the ongoing lesson

I continue to be amazed at my parent's faith, endurance, and love for the Lord.  My dad's lymphoma is back and is in the middle of treatment.  It has been a difficult round of treatment but you can read about the journey here: http://nealandtrishsmith.blogspot.com/

inefficent planning

At Moran Park we feel strongly that God is leading us to be involved in the neighborhood and serve those across the globe. He has led us as a church family on quite a ride determining what this will look like. It has been one of the most inefficient processes ever.

A few months ago, I had someone from the church share how God has been laying on her heart a passion for global missions. Since we are very young as a church, we haven’t had any involvement in global missions. Needless to say, I was excited. Not only did she have a passion but she wanted to help lead the church in getting involved in global missions. We didn’t have a location, an organization, or even an idea of an area where God wanted us to be involved. I didn’t want to waste the excitement and the leader that God had brought us so I started to come up with a plan and timeline. If we wanted to have a trip sent next summer we would need to get everything in order before then. I began going through a checklist in my head. Soon God revealed that wasn’t how he wanted us to go about this. He has been teaching us as a church family to trust him for each step. He often will show us one step and then when we take that step he will show us the next one.

This is what we began to do. As this individual and I both sensed this direction from the Lord we began to pray for the first step. It became clear that we were to invite the church to a time of prayer to ask God for our next step. The Holy Spirit seemed to lay orphans on both of our hearts but this was something we were going to need to pray for all together as a church community.

At the first prayer time there were about 20 people gathered together with different expectations and passions. We spent time in prayer asking God what our next step was. I brought up orphans as something specific to pray for, thinking it would be one thing among many. Before long, that is what God was laying on all our hearts in unison.

My plan going into the evening of prayer was to find out who was interested in global missions and who was interested in local involvement. My next step was to then form teams and begin planning regarding the direction God showed us. But He quickly rebuked me and said, “You asked for one step, I’m giving you only one step. Let me lead the next step.” We knew another prayer time was necessary for the next step.

The second time we prayed together there was about 20 people again, some repeats from the first prayer time and some new people. We prayed a little bit and began sharing what he had been laying on our hearts.  People brought up some great organizations such as World Orphans and Angel Tree (through Prison Fellowship Ministries). It was clear God wasn't ready for us to jump into a program.  God quickly revealed our pride and arrogance and led us into a time of repentance for those things. We corporately cried out to God for forgiveness and he then showed us our next step. The question that came up for our next step was, “Who are the orphans in our midst (the church) and how are we doing caring for them?” We felt like we needed to figure that out before we could care for orphans globally. He was also causing us to see orphans in a broader way than just technical orphans without parents. Who are in an orphan- like place? We left praising God for another step.

Last night we met for the third time to ask God what the next step was on this journey. We split up into groups of 3-4 and prayed together. We gathered all back together and shared what we prayed for and what God laying on our hearts. It was all over the map. As people were sharing I kept asking God, why are we all over the place? There is no unity. We still don’t know our next step! We knew we had to keep praying together and ask God what the next step was since we still didn’t know.

Amazingly, he began to give the same answer to the individuals gathered there. He was revealing to us that he wasn’t giving us our next step because we weren’t ready. One person prayed about God’s desire to prune us. Many people prayed in repentance to the Lord for arrogance, looking down on others, not being willing to give up whatever was required to care for the orphans in our midst, among other things. We were experiencing what Acts 3:19 describes as repentance that leads to refreshing from the Lord’s presence.

God didn’t give us a specific next step but he spoke when we asked him. He revealed things in us as individuals and as a church family that we need to deal with and repent of before we are ready for him to show us what is next. We again left praising God for showing himself to us. So, I guess he did show us our next step – it was just way different that we anticipated. This step is going to require us as individuals and as a church family to ask God to reveal anything in us the is preventing us from caring for orphans and taking the steps of repentance.

I will admit, this way of determining how we are going to get involved with global and local missions is frustrating to me at times because I just want to do something. This way of doing things is very inefficient. But I’m realizing more and more God isn’t after our efficiency with this. He is using this process to shape up, grow us, and transform us. We are being discipled in the process. God is preparing us as a church to be who he desires us to be. Pruning and refining is often a slow and difficult process. But it is a process that ultimately points to him and not to us and what we accomplish.

a brother's greatest honor

On the July 4th weekend, I had the incredible opportunity to perform the wedding ceremony for my sister, Whitney.  It was a beautiful outdoor ceremony at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.  This was the most meaningful wedding I have ever officiated.  No offense to any other bride but it was so special because Whitney is my only sister to go along with 3 brothers.  Thankfully, they had some great photographers take some wondeful pictures to caputre the day. 

Many people asked if I was going to cry during the ceremony. Of course I was going to cry - it was my sister! But it was so hot and I was dripping with sweat so I didn't have too much liquid left in the body to cry. Besides that, I found looking at Ty most of the ceremony helped me keep it together.

I don't think Whitney or Ty thought through how much power they were giving me. I was the last thing standing in the way of the two of them becoming husband and wife. My dad had already given her away and as she and Ty stood in front of me, I had the final say. But I couldn't have been more happy to see the two of them get married.

Whitney has always gotten whatever she wanted. I guess this is just part of being the only girl and the queen of the family. Growing up, us older two boys were so busy beating up on each other and the younger two were busy doing the same that Whitney just skated by in the middle getting whatever she wanted. And for whatever reason, we gave her what she wanted - most of the time. She has always been very particular and knew exactly what she wanted. On Sunday, Whitney got exactly what she wanted in a husband. Not only did she get what she wanted in a husband, but as an older brother and as a family, we all got what we wanted in a husband for Whitney. We couldn't have asked for better addition to the family.

The Smith family is not an easy one to get into, but Ty, we welcome you with open arms. Whitney, thanks for giving me a brother's greatest honor of performing his sister's wedding.

dad's story hits the press

I've written a little bit about my dad's cancer journey this past year (which was right on the heels of my mom's bout with breast cancer).  There was recently an article written in the South Bend Tribune about my dad's brother Karl being the donor for his bone marrow transplant and their journey together.

It's a great article. Take a read - "Bone marrow transplant prompts Bridgman men to tell their story."

You can keep up on their journey by reading their blog.

a mentor moving on

This past weekend, the Senior Pastor at Ridge Point Community Church (where I work) announced that he has accepted the position of CEO for Prison Fellowship - the nation's largest prison ministry.  You can read the press release for more information.

As the Senior Pastor, Jim is my boss, but he has been much more than that for me. He has been my mentor for six years and a friend for even longer. I've known Jim since I was very young. When he shared the news with me of him moving on from Ridge Point, I reminded him that it was his fault I was in ministry. During my senior year of college, when ministry became a possibility, I drove up to Holland to have a conversation with Jim about these wrestlings in my heart. I hoped he would talk me out of ministry but he did just the opposite - he offered me a job at Ridge Point.

He took a chance on me and gave me an incredible opportunity. Because of him, I have been given the opportunity to fully pursue the Lord in full time ministry and grow more and more into the pastor God has created me to be. I have learned all the things from him that they don't teach you in seminary (which is about 95% the things you really need to know).

He taught me more than the technicalities of how to do a wedding, funeral, or preach. He taught me how to love and care for people with the deep, compassionate love of Jesus. For that, I will be forever grateful.

I'm excited for this new season of life for Jim and am anxious to begin this new era of our friendship.