“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Jesus, Luke 12:13-21 ESV).
“Compared with their grandparents, today’s young adults have grown up with much more affluence, less happiness and much greater risk of depression and assorted social pathology… Our becoming much better off over the last four decades has not been accompanied by one iota of increase in subjective well-being… The accumulation of material goods is at an all-time high, but so is the number of people who feel an emptiness in their lives” (David G. Myers, The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty).
Some twenty years ago I stepped off the corporate ladder and answered the call to ministry. I quit my middle management job, attended seminary and planted a church. These decisions did not make financial sense, nor were they driven by a desire for worldly success. I had a sense of God’s call accompanied by a kind of holy discontent with my life’s purpose. I decided to focus on eternal rather than temporal goals. And that has made all the difference.
But not at first. When I was making the decision to follow God’s call, I told Him, “Lord, I don’t care if I lose everything, I just want to follow You.” However, I didn’t think He would take me up on it. I was hoping that He would see my willingness without my actually having to give up everything.
When the phone starting ringing with credit card collectors wanting their money, when we emptied our savings, went 14 months with no income, struggled putting groceries on the table and we got the letter that the bank was foreclosing on our house… I started doubting. I questioned God’s call on my life. I had led not only myself, but my wife and our three young children on this journey. And now we were all suffering the consequences of my poor leadership.
At least, that’s the way it felt at the time. But things began to change. The church that started in our living room with seven people had grown to seventy. We started receiving a salary. I phoned all our creditors and the bank and they miraculously worked with us to catch up. We not only didn’t lose our house, but it served as our church meeting place for the first two years on Wednesdays. We converted our upstairs guestroom into the church office. I answered the home phone with “Hello, this is Wilson Community Church, Pastor Gary speaking” for the first four years until we could afford to rent an office. The youth met in our garage for the first eight years of the church.
In the past week I’ve been reflecting on all that God has done in my life, in the life of my family, and in the life of our church, since we decided to pursue God’s call. Instead of being a liability to us, following God has been an amazing asset!
Just in the last week, I’ve seen my son, Stephen leading our church as its worship pastor. Calling people to stand and lift their hands to their Heavenly Father. What a bold and passionate heart of worship God has put in my eldest son!
This past Sunday evening, we laid hands on my son, Jonathan and ordained him into the Gospel ministry. He wore his “dress blues” and stood at attention and said, “I do,” when we charged him to fulfill the call to preach the Gospel “in season and out.” How committed to study and preach this middle boy of mine has become.
Tomorrow, my daughter Erin, having led a team in the past few days to prepare flyers and bags, will lead our church in collecting food for the hungry. Where did she get this servant’s heart and desire for helping the helpless and encouraging the elderly?
And my wife Robin, who has been not only my wife and the mother of our children, but in the past 20 years: the church’s nursery director, children’s teacher, set-up team member, meal ministry leader, women’s ministry speaker, church janitor, secretary, worship team leader, keyboard player, vocalist, etc. She has gracefully and joyfully been my helpmate and a servant of God. Who am I to have such a wife as this?
Then there’s our WCC family… what servants they are, what lovers of God and of His Word. They are so authentic and true. I wouldn’t want to be anyone else’s pastor. Why would God give me such blessing?
I guess it all boils down to one little decision I made twenty some years ago to go counter to the world’s culture of pursuing success and materialism. One little decision to follow God instead.
I’m so glad I did.
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 4:5, 12-13 ESV).
“This is the first time that a civilization has existed that, to a significant extent, does not believe in objective right and wrong. We are traveling blind, stripped of our moral compass. And this is true, not only in society, but increasingly in the Church as well. How should we respond? First, the church will have to become courageous enough to say that much that is taken as normative in the postmodern world is actually sinful, and it will have to exercise new ingenuity in learning how to speak about sin to a generation for whom sin has become an impossibility… Second, the Church itself is going to have to become more authentic morally, for the greatness of the Gospel is now seen to have become quite trivial and inconsequential in its life.”
“Virtue, to put it bluntly, is a revolutionary idea in today’s world— and today’s church. But the revolution is one we badly need. …What are we here for in the first place? … to become genuine human beings, reflecting the God in whose image we’re made… that is the central thing that is supposed to happen ‘after you believe.’ This transformation will mean that we do indeed ‘keep the rules’ – though not out of a sense of externally imposed ‘duty,’ but out of the character that has been formed within us… To make wise moral decisions, you need not just to ‘know the rules’ or ‘discover who you really are,’ but to develop genuine Christian virtue.”
“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised” (Proverbs 31:30 NIV84).
“But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith” (1 Timothy 6:11-12 ESV).
“Why are so many ambitious young women unable to find boyfriends as successful and independent as they are? Why do so many men prefer the escapist digitized world of Spike TV, Jackass, and Grand Theft Auto to the reality of their own lives? Men are struggling to redefine what being a man means in today’s world. Their confusion has led to rampant male malaise, which has left many men feeling alienated and disconnected. Too many guys are slacking off and opting out of the manly obligations, producing an entire generation of men who are ditching their own potential and failing the moms, wives, and girlfriends who love them.”
“Women comprise more than 60 percent of the typical adult congregation. At least one-fifth of married women regularly worship without their husbands. There are quite a few single women but hardly any single men in our pews. Step into any church parking lot, and you’re likely to see an attractive young mother and her brightly scrubbed children scurrying to Sunday school. Mom may be wearing an impressive diamond ring on her left hand, but the man who gave it to her is nowhere to be seen… How did a faith founded by a Man and His twelve male disciples become so popular with women, but anathema to men? The church of the first century was a magnet to males. Jesus’ strong leadership, blunt honesty, and bold action mesmerized men. Today’s church does not mesmerize men; it repels them. When men need spiritual sustenance, they go to the wilderness, the garage, or the corner bar. Church is one of the last place men look for God.”
“Now, brothers and sisters, we ask you to appreciate those who work hard among you, who lead you in the Lord and teach you” (1 Thessalonians 5:12 NCV).
This past Wednesday evening, Robin and I were invited to the “TNT” (Twenties and Thirties) Community Group. They surprised us with a special dinner and gifts, thanking us for our twenty years of faithful service and for planting WCC. After feeding us dinner (with a menu that honored our “lo-carb” diet), they went around the room and each of them told us what we meant to them.
Being with this group of twenty somethings was the perfect way to celebrate. Our church started out in my living room with seven people. It seemed appropriate that we celebrated our anniversary in a similar manner.
“The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body… Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sina person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:13-20 ESV).
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:10-18 ESV).
“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52 NIV84).
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 KJV).