The fall of 2008 brought about an unexpected turn of events that will forever impact the lives of me and my family. That was the year I was asked
to sing.
The journey of my life reads like a roadmap of preparation for that moment. I attended the church we now pastor as a college student in 1979. From there I spent the next 16 years in media work including radio, television and promotions. During that time I experienced some amazing opportunities in ministry – from a radio missionary stint in the Middle East broadcasting to over 1/3 of the world, to bringing the Gospel to then a Communist controlled Soviet Union through a multi-media stage production that had seen over 150,000 decisions for Christ, to producing the world’s most listened to Christian radio program for families, “Focus on the Family” with Dr. James Dobson.
It was at the pinnacle of my media career in the shadow of Pike’s Peak that the Lord began to stir my heart with the notion that He might have something else for me to accomplish with the rest of my life.
An unmistakable call to serve the local church began to emerge, and in 1997 my family and I moved back to our native Missouri to engage in ministry that was more hands on and face to face. The next three years of pastoral work showed us a side of ministry that I’d only reported on during my work at Focus – the incredible need for health and strength in the local church. The reality of 2,000 pastors leaving the ministry every month due to stress, burnout or turnout led us in the fall of 2000 to establish Joseph Resource Group, a ministry dedicated to connecting and serving churches and leaders. I soon found myself traveling coast to coast assisting pastors and churches of all denominations. Partnering with several well-known national ministries including Great Dads, Man in the Mirror, A Chosen Generation and Promise Keepers, we were able to provide churches with helpful tools to assist in building a committed core of leadership within their congregations.
We established a ministry center where pastors and ministry couples could retreat for some necessary time away from the pressures of pastoral work. We also served as a catalyst for developing relationships with pastors and churches of various denominations within our city and region, hosting monthly pastors’ prayer gatherings and the annual National Day of Prayer observance – activities that continue to this day. By 2008 our reputation as a friend to the local church and to pastors was recognized and respected on a scale we’d only dreamed about a decade earlier.
Little did we know that the church we would be called upon to help the most, however, would be our own. We came to Riverside, the same church I had attended in my college days, upon entering the mission field in 2000. The church had experienced a painful leadership transition in 1999 – losing the pastor who had grown the church to record attendance in his 15-year tenure there. It seemed to fit a disturbing pattern of instability for this congregation, and it became increasingly obvious that the catalyst precipitating these unhealthy trends was still very much present and active in this fractured congregation. We watched a church slowly disintegrate as the congregation dwindled from over 1,500 attendees at it’s peak in April of 1999 to around 200 nearly a decade later.
At the same time we witnessed a leader slip further and further into unhealthy patterns of stress and burnout. We saw the effects firsthand on his family, staff and congregation. I warned the pastor and his leadership team about the pending disaster but was rebuffed. And so it was in September of 2008 that our pastor, a man whom I’d fiercely defended and befriended during our time of ministering to so many other churches and leaders – resigned his post and left the same day, asking me to serve as interim in his stead.
My initial reaction to this request was shock and dismay. Although I’d certainly felt called to assist other pastors and churches in their time of need, I never imagined I’d be asked to take the lead in my OWN church – especially one so deeply riddled with pain, division and strife. It reminded me of a story I’d heard during my days at Focus of a young pastor called to the bedside of an elderly woman in his congregation who was facing imminent death…a woman named “Pearl”. When asked what he could do to bring her comfort, her only request of her pastor in that moment was that he would sing “Amazing Grace” – one of her favorite hymns. As the pastor and his wife quietly sang over this precious saint, she slipped peacefully into the presence of the Savior she had loved dearly and had served faithfully for so many years. I never forgot that story, and as my wife and I pondered the request being made of us it was as if the Lord was asking if we would be willing to serve His Bride in this way – to “sing to Pearl”. We knew in that moment there was no other choice to be made. It was our turn to sing.
As painful as it is to witness the death of a church, it is equally rewarding to watch new life spring up in its place. The past three years have certainly seen it’s share of heartache, frustration and trepidation – but through it all God’s hand of faithfulness has been evident. We are blessed to have served as midwives in the “rebirth” of a new work that carries with it the legacy of so many who’ve gone before. Our numbers are growing once again…the first positive growth in over a decade. Our leadership is solid and in lockstep behind the vision God has given us. Men and women far from God are finding new faith in Christ on a weekly basis. Young families are visiting the church in record numbers – and staying! Our children’s ministry is experiencing growing pains we are GLAD to have to deal with! Our youth ministry is helping the next generation encounter a fresh passion and zeal for the things of God, and our worship experiences are some of the most creative and impactful I’ve seen in over 30 years of ministry. God has taken the failures of the past and transformed them for our good. The future looks incredibly bright and we believe without a doubt that our best days are yet to come!
The “pearl” of the past may be gone, but something just as precious has risen to take her place. God is not finished with His Church! Though faces and labels change with the passing of time, our purpose has not nor ever will waver. May we learn from the mistakes of the past and never repeat them again. The pain and heartache we have experienced has made us all the more determined to face the future without fear. Nothing can stop the forward advance of the most powerful force on earth – the Church of the Living God! By God’s grace we will write the next chapter of her legacy that we have been commissioned to accomplish, knowing we have His calling, His passion and His resources to fuel the fire in our hearts. Nothing is impossible for a church that recognizes that truth and acts courageously upon it.
And to that end we will continue to sing.
