Father, I praise You a productive day – for strength to accomplish the tasks at hand, for the intellect to process all that needed to be done, for the enjoyable interaction with fellow workers, for a wonderful time with my beautiful wife this evening and everything we were able to get done. I am blessed by One who loves me more than I ever could comprehend!
Matthew 25:14-30 (<<click to read the passage)
Many years ago, while I was still in college, I had the privilege of serving under a wonderful man by the name of Tom Lasley. He was a bi-vocational pastor. He was an educator by vocation but was a pastor by the calling of God. He told me early on that he felt he had been called to serve in that dual capacity because, “Small churches needed good pastors, too.”
And truly, that is the way I have gone the last third of my life. In high school, I felt called to ministry but felt no tugging on my heartstrings at all to be the pastor of a church. I was called to be a minister of music and pursued an education in that direction – my first two years out of college that’s just what I did.
My next place of service called for me to be a minister of music but included ministering to youth as well. Then eventually I became a children’s pastor (one of my most favorite jobs ever!) But then the winds of change came upon me. As I began taking courses toward becoming an ordained elder, God began leading me in the direction of being the pastor of a church. It wasn’t a smooth transition but I have now served in that capacity for 16 years!
I feel Tom Lasley’s influence. I’ve had opportunity to pursue a full-time pastorate but…I decided to grow where I was planted because small churches need good pastors, too. I’m not a spectacular pastor by any means…but I love my people. I feed them faithfully what the Lord lays upon my heart. I’ve not seen vast growth numerically but I can tell the people with whom I work, both in the church and at Kohl’s, are impacted by the God who lives within me – who lives through me.
When the Lord returns I want to be about His business, no matter where I am. It may be behind the pulpit or behind the jewelry counter or behind the wheel of a big yellow school bus. It makes no difference where we are planted but it makes all the difference in eternity that we grow where we are planted and that we bear fruit to impact the lives of people around us. Amen!
Oct 30th, 2018, Tues, 8:54 pm
