Chapter 9 from “Fully Equipped: Having What It Takes to Give Your All”
Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find? – Proverbs 20:6
After we married in July of 2006, My new bride Jamie and I attended the Heritage Baptist Church that my dad pastored. Jamie taught at the Heritage Baptist Academy in Arcadia, Florida, and I worked full-time at the Walmart distribution center to provide a place for us to stay. I was starting to get antsy about what work the Lord might have for us. I didn’t know exactly what the Lord had in mind, but I remembered what they taught us in college, “You will either be the pastor of a church, or work to help someone who is the pastor.”
One time while gathering together with family at a lake in Lake Placid, Florida, I thought, if Jamie and I do stay in Florida, this is the town where I want to live. After a few months went by, we heard about a small church in Lake Placid, Florida who had an older pastor and needed some help with their music and youth. This caught my attention, and I thought that this may be just the opportunity for us. We could drive over to visit on Saturdays and attend services on Sunday and Wednesdays.
But during this time, my grandfather had moved to Vermont and was attempting to start a church there. He had invited me to come and work with him and my Grandma Carol. This too appealed to me, as moving back to Vermont seemed like a very adventurous enterprise! So, in March of 2007, my wife and I flew up to Vermont to visit my Grandparents and observe the work there. I learned that there was another man trying to start a church in a nearby town and there was already a church which my grandfather had started 50 years previously. There were some dissenters who had pleaded with my grandfather to come back, yet they rarely attended the meetings he held in his trailer! I definitely saw this from a different perspective from my Grandpa, and realized this door was not open for us..
Then it happened! While we were still visiting in Vermont, my mom called informing me that the pastor at Bethel Baptist Church in Lake Placid, Florida had put in his resignation, effective at the end of April! That was only a few weeks away! My mind started churning. We had already met with the pastor, and he had mentioned his desire to have a young man work with him for two years before making the transition. Obviously, he got the drift I was looking to get into the pastorate much sooner.
Upon our return to Florida, we visited Bethel Baptist Church. Within a week or two, I was recommended to candidate, which I did. On April 29th, I was voted to be the pastor! We were on a mountain top, but were soon to enter our first valley!
As I started visiting the members, I was informed by one couple that they had already been planning to leave the church: they just wanted to give us time to make the transition. It was nothing personal they assured me. Meanwhile another couple who had recently joined never returned. I learned they had to be part of an independent Baptist Church to join a particular evangelistic ministry. So it was simply a formality on their part.
At this time, we were bringing in children on our church van. But the driver would take the kids home after Sunday school. I thought, “Why not just bring them into the main service?” I found out quickly that was a bad idea, as I had to lead the service and discipline kids at the same time! There went another couple, who told me that they couldn’t handle the disruption of the unruly kids.
Then I preached on True Christianity, how we should be consistent at home with the way we are in the church house. Of course, I dealt with the issue of dress. I had this brilliant idea to hold up a pair of pants and say, “Who wears these?” followed by holding up a skirt and saying, “Who wears this?” I made the point clear that there should be a distinction between men and women. As you can imagine, this was not appreciated by all. The one faithful deacon, who gave, cleaned, taught, and seemingly held the church together was irate with me afterward. He stormed out of the building declaring, “You weren’t fair to the ladies.” He and his wive never returned! I had attempted to present the message with the best spirit I knew how, but the content was just too much I suppose.
Only a month in and I was seeing the small group disintegrate into what seemed like a shell of a church body. At this point, I should mention that my wife gave birth to our first son a couple months after taking the church. When our son Paul was just three weeks old, the acting treasurer (who was the former pastor), came to me after the service and said that he could’nt start over again. He travelled a long distance to attend the services and with the great exodus of members, he was discouraged. So he took my wife and I back to the office and gave us a crash course in the books and financial affairs.
So now I was left with a church made up of my family of three, a lady with her granddaughter, some children from the bus route, and a couple, whom I was informed that the husband was not dependable. Well, the man and his wife turned out to be our greatest workers throughout our time there and were a great blessing to us. Tom and Kaye have remained friends and have kept in contact with us all these years since. God brought us through and we recovered. God would bring others in as we remained faithful.
I will never forget how God ministered to my wife and I that Wednesday night after the former pastor said “good bye”. We felt so lonely and wondered what was going on. We left the office overwhelmed by all the added responsibilities. We made our way to the front of the auditorium. There at the altar, we knelt and poured our souls out to the Lord. We had many questions, but no answers. Then out of nowhere, my three week old son Paul began to giggle. He had never done this before! The Lord spoke to me bringing to mind the verse in Nehemiah, “The Joy of the Lord is my strength.”
