daily java

Daily Java:

Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you. (Psalm 37:5)

Tomorrow morning we go to Longton, Kansas, to talk to a church there about being their pastor.

It has been over a year since I left Lincoln and was sick to death of pastoring. I wondered if I would ever do it again. But it seems either of three things: one – the Lord has something else in mind, two – I really want to do this, or three – any idiot can get a church to preach at if he looks hard enough.

Could be the third, I am not sure. When I was younger I could always find a place. But then I was large and dynamic and forceful. As I have gotten older, I have had more and more trouble. Part of that was the Assemblies of God. I never fit in there and people could see that I was a fish out of water when I came to talk to them. I just wasn’t Pentecostal and they could tell. Black suit and King James Bible notwithstanding, they could tell.

So I am going to go as I am, casual and loving. If it works, it will work. If it is what God wants of me, then it will hit. If not, it will not. I will no longer tailor myself to my church. I will do all I can to be the kind of person to reach them, but I will not compromise who I am or what I believe.

Longton is a tiny town, 350 or so with a small church. They need a man with partial support – which I have with our retirement and all. They will probably not be contemporary or anything in their music (especially since I found out they are getting a new organ – which I hate).

But if it is the Lord’s will, I will go. My options in ministry are extremely limited. But then again, they are not desperate.

We have carved out a niche here at Firm Foundation. I do more ministry here than I have in the last two churches I pastored. The people love us and receive us. I write here and do jail ministry, along with playing my guitar, preaching occasionally and teaching Sunday night class. Any writing that comes out of the church is edited by my hand or it would be horrible.

It was interesting the other day that Mel Eaton, the pastor here, upon my pronouncement that I didn’t think I was doing anything useful, made the comment that I check everything he does and make him look good. And I do. I have become aware of that.

But the problem, as much as I love him and the church here, is that this is not my church. It is his. It is my church in that I am an integral part of it, but it is ultimately the pastor’s church.

One thing the church at Longton said was that they were looking for a teaching elder in their pastor. That is what I am in spades. I am far more the experienced teacher than a preacher anyway. I have always wanted a church to recognize that aspect of my ministry anyway.

We have decided that if the church is good we will go. If not, we will not. We like where we are in the church and we like where we live. Our finances are not great but we are making it. We are happy here. We are close to our children and doing things in a church we love.

But if this church in Longton is what the Lord wants us to do, we will do it happily. Although I love this church, I am eager for my own church.

It is interesting that it is the Independent Christian Church, the group from which I came close to ten years ago. They are in general not a charismatic church. But one of the things that appealed to them was my charismatic background. Evidently there is a charismatic element there and they need a pastor that can deal with it.

That works for me. I am not Pentecostal at all, but I am charismatic. The difference is both stylistic and organizational. Pentecostals find other Pentecostal churches to be with and segregate themselves. Charismatics work within their existing denominations as leavening.

They are not always appreciated, but of course, many times that is the own fault. They forget they are not the whole dog, the whole body. They are a part of the body with different talents and gifts.

I suppose that my gift, or curse – whichever you call it – is that I do not believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit should be preached. Jesus is to be preached. The baptism is just part of the overall journey, not the destination.

I look forward to this, even if nothing comes out of it. I just look forward to going somewhere else than here.

May God grant us wisdom and discernment in what we do. May he show us his way and his will. If we are to go to Longton, let it be. If we stay here, let that be. His will be done. Amen.