Thank You, Thank You, Thank You30 years ago, on second Sunday in August, I officially began serving the Lake Don Pedro Baptist Church family as the Interim Pastor in place of Lowell Barnes, our church’s Founding Pastor, who had become too ill to continue. I think that calls for giving thanks.First of all “I give thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, appointing me to the ministry”— 1 Timothy 1:12 (HCSB). Whatever good has happened, whatever blessings came, whoever’s life was impacted during these years of ministry the glory belongs to God alone. He is the one who kept me and us, He enabled, He protected, He has been faithful, gracious, kind, patient, good, and glorious.I also did not come here alone. Susie, Hansi, and six week old Betsie were at my side. Along the way we got blessed with Emily, Andee, Shaheed, and for a while AJ and Sarah. That made for a lively pastor’s family. I owe a lot to them, Susie above all. They have supported, put up with, sacrificed, helped, served alongside, prayed, encouraged, sharpened and blessed me and our church. They made sure I stayed grounded, humble, and real. I would not have lasted without being on their team. How I thank God for them.And I am grateful for all who have made up this local body of Christ, this family of Jesus followers, this church and I thank God for their support, their service, their love for Christ, their passion for His kingdom, their love, their kindness, their prayers, and their faithfulness. It takes people like that for a church to function, to have life, to be a joy. I have been blessed here, been loved deeply, been appreciated, was helped in innumerous ways, have experienced goodness, benefited from generosity, and was allowed to make mistakes and grow. I thank God for making my family and me part of you.30 years is a long time to make mistakes and blow it, so I ask for forgiveness if I have hurt you, disappointed you, dropped the ball, didn’t do it right, failed to be Christlike, came up short, got to proud, listened to little, or lacked in love. Please know that none of that was intentional, my heart is to be a good and genuine shepherd, a faithful preacher and teacher, a godly and dependable leader, an example worth following.I love what God has called me to do and be. I am blessed by this long-term appointment to be your pastor here. I still dream of us to be the best, most Christlike, real, genuine, and growing church, where love abounds, where the Holy Spirit works in power, where souls are saved, lives are changed, disciples are made and send out, and through which the entire community is blessed.To God be all glory, how I love you, Pastor Hans
Loving Church
“… Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious (radiant) church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and (blameless) without fault. Ephesians 5:25-27 (NLT, parenthesis mine)Jesus loves his church. He knows she is not perfect, that’s why He laid down his live for her. He is working at perfecting her and bringing to light all of her glory. In the end she will be holy and blameless. Not everyone shares the love Jesus has for the church, in fact many have no use for her at all. I am not just talking about those who are adamantly opposed to Christ and Christianity, or religion in general. I am talking about many who identify themselves as Christian and yet have no love for and no involvement in the church. This has always puzzled me. How can I say I love and follow Jesus Christ and yet not love what He loves and gave his life for?I confess, the church, churches have made and still do make messes. It is especially grievous when church leaders make messes, act irresponsibly, say things that should not be said, or do things that are outright evil, even criminal. There is no justification and excuse for church leaders and Christians in general to act ungodly and unloving.Why does Jesus have to cleanse the church? Why does He have to work on making her holy and blameless? And why does He continue to pour out His selfless sacrificial love on her? Because she is made up of people, sinners saved by grace, spiritual bastards and orphans who have to learn how to live godly, how to be Christlike. Men and women who often take one step forward and two back. I often wonder why He has not thrown in the towel. And then I am so glad He didn’t because of how I have benefited from this relentless love of Christ, this passionate pursuing of His bride.My family and I have benefited immeasurably from being part of and belonging to a church. This community, this family of faith has shaped us, kept us, prayed for us, supported us, helped us, and blessed us. It has challenged us, stretched us, encouraged us, and anchored us. Could I write a long lost list of flaws and complaints that stretch over the twenty nine years of being part of this church family? Absolutely. Do I want to? Absolutely not. And if I did it would not change the love Christ has for His church, and this church, and it would not outweigh what I have received from being part Lake Don Pedro Baptist Church.How I love my church, being a representation of Christ’s body together with you, and Christ’s passionate pursuit of us collectively.To God be all glory, Pastor Hans
