As I drove away from the elementary school where we had our Sunday morning service in Bennington, NE several weeks ago, a small sign on the street corner caught my eye.

“Volunteers Needed. Bennington Soccer Club.”

WHAT?! How can I get involved in that?!

One of my goals in going to Bennington for a year-long church planting internship was to get involved in the community in as many ways as possible. Having played soccer, played in orchestra, and taken lots of pictures while at school, there were three specific ways I wanted to get involved in the community: soccer, music, and photography.

So I got online, found the Bennington Soccer website, and contacted the president. After email correspondence and a great discussion over the phone, he told me he would try to find a way for me to be involved, especially because of my background in soccer.

He sent an email to three other guys involved in the league, urging them to reach out to me if any of them thought I could be helpful to them.

Just a little background about the Bennington Soccer League. The U4-U8 division (for players 8 years old and younger) is only developmental, practicing twice a week but not competing in weekly matches. U9-U19 practice and play games each week. The U4-U8 season runs March 16 to May 16, and the U9-U19 season starts several weeks earlier (and I think it might end later).

Most if not all of the coaches are parents of players, and their understanding and experience of the game varies from person to person.

Because I still have to travel back to school for a couple modules in April and May, and because I’m not a parent, coaching didn’t seem like the best fit. But I wanted to be some kind of an assistant coach for one of the teams if that was possible and agreeable to those involved.

Anyway, one of those three men emailed me back several days ago and told me he would like me to help with the U5-U6 boys group. I was so excited to get his response! He is the U5-U6 division coordinator, and he told me he would like me to be an assistant coach somehow. Practices were Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings, perfect for my schedule.

Yay! I get to help with a group of 7-8 young boys and a parent! I get to make some connections with a handful of people in the community, right?

Wrong.

“A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).

No, that’s not what God had in mind. I thought, 7-8 kids and a parent-coach and possibly the parents of those kids? In my mind, that is a great start when it comes to building relationships!

But alas, I was a little narrow-minded. God was thinking big and I was thinking small.

Last Sunday afternoon I had a meeting with the other coaches for the U5-U6 group. I met the division coordinator who had contacted me, but only long enough for me to introduce myself to him in person.

He gathered all the parents and me together and told us about some changes that were going to take place this year. The big change was that the eight teams would be paired together into four “super-teams” so that each group would have about 15 boys and four coaches. In the event a parent has to work or miss practice for any other reason, there would hopefully still be three other people there to instruct the group.

He handed out a sheet with the proposed groupings, and my name was nowhere to be found. Each of the four groups had four parent-coaches, and I was not included in any of those groups.

As he further explained his model, he suddenly looked at me and said, “Sorry Josh. I’m going to ambush you here. I hope that’s okay.”

I had no idea what he meant, but I figured it was nothing I would be opposed to. So I assured him it was okay, whatever it was.

“I just met Joshua, but he’s here this year doing an internship at the Baptist church, and he would like to volunteer with us. He played soccer in college, so my plan for him is to kind of be a floater and help out wherever. So if any of you have to be gone for some reason, he can come fill in and help you out.”

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Praise the Lord!

Narrow-minded me was excited about connecting with a dozen or so people on a single team. God’s plan is to have me help out at any given time with any of four different teams, potentially connecting with around 60 kids and over a dozen parents.

Does it get any better than that?

As I stood there and listened for the rest of the meeting, my mind was running wild. All I could think about was the fact that I had suddenly gained some kind of respect among this group because I had “played soccer in college.” Yeah, it was a small Bible college, but it’s still something!

Sports in a Bible College? Yep. Starting next Tuesday night, I get to spend two months teaching little kids how to play soccer, meanwhile building relationships that will hopefully result in the salvation of many and the growth of God’s church. Could I have done it without playing soccer at Faith? Yes, but the doors that God opened to me are much wider than they otherwise would be if I had not joined the team.

I could go on and on telling stories from my soccer days at Faith. I have so many good memories both as a player and last year as a manager for the team. I could also talk about how soccer taught me a great deal of discipline, how it taught me patience and humility, how it improved my leadership skills, and how it initiated many amazing ongoing relationships with other guys.

Perhaps I’ll write about those things another time. But the purpose of this three-part series was to give you a glimpse into the journey God gave me from an untalented wannabe soccer player to an amazing outreach opportunity in Bennington, Nebraska.

