit to change…

If you’re full of ideas… but don’t know where to start, let me give you one last push for where you could start working…

INTRODUCTION

I want to start this way…

Can you think about a time where something did not go how you had hoped?

We talked some about this earlier, related to doubt.

I mean more along the lines of: you’re organizing an activity, or working on a project. And your plan doesn’t work?

Maybe you try something else, or you make the best with what you have. Or maybe, you give up. “You know what, I tried!”

We are in a world right now where a common response to tough situations is: I’ll just leave.

And many might wrongly thing: If I don’t like where I am, that must mean there is somewhere else I’m supposed to be.

I worry that this is the mindset that many youth have when it comes to their role in the kingdom of God.

I know this is a problem that many Christian adults have. It’s not just a teen problem.

When people find themselves in a situation that they don’t like, a common response is to leave.

I don’t want any show of hands, but do any of these situations sound familiar?

You’re unhappy with your job… your boss doesn't treat you with respect… that’s okay, I’ll leave and find another job… Not a big deal.

You don’t like the way your friends are treating you… that’s okay, I’ll find new friends.

A husband and wife have been at odds for years and years… that’s okay, we’ll just move on.

Or what about this--the church that you’ve been attending for awhile just hasn’t been doing it for you… I’ll go find one that more fits my needs.

Does any of that sound familiar?

We’re in a society where leaving often sounds like the best option.

Leaving is easy. Staying, working, changing, is hard. Sometimes, leaving is necessary…

But when leaving is our preferred reaction to tough situations, we can end up cheating ourselves out of opportunities to glorify God where we are today.

That is your ministry. And I hope with the time we have, you can start to visualize that.

If leaving is an option in our minds, we might not even physically leave, but we might emotionally leave… right? And when you’ve emotionally checked out, you stop caring… around you…

Say this with: God has called me to ministry.

Something you might hear those who are ministers say.

What I want every one of you to understand is, everyone is called to ministry.

If you’re on the fence, am I supposed to… stop, the answer is yes.

Everyone is called to minister to the people around them.

If you don’t know what that is yet, hopefully I can get your gears turning.

To help us see this, I want to look at the Influence that the Israelites out.

You’ve been in a number of different classes today… to close it out, I want to take us back to the world we built this morning. Remember:

Israel is in Babylon. During the life of the prophet Jeremiah.

They did not choose this. They were carried here against their will. Everything familiar — the temple, the land, the community — is gone.

They’re feeling all kinds of things… hurt, frustration, even doubt… they’re gonna wrestle with that.

YOUR’RE going to wrestle with doubt. But you’re going to find refuge in the Lord. Right?!

Here, back to our Israelite world, is where that very common response kicks in.

When people find themselves somewhere they do not want to be, the instinct is to leave.

As we heard this morning, what was an overwhelming response for the Israelites in exile?

They left. Not left exile, they were stuck there. They left emotionally, spiritually, leaving their faith in God.

The statistics change every few years, but you heard it this morning, a large percentage of Christian teenagers will leave the church when they graduate high school.

There is a small silver lining — about half of those who grew up in church will consider coming back after ten years. But that is still not a good number.

What do we do about that? What does it look like to not be someone who leaves but be someone who stays?

Let’s go back to Jeremiah.

Getting Into the Text(s)

Read again with me what he writes to the exiled-Israelites, in Jeremiah 29:4-7.

This is the letter we looked at this morning. But now read it differently.

Jeremiah is not just telling the exiles how to survive. He is telling them how to serve.

He does not say wait it out. He does not say keep your head down until God brings you home.

He says: build houses. Plant gardens. Have families. Find work. Pray for the city. Seek its peace. Seek its welfare.

If you want to know what your role in the Kingdom of God is, look no further than the people right in front of you.

Sometimes though, things don’t go how you plan. That is the case for Israel. God says, get to work anyways.

There’s a couple things we can notice from here: the first being, God really isn’t asking that much.

Kinda funny if you think about it, what a golden opportunity… talk about a mission trip!! Imagine if all Christians took a mission trip together. Raising thousands of dollars, to go out in the world, and just live a regular life.

