Your Ministry Bio Is Not About You

The Maker and the Minister

Only recently did I really understand the purpose of a ministry bio. For years, I thought ministry bios were about the minister. And many people do use them as a place to list accomplishments, establish importance, impress people, or maybe even prove that they belong in the room.

I don't see the purpose of a ministry bio that way anymore. I believe the bio is about the Maker of men and how He has formed the minister for His purposes. After years of writing my bio the way I'd seen others write theirs, Holy Spirit gave me an understanding of its purpose.

Understanding the Purpose of a Ministry Bio

When we are preparing to purchase something, especially something costly, we look at the specifications. We want to know What was it made to do? What is its capacity? How was it made? What is it made of? Where did it come from? And so it is in the realm of the Spirit. When I read a ministry bio, I want to know: How has God put you together for His use? And why does that matter? Because knowing the specifications helps us know what to expect.

You don't drive a V8 engine the same way you drive a four-cylinder engine. You don't expect the same performance from a professional camera with a full-frame sensor and high-end lens that you expect from a basic point-and-shoot camera. You don't expect a commercial-grade mixer to have the same capacity as a small handheld mixer.

The specifications tell you something about what has been built into something and what it has been equipped to do. I believe God wants His people to understand something about the gifts and graces He has placed in the vessels He sends among them so they can have an expectation for what He desires to release through those vessels.

Everything will not be written in a bio. Spiritually discerning people should receive revelation directly from Holy Spirit about what someone carries. But a ministry bio can give us some of the specifications. And when I understand something about the grace God has placed upon a person, I can pray accordingly. I can put an expectation on heaven. I can place a demand, by faith, on the grace God has made available for that gathering or assignment.

What Should a Ministry Bio Reveal?

So tell me about your gifts and graces. Tell me about your mantle. Tell me about your message. How has God used you? What fruit or track record has followed your service? And yes, tell me something about your spiritual pedigree. Whose tables have you sat at and eaten from? Who helped form you? Who are your mothers and fathers in the Lord? I intentionally say mothers and fathers, plural.

Apostle Joshua Selman has described himself as a “compendium of graces” because he recognizes that he stands on the shoulders of a plurality of elders. God uses many people to contribute to our formation. Spiritual fathers identify, affirm, and stir up what God has placed in you. Spiritual mothers provide a womb-like environment for nurturing, development, and growth.

And strangely enough, in the realm of the Spirit, I have learned that these functions are not tied to gender. A woman may “father” something in you by identifying, affirming, and stirring up what God has placed upon your life. A man may “mother” something in you by providing a safe and nurturing environment where what God has placed in you can be developed and matured.

But I digress. Back to the bio.

Education can matter too. Not simply because of the letters behind someone's name, but because the seminary or Bible college one attended, or the fact that one attended neither, may tell us something about the theological stream that helped shape the person. And yes, Bible college and seminary aren't the same. Seminary generally involves graduate-level theological education and academic study, while many Bible colleges combine biblical education with practical preparation for ministry.

The foundational principles and beliefs of the institution matter too. An evangelical institution may reflect one theological stream. A school rooted in Black liberation theology may reflect another. A Pentecostal or charismatic institution may expose someone to yet another. But the BEST preparation occurs in the School of the Spirit. But I digress again...

These things don't tell us everything about a person. But they can tell us something about the streams from which they have drunk and the tables from which they have eaten. Their diet shapes their health, strength, and spiritual vitality. The ministry bio gives us some understanding of how the Lord has formed, equipped, prepared, and used a vessel. That understanding can help God's people discern what He has made available through that vessel and approach the ministry moment with faith and expectation.

I'm not sure why I'm sharing this. Maybe there is a young minister somewhere struggling with what to include in a ministry bio. My counsel would be: Pray first. Ask Holy Spirit what He wants to reveal about how He has put you together for the Body of Christ. Then highlight those things.

And your bio does not necessarily have to be identical everywhere you go. When God sends you to a specific people for a specific purpose, He may want to highlight a particular part of your mantle, message, formation, or ministry because it is important for that audience. Your ministry bio does not need to tell people everything you have ever done.

Your bio should give the people enough information about the specifications of God’s design for you so they understand how God has prepared you, what He has placed upon your life, and what they might believe Him to release through you for their benefit and His glory.

A Challenge to Ministers of the Gospel

Ministers of the gospel, may I challenge you to prayerfully review your ministry bio, line by line? Don't simply ask, “Is this accurate?” Ask Holy Spirit, “Is this what You want highlighted?” For every title, credential, accomplishment, affiliation, and experience, ask: Why am I sharing this? What does this reveal about how God has formed me? Does it help people understand the grace God has placed upon my life? Does it stir their faith for what God desires to release?

The Prodigals Are Returning

The Prodigals Are Returning: Will We Have the Father’s Heart?

The prodigals are returning.

The question is not whether the younger son will come home.

The question is how those already in the Father’s house will respond when he does.

Will we have the heart of the openly rebellious, yet ultimately repentant younger son?

Will we have the heart of the older son, whose hidden rebellion was cloaked in outward obedience? He remained externally faithful but struggled to rejoice when grace was extended to someone he perceived as less deserving.

Or will we have the heart of the Father, a heart full of grace, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, and reconciliation?

The Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11–32 is not only a story about a rebellious son who leaves home and eventually returns. It is also a revelation of two very different heart conditions and a Father whose heart is extended toward both sons.

The Younger Son Came Home, but the Older Son Stayed Outside

The younger son’s rebellion was obvious.

He demanded his inheritance, left his father’s house, traveled to a distant country, and wasted what he had been given. His rebellion could be seen.

