At eighteen years old, Dubsy was pretty sure he knew where his career would take him, and it didn’t involve ministry or public speaking. He was going to be a PE teacher.
In fact, if you’d met him twenty years ago, you would have found someone doing everything possible to pursue a career in physical activity.
Looking back, he can see that God wasn’t simply teaching him to face his fears and doubts, but he was preparing him to help others discover who they are in Christ.
An unexpected first step into ministry
At eighteen, Dusby had a very clear plan to become a PE teacher, But after he missed out on the course he wanted, he had to rethink what his next steps would be. The answer was a course to qualify as a personal trainer, with a plan to work for two years and then reapply to PE teaching.
What he’d thought was a slight pivot ended up being an unexpected gift.
Working as a personal trainer meant Dubsy had busy mornings and late afternoons, with a lot of free time in the middle of the day. He started volunteering at his church, Discovery Church in Melbourne. That volunteering eventually became an internship, and before long, God was asking him to do something that he hadn’t expected.
To Dubsy, this move into church ministry felt like a detour away from his planned future, however, this perspective started to shift. After embracing the internship, Dubsy started to recognise God gently inviting him into places he would never have chosen himself.
Running from God’s calling
Two years into his internship, his pastor asked if he would consider taking on the job of youth pastor. He found the idea overwhelming and was filled with uncertainty about this permanent re-direction in his life.
Saying yes to the youth pastor position meant stepping away from his plans for PE teaching and trusting God had a better plan in mind for him.
“I wanted to run as far away as I could from this role.”
Rather than wrestle with the decision, he simply avoided it, even refusing to pray about it.
This became one of many moments where Dubsy was faced with a future God was calling him into despite his fears and hesitations. Eventually, he did pray, and knew God was calling him into this new role.
Years later, as he reflects on raising his own children he often returns to that lesson.
“We talk about how we can do hard things and sometimes the hardest thing might be something God is wanting to use in moving us forward.”
A transformation his younger self couldn’t see coming
While he initially felt reluctant to enter full-time youth ministry, he gradually recognised that God was transforming his view of his true calling, which looked far different from the path he had previously tried to engineer for himself.
“About three years in I started to realise that youth ministry brought me so much joy and delight.”
Despite this realisation, Dubsy struggled with imposter syndrome, often thinking someone else was more qualified for the position. However, it was through this very uncertainty that Dubsy began to rely on God’s calling for his life instead of his own.
“After that three years of realising okay this is the very thing that God has graced and gifted me to do. To lead, to pastor, to grow and develop people.”
By gaining clarity regarding God’s calling, he was able to let go of his former ambitions and place his trust in God’s plan, ultimately serving as the youth pastor at Discovery for nine years.
His entry into youth ministry wasn’t always easy, especially transitioning from being a peer to becoming a leader, but God continued pruning and shaping him into someone his 18 year old-self had never envisioned.
Strengthening the foundations
In 2018, when Dubsy received a nomination for Arrow’s Emerging Leaders Program, he entered into another season of spiritual formation.
Though he had participated in other leadership development programs before, he had never encountered anything as transformational as Arrow.
During his time in the Emerging Leaders Program he noticed that Arrow was uniquely designed to guide leaders through a dual journey of spiritual and leadership development. This dual process stood out to Dubsy as a key factor in equipping Arrow leaders with clarity and purpose driven leadership.
“it was the best thing that I’d done for my own leadership and faith development.”
Rather than simply training leaders in skills, Arrow took the time to shape leaders to lead like Jesus, be led by Jesus and lead others to Jesus.
Dubsy arrived at Arrow expecting to learn how to utilise leadership skills better. Instead, he discovered that he’d entered into a time of spiritual formation as a leader.
For years in his role as a youth pastor he’d measure fruitfulness by what he accomplished, whether those were the opportunities he was given, the platforms he stood on or the outcomes he could point to. Leadership through his eyes centred around what he did.
It was because of the Emerging Leaders Program, that his perspective began to unravel. Arrow invited him to wrestle with the tension between being and doing. This wasn’t an easy task, but eventually he started to see that his identity as a son and disciple of Jesus mattered far more than any role he held or task he completed.
His freedom to lead under Christ helped him reframe his approach to leadership. Rather than sacrificing his spiritual health in pursuit of ministry success, Dubsy began to understand that sustainable leadership is built on an identity that is secure in Jesus.
Stronger together
Eventually, Dubsy concluded his pastoral ministry and began a freelance speaking ministry, presenting in schools about wellbeing and leadership, while also speaking regularly in churches. He continued contributing to Arrow programs along the way.
It wasn’t long before Dubsy started longing for the connections he had during church ministry. “One thing I missed about local church ministry was journeying with people through all seasons of life.”
So when he heard that a position was opening at Arrow, he was interested. However, Dubsy hesitated. He wanted a clear message from God that this next role aligned with God’s plans. And in a roundabout way, he got one while listening to a podcast describing NASA’s mission to reach the moon.
The podcast explained that to successfully land on the moon they needed to combine experienced leaders with emerging innovators. NASA called the experienced leaders “supersuits,” seasoned leaders who helped others succeed.
As Dubsy listened to this story, he began to see that throughout his own life, God placed people around him who saw potential before he could see it himself.
Now God was inviting him to become that kind of person for others.
With a skill for noticing and exploring the untapped potential in leaders, Dubsy wants to help leaders step into their own callings.
“I want to raise up leaders that can not just do the tasks, but have the formation, the character, the integrity, the inner work of the leader that will actually make leadership sustainable for the long haul.”
But even as Dubsy thinks about how Arrow can contribute to meeting the needs of future Christian leaders, he knows some things won’t change.
“The key things stay the same. We will keep leading more people to be led more by Jesus, lead more like Jesus and lead more to Jesus.”
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