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Jason is the founder of Ignite Student Ministries, a dynamic ministry igniting youth, young adults and university students to passionately pursue Christ and transform society in high schools, work places and universities around the world.

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Don’t Give Up

Jason VanaJason Vana
Never, ever, ever give up!

Never, ever, ever give up!

There are times when I just want to quit doing ministry.

When I started doing college ministry back in 2002, I had this idea that it would be easy, fun, and in no time at all, an entire campus would come to Christ.

What can I say? I love to dream big.

But then reality set it and ministry got, well, difficult.

Rather than leading massive crusades to see people get saved, I was helping broken students heal.
Instead of growing so large we would need to use the chapel on campus, we could barely fill a few dorm lounges.
Rather than other ministries knocking on my door to learn what I had done, my ministry has stayed in relative obscurity.
Instead of being nice and easy and fun, ministry was hard.

It took long nights.
Hard work.
Giving up certain luxuries – like a real vacation – in order to minister to others.

I’ve had to raise support, ask for donations more times than I would like (which, by the way, would be never), and even spent my 28th birthday on an airplane headed to the Czech Republic.

I’ve been ridiculed, slandered, and mocked.
I’ve had people close to me turn their back and betray me.
I’ve had students question my motives, mock my age, and want nothing to do with me.

I even had someone hell-bent on getting me kicked off campus before.

Ministry isn’t easy.

It can be exhausting, draining, wearisome work.

The same is true of pursuing your dream. As glamorous as it may seem, there will be moments when you want to give up, throw in the towel, and pretend you never started traveling down that road to begin with.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” – Galatians 6:9

No dream comes easily. Nothing worth doing ever happens without a cost. It will be difficult, painful, and require hard work.

You’ll get tired, worn out, and question why you started in the first place.

You will want to give up.
It happens to the best of us.

But Paul relays a pretty powerful promise in his letter to the believers in Galatia:

You will reap a harvest, if you don’t give up.

All the sweat. All the tears. All the aches and pains and hardships and trials and difficulties. Every slanderous word. Every lie spoken against you. Every betrayal. Every time someone has ever questioned your motives or commitment.

It will all be worth it.

Because at the right time, at the perfect moment, when all the trials and training have come to fruition, you will see a harvest.

Just don’t give up.

What “harvest” are you waiting to receive?

Jason is the founder of Ignite Student Ministries, a dynamic ministry igniting youth, young adults and university students to passionately pursue Christ and transform society in high schools, work places and universities around the world.