Yes, my main priority at college was getting a sound Bible education. However, I would be amiss to mention that the soccer field was literally a training ground for practical ministry as well. This is where God has me now, and who knows what He has planned for the future. I’m probably still narrow-minded, just waiting to be blown away by God.

“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts'” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

I read the message and could hardly contain my excitement. I had to tell somebody. Anybody! So at supper I told Uncle Jim and Aunt Julie the exciting news, “I get to be the captain of my soccer team this fall!”

After finishing my third season of soccer, I had a lot of reflecting to do. After being a starter for the first 10 games of the season due to a pre-season injury to one of my teammates, I once again returned to the bench where I had spent most of my first two seasons.

Now, on the one hand I knew that I wasn’t necessarily good enough to be the starter. On a more talented squad at a bigger school, perhaps I never would have ever had the opportunity to start a game. But it was still a big adjustment for me as I reverted from 70-90 minutes of playing time to 5-20 minutes per game for the last half of the season.

Nevertheless, it’s still a team sport, and I supported my team through the losses and victories, and unfortunately we suffered some difficult defeats to close out the season, majorly missing our high expectations for the season.

As the season ended and I packed away my bright blue and orange cleats, I had one nagging desire for the following year: I wanted to be the team captain my senior season.

I had a few odds stacked in my favor. I would be the only fourth-year player on the team, and once again we were losing a lot of talented players who had only come to school for a year or two of Bible classes. But despite those two details, I still thought it would be a long shot because I was a perennial bench warmer and I played a position that often went unnoticed.

The last captain was an All-Region goalie and team MVP (Michael Craig), the captain before him was a 2nd Team All-American defender and team MVP (Seth Bean), and my rookie season we had Jay Nihart and Aaron Nilius as co-captains, two guys who played a huge role in teaching me the basics and exemplifying the not-so-basics (see my preceding post, Sports at a Bible College? Why? – Part 1).

All I had to show from my three years of college soccer were two Scholar Athlete awards (another way of saying that I got a lot of reading done while sitting on the bench).

Oh, and I suppose you could look at the statistics and see that I led the team in shooting percentage one year…I had one goal on two shots for a .500 average. Pretty impressive.

But my God is bigger than my lack of talent, and I asked Him for the privilege of leading my team the following season. I don’t remember how often I sent this request up to God, but it was quite often throughout the next several months.

The following summer I went on a 7-week missions trip to Brasil, and there I received a decent fill of soccer. Brasil was hosting the Confederation Cup, so I watched four of the games on TV and cheered with the country as we won the championship game, routing Spain 3-0. I also got to play a little futebol with the nationals, once with some Bible college students and once on an island with some elementary-age kids.

All the while, I kept praying, “God, if it’s possible, I pray that you would allow me to be the captain for my soccer team this fall.”

I never told my coach about my desire, and for the most part I kept it to myself.

Finally, one evening in Brasil before going to bed I was checking my emails when I received a notification saying my soccer coach had sent me a message on Facebook. I frantically pulled up the message and read, “I have been spending a lot of time thinking and praying about this season and the only thing I know for sure about this season is that I want you to be a captain. Let me know if you are up for it.”

“Thank you God!” I don’t remember if I verbally said it or if I just thought it, but that’s what I was thinking. I was overjoyed!

After replying to Coach and telling him that I had been praying about it too, I received his response the next day: “Glad to hear you’re interested in being captain, the position is yours.”

My dream had come true. I couldn’t thank God enough.

Although I was extremely excited, I also had to be realistic about the situation. As far as anyone knew, we had about 10 people committed to playing, and only 5-7 of us were returning from the year before. I didn’t know the new people, and I knew that most of us returners were not very good.

I honestly wasn’t expecting anything more than a repeat of my initial season on the team. But as captain, I was willing to make the most of what would be a loss-filled season.

Arriving at school for pre-season tryouts, things looked slightly brighter than previously expected. We had a full 13 people trying out. But still, it was only 13 people, and we had no goalie.

The situation got grimmer as one of our veteran players withdrew his name from the hat, leaving us with only 12. Being team captain was getting harder and harder.

But before the week was over we had recruited two basketball players and a new student who had transferred from another school. None of them had come to school planning to play, but we knew they were athletic and could run, so we gladly welcomed them to the team. One of original teammates also agreed to tend the goal for us.

The season started out rough as expected as we lost 7-0 to Providence in our first game. A week later we lost 5-0 to Manhattan, four of those goals in the first 47 minutes (90 minutes total in a full game).

