Called to Preach

I have to confess, I don’t really enjoy my job on the tug boats that much. I’m glad to be able to pay my bills, well, bill, really, but isn’t there some other way? One of my biggest frustrations comes from the chaos created by the complete absence of a schedule. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been told I was being permanently assigned to a boat as part of a fixed crew on a regular schedule. I suppose just about every month before I crew up, that’s what I’m told, but the next month it’s always a new boat with a different crew and some random crew up date. I think my port captain might have the Brooklyn Bridge for sale, too.

I joined the Catherine on July 10th for a job over the weekend. The Catherine is usually tied up and only activated for odd jobs now and then. On Sunday afternoon, July 12th, the job finished, we were chugging back to Seattle. I was so stressed out about not knowing what was coming next that I had a knot of tension in my chest the size of a basketball. Will I be sent home, or will I be assigned to another boat? The port captain was on vacation, so who has authority to make these decisions – on Sunday afternoon, no less?

Additionally, I believe that I have a calling from God to be a preacher. I passionately desire to help Christians better understand God’s Word and apply what they’ve learned to their daily lives. I believe that every member of the Body of Christ has a role in the advancement of God’s Kingdom on earth, and I yearn to help each person discover that role. I want to help equip and motivate Christians to faithfully serve where God has called them. When I’m home, I try to serve our youth group this way, but it’s tough to do from a tug boat on the other side of the mountains.

For me, I feel that being in the ministry is the most meaningful way that I could be spending my time, and everything else is just a waste. (This is not true of course, but I’m a passionate guy, and sometimes my feelings get the best of me.) So, for perhaps the fourth or fifth time in as many years, I cried out to God, “Don’t You see me here?! I thought You called me to preach! Why am I stuck here in (fill in the blank)?!” It seems like the answer is always the same, but it’s not really an answer, and it’s not like I heard any voices in my head for this one either. Instead, I just knew what I was supposed to do.

I prepared myself to return to the tug boats as many times as God decreed. I prayed a pathetic, unspiritual sigh of a prayer, “Okay, God, You know where I am. When it’s time for me to preach, let me know. Until then, I’m not happy about it, but I’m willing to come back to the boats in August and September and October and November and December and the next couple years, if that’s what You want. You’re the Master and I’m the servant.” Only gradually did the ball of tension begin to shrink, but it felt like I had turned an important corner. . . again. Does anyone else have to keep learning the same lesson over and over?

Little did I know that on that same afternoon my beloved pastor was submitting his letter of resignation to our church board. He sent me an email about it on Wednesday, shortly after I encouraged myself to paint the starboard hatch on the Grizzly in a manner worthy of the King. (I had been assigned to a new boat on Sunday and I needed to remind myself that I must be found faithful in small things before I can expect to be promoted to positions of greater responsibility – pastoring a church, for example.) Pastor wrote to say he would be making his announcement to the whole church body on the next Sunday, July 19th. He also said that my name came up at the board meeting, and that I would likely be able to begin an active pursuit of ministry within the Church of the Nazarene.

Before I continue and tell you about the other opportunities I now have to choose between, I must say that more than anything, I’m sad to see my pastor leave. He has a great sense of humor (which means he and I find the same things funny), and he is an excellent preacher of the Word of God. I don’t think he reads my blog too often unless I push him, so I can say nice things without it being flattery. He’s the mentor I’ve been praying for since I first embarked on this path nine years ago, and I always look forward to coming back to Chelan so that I can spend time with him. And now he’s going to leave. And I’ll be mentor-less again. One more friend on the far side of an email. See-you-laters are stupid. Why are all my friends are so spread out and I can never keep any near me? Well, this was meant to be a positive post . . .

Have I yet mentioned in any of my blog posts that I have been privileged to preach at three little churches in Idaho and Montana? My really great friends, Joel and Dess, whom I met at Friend Ships, are the son-in-law and daughter of the current pastor of those three churches. Dess’ dad took a sabbatical last winter, and Joel and Dess filled in for him for a couple months. Dess sent me an email in October when I was on the tug boat in Los Angeles freaking out about why I was still at sea when I thought I had a call to preach. Her first email was just a note to say hi and tell me what she and Joel were doing.

The moment I read Dess’ email, my heart leapt at the thought of being able to preach at the three churches. I decided not to mention anything about it, and prayed that if it was God’s idea, He could have Dess herself suggest it. So, I replied with an innocuous email, and Dess then responded to say she had this idea that I should pray about: she invited me to preach at the three churches the next time I was off the tug boat!

Noxon, Montana, Heron, Montana and Clark Fork, Idaho are the three towns in which the three churches are located. They’re each small congregations, maybe 25, 18, and 35 people respectively? Each congregation has a unique personality, too, and I think that’s why they don’t all just meet in one central location. Instead, the pastor presents his sermon first in Noxon, then drives about 20 minutes northwest to preach in Heron, and then drives another 20 minutes to preach a third time in Clark Fork. I first made the circuit just before Thanksgiving, then again in January, and most recently, yesterday.

Dess’ dad has been moving toward retirement for a while, but he did not feel the moment was right to announce his resignation to the churches until July 19th. I have been officially invited to pastor these three churches, jumping in right away at the beginning of September. When I said that my own pastor had announced on the same day that God was calling him elsewhere too, in reply, I was informed that one of the three churches had $200,000 set aside to build a parsonage for the next pastor. This Sunday one of the ladies of that church said the same thing, and said that wasn’t meant to be a bribe, well, maybe it was.

I have also been contacted by a representative of the Sandpoint Church of Christ. Apparently they are starting a second church and I was one of the people they thought of to be the pastor of the new congregation. So, when it rains, it pours?

If I had been offered the pastorate of the three churches last winter, I probably would have jumped at it without much prayer. Now I have options?! Preposterous! My home is in Chelan, and I have really connected with the youth and adults of my home church. Also, I have recently discovered that my understanding of the Bible mostly closely aligns with the theology of the Nazarene church. Then there’s the Peru connection . . . and existing missions emphasis . . . and is that a sense of calling? Nonetheless, I have not yet been invited to be the next pastor – I submitted my resume and a cover letter to the board for review at their next meeting, August 9th. (Developing a resume of ministerial experience, now there's an awkward task! Look at me, I'm the most humble!)

The three churches in Idaho and Montana are United Methodist in a conservative part of the country. The Methodist denomination gave birth to the Nazarenes, so our theological perspectives are fairly close. The three churches present different challenges and growth opportunities, compared to Chelan, and either choice could be perfectly legitimate. Neither option is amoral, so God might be willing to bless either one, or even the third! This of course makes choosing harder, as I am developing a fondness for the members of the three churches, too, and their spiritual growth and progress is a sincere concern of mine! I really do care about them! No matter what, I really hope to stay connected.

If there was yet any doubt that God is calling me to the pastorate, perhaps this will eliminate it? I was recently given 19 boxes of books from a retired Nazarene preacher. I went through every box and created an excel spreadsheet listing all the books and authors; there were nearly 800 titles! Can you imagine the cost of purchasing that many books? Some titles are now quite hard to find, and very expensive. That’s not to mention the books published in the early 1900’s, and even the few from the late 1800’s! The pastor had been meaning to ask my pastor if he knew anyone who might be able to use the books for over a year, but only recently got around to it. The King has a funny sense of timing, eh?

Please pray for me as the time comes to make a decision. Please pray that I may see clearly how God is leading. Please pray for all the churches that are looking for a pastor; I’m not the best guy for at least two of them, and God has someone else He’ll use. Please pray that person hears the call and answers.

I’ll keep you posted with updates!

Grace and Peace,

Jake