As we prepare to take our first missions trip as a church to Peru in three days, I can’t help but take a moment, breathe in deeply, and smile real big. This week has been a welcomed break for me as it is the first week in many months (other than when my pops came and spoke for me a month ago) that I haven’t had to really buckle down and prepare to teach. Aletheia Tampa won’t be able to have a worship experience again until January 10th. This new ministry venture has been somewhat of a huge transition for me. Doing ministry comes relatively easy for me after doing it now since I came out of the womb, but Bible teaching is not something that came very easy. Really, I hope that it doesn’t come easy for anyone because you can’t get up and wing a Bible study. I remember many worship sets that I led where the band wasn’t able to practice and we pulled it off just fine. You can’t do that with Bible teaching. Unless your goal is something other than to educate people about what God’s Word has to say.
But even as I say this week has been a break for me, I couldn’t help myself and yesterday spent 7 hours writing a Bible study after spending 4 hours the day before doing research and reading commentaries on that same Bible study. And I’m sure I will spend much of the break after our trip to Peru working on getting ahead on Bible studies for next year. I guess I have become a glutton for God’s Word. I enjoy preparing for a Bible study so much more than I do preparing to lead worship. There’s nothing more satisfying than to dig deep into the Word and let God open your eyes to new insights that I had never known before. And then after that, to be able to present it to a bunch of willing people who will sit and listen to you get excited for 40 minutes, just blows my mind. I am privileged to do what I do.
Even with as challenging as this past year as been, it has been one of the most personally rewarding times of my life. Amidst the tragedy that came into our lives at the end of last year, I have to say that this year has been the most fulfilling spiritually for me and my family. We have really been stretched this year, dragged through the fire so to speak, and in the end, we are more joyful than ever before.
I don’t have to remind my readers again my thoughts on church planting but while I’m at it I’ll go ahead and say it…”Church planting is the most difficult and challenging aspect of ministry to do in America.” There I said it again. It’s tough. But we are so encouraged. We are closer to each other. We are closer to God. And we wouldn’t want to be doing anything else at this point in our lives. It’s nice to be right where God wants you to be. It’s a good place to be. It’s real peaceful, even when everything around is stormy and rough.
I am looking forward to what this next year brings. And I hope you will view things the same way that I am right now. It is God after all who can encourage us to “Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous; And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” (Ps. 32:11). He has redeemed us and given us mercy and grace. What amazing concepts those three are.