Our Tomorrows

We are beginning a season of ministry transition. By the end of this school year I will have taught pastoral studies at Faith Baptist Bible College for 9 years. It has been the opportunity of a lifetime.

As I look back over the seasons of life God has led us through, I have profound thankfulness for each one. My college and seminary years, serving as a youth pastor for four years, pastor of one church for nine years, then pastor of another church for twelve years – each stage has been laid out in front of us by God’s clear leading, and in each we have grown in new ways and served as God’s instrument enabled by His wisdom and strength. My years as a professor and program chair of pastoral studies are no exception. The “works that God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10) include our time in the Bible college setting, and we give thanks to Him.

I can’t put into words the privilege it has been for me to invest these years of my life into helping equip a new generation of pastors. The young men I work with are eager to learn, to mature, and to serve in Christ’s church-building work. I thank God for each one of them, and I’m filled with hope for the fruit they will bring to churches in the years ahead.   Our school has entered a new era of leadership, commitment to mission, and effectiveness. The growing student body is warm-hearted toward the Lord and passionate about devoting their lives to serve Christ. We have been blessed to work with colleagues whose theological precision and depth has matured our thinking and whose sincere heart for the Lord has truly encouraged us in our walk with Him.

The church plant Faith and I joined about a year ago is experiencing phenomenal growth. As the gospel is preached and spread in the community, people are believing, being saved and baptized, and added to the church. Praise God! The lead pastor and three other elders are running hard to keep up with the growth. There is an immediate need for additional pastoral leadership to help shepherd the flock, equip leaders, and develop corporate structure.

As a result of extensive prayer and fasting, deliberation, and a unanimous decision together, the elders asked me to consider becoming the full-time Pastor of Ministry Development. After a process of prayer and fasting, meditation on scripture, numerous conversations with my wife, and consultation with counselors, I concluded I should be open to God’s leading toward this new ministry.

We will proceed through a confirmation process culminating in a congregational vote in December. Assuming all goes positively (I have no Plan B), I will finish teaching at the end of the 2024-25 school year. I’ll begin the pastoral role part-time in January of 2025 and transition to full-time with the church in July. My wife Faith will step back from full-time teaching to serve along with me in the church but may continue as an adjunct professor.

I spent last weekend attending the 50^th anniversary celebration of a church my parents and I helped start. As I stood with the congregation of this now thriving ministry, within a few miles of the two homes where I lived as a 9- to 15-year-old boy, and raised my voice with a few other founding members and a whole new generation of Christ-followers, I was overcome by the realization of God’s goodness in my life. These words of one of the hymns we sang intersected so profoundly with my experience this very week:

May zealous youth and cautious age
Determine not the steps we choose
Great Shepherd, guide us through each day
Oh, how we want to follow You
Come Living Way, our way make clear
Let perfect love drive out our fear
Be Thou our vision, now and here
And all of our tomorrows¹

“Cautious age” caught my attention. At a time of life when I might remain in a safe and comfortable place vocationally and soon start gliding toward something like retirement, my heart needs to remain open to whatever new assignment the Great Shepherd, my Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:1-4), has for me.

If this new role is His plan for my tomorrows, I am ready, trusting, taking the steps He puts in front of me. What a joyous adventure to serve our Lord, our Savior, our Shepherd-King.

1. All Of Our Tomorrows, Sovereign Grace Music ↩︎