I have been a pastor for 8 years. Before participating in the IntelliMen Project I was a proud person. I thought that because I was a pastor, I was above everything and didn’t need to change. I thought the IntelliMen Project was for “boys” who were just now entering the Work of God. I even thought this would just be a movement with no future, and would soon be over.
This pride did not let me see my flaws, which were very serious. I spent about a thousand minutes per month on the phone talking about other people and complaining about my problems. I would spend the entire day worrying about other people’s lives and left mine unattended. My wife warned me that I was treading on dangerous ground, but I didn’t listen and was often rude to her.
When I wasn’t on the phone, I was on the Internet, watching movies and TV series that did not add any value to my life. After watching a movie, I would go straight to the meeting and once it was over, I went back to watching movies, TV series and the phone again.
Not to mention disrespecting the people greatly by beginning meetings late. I would wait around for 5-10 minutes for people to arrive.
Until the IntelliMen Project, I hadn’t read one of Bishop Macedo’s books in three years, and I only read the Bible to find purposes. During the pastors’ meetings on Thursday, I would hear the bishop warn us and teach us, but nothing changed.
I didn’t do any physical activity because I was lazy; my health was in shambles.
I blamed my wife for everything: if I forgot my wallet, if my tablet wasn’t charged, etc. She always took the blame and everything was motive for an argument. And that’s how I would go do meetings, upset because I had just argued with her.
Today I realize that my ministry was on autopilot, and I was lost.
When I began doing the challenges, I was still a little skeptical, but I knew the change had to come from me. With a vote of confidence in the Project and myself, I completed the challenges, which felt like a sword being driven into my marrow. Things began to change as I put my life into each one of the challenges.
Today I see that my time and other people’s time is precious and I no longer waste it. I have been committed to improving every day.
I don’t just do the challenges to get them over and done with. I read them, meditate and I don’t move onto the next challenge until I’ve absorbed the spirit of the one I’m on. Along the way, my partner gave up, so I found another partner and we firmly continued. I changed as a husband, as a pastor and as a man.
I realized that when we do not progress, we regress. I was wasting away slowly, and if I had not accepted this challenge, today I would be in a much worst situation, and maybe I would even have lost my Salvation or been out of the Work of God, filled with sorrow.
Pastor Wellington