Just In Case You Want To Know…

Growing up in a Christian home, the gospel seemed always to permeate the air. Attending church was as much a part of our weekly schedule as evening meals around the table. My parents demonstrated an active devotional and prayer life and used every opportunity to teach scripture and demonstrate obedience to it. Therefore, at age nine, it was the most natural thing for me to make a profession of faith in Jesus.

My dad shared the gospel with me while eating lunch at a local park. I understood that I was a sinner deserving of hell and that Jesus died as a sacrifice for my sin so that I might be made righteous and be saved. I believed this to be true, and at the park that day, I confessed Jesus as my Lord. The following Sunday, I made my decision publicly known at our church and was later baptized on January 27, 1985.

At that point, not much changed outwardly in my life. As a nine-year-old, my parents controlled almost everything about my life. The crisis of my faith would come in the early days of my teenage years.

I did not doubt that I had made a genuine profession of faith as a nine-year-old, but in those days, I desired to run as far away from the Lord as possible. This was not just typical teenage rebellion; this was a spiritual crisis – and through it all, there was never a moment, no matter how rebellious I was, that I ever felt God had abandoned me. The fruit of growing up in a home saturated in the word of God and faithfully joining the church for worship and Bible study is that even as I desired to abandon God, I could not abandon the testimony of His word that was so deeply woven into my heart and mind.

During the summer between Junior High and High School, God brought me to repentance and drew me back to himself. I do not doubt I was saved as a nine-year-old, but God matured my faith from immature rebellion to unrestrained devotion that summer. High school was a time of growing in the word of God, wrestling with a sense that God was calling me into full-time ministry, and learning how to live out my faith in everyday life. I am so thankful that the Lord changed my heart before the start of High school and gave me those four years to use for Him and grow in Him. There were many momentous spiritual moments in high school (not the least of which was surrendering to the call to ministry), but the greatest was what God did that summer prior to high school.

A testimony to my failures and shortcomings would be voluminous, but a testimony to the grace of God would be greater still. In every area of my life (marriage, parenting, ministry, financial, etc.) I have strived to surrender everything to Jesus. And in all these things and much more, I bear witness that God’s grace has blessed me more than anything I could accomplish. The Lord continues to sanctify me and draw me to a deeper obedience to his word. I have witnessed his faithful provision and leadership.

I believe that the Bible is the word of God, written by men and inspired by God. I believe the Bible is true and without error and God’s revelation of Himself to man. I believe that the Bible is a testimony to Christ and the hope of salvation in Him.

I believe that God is holy (perfect and without sin) and that all men have sinned and deserve the righteous wrath of God and to be separated from God in hell.

I believe that Jesus is the eternal son of God. I believe that God created everything through Jesus. I believe God the Father offered His Son Jesus, who was without sin, to be the once for all sacrifice for man’s sin. I believe that Jesus died on the cross, was buried in the grave, and three days later rose again to life – defeating death. I believe that He ascended to heaven, lives today, and will one day return to gather the saints to Himself in heaven.

I believe that any who would believe that Jesus rose from the dead and confess Him as Lord will be saved, having their sins forgiven and receiving the promise of eternal life with God in heaven.

I have built my life and placed my eternal hope on these things. I have given my pastoral ministry to making these truths known to as many as possible.

My approach to preaching is to let the text speak for itself. I have enjoyed over the years both preaching through books of the Bible verse by verse and the freedom to preach sermon series on a particular theme or topic. Allowing the text to speak for itself means that the text dictates the sermon's outline, structure, and message.

My intention is to engage with the congregation and challenge the church to go deeper while remaining accessible to all who are in attendance. To that end, I attempt to find the right balance between the particulars of the text without getting lost in textual issues, using engaging stories without allowing the stories to overshadow the text, and a thorough exposition of the text while being conscious of my time constraints.

The simplest expression of the gospel is found in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, that Jesus died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. Romans 10:9-10 declares that all who confess Jesus as Lord, and believe that God raised him from the dead will be saved.

God is holy (perfect and without sin). All men have sinned and deserve the righteous wrath of God and to be separated from God in hell. Jesus is the eternal son of God who knew no sin. He was offered to be the once-for-all sacrifice for man’s sins. Jesus died on the cross. He was buried in the grave, and three days later, God raised him to life again – defeating sin and death. Jesus has ascended to heaven, lives today, and will one day return to gather the saints to Himself in heaven. 

Anyone who believes that Jesus rose from the dead and confesses Him as Lord will be saved, have their sins forgiven, and receive the promise of eternal life with God in heaven.

