February 18, 2019 is probably not a big day for you unless you had a child born that day. While I doubt anyone remembers where they were that day, I sure do! It was my first Sunday as Pastor of Flat Run Church.

As I entered the pulpit that Sunday, I had a range of emotions that ranged from fear and excitement to anger and joy. After leaving a painful context of ministry and coming into a new one with nothing but strangers, I did not know what to expect.

The last 4 years have not gone exactly like I thought they would. Within 13 months of beginning my role at Flat Run, a global shutdown due to Covid-19 took place, we had to travel to church an hour and 15 minutes one way for almost 6 months, and oh yeah, we had our third child as well. Not to mention, I started learning Greek and Hebrew! The last four years at Flat Run have on one hand been overwhelming with difficulties, and then on the other hand they have been overwhelming with God’s marvelous grace.

Here are a few things I have learned in the last four years.

First, the church is a place to nourish us spiritually. Coming to Flat Run was a difficult decision for us. At times I struggled with anger and bitterness over how things went down in my former ministry position. Yet in all of it, I see God’s grace. Do not give up on the church! Developing authentic relationships at Flat Run has helped me get through that season of immense difficulty and pain. I repeat – don’t give up on the church!

Second, the Gospel unites people who love Christ. On a given week, I may have pastoral discussions on the mode of baptism, charismatic gifts, the doctrine of predestination, or a whole host of other “secondary doctrinal” matters. I have come to realize that this is life in a non-denominational church. I have also learned to love people who do not look at everything the way I do. I am not saying that “secondary” doctrines are unimportant, as I will clarify in a moment. I think for the sake of unity, the elders of the church should have uniformity on “secondary” matters. Yet, it has been incredible for me to see how much unity there is between brothers and sisters in Christ around the gospel.

Third, my convictions on secondary doctrines have strengthened. When I came to Flat Run, I was very open about the fact that I leaned toward reformed theology. At least from the Baptist side of things. This was a journey that I have been on for years. I will never forget telling the search committee that and wondering, “what are they going to say?” Often saying something like that – even in a group of Christians— is like a bombshell dropped from the heavens. One guy on the committee, who has become a dear friend of mine, said that if the Bible talks about predestination, we want you to preach on predestination. If the Bible talks about election, we want you to preach about election. Everyone seemed to agree. I was so encouraged by that statement. I believe more strongly in the doctrines of grace today than I ever have, and my model of ministry flows out of my understanding of these doctrines.

Fourth, people who possess the Holy Spirit want to hear the Word of God. It has been one of the delights of my life to see people clinging to and desiring the Word at Flat Run. Recently, I preached probably the hardest sermon I have ever preached in my life on the topic of divorce from the lips of our Lord in Mark 10. What surprised me as much as anything was the number of people who thanked me for preaching that sermon. Even people in our church who had been divorced came to me and said, I have had to seek forgiveness and repentance for my divorce. Wow! If I am honest, I must confess I was nervous to preach that sermon. Yet I learned, when people who know Christ hear the Word of God, they hear much more than the voice of their pastor. They hear the voice of Jesus saying, “This is the way, walk in it.”

The last 4 years have been bleak at times. My emotional range has gone from ”I’m all washed up” to “I want to do this forever!” We still have a lot of room to grow and we are a ways from where we ought to be. Yet I am confident of one thing. God is good. He is working in His church, and it is a privilege for me to have even a sliver of impact in it all.

Soli Deo Gloria!