Mountain
of Ministry
Written by Abbigail Rioux
Full-time ministry can be likened
to climbing a mountain as there are
many parallels between the two.
From the necessary preparation and
training time that precedes the climb,
to having the proper equipment and
key team members beside you along
the way, to adjusting and acclimating
yourself to the many altitude changes,
to even motivating yourself when you
feel another step cannot be taken.
Summiting a mountain is no easy task,
so we therefore must ask ourselves
the question, what kind of person does
it take to make it up a mountain? And
taking that thought even one step
further, what kind of person does it take
to make it up a mountain of ministry?
This coming October marks Pastor Bill
Wilson’s 70th birthday and his 50th
year in full-time ministry. He is an
excellent example of a man who has
made it up this proverbial ‘mountain
of ministry.’ A long journey that has
been fraught with hardship, struggle,
disappointment and setbacks
every step of the way. It’s worth
taking a moment to consider what a
mountainous feat his life of ministry
really has been. He stands among only
a handful of great men and women
who have attempted such a mission,
let alone reach the top of a fifty year
milestone and still going strong.
T h e P r e p a r a t i o n . B i l l W i l s o n ’s
preparation was unique. Growing
up fatherless and with an alcoholic
mother who abandoned him on a
street corner at the age of twelve is
certainly not your usual childhood
story. Yet experiencing those crippling
feelings of hurt, hunger, loneliness and
shame, who better to identify with
and understand vulnerable young
lives found in the darkest regions of
the world? Someone who has been
there at one point in their own life
also. Someone who has known that
Solutions • 35