Hurry up and Wait: How God Called Me to FBC

Just over two years ago this month, God confirmed to Donna and me His call for me to pastor this church – a full three months before the Pastor Search Team presented me and you then voted to extend to me that call. Actually, as early as January 2002, God began to draw me to this fellowship, this family of faith. I did not recognize it then. I thought I came to Michigan to become a denominational servant. Today, I know God brought me to Michigan to prepare me to become your pastor. Indulge me. If you will, and follow this timeline with me:

In 2001, The Church Growth Ministries Committee of the Baptist State Convention of Michigan (BSCM) interviewed Donna and me for the position of Associate Team Leader. During a break time, we talked with Pastor Bob Beddingfield. The spiritual markers in our journeys hinted at an intriguing crossroads in our respective ministries.

I moved into the parsonage next door in January 2002. On my first Sunday in Michigan, I attended the morning worship service here. I enjoyed a very friendly conversation with Mark Daves. Though I was missing my family terribly, I recall the strangest feeling that I was right where I was supposed to be, as if I were home.

I think I knew within my first year at the BSCM that God’s purposes in my life probably did not include a career in denominational work. I was where God wanted me for the moment, but He was most assuredly clarifying my call to pastoral ministry in the local church. When Pastor Beddingfield announced his retirement in July 2002, however, I was surprised by a tug on my heart and a whisper in my spirit. I wondered if God might be calling me to this church. I sought God’s will in prayer and sought godly counsel from some of my friends and colleagues. Was it time for me to return to pastoral ministry? God said, “Not yet. I am at work. Wait. Watch. Keep doing what you know until I say otherwise.”

BSCM leaders came alongside First Baptist Church to serve short interim ministries after Pastor Oliver had resigned. I preached here three Sundays in July 2005. Several people asked if I would pray about becoming your pastor. At the time, however, I was already praying about the Team Leader position recently vacated by Mark Donnell. I learned a long time ago to avoid praying about more than one opportunity at a time. That inevitably leads to comparisons, to weighing the pros and cons, to man-centered reasoning that confuses and makes God’s path less clear. Though my heart welcomed the prospect, I could not with integrity pray about the pastorate here while I was seeking God’s will on another matter.

By Christmas 2005, God had made it clear to me that I should not pursue the Team Leader position at the BSCM. I was certain He was preparing to lead us back into pastoral work. God was no longer whispering when He spoke to me in an unexpected “chance” encounter with David Rudd at some meetings in Indianapolis in January 2006. I went from dinner to my hotel room to ask God if He were not only calling me back to pastoral ministry, but also if He were actually calling us to this church. After I prayed, I called Donna and asked her what she thought. We prayed some more. The next morning, I was certain God wanted me to submit my name to the Pastor Search Team.

You need to understand, I only submit my résumé to a committee when I already have a strong sense that God is indeed bringing me to that ministry. So, when I gave my résumé to the Pastor Search Team here, I was already pretty sure God’s will was for me to come here to serve. In mid-March, however, the Lord seemed to test my trust in Him. He made it painfully obvious that I had to withdraw my name from consideration. (The explanation would take too much space here. I love to tell this part of the story, though, so feel free to ask me sometime). Though it pained me to do so, and certainly confused the Pastor Search Team, I had to obey the Lord and withdraw my candidacy.

The next six weeks were agonizing for me. I checked what I knew of God’s will for my life and how I understood Him to have directed me. I was still convinced He was leading me away from the BSCM back into pastoral ministry, but I had all but abandoned what I thought He had said to me about this church. Then, one Monday night in early May, I received a phone call from the Pastor Search Team. Things had changed dramatically. They wondered if I would be interested in reconsidering. They had me at hello! I knew before I hung up the phone that God was calling me to be your pastor!

While you and the Pastor Search Team continued to seek the Lord’s will for a pastor, my prayers in July 2006 were already focused on what God had in mind for us together here. God was telling me He was preparing us, His church, for a transition that would take at least seven years. It would take at least that long to get ready for what He was about to do.

My first Sunday as your pastor was August 20, 2006. I came with a deep conviction that God has brought us together for His purposes – chiefly, to know Him more intimately and to make Him known more intentionally. Now, in June 2008, we are 22 months into what I believe will be at least seven years of transition – a transition that will so align us with God that He will make Himself known to His church and the world with power as He accomplishes His work through us.

Why the walk down Memory Lane? In this week’s Experiencing God study, I recognized a number of key lessons I should have learned from God’s call to bring me here. First, and foremost, God has one great plan for our lives, a plan that will last for eternity. His greatest desire is for a continuing love relationship with you and me that is real and personal. If we will not get in a hurry, if we avoid getting hung up on what we think we are supposed to be or do for Him, if we will focus on the relationship, He will lead us day by day by day. Each day we obey His daily assignments (to know Him, believe Him, love Him, trust Him) prepares us for His Great Assignment for the rest of our lives, including our lives in eternity!

Pastor Rob