Thanks for your response Don R.  The trouble with black letters on white pages is that they often come across more “legalistic” than intended. While I’ll admit to frustration, I certainly am not speaking out of to anger.  My heart is much too heavy with the sights and sounds of God’s precious people groping around in darkness having to settle for pablum when God has loaded his table with nutritious food.  The pressures put on Pastor Steve, and others in the ministry, to “grow” a church reduces them to people more concerned with bottom lines rather than growth and depth of the soul.  I happen to be a Bible College teacher (and full-time pastor) who sees the ramifications of this first-hand. In a country where the resources are so readily available to have a deep walk with Jesus (books, tapes, music, Bibles, conferences, workshops, etc.) the average Christian barely takes the time to drink deeply from the Word of God, kneel at his feet in humble worship, and pray for the life-change that is necessary to be able to handle the rigors of life in the “valley of the shadow of death.” We simply cannot be settling for Christianity lite when there are hundreds of thousands living in peril of a silent tsunami that will sweep them to an eternity of separation from God.
One final point, I would have preferred if Pastor Steve would have written that in the angst of his condition he turned to the Word of God through prayer and God led him to Luke 15:8-10 and the parable of the lost coin.  Same biblical principle, but it was born out of God’s inspiration rather than his experience which can be misunderstood as to be just as legitimate a way to hear from God.  Straining at gnats while swallowing camels, I hope no one thinks so.  Most believers fall far short of having the right leading and guidance in their lives because they can’t recognize the voice of the Spirit because they have limited knowledge in the Word and maybe even less experience in prayer.

Todd, chiming in, again.

For the sake of saying it again… why does everything come down to large church/small church?  I took the moral of the story as ‘everyone’ (even difficult people) are important to God.  And small churches have just as many ‘difficult’ people per capita as large churches (believe me).

I really took the story as an encouragement to ANYONE in ministry who feels like giving up or giving in.  Whether in a large church or a small church. 

It seems like there are a lot of pastors who have a serious case of ‘large church envy’.

If this story happened to the pastor next door who pastors 70 people, would it not be a good thing?  Or even a motivating thing that he was encouraged to continue on in the fight?

Just my thoughts…

Todd

Someone sent me this posting yesterday when this piece came out.  I was surprised to read it.  I wasn’t aware that this story was in the new book.  I relate to the concerns that pjle expressed.  What he doesn’t know is that I am incredibly committed to scripture and prayer on a daily basis.  I soak up a good 10 chapters a day.  The mantra at our church has been for years, “Five chapters a day keeps the pastor away!”

By the way, I will be leaving the large church in a couple of years to start over from scratch in Tampa with just my family.  I feel an invitation from God to move there and plant again on the east side of town.  It’s a little scary at age 50 to start over with no people.  We’ll see what happens.  Pray for me and Journey Church of Tampa.

Thanks, Steve for adding your comments.  See, everyone… you never know who’ll be reading your comments.  It might even be who the story is about! 

Todd

As Pastor of a 130 average attendance church, this story is a real encouragement as well.  It seems like there are genuine “barriers” such as 150 and 200, but the Lord has reminded me to simply remain faithful to my calling.

The Lord is the ultimate judge of “success”, and success to Him is that we are faithful… “Well done, thou good and faithful servant"…

I loved Steve’s story and whatever someone else thinks is irrelevant because the incident was between Steve and God and it encouraged Steve when he needed it.

I have a story of God sending me a message that I sometimes hesitate to tell because it sounds so goofy when I tell it.  A couple of years ago I was very discouraged, the church plant I was helping with was struggling and I wasn’t sure if I should stick with it or look for another place to serve.

Getting on the freeway one afternoon a small piece of Styrofoam, about 3 inches by 3 inches, flew up and hit the antenna on my truck and stuck there.  I heard the little thump and looked over and there it was, stuck against my antenna.  I thought, “How odd, it’s perfectly balanced there”.  And then “Ahh, it’ll fall off in a second”.  Several turns and about 23 miles later the freeway turns to highway and there are traffic lights, and the styrofoam was still there.  During this time I kept looking over at it and was thinking maybe this was God’s way of telling me to hang in there, but I was also thinking that maybe it impacted so hard that the antenna had cut into it and it was really stuck on there.  Then I came to a red light and had to stop and I was thinking “OK, now I’ll see that it really is stuck and that it’s not God telling me anything”, and just as that thought entered my mind I came to a stop and the styrofoam fell from the antenna and fluttered to the ground. 

Was it an odd coincidence of physics or God telling me to hang in there?  I believe it was God and it encouraged me and I hung in there and continued to serve.  And that’s all that really matters because the message wasn’t necessarily for anyone else.

It’s not shallow theology, pjle, it’s not theology at all, it’s just someone struggling and getting encouragement from God.  Or perhaps just from an oddly timely coincidence.

This page gets an interesting title, reminds me an article—thirteen equals one, which is one of the first articles at the beginning of my English study. The intro of this book seems attractive, the opening tells a dispiriting story, but the following is encouraging, nice.