The next day we lost a heart-breaker, falling 2-1 on the road to Barclay College after scoring first in the 100+ degree afternoon heat. We played much better that day, but we still arrived home disheartened by a 0-3 record.

But even though we lost to Barclay, that second half against Manhattan proved to be somewhat of a turning point early in our season.

After our loss to Barclay, we won our next four games in a row, giving up only one goal while scoring 13. During that span, I recorded my first career assist (three total during that span), a personal goal of mine.

We lost the next game 1-0 to a great team, evening our record at 4-4, and the next game was another of my greatest memories from my soccer career.

We played Northland International University, a team that ranked at the top of the nation year after year. In my first three years they beat us 8-0, 6-0, and 11-0. In fact, the year before when we lost 11-0, we had set up cameras behind the nets, and in the locker room after the game we marveled at the goals they had scored on us.

Anyway, most of the goals in each of those games were scored in the first half because they would score a lot and then rest their starters in the second half. This time, we held them scoreless the entire first half.

Best half of soccer in my life. Yeah, it was 0-0, but we were playing one of the best teams in the country! We were excited, and as the captain I challenged the guys to keep on fighting hard.

We eventually lost 3-0, but it was the most respectable 3-0 loss I ever had. That was one of the defining moments in our season. My team of 15 had stood toe-to-toe with the best and played well. This was not the team I envisioned before the season began.

In October we initiated “Shutoutober”, refusing to allow any team to score on us during the month of October. The result was five scoreless games in a row, one tie (against North Central, of course) and four victories. The streak ended on a bad call in a conference tournament game late in the month, but it was still a memorable month of defense.

I don’t recall ever playing on a team that played hard as those guys did during that month. We were determined to kill our bodies before we would allow a ball in our net. In fact, I remember receiving a ball square in the face from a point-blank shot near our goal in the aforementioned conference tournament game, but it was worth it because it kept the ball out.

For once in my career, we overachieved, surpassing all my expectations. We weren’t very talented, but I had the privilege of leading a team that played as a team and worked hard. We tied a record for most shutouts in a season, we had enough talent to score a goal or two, and most of all, we played with lots and lots of heart. We went into our regional tournament hoping for the best.

Unfortunately, the season ended in heart-breaking fashion as well, and my last career game was one I can visualize just as clearly as the first when we beat Calvary in overtime.

Once again playing the regional tournament semi-final game against NCU, we played 90 minutes of fierce soccer but no one could score. We went into overtime and double overtime as the sun set, and 20 minutes later, we were still scoreless.

In four seasons of soccer, I played in four tied games. All of them were 0-0…and all of them were against North Central. Man, that was so annoying!

But this time, we couldn’t end in a tie. We needed a winner to face Providence in the championship. The only solution? A shootout in the dark.

We had practiced shootouts because we knew it could come down to this. Our chosen five had done well, nailing their shots in practice. But this time it was real…and this time, they didn’t do so well.

Our first shot was blocked, and we missed the next three. NCU also missed their first two, but they successfully scored the next couple.

As the game winning penalty kick soared past our keeper, our captain fell to ground on his knees in tears. The game was over. The season was over.

My soccer career was over.

Or was it?

I finally walked off the field that night, but my heart ached. I wanted to win so bad! On the other hand, I never envisioned we’d come this far. I thought my role as captain would be to encourage a downtrodden squad for over two months. Instead, we competed for championships, and we came close. I was filled with bittersweet joy.

Four years go by so fast. But the reality is, my soccer career isn’t over! It didn’t end when I pulled off that captain’s band and tossed it in the laundry heap. Those four years were all preparatory, developing new skills and refining what little knowledge I had of the game.

My first year, Coach talked to me about my future plans, and I told him I wanted to play four years. He was very gracious and told me he was excited about that prospect. He compared me to another player on the team who had played four years and become a quality starter after not playing much when he began. I was encouraged by that conversation, and four years later God had fulfilled my dream.

How many people get the opportunities I had, especially with as little talent as I possessed? Not many. Is it because I’m special? Not really. But I serve a God who works outside the realm of reality and possibility.

Like I said, I’m not finished with soccer. In my third and final post in this series, I will elaborate on the continuing blessing God has provided with the game I love.

Trailing Calvary Bible College 0-1 late in the game, we sat on the sidelines hoping for something, anything good to happen. Our guys had fought hard in the Saturday afternoon heat, but still we had little go our way.