Growing disciples
“…, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” Matthew 28:18-20 (NLT). “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” 1 Corinthians 3:5-6 (HCSB). Without Susie we would have fewer plants around our place. She brings home trees and shrubs, her friends give her trees and shrubs, and even our kids think giving Mom plants is a great thing to do. Once a new plant or tree arrives it becomes my job to find a place for it, and since I have been trying for years to get off the hose-dragging system and to a buried pipe (my dogs would shred things above ground) automatic watering system you can imagine that makes putting in a new tree much, much more work, especially in the hard and rocky soil of Don Pedro.A few minutes ago I ate a delicious homegrown orange, harvested off a tree I actually bought myself a few years ago. In fact we have eight citrus trees and four of them are mature enough to bear (much to our delight) a significant amount of outstanding fruit. It really doesn’t matter who got the tree, who planted it, who watches over it because the joy is in seeing the tree grow and harvesting its fruit.When it comes to the vegetable garden all I do is prepare the boxes. I add the manure, the compost, whatever else to improve the soil and then rotortill and level it all. That’s when Susie takes over, she’ll plant it and water it. But just as with the trees the joy is in seeing that little garden thrive. Is there anything like a fresh homegrown tomato right off the vine with a little salt on it?As a church our calling is to make disciples, it doesn’t matter who does what. One invites, the other welcomes, someone makes the coffee and cookies, another teaches, some preach, others pray, and … What counts is that unsaved people come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, believe, and follow him. The joy is seeing people grow in Christ and bear fruit to the delight and glory of God. It doesn’t matter who plants, or who waters, the important thing is that disciples are made.It is my hope and prayer that we as church, every group, every ministry, and each one of us personally participates in and commits to making disciples. That the making of disciples is our core passion, what we get excited about, what we delight in, and what dominates our conversations, our dreams, and our service. So bring in some new plants, let’s make the waterers sweat, and watch God grow people.To God be all glory, love you, Pastor Hans
01-22-12 Churchmembership - belonging to the people of God
Church membership – knowing what it means to belong to the people of God"If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:15 (NASB) It was an excellent gift; two egg laying chickens, proudly presented to Susie and me on the front steps of the home our daughter Betsie had been living in as a Peace Corps worker in Benin. I was glad I knew something about how to handle live chickens and gratefully grabbed the birds dangling upside down from the outstretched arms of the beaming giver. Since an egg layer is too valuable to fry up I wasn’t sure what do with the hens, so after the crowd who had witnessed the event dispersed I handed them over to the man of Betsie’s compound.My question was how he would get those chickens to stay in their new home? I had not seen a single chicken pen anywhere in the village, just chickens running loose everywhere. So I watched the man tie a string around one leg of each hen and fasten it to the coop the chickens belonging to the compound returned to every evening. He explained that after a few days they became assimilated into his compound’s flock, they would think that this where they now belonged, then he would take the string off.I have thought about employing this method when it comes to teaching people to belong to and be a faithful member of a church, of Jesus’ flock. There are way too many people who profess to be followers of Christ who do not yet understand that they are meant to belong. They are in a sense running around like loose chickens. They have not understood that choosing God also means that God has chosen us to belong to, to be assimilated into, to be counted among His people, His assembly, His congregation, His church. So much so that we do not have to be tethered or even be reminded of it, but that naturally, eagerly, and habitually we would build our lives around a local Christian community, a church.When Joshua confronted the entire assembly of the Israelites about the choice they had to make in regard to God, they also had to decide who they would identify themselves with, who they would belong to, and what it means to be a people of God.So what about you? Is your life as Christian fully integrated into a local church? If not, why not? Do you understand what it means to belong to the people of God? Are you running loose, or are you fully integrated into a flock? If he could, would your pastor tether you for a while, or can he enjoy seeing you run free because you know what it means to belong to the body of Christ?To God be all glory, love you, Pastor Hans