Pastor, Mayor, Coach and some thoughts on unanswered prayer

“Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, The Message

At this time of year it's appropriate to give thanks for God's goodness in our lives. I'll echo and 'amen' what the psalmist says repeatedly in Scripture:

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

his love endures forever” (Psalm 107:1)

Beyond the usual suspects of gratitude for my wife, my children, and the congregation I have served for over 27 years now, this year I'll add this one: gratitude for all my prayers that have not been answered over the decades of my service here.

We come from what would go as a “big” church around here – over a thousand people per Sunday. And while our pastor never taught this as a young man attending Bible college assumptions subtly grew within me; namely, that if you work hard and pray harder and remain faithful in time your church will be “big” too. When I landed here in 1991 fresh off the boat, as it were, assuming the leadership of a small congregation of approximately 60 people, I consciously set my sights on growing this church. I was eager to see my dreams realized. I prayed fervently that God would bless my every message and effort so that people would flock to this place and join what in time would certainly be a “great” church in the north woods of Wisconsin. I prayed that our worship would be “anointed” and the ministry “powerful and effective”. And of course, like every good evangelical pastor I prayed for people to be won for Christ and made disciples of Jesus.

This is what I thought I wanted

Twenty-seven years and a couple of months later, we're still about the same size as we have always been. In fact, because I have kept attendance since October 6, 1991 (my first official Sunday as pastor) I can say with great authority that over two and a half decades of ministry our average weekly attendance has ebbed and flowed between 40 and 60 with 75 folks on the rolls at any given time. Kids have grown up and left for school only to return for Christmas and Easter celebrations. Families have moved away or found another faith family to be a better fit for them. A few have graduated to the far better congregation of heaven. At the same time, babies have been born to those who were kids when we first arrived and others have been added to our ranks by transferring from another congregation or being born into the family of God. Over the years we have been fairly fortunate in the variety of worship leaders who have served here. And while they may not have what it takes to make the varsity squad of your run-of-the-mill mega church, they're pretty good for around here. But the truth is despite all our best efforts to grow the church, it has stubbornly remained the same numeric size through the past two and a half decades. In fact, whenever our average attendance begins to rise I emotionally prepare myself for an exit of a key individual or family because history has tended to repeat itself and they frequently do.

This is what it is

But here's the thing: where I may have once (okay, more than once) griped about God's seeming indifference to reward my best efforts and my most fervent prayers, at this time of year I find myself thankful. Why? Because one of the unforeseen benefits of serving a congregation the size it consistently remains is I've been able to outsource myself to a lot of other arenas and find great joy in doing so. Thirteen years ago, Chetek-Weyerhaeuser High School was in need of a Cross Country coach. Despite having no prior coaching experience, I applied. They passed on me but two years later when their new guy didn't pan out, they hired me. For the past 11 seasons I've been their Cross coach. Three of those seasons I had the blessing of coaching my son. Meanwhile, a lot of our athletes have become some of my kids whom I continue to connect with long after their high school running days have been in their rear view mirror.

I love these kids

MS-ers are a lot of fun

Two years later three of the four middle school track coaches decided to do something else with their spring. I ran into the head coach at a school assembly one day and she asked if I would like to become one of her assistants. I literally thought about it for about 30 seconds and then said, 'Sure' and just like that I have staffed the track program at the middle school for the past eight seasons (it also allows me to scout and recruit for our high school Cross program in the fall).

In 2013, a former YWAM-er who was a part of our fellowship encouraged me to get my sub license in order to substitute teach in our school system. To help grease the skids, as it were, he paid the $100 fee required for a three-year sub license. I never do it in the fall when Cross is going on but throughout the winter and spring I've been a regular sub at the elementary school ever since (I like working there because I can still do the math and I'm still taller than most of them). Of course since my kids were in kindergarten back in the '90s, I've done read-alouds at Roselawn Elementary, reading primarily to kindergarteners through second graders throughout the school year.

In 2016, though I had never held elective office before, I decided to run for mayor of our small town – and won. It's a part-time gig that doesn't require me to hold regular office hours. In fact, people can – and do – meet with the mayor at Refuge just as easily as they can at City Hall. I enjoyed my first two years so much I ran again and was re-elected in an uncontested election. I am fortunate to serve in such a way and connect with a whole different group of people than I normally would. And it's been fun, too.

The joke around here is “Just what do we call you? Pastor? Mayor? Coach?” To wit I simply reply, “Yes.” Perhaps if I served a larger congregation I would not be free to do this kind of stuff (as well as serve at our local county jail as a chaplain there) given the demands that a bigger fellowship would place on me. But in my case it feels that I'm right in my wheelhouse, as it were, wearing the multiple hats and filling the multiple roles that I am blessed to do.

Honestly, I don't remember what I thought ministry would look like back in 1991 other than I'm pretty sure it didn't look like how it's played out. No, a lot of things that I had hoped and prayed for have never come to pass yet and – who knows? - may never be answered. But as far as I can see it's worked out better.

Child dedication Sunday

My pastor once gave me some advice that he said his pastor shared with him on his ordination day: “Don't seek a big church. Seek a big ministry.” Of course, “big” is a relative term but I think its fair to say that over 25-plus years of ministry my footprint in this community, by God's grace, has been bigger than our facility. It reminds me of something Garrison Keillor once said, “Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known.” It reminds me – again – how lucky and blessed I really am.