All of a sudden, defender Aaron Nilius cleared a ball from midfield, and from 35 yards out midfielder Jay Nihart barely managed to deflect the ball off his head toward Calvary’s goal. Fortunately for us, their goalkeeper was standing too far out and the ball cleared his reach and bounced into the net. We erupted on the sideline, and in that moment we had tied the game at one apiece. We were back in the game.

It was back and forth for the rest of regulation, and the score remained knotted at one.

Overtime, here we come. Golden goal. First to score wins it all.

Back and forth soccer again. Finally Emanuel Seewald, one of our best forwards, broke through the Warriors’ defense and slotted the ball past their keeper one more time. It was over.

We screamed and ran onto the field like little children, jumping on top of each other with huge smiles while our faithful fans cheered loudly on the sideline. It was ugly, but we had claimed a victory in our first game of the season in dramatic fashion on our home field, and we were exhilarated.

I still remember that day. It was my first collegiate soccer game, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t even get to step on the field, but it was an experience like none other.

When I enrolled at Faith Baptist Bible College in the fall of 2009, I was interested in playing soccer for the Faith Eagles, but I didn’t want to do it my first year. After all, my purpose in going to Faith was to get a solid Bible education that would aid me in future pastoral ministry, so soccer was not a priority of mine.

That year the team was fairly good and had several accomplishments. In fact, I think they posted a winning season that year. Several talented seniors were on the team, and the defense was one of the fastest, most talented groups the school had in awhile.

I went to a few games, but I never regretted my decision not to play. I was busy enough with my first semester at Faith and knew that it was better for me to focus on my studies and simply learn what college life was all about and how to make the most of it. So I built some good study habits, learned how to better manage my time, and got involved in a great local church.

But when I returned for my second year at Faith in 2010, I had committed myself to playing soccer. I had not played organized soccer since 5th grade, but I was ready to take on the challenge and have some fun.

After losing all those seniors from the year before, there were about 16 of us that tried out for the team, and 18 is the limit. So I had nobody to impress and made the team as a sub along with a few other untalented guys. We didn’t have high expectations for our season, but we loved the game and we were going to make the best of it.

We won our first game of the season over Calvary, but the rest of the season wasn’t so bright. We finished with a record of 3-11-1, our best regular season game coming in Coon Rapids, MN when we tied rival North Central University 0-0 in double overtime at night. We would have had five wins, but two of our victories were later reclassified as scrimmages and did not count toward our final win tally.

The most memorable moment of the season for the team and for me personally came during the regional tournament which our school hosted. Near the end of the season, I had won a starting position as an outside midfielder, not because I was super-talented but because I worked extremely hard on the field, especially in defense. So in the regional semi-final game against North Central, I had the opportunity to make the most of everything I had trained during the season.

For the first time all season, my family was able to attend a game, and our fans came out to support us as we finished out our season. I played most of the game, and I don’t remember most of it. But I remember the minute that mattered most.

Although we tied NCU earlier in the season in the aforementioned highly-contested battle, we managed to score first in the game. Leading 1-0 late in the game, we once again got the ball dangerously close to their goal, and I ran inside the back post. Suddenly someone attempted a shot on goal, but NCU was there. However, as one of the defenders tried to clear the ball out of the box, I happened to be in the right place at the right time doing absolutely nothing.

Standing right in front of the goal, the cleared ball bounced right off my chest and back into the goal, finding the back of the net.

Without any fancy moves or a powerful kick, I had scored my first collegiate goal when it mattered most, my family was there to see it, and we had virtually locked up a spot in the championship game the next day, leading 2-0 with only a few minutes left.

I ran back to the sideline somewhat confused as to what had just transpired, insisting that I didn’t actually score because I didn’t do anything. “They tried to kick the ball away and it went off my chest and back in!” But a goal is a goal whether it’s fancy or not. Coach promptly put a substitute in for me, and I was done for the day. But we won, and we would play another day.

In the locker room after the game I discovered that I literally had the imprint of a soccer ball on my chest. It was such a great feeling!

In case you’re wondering what happened the next day, we lost 8-1 to powerhouse Providence from Manitoba, Canada, and our season was over.

But the lessons I learned during that first year of soccer were invaluable, and I ended up playing the next three years (two in college and one in seminary), becoming one of the few students at FBBC&TS to play four years of soccer for the school.