Most of Israel is taken into a ginormous mission field, yet these are God’s instructions for them: live ordinary and purposeful lives.

These are not grand, dramatic callings. There is no "go slay the Babylonian army" or "start a revolution."

The calling is: live. Fully. Right here. In this place you did not choose.

Build a home in the uncomfortable place. Plant something that takes years to grow. Invest in people around you. Pray for the city that is not your city.

Guys, get this before we leave today. God has called you to ministry.

This is ministry. This is influence.

To live ordinary and purposeful lives.

You and I both know though, that Godly living by no means is ordinary.

What is the ordinary response when things don’t go your way? Leave. Take your ball, go home.

The ministry of all Christians of all ages is to be planted and rooted in the Lord our God.

Illustration: The hotel vs. the house.

How would you treat something differently if it wasn’t yours?

Consider the hotel vs the house. Mentioned this earlier.

Now, I haven’t seen your rooms. But I have seen the middle school boys cabin at the end of a retreat weekend.

If you don’t care about the future, you won’t: [more here]

My house, I see a problem… I have to fix it.

In a hotel, I see a problem, that’s someone else’s problem… you might not even tell someone about it.

I heard it said like this: whatever it is in your life where you feel tension, that is where you’re called to ministry.

Whatever problem around you that’s annoying…

The ministry of God’s people is this:

Live like you plan to stay awhile. Live like you care about longevity.

Discussion / Breakouts

With the people around you, talk through these questions. Place prompts on screen. No report-back required.

Q | What is a situation in your life right now — a school, a friend group, a family situation — where you have been tempted to check out or wait for something better?

Q | What would it look like to "build a house" or "plant a garden" in that situation? What would faithful presence look like there?

Q | Is there someone in your life right now who needs you to seek their peace — even if it costs you something?

Conclusion & Takeaways

God has called you to ministry.

Not someday. Not when you graduate. Not when you are married, or older, or in a better situation.

Now. Right where you are.

I know it is easy to think — when I get to college, that is when I will really be able to do something. When I get out of this town, when I get away from these people, when things are different — then I will have something to offer.

But that is not what God said to the exiles. And it is not what Scripture instructs to you.

He said: build where you are.

Plant where you are.

Pray where you are.

Seek the peace of the place you are in.

Your school is not a waiting room. Your friend group is not a placeholder. The uncomfortable situations in your life are not obstacles to your ministry — they are your ministry.

I’ve got one last thing for us to keep in mind to help is turn our circumstances into our ministry…

In Lamentations, Jeremiah — the same man who wrote that letter — weeps over the destruction of Jerusalem. His grief is real. The loss is real.

Jeremiah does not pretend the exile is fine. He laments. He mourns. Still, here’s what he says…

Read Lamentations 3:22-24.

In the middle of that grief, in the middle of that exile, Jeremiah finds this.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.

This is not a man who has figured everything out. This is a man who has chosen, in the middle of a world that is not his home, to trust the God who is still faithful.

Ministry is not a calling. It’s a decision.

That is the model. Not perfection. Not waiting until everything is okay. Not leaving when it gets hard.

Making a decision, to Stay. Build. Plant. Pray. And trust that God's mercies are new every morning — even when you find yourself in Babylon.

Jeremiah goes on to write:

English Standard Version Chapter 3

The LORD is good to those who wait for him,

to the soul who seeks him.

26  It is good that one should wait quietly

for the salvation of the LORD.

27  It is good for a man that he bear

the yoke in his youth.

Q | What is one place in your life where you can choose to stay, build, and seek the peace of the people around you — starting this week?

By the grace of God, this world is not our home. Amen? This is why, in the same letter, Jeremiah writes this, to a people called to minister in exile: Jeremiah 29:11-13.

[more here]

Here is the world you are living in. Here is what God says to do in it.

[more here, about how you can build up those around you, practical things…]

Doubt is what happens when things don’t go how you planned. Influence is what God calls you to do anyways.

Today, you have heard the Word of the Lord. Now go build something.

In this temporary place, “Live like you plan to stay awhile.”