Expect Great Things
We were newly-wed, twenty-one years old and in New York City for the Billy Graham Crusade School on Evangelism. One of the seminars was in an old city church and on the wall was a plaque with these memorable words:
Expect Great Things From God
Attempt Great Things for God
William Carey
Chuck and I saw this exhortation as our unique marching orders from our God and we enthusiastically accepted the call. Yes! We would do just what William Carey challenged us to do. Nothing could stand in the way of our desire to do something "BIG" for our God. Chuck was a new believer and I was newly dedicated to walk by faith, no matter how difficult the pathway.
BIG - yes BIG - would be our impact.
So when God opened doors for Chuck to pastor a tiny, dying inner city Philadelphia church while he attended seminary, our answer was, "YES!"
It did not matter that Chuck's salary would be below poverty level. We had Jesus! We would turn around this dying church into a vibrant, living testimony to God's power and grace! We planned, prayed and dreamed of the day this BIG, beautiful, stone building with enormous, glorious stained glass windows that told the story of Jesus, our BIG Savior. would one day be packed!
We would succeed in our passion to turn our world upside down for Jesus. No matter that only 30 people were left in this once vibrant mission, established in 1903. We had a call - Attempt GREAT things for God. Expect GREAT things from God. And surely, a BIG vibrant city church was God's will and we would make it happen!
Twenty-one years old. Pastoring a church as a "one-year-old" Christian with no background as a Protestant. Ah, yes, we would definitely turn things upside down. But not exactly as we planned.
God's definition of BIG is often quite different from our own.
Three years in that church, five years in another inner-city church - this one deeper in the city and far more dangerous. In a neighborhood whose claim to fame was that it had the highest rate of day time gang killings. A once white, prosperous, Polish neighborhood. Now, numerous ethnic groups and skin colors. Our children's best friends were Bindu and Sindu Babu, two little Indian girls who lived in an apartment that overlooked our concrete yard. Women carrying grocery bags on their heads was a common sight. Such diversity made our move more exciting. YES, this time, we will do something GREAT for God in this tiny dying inner city church. After we moved in to the huge old parsonage one of the leaders told Chuck, "This is three dying congregations that came together out of desperation. We're gasping for breath. The hearse is backed up to the door....." implying, "Good luck."
Our first Sunday in our new mission. We should have been high on Jesus. Yet, after I put the two babies down for their naps, I found my young pastor husband crying quietly as he sat on the front porch. The promised "amazing music program" consisted of a powerful pipe organ and a choir of 3 elderly women. One couple without white hair sat in the pews of the 500 seat sanctuary. The other 27 were elderly, tired and almost hopeless as they listened to this new energetic, twenty-four year old preacher call them to action and silently wondered who this young guy thought was going to do all the work to accomplish his vision. "Go for it!" was their response.
"Sharon, there is so much work. Look at this community that needs Jesus. I don't know where to start. The needs are beyond me. We are so alone. I don't want to stay here."
William Carey, 1761-1834
What does attempting
GREAT THINGS FOR GOD
look like in a dying church, a young pastor's family, a congregation of people longing for something more, desperate to hold on to the past glory, not sure what expecting great things from God looks like? William Carey, the one credited with this great quote was called the father of modern missions and lived in the late 1700's. I'm thinking that if he lived today, he would say that attempting great things for God was his mission statement and this one, also credited to him was his business plan:
"I can plod. I can persevere in any definite pursuit. To this I owe everyhing."
During the month of November, I'll share some plodding and persevering life lessons learned as God used these eight years as His School Master in our lives. They aren't recipes for how to pack out a dying city church or measuring success by our definition. Along with our story, you'll meet some ordinary people who when faced with devastating circumstances made hard choices rooted in faith, choices that often required plodding and persevering in order to attempt great things for God. And undergirding each choice was another choice - to expect great things from God.
But first we'll meet a destitute widow of a preacher man, who experienced first hand what happens when we attempt great things for God in a hopeless situation.
Her appeal for help was met with this question, a question Chuck and I had to answer as well: "What do you have in your house?"
Her response: "Nothing, except...."
Nothing, except......
In His grip
Sharon
Don't forget to subscribe to this blog and leave a comment (your comment is your entry) during the month of November to enter a weekly drawing for an autographed copy of
Two Wars
by American Hero, Nate Self. Nate Self is a man who held a gun in his hand to take his life, but chose to live instead - a man who attempted great things for God, with hope of great things from God. Click here for more details -