The primary duty of the pastor (or elder) is to preach the word and lead the church in obedience to God's word. Of course, there are many other things that a pastor does, but all these other things must flow from and be submissive to the first calling of preaching the word. In different periods, there have been various elements of leadership that have been celebrated in pastoral leadership. In recent years, some of these have been chief executive officer, vision casting, celebrity personality, and growth logistics manager. Some of these may have a place in pastoral leadership, and different churches may require different emphases at different times. However, I am convinced that, above all other things, a pastor must lead his church well in the word. As churches have grown in size, wealth, and influence, more demands have been placed on pastoral leadership. Yet, no matter how large a church grows, it can not grow beyond its foundation on God's word and remain healthy.

The primacy of God's word influences every area of my pastoral leadership. I believe a pastor should lead in both word and deed and live an example before the congregation.

When the church gathers on the Lord's Day, our primary attention is Jesus, and our primary offering is worship.

The biblically required elements of the church's gathering are preaching the gospel, sharing the Lord's Supper among the fellowship, and baptizing new believers. Indeed, other things happen in conjunction with the church worshiping. As the church worships and the Bible is preached, the hope of the gospel is proclaimed, sinners are called to repent, and opportunity for salvation is declared; there is teaching, equipping, and exhortation towards greater obedience; and the saints are encouraged to endure in faithfulness and obedience. All these things are good and rightly part of the gathering of the church, but above all, the church's attention and focus must be on the worship of Jesus, his glory, and obedience to his word.

I am convinced that when someone is transformed by the power of the gospel, they become irrepressible evangelists. Knowing the eternal life-giving truth of the gospel creates a desire to make this glorious truth known to everyone. Personal evangelism is not an event or program but a lifestyle of looking for every opportunity to share the goodness of Jesus with neighbors, friends, co-workers, and family.

Discipleship is not foremost an event or program but a lifestyle. Certainly, God uses special times of study and training, but being a disciple of Jesus means that you are growing in the Lord daily. Personal discipleship begins the moment the Lord saves you and will only be complete once we stand before the throne of heaven. The primary elements of personal discipleship are a personal study of God's word, prayer, and faithful participation in the teaching and preaching ministry of the church.

All healthy things grow and develop from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. Only inanimate and dead things refuse to grow. So it is with maturing and growing in the faith. A testimony of health is a testimony of growing in the knowledge of the word, maturing in obedience, and developing greater faithfulness. The way this happens is no secret nor complicated, but it does require discipline. Discipline to be faithful to the preaching and teaching ministry of the church. Discipline to consistently give time to reading and personal study of the Bible. Discipline to develop a personal prayer life beyond superficial and perfunctory praying.

Maybe, but the church should pay more attention to doctrine than dressing. In recent years, many churches have given a lot of attention to marketing and banding. To be the most attractive and appealing, much attention is given to the music used in worship, the type of dress the leaders wear, the branding of social media, the church website, and church signs— even the architecture of new buildings. There is nothing wrong with giving attention to these things as ancillary issues. However, significant damage is done to the church when these things become a primary concern. The doctrine of the church is the more important question. The primary concern for the congregation and the leaders must be how the church can be most faithful to the word of God.

I sensed the Lord calling me to full-time ministry while in high school. My understanding of how God was leading developed over the next few years. From the beginning, it was clear that the Lord was leading me to give my life to full-time ministry, but I was not clear on the specifics of what type of ministry I should pursue. As a high school student, I was most familiar with youth ministry, and because I was deeply involved in both church and school music programs, I also considered worship ministry. However, as I continued to pray, the Lord continued to clarify, and early in my college days, He made it clear that I should pursue the pastorate.

As the cultural context grows more secular and increasingly hostile, there are new challenges not faced in living memory.

The collapse of cultural Christianity has negatively affected church attendance. As a result, the effectiveness of old church growth models is diminishing. Furthermore, many churches are wrestling with adjusting campus footprint and staff size to accommodate their present ministry.

Today, there is an increased demand for churches to abandon the faith once and for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). Many churches and denominations are surrendering to the demands of secular culture on issues of sexual perversion. The opposition to truth and cultural pressure for churches to abandon the faith will continue to grow. Where in previous generations, churches may have been able to be less precise in their doctrine and less clear in their theology, the need to know, rightly articulate, and tenaciously hold to biblical truths will continue to grow.

I enjoy running and playing racquetball, visiting historical sites, and reading biographies. However, my most unusual hobby is studying parliamentary procedure.