The experience was so worthwhile, even though it wasn’t my main priority at school. I never again played on a team that was as bad as we were that first year, but I wouldn’t trade that season for anything. God taught me many lessons that would prepare me for the next three seasons on the field and for the rest of my life off the field.

This is the first of a three-part series of posts on my collegiate soccer experience, and the purpose of it will be revealed in the third and final installation in the series. God is now using soccer in my life in an especially unique way, and I’m excited to share how God used four seasons of soccer (and one year as a team manager) to prepare me for this time in my life.

(Photo credits: First three images- Shon Lundberg; fourth image- Laura Sturgis; fifth image- Self-Portrait 🙂 )

In the last couple weeks I have received about a dozen prayer letters via email from missionaries that I know. As a result of reading a wide assortment of these missionary updates, and after writing one myself yesterday, I came to the conclusion that there are specific ways to make a prayer letter more effective.

Now, obviously, just as many blog posts often are, this is mainly just my opinion. But I think anyone who regularly pays attention to missionary letters will notice that every missionary has their own style, and some letters are read more attentively than others.

Of course, there are some people who faithfully read every word of every prayer letter and pray multiple times for the specific requests of each missionary. These people are to be commended for their commitment.

Unfortunately, this is not the norm.

So as I seek to write a prayer letter that will both interest my readers and give a faithful representation of my ministry, here are some things I believe to be characteristic of effective prayer letters.

Colorful

By this I am referring to visual appeal, not word choice (although word choice is also important and must appropriate).

As I write this, I happen to be sitting in a kitchen with menus from several local restaurants posted on the walls. The ones that interest me more are the ones printed in several color as opposed to just black ink on white paper (or black ink on red paper or something similar).

Just as a menu or a brochure or a poster or a website is more appealing when multiple colors are tastefully incorporated, a missionary letter with color is more attractive. Something as basic as a colored banner at the top of a letter can add a lot to an otherwise simple layout.

Includes Pictures

Closely related to the last subject is the usage of photographs in a letter. Pictures are part of that visual aspect that make people want to read the accompanying information. That’s why I include pictures in my blog posts. But they must be included in such a way that they are interesting rather than distracting or cumbersome.

First, people like to see what is happening on the mission field, especially since they usually cannot visit and see first-hand what takes place (although this is always encouraged when possible!). Pictures of Bible studies, medical clinics, street evangelism, and building projects give credence to a missionary’s ministry report.

Second, pictures of the missionaries themselves and their families are important. When I was with Jim and Julie Leonard in Brasil two years ago, they were thankful that I took several pictures of them so they could show their supporters what they were doing. Churches don’t want to just see the ministry- they want to see the missionaries doing it.

But family pictures are also important, especially for missionaries with young children. Every once in awhile, a prayer letter should include a picture of the whole family so people can see how the children are growing.

Third, include only a few pictures. Two or three is preferable. Too many pictures are overwhelming and can quickly become space wasters. After going to Brasil, I realized that a picture means the most to the people who also saw the real thing. So while pictures are good, too many can become meaningless because the readers cannot personally relate to what they see in the pictures.

Frequent

Ministry takes place on a weekly basis on the mission field, even if it is not always in the form of big events. Sometimes ministry even seems to progress slowly with little fruit, but if a servant is being faithful, ministry is constantly happening.

Prayer letters should likewise be frequent. But how frequent?

I think it depends on the length of the ministry. During my trip to Brasil, I sent out updates once a week because I was only there for seven weeks. My schedule was intentionally packed full with as many ministry opportunities as possible so I could taste several different things.

During my 12-month internship here in Bennington, I am only going to write a monthly prayer letter. Some full-time missionaries write weekly, some write monthly, some write quarterly, and some follow other schedules (and some don’t have a schedule).

I think once a month should be the bare minimum. If supporters have to wait longer than a month to hear from their missionaries, that’s too long. People don’t like to receive a prayer letter and hear about a Bible school that took place two months ago. They want to hear what happened recently and what is going to happen soon.

Also, some missionaries are “busier” than the others, doing ministries that constantly require them to move from place to place or assist in a wide assortment of responsibilities. I personally appreciate the weekly updates from these missionaries so that I can more specifically for them.

Short

Now, we may not all agree on how long a prayer letter should be, but I think it should be only one page, and if necessary it can be two pages.