Then Paul giggled a second time, again relieving the tension of the moment. I thought of the verse in Psalm 16:11, “In his presence is fullness of joy.” My heart was stirred and I began to think, “Lord, we have you and you will never forsake us!” Truly, it is not the circumstance, but rather the person of Christ who gives joy. Then I began to look at my son and wondered if he would laugh another time -for every good message has at least three points, right?
Indeed he giggled once more, and I thought about verses in the Bible that speak of “joy”. My mind went to the prison epistle penned by Paul to the Philippian church, where he states, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4) Now I had no excuse but to be glad in the Lord. My wife and I stood up and embraced knowing everything would be okay. Our tears had been turned into laughter!
No matter what happens to us, we can allow a difficult experience to conform us more into Christ’s image, or we can use it as an excuse to resent God’s working in our lives. When Daniel was thrown to the lions for praying, he didn’t let it change His proper view of God. The Bible tells us he had an excellent spirit. This world needs to see God’s servants with a joyful spirit that carries us and makes us excel over all trials.
As my pastor friend Josh Goodwin pointed out, the red letter days of the giants we read in history were actually quite few. We easily forget the long years they endured faithfully, perhaps in monotony. But without proving themselves during the preparation, they would not have the seen the victories God would wrought for them!
In July of 2007, Jamie and I celebrated our first anniversary. We had just moved from Arcadia into our newly purchased trailer in a 55+ mobile home park. Somehow they let us move there in spite of our age! We felt like we retired early. Because we had used the little money we had toward our down payment, we were counting our pennies when our anniversary came around. It was a Sunday and we decided to go to McDonalds for lunch. We found enough coins to purchase a Bic Mac and split it! We couldn’t have been happier!
During our first year in Lake Placid, God really challenged and increased our faith. We had a two older couples join the church who were real spiritual giants, the Prathers and the Ramos family. The Prathers would go visiting with us even in the 100 degree heat of summer. Brother Abel Ramos’ health was deteriorating, yet he still tried to reach out to the Hispanic community. That summer I had the joy of baptizing my first convert. God was working!
In 2009, I had the honor of being ordained at Heritage Baptist Church in Arcadia, Florida where my dad pastored. It was both a wonderful and challenging time as Godly men questioned me about my beliefs and encouraged me with practical counsel for the ministry. It was recommended to me that I regularly read the small booklet Heartbeats of the Holy. This is a practical yet powerful booklet every preacher may be helped by.
Over the course of four years, we saw God provide over and over again. We saw small growth here and there, but just stayed faithful knowing we were there to labour for the Lord first, and for the people second. God came through during the times we needed Him most! We had a time where the motor was blown on the church van, our copy machine was broken, and the city was making us convert our septic system to a new electric pump grinder system. This alone would cost us about $5,000. I remember sitting at my desk looking at the bills and saying, “Lord, these are your bills.” This was beyond the ability of our small congregation. Then we received a check from out of state for $10,000! Wow! Truly the church is the Lord’s church, and He will sustain it!
Some folks attended for a short while, and others for a longer time who would contribute greatly just when we needed it most! While I always had to work a second job, I always seemed to fulfill my duties. I came to realize that God-given duties do not conflict. I drove a school bus in the county, and I remember getting phone calls from the funeral director or others in need, and was able to attend to the situation immediately, never interfering with my bus driving schedule. It was assuring to know that my Father in Heaven knows all.
Also, family duties must not be neglected for the sake of the ministry. After all, my family is my first ministry. If I lose my family, I will cease to have a ministry! It took much adjusting going from being newly married to becoming a pastor and dad within the first year! Then the Lord gave us another son, Jason in 2008. In 2010, we were blessed with a beautiful daughter named Abigail.
I must admit, that pastoring is no doubt the most stressful job under the sun. Many times I thought that certainly someone else could come and do a better job than I. But I was always too scared to quit. The last thing I wanted was to be a quitter. I realize that God calls us to faithfulness; the “success” or “failure” as we may call it is in the Lord’s hands. I was only 25 when I became pastor and was as “green” as they come! We dealt with various trials and challenges, both financially and spiritually. At one point, I thought it would be wise to have another older friend come to pastor. Then the people could benefit from each of our strengths. It was not at all about the position to me as much as it was about what was best for our church. That pastor friend did not come, and God opened a door for him in another church. I am thankful for those who put up with me and stood by me through these learning years!
I learned many invaluable lessons during my time pastoring. I learned that God will use the least likely people because they allow Him to; His power is provided that He may receive glory. Don’t be surprised when those you have the greatest expectations for turn away, and the least likely ones grow to be used of God greatly. You must learn to love even though the more you love the less you are sometimes appreciated. You will sometimes be hurt the most by those you seek to help the most.
God calls and leads his minister; no one person is indispensable. Treasure and love those who God puts in your care. Sometimes this means doing what is best for the church, not what is most comfortable for me. I remember having to confront a man who was critical and spiritually deflating our church. He was causing harm, and I had to ask him to change his attitude or just not come. That was difficult, but it was necessary for the health of the flock. He understood and even later sent us a love offering on a couple occasions.
