We're Moving!

A lot has happened since my last post. Needless to say, it’s been hectic. But in all of this, we have seen our God work in our lives to confirm the call to plant a house church in East Alton, Illinois. And we pray that it is the first of many.

Since my last post my wife has been offered a job and plans are that she will begin in June. We’re excited about that, and we believe that God opened the door for that position. It means that we will have some income very soon after our move. We praise God for that.

Our next major step was to secure a place to live. We decided to look at places to rent. That proved to be a futile effort, so we started to look for a house to purchase. We first looked at a couple of online internet sites. After looking at many houses in the East Alton area I found one I thought would work. Later, we called a realtor and scheduled a couple of days to look at houses. She informed me that the one I had found on the internet had an offer on it and was not available at this time. So we drove up and looked at a half dozen houses one afternoon. My wife and I agreed that none of them “felt right.” I was impressed to ask our agent again about that house. God moves in mysterious ways. The other offer fell through and we looked at the house. We believed it was exactly what we needed and we made an offer. Through negotiations we were able to get the house at substantially less than the asking price.  Tomorrow we will close on the house and next week we will begin the actually moving process. We are thankful for the way God has provided for us.

Last Sunday was my last time in the pulpit as pastor of Ridgway FBC. I have to say it was a great experience. I love this church and they have been supportive of God’s call upon my life to plant house churches. They gave us a great love offering and I take that as a tangible expression of their love and support for my wife and me. It’s a God thing.

We are still looking for a church to serve as our “mother church.” We’ve talked to a couple of pastors and neither has worked out. Recently someone talked to a pastor at another church who expressed interest. Yesterday I called him and had a long phone conversation with him. He is definitely interested. Could this be the hand of our Lord and God at work again? I’m optimistic that it is.

Over the last few months I’ve watched God work in the lives of my wife and me as we’ve tried to be faithful to His call to plant house churches. He has moved in little things and in major ways. I’ve praised Him each and every time. So, today as I pack more boxes in preparation to move I’m going to be praising the Lord. If you live close enough to drive by, don’t be surprised if you hear praise coming from my house.

It's Official!

A week ago I submitted my resignation to First Baptist Church, Ridgway, Illinois. My last official day will be May 31. So, we will be moving to the Alton, Illinois area, where we will plant a church in East Alton. It’s a bittersweet experience. We are excited to begin a new phase of ministry as church planters, but I’m going to miss the Ridgway FBC family.

Twenty-two years ago I came to southern Illinois to serve as the Director of Missions for Saline Baptist Association. I spent nineteen years in that role. During that time I got to know the Ridgway FBC family and developed a closer relationship with them when I first served six months as their interim pastor. I made some real friends during that time and fell in love with the church family. When they called their next pastor I knew he would be serving a great church.

Several years later the pastor resigned to serve another church in Illinois and, again, the church asked me to serve as their interim. I served six months again and then became their pastor shortly after my interim with them was completed.

Two great interims were followed by a great pastorate. When I became their pastor I assumed I would spend ten years with them and then retire. God had a different plan. About a year and a half into my pastorate he began to speak to me about another change in my life. So, after three years as their pastor, I’m off to plant a church in East Alton.

Ridgway FBC isn’t a perfect church. I don’t know of one that is. But they’ve been a perfect church for me. They have loved me and allowed me to share God’s word with them every Sunday for almost three years. I’ve ministered to them and been ministered to by them. We’ve been family, and that’s why I’m going to miss them.

I’m praying God will send them a great man to serve as their pastor. 

My Call To Church Planting

I had the joy of serving as Director of Missions for Saline Baptist Association for almost twenty years. During that time I have the privilege of promoting missions among thirty-four churches and participating in several mission trips. Our association was also involved in support church plants.

About ten years into my ministry there God began to speak to me about the need for new church plants and I took advantage of opportunities to encourage young pastors to consider church planting. At the same time God began to place a burden on my heart about a town in need of a new church plant.

As I prayed about it I also talked to other pastors and with leaders in our state office. There came a time when I finally scheduled a meeting with the state church planting strategist for that area. As we talked about the need and my desire to involve our association in supporting a church plant there he said, "Randy, it's obvious God has given you a passion for this. Maybe you should be the church planter."

I responded that it was a college town and needed a young man to serve as church planter. We prayed, I left, and they called a man to serve as church planter there. I left my position as Director of Missions and began as pastor of First Baptist Church, Ridgway, Illinois. I settled in and thought my interest in church planting was over. After all, I’m approaching retirement age! But God wasn't done with me yet.

I've served as the pastor for Ridgway FBC for almost three years, and I've had a blast. It's a loving church, and I love them. But God was using this time to speak to me about church planting. About a year ago God began to speak distinctly and consistently about church planting. I began to talk with my wife about what God was saying. Then I began to talk to a few close friends and family. Eventually I spoke to state personnel involved in church planting.

