The last year on the road

A year ago things seemed bleak, if you told me then where I would be today, I would have laughed at you. It was almost a year ago that we met with a prospective birth mother at Bethany Christian Services. "Baby boy" was born on March 28th and for a couple months things were up in the air. He was in interim foster care for almost 2 months. It was also almost a year ago that we started talking to IA-MN District about going to Heartland.

On May 20, after a few phone conversations and face to face interviews I candidated at Heartland. May 24th we went and picked up Tedy and brought him to his forever home. I am still amazed with the process but it seemed things were starting to go right.

We have now been at Heartland 8 months and things are starting to take off. New faces are coming weekly and people are slowly being made new. It seems that a lot of the people that are coming are dechurched. At one time they came to church but for one reason or another they walked away. Others are coming because they are being brought by their kids who attend our midweek family ministries. Our attendance in February is up 58% from last years average. God is blessing Heartland.

 When people ask what I/we are doing to see this happen, I say I do not know, but God is really blessing us right now. We are being the church, we are going outside of the walls, we are having fun, morale is high and we are Loving God and neighbor. And God is blessing that.

We are starting to plan Tedy's first birthday. He is growing even faster than Heartland. He is doing things I really did not expect for an almost 11 month old. And God is blessing us as parents. Just last week the a teen/church surprised us by organizing a monthly date night for Jenny and I. They gave a number of gift cards to restaurants. It is evident they care about us.

I have been in full time ministry as an assistant/ youth pastor off and on over the last 9 years. As much as I have enjoyed ministry in the past I love being a lead pastor. I live casting vision. I am finally figuring out what type of pastor I was meant to be. My personality is finally coming out in my ministry. I am allowed to be myself. God continue to reveal yourself to us. Show Heartland how we can love you and your community more. You are our God and we are your people. This is your church. Continue to bless it and continue to make people new.

God on the road

I am writing this blog not even sure of what I am going to say. Which is rare because I am always full of words. God is good. I have been told in the last couple months that a former youth does not believe that this is true. He struggles with the idea of evil and God allowing it to happen. I talk to him about free will. I ran into this quote by CS Lewis, "Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having." He struggles with how he sees the church treating the LGBTQ community. So he has walked away from his beliefs that God is good. I talk to him about being the change in the church. If the church will ever bridge the gap they need people like him to help show them the love and grace of God. But how we cannot dismiss the truth of scripture. We cannot always consider a church and God to be on the same page. We cannot always let someone in the church let us view God in an unhealthy manner, because God is always good, even though his followers are not. God is good.

I have a number of friends who are separated and in the process of divorce. This saddens me because at some point in their lives they have let sin enter their lives and their heart has been hardened. Some of them have walked away from God and the church during this time, because of the lack of grace they felt from the church. Unfortunately they let someone else take their eyes off of God on the road. Because God is still good.

I am disheartened lately because of the burden God has given me for his people. But I know this burden is not a curse but a blessing. He has given me a Pastor's heart and helping me see things a little more clearer and a little through his own eyes. He sees a world that is hurting and longing for more grace, love, and even truth in their lives. They are longing for someone to care for them like the church has always supposed to have been doing. Obedience is a core issue of the heart. God is longing for hearts of obedience to follow him. People talk about the idea of happiness. But in a lot of the cases that I have discussed they have forsaken the obedience of God for their happiness. God is not always concerned with our happiness but our holiness. If you want fulfillment, obey Christ. If you want JOY, obey Christ. You will never have true freedom in your life until you obey. GOD IS GOOD