Tag Archives: Secret Ambition

S.A.N.S. Episode 5: Secret Ambition

Posted on February 8, 2022 by expressyourself4him

I didn’t even know that Christian music existed until I asked Jesus to come into my heart, Romans 10:9-10, in the middle of my sophomore year of high school. I met Mindy at a FCA Bible Study. She was the only person I knew in high school who was an advocate for Christian music. Mindy made different mixes for me so I could figure out which artists I liked before purchasing an album. Mindy’s parents drove me and a couple of friends from Concord to my first ever Christian concert.

Speak out to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, offering praise with voices [[e]and instruments] and making melody with all your heart to the Lord, 20 At all times and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father, Ephesians 5:19-20.

If you haven’t already guessed by today’s song title Secret Ambition, Michael W. Smith gave me a good first impression of Christian music. While I barely recognized any of the songs that were sung that night, I went on to buy every one of Michael’s new albums over the next 5 years. The week i2(Eye) Album was released, I attended a youth convention in Salisbury, Maryland. This was the most fun I ever had on a retreat as a seed was sown to become a youth pastor. Thanks to Secret Ambition, this became a reality.

by Jay Mankus

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Find Your Passion and Pursue It

Posted on August 8, 2021 by expressyourself4him

When I was in high school, Michael W. Smith was the top Christian artist in the nation. Songs like Go West Young Man, Secret Ambition and Place in this World inspired me to start thinking about the future. While in college at the University of Delaware, I was torn between becoming a golf course architect and serving as a youth pastor. Following a dual internship in Cleveland, Ohio, I discovered my true passion and began to pursue it.

Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own, Philippians 3:12.

After working as an Inner City Workcamp Coordinator and Youth Director at a Methodist Church, I wasn’t sure about how to build a ministry. Following a visit to a Youth Ministry Trade School, a renewed passion was conceived as this training gave me the knowledge and vision to succeed. However, in any ministry there are big egos with a tendency for control and power which make maintaining healthy relationships difficult.

I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward, Philippians 3:13-14.

Over the years I’ve learned that desires and passions come and go. What you believe and think about your role in life today may change as the situations around you fluctuate. Just as societies and the world evolves, it’s important to re-evaluate where you want to go and what you want to do. Once you discover your spiritual gifts and unleash the desires within your heart, pursue God’s will as you seize each day.

by Jay Mankus

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