We live in an age of short attention spans and full schedules. Many people will not take time to read a whole prayer letter if it’s more than a page long. The longer it is, the more prone they are to scan it than to read it. In some instances they may even choose not to read it at all if it’s not short.

Here are a few other reasons. When churches print prayer letters for bulletins, they don’t want to print several pages of a single missionary’s update for everyone. Perhaps they print it for a bulletin board or frame it and put it on the wall. They still don’t want to print several pages, and people in passing usually won’t stop to read it all anyway.

When people receive prayer letters by email, many times they may read it as they are going through rest of their emails. If it’s too long, they will skip it or read it quick so they can finish checking all their other mail.

This is one more reason to keep prayer letters frequent. Few people will take the time to read or appreciate a quarterly prayer letter that spans 5-10 pages.

Conclusion

Well, those are my thoughts in the matter. Since I want to do church planting, I hopefully have many years of writing prayer letters to come!

If you have any thoughts or observations regarding this topic or my opinion on it, feel free to share.

Also, if you would like to receive my prayer letters this year, let me know!

On Sunday morning Pastor Eric preached from Luke 5:1-11. In this Scripture, Jesus preaches to the multitudes from a boat before telling Peter to push out into the deeper water to go fishing.

Having just washed his nets after a fruitless (or should I say, fishless) night of work, Peter replies, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net” (Luke 5:5).

So they did.

What happened next was humanly inexplicable: “And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking” (Luke 5:6).

Say whaaaat? Yep. But let’s move on before their net completely breaks…

“So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them.” Problem solved, right? Well, no…now they simply have two problems: “And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink” (Luke 5:7).

Oh man…after reading this again, I want to go preach from it too! But not right now. I want to share a great truth that Pastor Eric brought to my attention.

Imagine the scene. These poor fishermen probably just had one of the most miserable nights ever on the job, working hard and catching nothing.

Nothing.

Now, these men didn’t get paid by the hour. No, they get paid by the results. If they get no results, they get no pay. Simple as that.

After they wash their nets, Jesus tells the weary men to go out and try again.

Peter offers a slight protest but obeys anyway…and they hit a jackpot. A silver mine of sorts, depending on the color of the fish.

So now what? Go sell the fish, feed their families, and relax a little afterward, right? Enjoy the good life for awhile before going back to work to repair the nets and patch the boats, right?

Not quite. “And Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid From now on you will catch men.’ So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him” (Luke 5:10-11).

Say whaaaat?! Yep. They returned to the shore with their boats full of fish, got out, and abandoned it all.

But…all that fish! The catch of a lifetime! They just LEFT it?!

Yeah, I don’t know what happened to that fish. Perhaps it went to the crowd that Jesus had just spoken to so that they could all eat while the little boy kept his lunch and ate it too.

The point is that they literally abandoned one of the greatest things that had ever happened to them. “They forsook all.”

What do you absolutely love doing? Imagine accomplishing one of your greatest goals in life doing something you enjoy doing.

Now imagine yourself immediately abandoning your success just so you can follow Christ. Could you do it?

As I listened to Sunday’s sermon and pondered what this meant for me, I wrote in my notes, “There must be something better if God asks us to leave great things.”

Why would Christ tell them to cast their nets and catch all those fish and then expect them to walk away from it? Because He had something even better.

Boy, if leaving all that behind on a whim means something greater lies ahead, I can only imagine what that must be!

So when God prompts me to abandon something big for the sake of following Him, will I do it?

What about you? Are you holding out on following God’s will because you’re holding on to some other blessing He has bestowed on you?

For those of you out there interested in preaching, here’s a book I would highly recommend: Expositional Preaching by David Helm. At only 100-some pages, it’s an easy read with sound practical advice for preparing messages.

Part of the 9Marks book series born out of Mark Dever’s “nine marks of a healthy church,” this book promotes expositional preaching as essential for today’s churches.

Interestingly enough, it comes with Mark Dever’s personal recommendation on the back cover, which I found to be slightly amusing.

But all joking aside, it really is a good book, at least in my opinion (since it was an assigned book for one of my seminary classes, it also comes with the recommendation of my professor).

Helm begins by talking about inadequate styles of preaching that ultimately have no impact because the preachers mishandle Scripture and carelessly prepare sermons that tickle the ears but bypass the heart.

Next, Helm examines exegetical methods that honestly seek to derive truth from Scripture. Emphasis is placed on interpreting Scripture as it was originally intended to be understood.

