There are several blessings along the way when you are a Pastor. Because of the nature of the work, you will miss them if you don’t make a special effort to recognize them. Of course one of the greatest is to see a person give their heart to Jesus. This has happened several times under my ministry, but not often enough. My excitement over the years has wained about these moments because so many fail to continue in their walk with the Lord and return to the ways of the world. These blessings therefore are mixed with heartache.
In that same vein, I am blessed when I see someone finally take up the Word of God and become established in their faith and love for the Lord. Those who remain faithful over the years are the ones that truly bring joy to my heart. This is because my true measurement of ministry is not church attendance, it’s changed lives — lives that reflect the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.
There are also the blessings I’ve seen of divine healing, marriages restored, deliverance from addictions and demons, and children who have been returned to their families. Nothing hurts worse than a child gone astray and nothing heals that hurt more than to see the prodigal return home. There are other blessings, great and small, that we all need to take the time to celebrate and in doing so, we will recognize that God DOES use us for his purposes.
One of the greatest purposes in ministry I feel the Lord is leading me into is training up the next generation of ministers to serve the Lord. I first felt this when I came to Calvary in 2009. Our church was in great need of new leadership. Many of the faithful members who have carried the church many miles down the road were settling into their senior years. Others had left for other works. Some who served the Lord greatly in the past no longer even attended church. For these reasons a new burden was placed on my heart to reach our spiritual (and actual) sons and the daughters and raise them up as leaders in the kingdom.
Initially, I knew nothing about how to do this. This was because I myself had kind of a hodgepodge of training when I entered ministry. I had a Pastor when I was a teen who lived a great example of service before me. When I went to Texas, I had a Pastor who stated that I had a great opportunity to see in him everything I ought not to do. When I returned to Indiana as an Evangelist, nothing seemed to work and I moved forward only by trial and error. Most of the time the Spirit of God was saying, “Wrong, wrong. No, no. Quit that, quit that.” Rejection was the norm for me and my family. In the early years of ministry there was an intense feeling that other ministers around me wanted to see me fail. It was like they were intimidated by my ministry. They seemed to hate it when someone got saved, healed, or blessed by the Word I preached. I took it quite personally until I realized that many ministers feel that way towards each other. It’s strange, but true.
However, I am always blessed when I see someone rising up and taking hold of the things of God and developing their calling. As I began to serve here at Calvary my heart was very heavy. I talked to the Board of Trustees about it. I prayed about it. The nagging question in my spirit was, “How would I train up a new generation of leaders?” I even stated to the ones we had appointed to head up our ministry departments, “You need to seek out additional training for your area of ministry.” It was like I was handing the call of God off to them with a hope and a prayer they would make it. I felt there had to be a better way.
Little did I know that the Indiana District was struggling with the same dilemma. They too saw the need for a greater influence in the lives of the next generation of our church leaders. Their brain-child was ISOM (Indiana School of Ministry). What a blessing it has been. From the moment I heard about it, I knew this was a “God thing” and the answer to training our leaders here at Calvary. What I felt in my spirit was confirmed. No, I can’t do it all myself and, no, I don’t have to. Calvary must partner with other churches and with our District to achieve this new level of leadership training God has called us to do.
What is that new level? It’s the level where we are no longer intimidated by other ministers and we pray for their success, not their failure. It is where we seek out those who are struggling and give them support and encouragement. Where we make them feel important to the kingdom and its advancement. It is where we set a high standard of accountability, submission, and commitment. It is where we band together and feel the strength of a hand upon our shoulders. It is where we don’t have to struggle through years of trial and error before we get it right, but we go in with the confidence that we have been properly trained. It is where we have built relationships of support before we go into the battle. It is where we are a body serving the Lord, rather than individuals serving ourselves.
