MOTIVATING
MOMENTUM
by Randi Walle
L
ast year, Momentum Ministry Partners (formerly CE National) named Jeff Bogue as president following the retirement of their long-time executive, Ed Lewis. Jeff is the senior pastor of Grace Church of Greater Akron in Northeast Ohio and has volunteered with the organization for years. “We are basically all doing the same thing and God just put me in the middle of it,” Jeff said. He plans to focus the ministries in the direction of leadership development. Momentum Ministry Partners is a national ministry of the Charis Fellowship. It includes several programs that come alongside the local church to offer training and experiences: Momentum EDU (formerly The National Institute), Momentum Urban Centers (formerly Urban Hope), Momentum Travel Teams (formerly Operation Barnabas), and Momentum Youth Conference. Coinciding with Jeff becoming president is the rebrand of these ministries and a refocus of their shared mission. Jeff is not new to Momentum Ministry Partners. He has served as the staff and conference pastor at Momentum Youth Conference for the past 20 years. During this time, he has spoken at the conference frequently. As the conference pastor, he often follows main speakers by helping students respond spiritually to what they heard, and he usually delivers the last message at the conference.
Top: The Bogue children, left to right, front, Micah, Eli, Sara (Josiah’s wife), Naomi; back, Josiah, Gabe, Isaac Bottom left: Heidi Bogue, left, has been Jeff’s ministry partner for more than 27 years. Bottom right: Jeff is a frequent speaker at Momentum Youth Conference.
He says his most memorable message was from 2017 when he challenged students to consider a life in fulltime Christian service. He did not sugarcoat what was ahead for those who answered the call, noting that a lot of ministry went without acknowledgment or gratitude. “Nobody is going to clap for you,” he told the students. He requested there be no background music and that the lights in the auditorium be left on. He didn’t want the call playing into the teens’ emotions, heightened by song lyrics and mood lighting, but rather he asked them to make an honest declaration, no matter who was watching. “The responses came pouring forward,” he remembered. That night in the auditorium of Indiana Wesleyan University, hundreds of students pledged their futures to following Christ into fulltime vocational ministry. God used that night as a catalyst for Jeff’s willingness to step into the lead role at Momentum Ministry Partners. He has always been passionate about leadership development, and when the board approached him about the position, he knew he would want to take the ministry strongly in that direction.
16 GraceConnect | Winter-Spring 2021
