Ian Dunaway

“Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.” Galatians 6:9, CSB Some weeks in ministry feel alive. Students are engaged. Volunteers are taking ownership. The message lands, the room responds, and you drive home believing all the work is worth it. Other weeks are different. You plan, teach, text, pray, clean up, and show up again, but nothing seems to move. A student you poured into walks away. A parent is frustrated with you. A volunteer...

I recently watched my mom open a toy for my oldest son. It was a Bluey stamp kit, which sounds simple enough, but like every toy nowadays, it had batteries, lights, and an instruction manual thicker than my first car warranty. She put the batteries in and immediately started trying to figure it out. I asked if there was a manual, as if I would've read it either, and she said, “You know me. I’ll figure it out.” Several hours later, my wife and I came back home, and my mom was using the thing...

Ethan was a regular at youth group. He knew the right answers, showed up most Wednesdays, and could talk about faith pretty easily. But over the course of one school day, three little phrases revealed what was really going on in his heart. That morning, Ethan sat in class thinking about a conversation he needed to have. He and his best friend hadn’t spoken in days after a stupid argument, and deep down he knew he needed to make it right. He even felt that quiet conviction in his heart: You...