Third, the book shows the importance of understanding the Bible as a unified canon with theological themes that run throughout the whole book, crossing the blank pages that separate the Old and New Testaments. When exploring any aspect of theology, all of Scripture should be taken into consideration.

Finally, Helm looks at application and how it can be done effectively.

I especially like the examples Helm uses of how Jesus and Paul preached and how we can draw principles from their style.

Now, I’m not completely sure yet what I think about Helm’s comparison between Saul the night before his death (1 Samuel 28:20-25) and Jesus the night before his death on pages 81-82. It’s an analogy I have never heard before and seems kinda creative. But at any rate, it’s something for me to study for myself.

Great book that should take you no longer than an afternoon to get through.

Feel free to check it out from the Waterloo Public Library. Faith’s library doesn’t have it so I had to borrow it from there. 🙂

So I’ve been thinking a lot about the church lately…

You might say, “Well, of course. You’re doing a church planting internship!”

Yes, that’s true, but that’s only part of it. Another part of it is simply the fact that I see local churches everywhere I go, whether in Omaha or in the Des Moines area.

Baptist churches, Catholic churches, Lutheran churches, Presbyterian churches, Congregational churches, Reformed churches, Community churches, non-denominational churches, First churches, and last churches.

Add to that the fact that I just took a seminary module covering church history from the Reformation until now, and you have just a small glimpse into my recent mind matter.

I could talk about the church history that I’ve been reading lately, but it was more ugly than it was godly, and I don’t want to write about wars and heresy and corruption right now. Look it up online and you can get your fill from other sources.

Rather, I just want to reflect for a moment on the beauty of the family of God, the body of Christ.

This morning I enjoyed a great time of ministry, worship, exhortation, and fellowship at our little church plant here in Bennington, NE. We gathered as a group of like-minded believers to give to God, to give to one another, and to receive blessing and joy from both.

Since we do not have Sunday evening services, tonight I went to Park Lane Baptist Church, the congregation that is providing me with housing during my first month here in Nebraska. They had a chili feed and invited me over for the fellowship.

As I sat at the table and talked to some friendly people I had never met before, I was reminded that these are my brothers and sisters in Christ! We are all family, even though we might have only known each other for a few short minutes.

We have the privilege as believers to enjoy a special relationship with every other person born into the family of God. No club or association enjoys the Christian fellowship we enjoy because we are bound by something that goes much deeper.

It’s an eternal tie…yes, we are literally blood relatives (Romans 5:8-9).

Unlike the earthly connections and families that will ultimately dissolve, we will forever be children of God and thus one big glorified family (Mark 3:33-35; Matthew 22:30). Every time we meet another believer for the first time, we’re meeting another one of our relatives.

Since we are all saved by grace, you could even say that each time you are meeting a “long-lost” brother or sister (for those of you who like to play on words).

One final thought for myself and for you. One of my sisters in Christ tonight asked me, “So do you come from a big family?” I smiled and told her that I was the oldest of eight children. She commented on how nice it is to be in a big family.

It’s true. So what are we doing to grow our spiritual family? Are we seeking to add brothers and sisters to our nucleus, or are we content with the size it is now?

I love how Hebrews 12 begins: “Seeing then that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…” In the context the author is urging his readers to live in faith, following the example of the many men and women of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11.

As I begin my church planting internship and anticipate many years of church planting ministry in the years to come, I love every opportunity I have to interact with the church planters who have gone before me.

My internship has not lasted a full seven days yet, and already I have had the amazing privilege of meeting several church planters and getting to know them and their unique ministries. Being surrounded by these godly men and women, I think I can rightfully consider them a cloud of witnesses, eager for me to follow in their footsteps.

Coming to Bennington I knew I would get to spend time with the Wilmeth’s, the Jenks’, and the Bennett’s. They all have church planting experience to various degrees, and working with them is a dream come true.

Over the weekend, I got to meet several other church planters associated with Baptist Church Planters. BCP had a promotional banquet at Maranatha Baptist Church in Grimes, and I was invited to share a short testimony about my internship and then pray for the meal.

In conjunction with the banquet, three men have been at FBBC&TS with Bob Bennett for a few days to expose the students to missions and church planting in particular. So I got to meet all these men and hear about their ministries at the banquet.

Timothy Weeks is a retired missionary from France currently working at a church in Milford, CT. The church, now known as Riverview Baptist Church, is a church revitalization ministry that is experiencing growth under the leadership of the Weeks’ and another missionary couple.

