First Post: Changing Plans

I have been the pastor of four churches over 31 years.  The first three were in the US but the last one was in Vietnam at The Well–an international, interdenominational church in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).  It was quite exciting to minister to people from many countries.  It was even more exciting to see people from different church backgrounds be united in one church. 

There were other interesting things.  Getting around on a motorbike in a city of ten million people will keep you sharp.  Also, the necessity of dealing with officials from the communist government was an unusual experience.  I had to do this as part of the process of getting the necessary ‘permission to preach’ document every year. 

But some aspects of being there were frustrating.  One example: getting the annual visa, which was supposed to be a smooth process, sometimes was not. 

But all in all, those 7.5 years there felt visionary and that I was doing real pastoral work with people who wanted to listen. 

Then it came time, for various reasons, to return home to the US. 

I had plans for how my ministry would be when I got back.  I’d have a two-tiered ministry–I’d find an independent church to pastor, and I’d finish up a major book project that I had been gradually working on over the years.  I’d do both at the same time and have dual avenues of Christian influence.  It seemed like a good idea. 

But my plan didn’t turn out.  I did not find a church to pastor that I felt right about, nor was there an onrush of churches wanting to have me.  So, the two-tiered ministry turned out to be one tier–finishing and self-publishing the book project, which was done (and I’m now in the process of marketing those books). 

The main point is that my plan, even though there was nothing wrong with it, didn’t happen. 

It made me wonder what the Lord’s will was.  I did not want to leave pastoral ministry yet.  Was I being put ‘on the shelf’ for a time? 

Something that helped me sort through the disappointment was the memory of a ritual that I’d used in church several times.  It was called John Wesley’s Covenant Service.  It was a good way to start off the year.  It was a call to radical commitment to God.  Part of it goes:

PASTOR: Lord, put me on whatever task You will; rank me with whom You will.

PEOPLE: Put me to doing; put me to suffering.

PASTOR: Let me be employed for You, or laid aside for You, exalted for You, or trodden under foot for You.

PEOPLE: Let me be full; let me be empty.

PASTOR: Let me have all things; let me have nothing.

It was a reminder that being busy and having things be easy and exciting was not necessarily the Lord’s will for you forever.  Maybe the Lord’s will for you in a new season was not ‘success’ but suffering, being laid aside, or being emptied, or at least being disappointed.  We can see this in the lives of the great Bible figures, most of all in the life of Jesus.  Sometimes they were successful and popular, sometimes not, and sometimes things were very tough.  Success in the sight of men made absolutely no difference to what God thought of them.  God sees differently than man sees.  Some seasons of difficulty or disappointment are God’s will, part of His bigger picture.  Jesus prayed, “Not my will but thine be done.” 

Since my plans didn’t turn out, I had to readjust.  Though I am not now preaching, I still feel an obligation to speak God’s truth by other means.  

Part of the reason for starting this blog is to get ideas out there, Christian ideas.  We live in troubled times.  All the institutions in America seem to be given over to the evil one.  Lies are told so often that they are becoming orthodoxy.  I need to speak truth to it.  This blog will be one of the ways to do that. 

I hope you will check this website for a new article every Tuesday.  I intend to speak Christian truth on a variety of subjects: the Bible, current events and–yes–politics. 

Until next week,

Dean Coonradt