Each year, as I pastor here at Calvary, I realize more and more of what God designed this church to be. I have a phraseology now that concisely defines this vision. Calvary is to be a church of regional influence. To be this kind of church, leadership training has to be a primary goal for us, if we expect to reach the next generation. Which we define as our sons and daughters. Our partnership with other churches in our area and our partnership with the district’s ISOM program are already beginning to bear fruit. This manifested itself recently with Pastor Mike Burk accepting the call to help the church in Portland. Whereas, on their own, the church had reached an impasse, Calvary was able to step in and partner with the church, as Freedom Life has done over the past few months. Banner Christian is not alone. What they are doing is important, to them, to us, to the District, and to God’s kingdom.
Just a couple of years back I asked Mike to go with me to take some classes at ISOM. Just to test the waters and see if he felt the call of God on his life. At the time he taught our Adult Sunday School Class and served on the Board of Trustees. I was finishing my ordination requirements through ISOM and he was beginning the Certified Level. It was great. ISOM provided what I could have never afforded before, plus it placed a discipline upon my life to get it done. For Mike, it opened up a host of new relationships for he and his wife with other ministers and leaders in the Indiana District. Shortly after Mike completed his initial classes he pursued his Certification with the District and joined us in the District’s Ministers Conferences and Councils. He and his wife, Angie, were our church delegates at this year’s Council in Terre Haute, Indiana.
I was simply amazed at how quick it can happen for someone when we band together to lift one another up. Mike and Angie have great prominence in the area and God will use this mightily. We announced and celebrated their call to the Portland church this past Sunday after the service here at Calvary. They are not going away, they are joining us in our efforts to build the kingdom of God in our area. They are coworkers with us. Their failure would mean our failure to oversee and support them properly. Their success would mean the advancement of God’s kingdom on earth and our blessing.
Mike stepping into his call makes me feel like Calvary is stepping into its call — to be a church of regional influence. It also makes me understand that I can do this. I don’t have to do it all myself, the District is also thinking and praying about this — how can they reach out to the ministers of Indiana and support them and join with them in successful ministry. It truly makes me feel we are blessing the heart of God by standing with one another, instead of being in competition with one another.
When I first came to this area to serve in Cambridge City, I felt so alone. I still had the aftertaste of other ministers who were glad I was gone. When I started pastoring in Southern Indiana, I got the cold shoulder from almost every minister in the area. That’s when an Assembly of God minister reached out to me and said he could help. It was Pastor Paul Greer of Trinity Assembly of God in Corydon, Indiana. He brought me into the Assemblies, introduced me to Rev. Crank, and helped me get my license with the District. When I resigned my first church in Crandall, Indiana I attended Celebration Worship Center in Georgetown, Indiana where Pastor Dave Ledger took my wife and I in and made us feel welcome.
When I was appointed to The River in Cambridge City, Pastor Ralph Holdeman contacted me and invited me to join his ministry group. The Assemblies treated me a lot different than I had been treated before. They treated me as valuable for the kingdom. I felt as if what I was doing and who I was becoming was important to them and to God. The Assemblies is made up of a different kind of minister. The Assemblies of God reaches out beyond themselves and their own works to invest in others, to train up a new generation, and to be there when you need them. God has given me this heart. I want the other ministers in our area to feel the importance of what they do. I want them to know they are not alone in their labors. I want Mike and Angie to know we are praying for their success and the success of Banner Christian in Portland and that we will back it up with our actions.
Finally, this is the attitude that makes us a church of regional influence. When we take care of others, God takes care of us. As I study the past of Calvary, I find that several other great ministers in our fellowship were raised up here in our church. One of them pastors one of our larger churches in Indianapolis right now. Recently our District has seen graduates of ISOM filling some of the pulpits of our churches in Indiana. Things are turning around as we reach out and encourage one another and raise up the next generation.
It’s hard. There are still problems all along the way, but if you will stop and look at what is happening around us, it is a blessing. Who knows, if we continue to raise up those around us, God may leave us a blessing we have yet to recognize. (Joel 2:14) That’s just the way he is.