But eventually, something changed:

“But when he came to himself…”

Luke 15:17

He recognized his condition. He repented. He got up. And he went home.

The older brother never physically left the father’s house. He remained. He worked. He served. He obeyed.

Yet when his brother returned and the father celebrated his restoration, what was hidden in the older brother’s heart suddenly became visible.

The younger brother had experienced rebellion in a distant country.

The older brother was experiencing rebellion while standing in the father’s field.

One rebellion was obvious.

The other was hidden beneath obedience.

And the return of the prodigal exposed it.

What Will the Return of the Prodigals Reveal in Us?

This is an important question for the Church.

We pray for prodigals to return. We intercede for those who have wandered. We ask God to restore those who have fallen.

But what happens when He answers those prayers?

What happens when people return carrying histories we know about?

What happens when God restores someone we believe should still be experiencing consequences?

What happens when the Father puts a robe on someone we remember in rags?

What happens when He places a ring on someone whose failures are still fresh in our minds?

What happens when heaven celebrates someone we have not yet forgiven?

The return of the prodigal does not only reveal the condition of the prodigal’s heart.

It can reveal the condition of ours.

As we examine the older brother in Luke 15, several ungodly heart conditions emerge.

1. Spiritual Pride

The older brother said:

“Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time…”

Luke 15:29

His obedience had become part of his argument for why he deserved preferential treatment.

He measured his worth by his performance and viewed himself as superior because of his obedience.

There is a subtle danger when faithfulness becomes the basis for comparison.

We can begin by faithfully serving God and eventually start believing our service makes us more deserving than someone else.

2. Self-Righteousness

The older brother believed his works entitled him to reward and recognition.

His complaint was essentially, I have done everything right. Therefore, I deserve more.

But relationship with the Father is rooted in grace, not entitlement.

The father reminded him:

“Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.”

Luke 15:31

The older son was trying to earn through performance what was already available to him through relationship.

3. Jealousy and Envy

Instead of rejoicing over his brother’s restoration, the older son resented the celebration.

Someone else receiving grace felt like something was being taken away from him.

But grace is not diminished when God gives it to someone else.

Another person’s restoration does not threaten our relationship with the Father.

When the lost are found, heaven rejoices.

Our hearts should too.

4. Unforgiveness

Notice how the older brother described the returning prodigal.

He did not call him my brother.

He said to the father:

“But as soon as this son of yours came…”

Luke 15:30

The father had restored him as a son.

The older brother continued defining him by his failures.

Unforgiveness often keeps people imprisoned in an identity God is trying to redeem.

We remember what they did.

The Father sees who they can become.

5. Resentment and Bitterness

The older brother declared:

“You never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.”

Luke 15:29

His words revealed something deeper than anger about one celebration.

There were accumulated grievances in his heart.

Apparently, he had been keeping score.

Resentment often develops quietly. We continue serving. We continue showing up. We continue doing what is expected.

But underneath the activity can live an unresolved question:

What about me?

If it is not surrendered to God, disappointment can become resentment, and resentment can eventually distort how we interpret both the Father and other people.

6. Lack of Compassion and Mercy

The father and the older son looked at the same man and saw two very different things.

The father saw a son who had returned.

The older brother saw a sinner who deserved consequences.

The father said:

“For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

Luke 15:24

The Father’s heart prioritizes restoration.

That does not mean sin is insignificant. The younger son had to come to himself, acknowledge his condition, get up, and return.

But when genuine repentance brought him home, the father did not make humiliation the price of restoration.

He received him.

7. Orphan-Mindedness and a Servant Mentality

Perhaps one of the saddest realities in the parable is that the older brother lived in the father’s house without fully understanding what it meant to be a son.

Listen again to his language:

“These many years I have been serving you…”

Luke 15:29

He sounded more like an employee negotiating compensation than a son enjoying inheritance.

Yet his father told him:

“Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.”

Luke 15:31

He was trying to earn what the father had already made available through relationship.

He lived in the house.

He served the father.

He had access to the inheritance.

But inwardly, he related to the father as though everything had to be earned.

The Father Went Out to Both Sons

There is another beautiful detail in this parable.

The father went out to meet both sons.

When the younger son was still a great way off, the father saw him, had compassion, ran to him, embraced him, and kissed him (Luke 15:20).

But when the older son became angry and refused to enter the celebration, the father also went out to him and pleaded with him (Luke 15:28).

One son needed restoration from obvious rebellion.

The other needed restoration from hidden rebellion.

The Father desired both sons.

That is the heart we are being invited to carry.

The Prodigals Are Returning

If we are going to pray for prodigals to return, we must also prepare our hearts to receive them.

Some will return with complicated histories.

Some will return after wasting years.

Some will return after making decisions we warned them not to make.

Some will return after hurting people.

Some may receive restoration that appears faster or more generous than we think is appropriate.

And in those moments, the question will not only be what happened in their hearts.

The question will be what is happening in ours.

Will spiritual pride keep us outside?

Will self-righteousness tell us they have not suffered enough?

Will jealousy make their restoration feel unfair?

Will unforgiveness continue calling them by their past?

Will bitterness make us question the goodness of the Father?

Or will we have the Father’s heart?

The prodigals are returning.

May we not stand outside the celebration.

May we have hearts prepared to receive what God restores.

May we rejoice when the lost are found.

May we extend mercy when the repentant return.

May we recognize sons and daughters where others only see failures.

May we share the Father’s heart when the broken are restored.

And when the music begins and the Father says, “It was right that we should make merry and be glad” (Luke 15:32), may we be found inside the house, celebrating with Him.

The prodigals are returning. May the Father prepare our hearts for their return.