I concluded: “If you are not going to support your own meeting, then neither am I. Let me know what you decide.”
I heard from only one of the half-dozen pastors in that small parish. He was upset at the bluntness of my letter. But I didn’t back off. That’s one of the advantages of my not having been a longtime denominational employee: I had not learned to take this kind of guff in silence. As a career pastor I knew that side of the situation all too well.
Occasionally someone needs to talk straight to these guys and speak the truth. Faithful are the wounds of a friend (Proverbs 27:6).
The odd thing is that all six of those churches were in bad trouble and were struggling, dying even. Then, on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina put every one of them out of business and forced the pastors to relocate.
I am completely aware that even had the pastors received my amazingly insightful input and my expert guidance (as Paul said, I speak as a fool), the hurricane would still have ended their ministry in that parish. But still….
What Paul did
Paul and Silas were having trouble finding someone to help. Everyone they saw needed the gospel–that’s the advantage of being a pioneer with Christ’s message–but they kept running into closed doors. Here’s how Luke tells it in Acts 16: And they passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia, and when they had come to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them….
These guys had to have been wondering, “Well, Lord, we see all these places you don’t want us to go, and we see all these closed doors–but where do you want us? There has to be someone out here open to our message and ministry.”
