When God Answers Prayer

About four years ago, I began praying for God to call me into pastoral ministry.

Being a pastor just might be one of the most stressful positions on planet Earth.  It has many great high’s, many sad low’s, but it also offers thousands and thousands of blessings!

I love to preach God’s Word and I love teaching it to people, seeing their eyes light up when they finally get it.  Nothing gives me greater joy than watching God’s children learn and obey what is found in holy Scripture.

On December 11, 2011, I began serving at Faith Baptist Church in Strathmore, California, on an interim basis only.  It was a way for me to get to know the church and for them to see if they benefited from me and my ministry.

One of the reasons I wanted to serve as an interim pastor before candidating fully, is because there is an interesting dynamic to this church.  There are actually two congregations in the church, but it is one combined church.

You see, there are roughly 150 or so people who attend on Sunday morning.  On average, however, nearly 65 of these people go to the Spanish-speaking service while the remainder come to the English-speaking service.  Faith Baptist Church is one church with two congregations, purely due to language barriers.

It makes for an interesting Sunday, and I believe God is in love with it.

There is a Spanish pastor (Victor Ordonez) who leads that group and, on the interim basis, I have been leading the English group.

Personally, I have been so impressed with Victor and his love for those people.  He loves the Lord, loves God’s Word, loves the people he pastors, and has a heart for evangelism.  Really, what else does a pastor need to be, other than that?

Less than one month ago, I informed the pulpit committee that I would, indeed, accept their request to candidate for the position of Senior Pastor.  The decision came after much prayer with God and conversation with my wife, Kathy.

Two Sundays ago, I met with the Spanish-speaking congregation during their Sunday school hour and, through an interpreter (Adrian Ordonez), answered any questions the people had about me, my theology, my vision for ministry, etc.  It was a great time.

That evening, I answered questions from the entire combined congregation(s) for about two hours.  Questions about my call to ministry, my thoughts about deacon or elder rule, my concerns about children’s ministry, my understanding of the gospel, and my passion for Youth ministry were asked and, Lord willing, sufficiently answered.

On May 20th, this past Sunday, I was pretty nervous for most of the day.  This was the day the church would come together as a combined congregation and vote on whether or not to call me as the Senior Pastor of the church.

I preached on the book of Ruth during the morning service and, rather than continuing our study in 1 Corinthians during the evening service, I chose to preach from John 14.  (The next verses in 1 Corinthians that we would have studied were somewhat “negative,” and the last thing I wanted to do was preach a “negative” sermon right before they voted on me.  Momma didn’t raise no fool!)

After preaching that evening, I said goodbye to the people and headed home.  It would have been strange to sit there while they all voted on me, so I told them to call me on my cellular when the verdict came in.

Adrian and Ann Ordonez (mostly Ann) kept texting me during the meeting, giving me the play-by-play.

This is Ann, we’re voting

Before the evening service that night, while sitting in the church office, I prayed to the Lord regarding the message I was about to preach, and also about the vote that would soon take place.  I prayed for the Lord to calm my heart so that I could focus on His Word as I preached.

Concerning the vote, I prayed that it would either be a unanimous vote, calling me to the church, or simply an overwhelming percentage of “No” votes.  I wanted to be convinced either which way.  And the Ordonez-duo gave me the news.

🙁  its a……..

Yes!!!!!!!

By God’s grace, the vote that evening came in unanimous that they wanted me to come and be their pastor.  I was so thankful.  I got a bit teary in the car as I drove.  It was nice to sit there, drive home and thank God for all that He’s done, is doing, and will do in the future.  I’m so honored to be the Senior Pastor of Faith Baptist Church.

I’m excited to see what the Lord will do in and through us at Faith Baptist Church.  I’m eager to serve, to preach, to lead, and to wash the disciples feet, if that’s what is needed at the time.

And I am glad to say that I like and agree with Adrian’s and Ann’s last text to me that evening.

Looks like we are stuck with you.

Yep, it looks that way.  Praise the Lord!

* Image credit: Kendall Conner (Creation Swap)