I have been thinking a lot lately about how blessed I am by whom God chose to place in the body of Christ as my senior pastor. Since the time He moved me to move our family to become part of the body where we worship, I, personally, and my family corporately, have been blessed in many ways. I don't know if I will be able to articulate the ways God is blessing us through being part of the body of Christ, but I may share some of the rest of them in upcoming posts. Today I want to share a few words about my senior pastor, Kevin and the ways in which God has blessed my family and me through him.
The first and perhaps most obvious blessing is his preaching of the Word of God. He blesses me on a weekly basis with sound teaching from the text of the Bible. He teaches with clarity and conviction through each section of the Holy Scriptures whether they are "feel good" passages or very challenging passages. His preaching and teaching challenge me to be change the way I think, change the way I speak, change the way I act toward my family and others, and to change the way I worship the Holy God. As I sit under his teaching of the Word, I feel the Lord speaking to my heart, pointing out the blackness and calling me to live, think, act, and speak more like my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I also see my God more clearly as I listen and study the Bible under his leadership and direction. I see a Holy God, and awesome God, a creative God, a loving God, a just God, a patient God, a faithful God. I clearly see God sharing His heart for His people, and I feel loved despite my sin and despite my rebellious heart.
Another way the he blesses me, my family, and our church is by the way he talks with us and greets us on Sunday mornings. He frequently can be seen walking throughout the building greeting people and especially taking time to stop to talk with people who he hasn't seen before, welcoming them and getting to know something about them. He is sincerely glad to see those who God brings to the church and I believe he feels a call to help us all feel welcome. The job of welcoming members, guests and visitors is the responsibility of each of us, but his willingness to use the few minutes before the start of services to welcome us personally encourages me to be more welcoming and to be more sensitive to greet those who I don't know.
He also blessed our family when we were searching for a church home through the class that he and his wife taught that helped us to focus our search. Then the follow-up class that helped us to know more about this church, the staff, teaching, elders, deacons, and ministry opportunities.
He has blessed me and blessed my son through his willingness to serve and to patiently teach some of what he knows about fishing. I have been privileged to go with some of the men of our church on a camping and fly fishing trip, once by myself, once with my son, and then this year my son was able to go when I couldn't. On these trips, I have observed that he spends his time on these trips serving. He spends eight hours a day, for four days, rowing a boat and teaching people who know nothing about how to fly fish. He patiently encourages and teaches and helps each of us to feel the satisfaction and excitement of hooking and landing a beautiful brown or rainbow trout and then gently releases them back to their crystal clear home. I have seen the man who loves fishing as much or more than anyone I know spend his days in one of his favorite fishing places, teaching others to fish, and rowing against the current all day long, and for four days rarely, if ever, actually fishing himself.
He has blessed my family and our whole church through his wisdom and leadership as an elder. His prayerful consideration of the needs of the church and his desire to lead us to God and to a Holy and Godly life, has given me a sense of comfort and peace that our church is being led by men of prayer, humility, and God-given wisdom.
My family and I have been blessed by this man of God through his teaching, his leadership, his service, and his friendship. We reap some of the reward of his devotion to God and to prayer, and I am very thankful that God has placed me, with my family, in a church body where we can serve alongside a man of God like Kevin. I pray that God will give him the strength and wisdom to overcome the attacks of the enemy who will always target men of God who are leading in their family and leading in their church. I thank God that He has placed me in this body of Christ where I am served by a man whom I admire and love as a brother in Christ.
The first and perhaps most obvious blessing is his preaching of the Word of God. He blesses me on a weekly basis with sound teaching from the text of the Bible. He teaches with clarity and conviction through each section of the Holy Scriptures whether they are "feel good" passages or very challenging passages. His preaching and teaching challenge me to be change the way I think, change the way I speak, change the way I act toward my family and others, and to change the way I worship the Holy God. As I sit under his teaching of the Word, I feel the Lord speaking to my heart, pointing out the blackness and calling me to live, think, act, and speak more like my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I also see my God more clearly as I listen and study the Bible under his leadership and direction. I see a Holy God, and awesome God, a creative God, a loving God, a just God, a patient God, a faithful God. I clearly see God sharing His heart for His people, and I feel loved despite my sin and despite my rebellious heart.
Another way the he blesses me, my family, and our church is by the way he talks with us and greets us on Sunday mornings. He frequently can be seen walking throughout the building greeting people and especially taking time to stop to talk with people who he hasn't seen before, welcoming them and getting to know something about them. He is sincerely glad to see those who God brings to the church and I believe he feels a call to help us all feel welcome. The job of welcoming members, guests and visitors is the responsibility of each of us, but his willingness to use the few minutes before the start of services to welcome us personally encourages me to be more welcoming and to be more sensitive to greet those who I don't know.
He also blessed our family when we were searching for a church home through the class that he and his wife taught that helped us to focus our search. Then the follow-up class that helped us to know more about this church, the staff, teaching, elders, deacons, and ministry opportunities.
He has blessed me and blessed my son through his willingness to serve and to patiently teach some of what he knows about fishing. I have been privileged to go with some of the men of our church on a camping and fly fishing trip, once by myself, once with my son, and then this year my son was able to go when I couldn't. On these trips, I have observed that he spends his time on these trips serving. He spends eight hours a day, for four days, rowing a boat and teaching people who know nothing about how to fly fish. He patiently encourages and teaches and helps each of us to feel the satisfaction and excitement of hooking and landing a beautiful brown or rainbow trout and then gently releases them back to their crystal clear home. I have seen the man who loves fishing as much or more than anyone I know spend his days in one of his favorite fishing places, teaching others to fish, and rowing against the current all day long, and for four days rarely, if ever, actually fishing himself.
He has blessed my family and our whole church through his wisdom and leadership as an elder. His prayerful consideration of the needs of the church and his desire to lead us to God and to a Holy and Godly life, has given me a sense of comfort and peace that our church is being led by men of prayer, humility, and God-given wisdom.
My family and I have been blessed by this man of God through his teaching, his leadership, his service, and his friendship. We reap some of the reward of his devotion to God and to prayer, and I am very thankful that God has placed me, with my family, in a church body where we can serve alongside a man of God like Kevin. I pray that God will give him the strength and wisdom to overcome the attacks of the enemy who will always target men of God who are leading in their family and leading in their church. I thank God that He has placed me in this body of Christ where I am served by a man whom I admire and love as a brother in Christ.
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