During the last few months God has clarified His call to church planting and opened doors I never expected to open. Six weeks ago I began the North American Mission Board and Illinois Baptist State Association assessment process. A week ago my wife and I went through two days of intense interviews. We are now waiting to find out the results of our recent interviews.

I am confident that we will be planting a church in the near future. We believe God has called us to plant in a specific town and a specific kind of church. In my next post I'll tell you more about it. In the meantime, pray that we will pass our next interview.

Wild Strawberries and 7-11 Songs

As you look back on your life it’s funny the things you remember. And it’s strange how your mind pairs them together. Recently, two things from my childhood came together at the same time—wild strawberries and a “7-11 song.”

I pretty much grew up attending church services and meetings. Dad was a pastor. The first church I can remember was the Mt. Zion Southern Baptist Church in Kilbourne, Illinois. Well, more precisely, Mt. Zion was out in the country near Kilbourne. It was the traditional country church building, I think. It even had a cemetery close by. As summer is just around the corner I was recently reminded of the wild strawberries behind the church. (I wonder if they still grow there?)

In the mid-50’s parents weren’t so concerned about the safety of their children. After the worship service I could run free outside the church building. And, when they were producing, my first stop would be the wild strawberry patch. I’m sure they were not as sweet as the home grown or store variety. But for a five year old boy the thing about those strawberries was that I could eat as many as I wanted. Since Dad was the pastor we were usually the last to leave, and that gave me a lot of time in the strawberry patch.

There were other “sweet” things about my preschool experiences in church. Sunday School classes for the children were in the basement. We had wires stretched across the basement with curtains that slid along those wires to make the classrooms. If you didn’t like what was going on in your classroom you could always listen to what was happening in the one on the other side of the curtain.

So what do I remember about preschool Sunday School? Uh, not a lot. But I do remember feeling loved and I remember “Do Lord.” Oh how I loved to sing “Do Lord.” When I thought about it the other day I burst out in song. And it dawned on me. “Do Lord” was a “7-11 song.”

For you who don’t know what a “7-11 song” is, it refers to songs where you sing the same phrase over and over again—like seven words eleven times.” I’m not going to attach an audio file with me singing it. You don’t need that pain. But, when I was five years-old I loved singing that chorus and had no idea that Johnny Cash recorded it. I just liked the song and knew I wanted to go to “glory land” one day.

Wild strawberries and a “7-11 song.” Those were sweet days for a five year-old boy. You know what? It would be a pretty sweet day for this old guy today. Oh, and here are the lyrics for “Do Lord.”

"Do Lord"

Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Way beyond the blue.

I've got a home in glory land that out-shines the sun.
I've got a home in glory land that out-shines the sun.
I've got a home in glory land that out-shines the sun.
Way beyond the blue.

Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Way beyond the blue.

I took Jesus as my Savior, You take Him too.
I took Jesus as my Savior, You take Him too.
I took Jesus as my Savior, You take Him too.
Way beyond the blue.

Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Way beyond the blue.

It Doesn't Hurt

I grew up in a pastor’s home. For those of you who don’t know much about what that means, it first and foremost means I went to church before I was born. It became a lifelong habit. It didn’t hurt then and it doesn’t hurt now.

Admittedly, I don’t remember those first nine months of church when I was in the womb. Honestly, I don’t remember much about church the first three years of my life. What “memories” I have are those told to me by my parents. So, you won’t be surprised if I share with you one of those kinds of memories.

In the early days of my life it was customary for the pastor to sit on the platform during the music portion of worship. It was a small church and my mother was the piano player. We didn’t have children’s church in those days. My mother placed me on the second row and told me to sit there.

There was only one problem. His name was George. George was one of the men in the church who sat on the other side of the aisle. It seems that on most Sundays George would hold out one of those soft mints and I would scurry across the aisle for a mint. I stayed with George until my mother moved off of the piano bench.

Since those days I haven’t missed too many Sundays of worship. Today I serve as pastor of a village church. I’ve got to say, I love the church. All these years it’s been my family. I’ve been gone from my parents’ home a good many years, now. I have grown children. In fact, I have grandchildren. So I’ve been in church all my life.

Here’s my observation. I seem to have done okay without children’s church. I know it’s the fashion today. I’ve heard all the arguments for children’s church. But I don’t think it’s all that important. I grew up without it. My “church family” took care of me while my pastor father sat on the platform and my mother played the piano. Honestly, I think it was more important for me to be in the worship service with my parents than it was for me to be in children’s church.

