Adversities in Ministry

Ransom Love, Associate Pastor at Journey Church (Asheboro, NC)

My name is Ransom Love and I currently serve as the associate pastor at Journey Church in Asheboro, NC. I graduated from Bob Jones in 2013 with a degree in youth ministries. Two weeks after graduating from Bob Jones, I married Hannah Thompson, and three weeks after our wedding we transitioned into a youth pastor role at Parks Crossroads Christian Church in Ramseur, NC. I served as the youth pastor for nearly six years before transitioning to the senior pastor role where I served for nearly three years. After resigning as pastor of Parks Crossroads, God led me to Journey Church in Asheboro, NC where I am currently serving. My primary responsibilities are leading the young adults and outreach ministries. God has blessed Hannah and me with three beautiful children – Camden (seven years old), Ava (four years old) and Rhett (two years old).

God prepared me and led me to where I am today through many adversities that I am continually thankful for. Adversity comes in so many different forms - financial, relational, physical, mental, emotional, etc. and God has taught Hannah and me through adversity to depend deeply on Him and to be ever mindful of how desperate we are for Him.

When Hannah and I began to serve in full-time ministry, it was a surreal feeling. I could not believe that I was able to make my living teaching people about Jesus and preaching His word. I loved being in ministry! Three weeks into serving as youth pastor, we were having VBS. One night during the week, a young man named Chad came to the church completely strung out on drugs. I was made aware of the situation and came outside to speak with him. As we talked, he explained to me that he heard voices telling him to kill people. As our conversation continued, he explained to me that the voices wanted him to punch me in the face! Although I gained a lot of valuable training from Bob Jones University, I unfortunately never took any classes on how to exorcise demons or respond to people making threats to kill in a church full of kids! That was a new one for me. God graciously protected everyone in that situation. An officer who attended our church at the time was able to come in quietly and he tactfully convinced Chad to ride with him to a facility to receive help. I was heartbroken to learn a few months later that Chad had committed suicide. That entire experience took me from what I knew all of my life growing up in a Christian home, attending a Christian school, and attending BJU to a deeper realization that people are hurting and need healing that they will only find in Jesus. I needed to go deeper than just knowing. I needed to do more than just teach Bible stories to teenagers. I needed to engage life with them in order to point them to Jesus. Discipleship is all about relationship that connects to the heart. God began shaping me through that experience to seek heart connection above exciting programs.

About nine months after Hannah and I were married, Hannah’s mother, Jan, who was battling cancer, had taken a drastic turn for the worse. Hannah had been back home with her family for a couple of days and called to tell me that I needed to come quickly because her mother was not going to live much longer. My two-hour drive to Rocky Mount was the longest two hours of my life. Jan had been like a second mother to me. The very day I met her, she made me feel like I was a part of her family. She made everyone feel like part of her family. She was such a dear lady and a dear friend. I sat beside her bed as she took her last breath, and the pain of that moment stung so deeply. Walking through the death of a dear loved-one will measure your faith in Jesus like nothing else. It produces hard, vulnerable, raw emotion that will either lead you closer to Jesus or further trapped in bitterness. The months following were hard, to say the least. Hannah and I had to wrestle with deep spiritual struggles that we didn’t even know existed until we were taken down that path.

Over time, I began to find myself very discouraged in youth ministry. The ministry wasn’t really growing—we were not seeing people getting saved or even excited about spiritual things. At this point in my life I really began questioning my calling. Hannah and I began seeking God in prayer for direction, and after about three months, God called our pastor to a different ministry and led me to become lead pastor of Parks Crossroads. I was scared. I was not sure I was ready to be a lead pastor because I always viewed myself as a “two guy.” My thought was that I could play the support roles well, but to be the leader? Again, I was scared. Funerals scared me. Weddings scared me. I was so nervous the first time I led communion. It was a train wreck of clanging and banging metal dishes. I even got snagged on the table cloth at one point and nearly pulled all of the elements off the table! On my very first Sunday as lead pastor, following the message, the first person that spoke to me was a lady in tears that told me her husband left her the night before. Three weeks later, a dear friend of ours lost her husband and asked me to officiate the funeral. I had never felt so alone in my life! Hannah was always right by my side supporting me, and many people were a comfort and counsel to me through the difficulties; but I was still overwhelmed by a feeling of loneliness. God quickly brought me to a place where I realized how desperately I needed Him. But He also taught me in those moments that He was enough. He lovingly broke me down to places of great weakness in order to build me His way.

The next three years as pastor of Parks Crossroads was an incredible mix of joys, trials, and growth. It was a joy to minister to the loving and generous people at Parks Crossroads. They took such good care of my family. It was a joy to preach the Word every Sunday. Spending deep hours in prayer and study was feeding my soul like never before. I quickly found that even though funerals were heavy and certainly never fun, there was a joy of going deeper with families and forming stronger bonds with them as we walked through difficult pathways together. As more trials surfaced, prayer became a priority in our church. I learned quickly that a church that prays is a threat to the enemy. When threatened, the enemy fights harder. But the enemy has no weapon that can overcome the Holy Spirit. In the midst of our war against darkness, some internal friction came to the surface over some traditions that were being challenged. Some were ready to move forward with our vision to worship God, build relationships and point people to Jesus, while others desired to hold fast to traditions that were keeping us from fully going after that vision. There was nothing sinful in nature about the traditions of the church, but what began to become apparent at the leadership level was a difference in vision. God began to show me that our traditions were becoming strongholds that were holding us back, and as the traditions were challenged, there was pushback. If there is not unified vision among leadership, there will inevitably be division in the organization. Therefore, God made it clear to me that it was time for me to move. I did not want to create unnecessary strife in God’s church; but I also could not stay confined to a ministry that was pulling in a different direction than God had convicted me to lead. I love Parks Crossroads Christian Church, and the people remain dear friends of mine. God led me through those challenges to grow me and deepen my faith in His leading.
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Through these difficult days of transition, God led my family to Journey Church where I have served since October 2021. I have found great joy in the leadership roles God has allowed me to serve, and I am confident that He will continue to lead me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. I have also learned that the paths of righteousness always find route through the valley of the shadow of death; but when I remain close to Jesus, I find my life in perfect peace. When I follow Jesus, I am always right where I am supposed to be. I would not trade the adversities He has allowed me to experience for anything, because in my weakness, He shows Himself strong.