Ask God for thick skin and a soft heart. Christ never flinched from his stand for truth against the Pharisees, yet he certainly kept a heart of compassion for sinners. Oh how we need to be dead to self, and filled with the Spirit, that we might care for others properly and nurture them with the fruit of the Spirit – by loving and being longsuffering with the flock.
I’ve learned that God really does care and is faithful to supply our need as we are faithful in obeying His will. Small doesn’t mean insignificant; and big is not always a sign of blessing. I must consistently take care of the little things, because little things turn into big things!
God opens the doors to those who are willing to walk through them. I was given opportunities to write in a column in a local newspaper, and was asked to pray in front of all the county school board transportation department. We witnessed God supply flooring for our nurseries, paint for our fellowship hall, a sound booth for our equipment, and an addition to our trailer, not to mention a beautiful minivan! But let me not get ahead of myself!
Just be yourself: be real for Jesus. Phonies are easily found out. Don’t fall into the trap of comparing yourself with others. You and your ministry will be unique – from your style of preaching, your experiences, the field of service – it’s history and culture, and the burden and vision God gives you. Be obedient to what God has given you. Keep your eyes on Jesus and keep your hand on the plow.
God is pleased only by faith. There is nothing else that pleases him! Also, no great work of God goes uncontested by the Devil. If you are expecting great victories, prepare for difficult battles. During one vacation Bible school, when some precious children were saved, we had an exceptionally challenging night. It started with a mother storming in during the opening exercises. She was irate because her son rode the van without permission. Uh oh…but there was no consoling her now! She grabbed her son and marched him right out. Then during snack time, some boys were horse playing and broke a window. But at the end of the night, God won and so were some precious souls!
One other lesson I have learned is that I find greater joy handing a job over to a young believer than doing it myself. Whether it’s turning over a Sunday school class to a new teacher, or transferring a responsibility, like song-leading, to a new worker. It brings rewards that money can’t buy.
I would not recommend the pastorate to most young inexperienced men like myself, but I am grateful for the opportunity I had to serve. I remember someone asking me, “How old are you?” and “You are the Senior Pastor?” My thought to that was, “How old does a person have to be to serve God?” However, it is imperative that you keep a teachable spirit and take the opportunities that God gives you and remain faithful to that task.
In October of 2010, I received a phone call. A man named James informed me that he was a friend of Mr. Everett who attended a weekly Bible study I held at a local assisted living facility. They wanted to meet up with me for coffee. So we scheduled a time and met at Wendy’s. They started asking some probing questions. Specifically, they asked how our family was doing. I said, “You mean physically…spiritually, uh, were doing fine, and we have all our needs provided.” Though we did have all our needs provided for, my wife was praying for a mini-van. Earlier that year, we had given our 2006 Chrysler Town & Country to some missionary friends who had lost theirs in a fire. Now we were limited to squeezing our family of five into our two-door Ford Focus.
Long story short, on Thanksgiving week of 2010, we met up with Mr. Everett and Bro. James at a car dealership where they had a beautiful red 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan awaiting us. It only had 8,500 miles on it. We had met Mr. Everett while doing weekly Bible studies at a retirement home. He would attend and wanted to be a blessing to our family. Now we had a good reliable vehicle which would eventually serve us greatly in ways only the Lord could foresee!
Note: Bethel Baptist Church is currently under the leadership of Pastor Keith Carringer. The new church name is Highlands Baptist Church and God has been blessing the work there!
About the author:
Luke graduated from Crown College of the Bible in 2003. He married Jamie in July of 2006. God has blessed them with five children. Together they had the privilege of serving in the pastorate of a Baptist Church in Florida from 2007-2011.
In August of 2011, our family began our journey to serve the Lord as labourers among Unreached People Groups in Asia. We prepared ourselves at Baptist Bible Translator’s Institute in Bowie, Texas. During that time, God directed our path to work among the Tibetan people in the country of Nepal.
In February of 2014, we moved to Kathmandu, Nepal and experienced God’s work of grace and protection upon our family. We had the privilege to serve at the Crown Nepal Bible College. Teaching classes and preaching at youth conferences was a great opportunity for our family. We also were able to assist in outreaches to villages of the Tamang and Gurung people.
In 2021, we moved to Tampa, Florida. We currently are serving in our home church Southside Baptist Church and teach in the Christian Academy. Luke continues his writing ministry (www.pilgrimoftruth.com) and video messages on his YouTube channel (Pilgrim of Truth). His goal is to aid believers in making Christ known to the world. He continues to seek to assist churches in America. His heart’s desire is to help meet the needs of the unreached people groups in the world.