I learned to value the worship experience because my parents valued it and thought it was important for me to be there, too. I learned how to first behave, and then to worship, because I sat in the “grown-up” service. I learned how to value the larger church family through the worship experience. And I learned that it wasn’t about me. It was about God.  I learned how to worship from my mother, father, and my church family.

Oh, by the way, my children didn’t make it to children’s church, either. And if I were raising my children again they’d still be in the worship service and not children’s church.

Asking the Wrong Questions

Let's see. I've served in eight different ministry positions. I've been interviewed for several others in churches or Christian organizations. Recently I had the opportunity to reflect on the process of being interviewed. I've been reading a book by Gregory Frizzell, Seeking God to Seek A Pastor. Dr. Frizzell makes the point that search committees often start with the wrong questions. They never seem to ask about the pastor's personal spiritual qualifications.

So, as I reflected I realized that I've not once been asked about my personal time in prayer and Bible study. I've been asked to tell when I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior and about God's call on my life for vocational ministry. I've been asked to discuss the growth in my last ministry position. I've been asked all the regular questions, but I'm convinced I've not been asked the important questions. In short, there have been no probing questions about my daily relationship with the Lord. I guess those doing the interview have assumed that I had a good daily relationship with the Lord because I was in vocational ministry.

I've come to the conclusion that this is a faulty assumption. Depending upon which survey you read the average pastor spends, on average, someplace between fifteen minutes and thirty minutes in prayer each day. How can one who will be the spiritual leader of a church do so without spending time with the Lord?

We have a host of writers telling us the most important thing in the church is leadership. They take a passing stab at the importance of spiritual leadership and then move on to talk about leadership qualities that could easily be divorced from spiritual leadership. Two of the greatest leaders mentioned in the Bible are Moses and David. Yet, neither of them read the latest John Maxwell book on leadership or one of Thom Rainer's contributions to leadership. They simply spent time with God and allowed Him to direct them.

Maybe that's why the church is struggling so much today. Without leaders who spend vast amounts of time alone with God how will they provide the spiritual leadership necessary to lead our Lord's church?

It's time we stop asking the wrong questions and start answering the right questions about those who would lead our churches and Christian organizations. Tell me about your private time with the Lord each day? What has the Lord said personally to you today? How much time do you spend in personal Bible study and prayer?

How would you answer those questions?

Multiple Personality Disorder in the Church

Recently I talked with a pastor of a church, who told me he was asked if he could bring together the two factions in the church. He told me that he had already identified at least eight factions in the church.

I've been thinking a lot about that and church health. If the church is the body of Christ, and has factions, it's a little like a person with multiple personalities. It isn't good and isn't easy to fix. I guess everyone has seen some movie on television where someone has multiple personalities. Whatever happens depends on which personality is dominant at that particular time. And, they can switch personalities quickly.

That seems to me to be an adequate description of a church with factions. Whatever happens in the church depends upon which faction is dominant at that particular time, and the dominate faction can change quickly.

It's an unhealthy situation in the life of the church. As I thought about that pastor and the question he was asked, I remember thinking that he would never be able to fix the problem in that church. A church with factions is a far cry from what our Father wants. Jesus prayed to Father God asking that there would be unity in the church. That's only going to happen in a church of multiple factions when they allow God to heal them.

It begins with a realization that the church is sick and that factions are sin in the body of Christ. Then comes confession, admitting to God that the church has sinned. Then the church will have to ask God's forgiveness and His healing.

When that happens God will hear and heal. Revival will come to the church and the body will become one under the lordship of Jesus. You know, there are a lot of churches that have multiple personalities and need the divine healing that can only come from God. Could your church be one?

The Church

It's seems like I've been involved in ministry forever. Early on I started out working with youth and moved to the education ministry. I went on to the pastorate and now I'm involved as a denominational minister. And, before all of that, I was raised in the home of a minister. So, I guess it's fair to say I've been involved in ministry all my life.

In the past few months I've been thinking about the current condition of the Church. I've got to say that it doesn't look all that good to me. You see, I've been involved, over the years, in all kinds of methods and plans to assist the churches in growing. In fact, I've done my part in leading some of the programs, traveling around the country. All of these methods and plans sounded good at the time. Indeed, for awhile they seemed to work. Churches reached people and things looked good. But in just a few months they lost steam and things returned to normal.

Sadly, churches today are still looking for the latest method, plan, or gimmick to help them grow. Just as soon as the latest idea loses its steam, it's on to the next great plan. To borrow from Shakespeare. There seems to be much ado about nothing.

I think we've done everything humanly possible, and that's the problem. We really haven't relied on the Lord. That's why the Church doesn't look to be in great shape to me right now. Perhaps it's time we confess that we've tried to do it our way and ask the Lord's forgiveness. Perhaps it's time to remember that Jesus said it is His Church and He will build it. What would happen if we would just allow God to do what only He can do in our churches today?