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Hard question October 19, 2026 · 57:58 · 4 min

'What would I fight God on?': buildings, pews, and the zero-fruit youth group

  • What would I fight God on — and would my heart go along with following him?

Ben shares what he ran into in the last couple weeks: 'what would I fight God on even if I knew it was him?' He thought of five things — including being a pastor somewhere with a building: 'I don't want to talk about pews, I don't want to talk about who can sit where or what your granddaddy used to do... I just got no patience for any small-town pastor — I'd fight him on it.' His Bible study's point was to make plans, then see where God is working and join him in that instead of taking on both. Mike applies it to his own ministry: he jokes constantly that his youth group 'produces zero fruit' — no one's come out asking to be baptized — while his conversations with college-age kids keep going well, and he realizes he'd fight God if told to drop youth group: 'I've always taught youth group — I don't know if you know this, Lord, but I teach youth group.' The problem isn't yes or no to either ministry; it's the fighting itself: 'I don't know how to rectify that on my own. I'm gonna need you to do that work.' And: 'you don't get to call balls and strikes on what I say are problems.'

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