Paul Robinson is a missionary from Camden, NJ, leading an inner city church in a dangerous community. Hearing the stories of these two men and their service for God was such a huge encouragement and challenge!

The third missionary I got to meet is Pastor Steve Little, the new president of BCP. After planting a church in Brasil and two churches in New York, he was called to fill the role of president that his older brother Dave Little previously held.

Knowing about my internship, he sat down with me and spent a couple hours getting to know me. He also shared with me his own experience and his vision for BCP in the days ahead. He is especially supportive of my internship because of how it will prepare me for future ministry.

Pastor Little also shared some helpful advice about planning, setting goals, and prioritizing my tasks and responsibilities. One thing he suggested was doing my daily devotions in a public location (such as a gas station or coffee shop) so that I am intentionally exposing myself and my ministry to the community.

While at the banquet I also met the Wood family for the first time. Chip Wood is BCP’s recently-installed director of JOY Club, and the Wood family has been working with youth for many years.

Last year at school I got to know Elizabeth, the oldest of three children in the family. We played in orchestra together and had numerous fits of laughter on orchestra tour with our other musical friends. So it was fun to meet the rest of her family.

It was a joy (pun not intended…okay, maybe it was) to talk with Mr. Wood about ministry, especially camp ministry because he was a camp director for 16 years. One thing that I am going to miss more than anything this year is IRBC, the camp where I grew up and worked for several years.

Finally, I got to visit with Pastor Derek Phillips, my youth pastor during my final two years in high school. He is now in Chicagoland planting a church with Pastor Scott Greening, also an associate pastor at my church while I was in high school.

One thing that was especially encouraging about my conversation with Pastor Derek and his wife was their emphasis upon God’s provision- for me, for them, and for everyone else.

Jehoveh-Jireh: The LORD will provide.

Indeed he does! He has provided for me all my life, and this new ministry for me is no different.

And the LORD has provided “a cloud of witnesses” for me to follow in church planting.

No, pastors and church planters don’t have one-day work weeks, preaching on Sunday and then taking rest of the week off. Sunday is only the end of one week of hard work and the beginning of another.
Yesterday was my first full day in Bennington for my internship. In fact, in all my trips out here over the past five years, it was literally my first full day out here.
Anyway, the day was filled with meetings of various sorts. At 9am I attended the regional pastors’ meeting with several pastors from the Omaha area and beyond. It was a great time of Christian fellowship, light-hearted humor, mutual prayer, and engaging discussion.
I enjoyed catching up with several men that I had previously met and hearing how God was working in their churches. It was also fun to catch their vision for the future, especially in the areas of discipleship and church growth.
For lunch we went to a Chinese restaurant where I got to sit in on part of the a camp board meeting. Having worked at IRBC for several summers, it was interesting to hear the pastors discuss the ongoing ministry of the camp here in Nebraska.
Finally, I had a meeting with Pastor Eric to discuss the general plan for my internship. It was a great discussion not only about the internship but about church planting and life in general. I’m excited to see how God will teach both of us in the upcoming days.
For supper I ate Nebraska’s famous Runzas with the family, and afterward I headed to my house for the evening.
Before I went to bed I was able to do some reading from Haddon Robinson’s classic “Biblical Preaching” and download some other free books for future reading.
‘Twas a good day and a great way to start the internship! More than anything I was reminded of why I’m here. The vision and  excitement and initiative of these Omaha-area pastors is exactly what I want to be a part of this year and in the future.

The sun was shining, the snow was melting, and the wind was blowing slightly.

A golden ’95 Toyota Camry meandered its way through several wind farms, clipping along at a steady 70 miles per hour.

Leaving a growing city of familiarity and comfort, the vehicle’s operator traveled 2 1/2 hours away to a city of opportunity, anticipation, and potential for personal growth. Unaware of the full implications of the transition, the driver eagerly looked forward to the days to come.

Crossing the Missouri River from Iowa into Nebraska, he was greeted with the sights that he had seen many times before and would soon grown very accustomed to.

Moments later, he had arrived at his destination. Good ol’ Bennington, Nebraska.

I got out of my car and walked into the house of the pastor with whom I have built a good relationship over the five years, and an hour later he was taking me to a house a few minutes away where I have since unpacked and settled in.

What am I doing here in Bennington?

Well, as I pursue a “career” in church planting, I am doing a 12-month ministry internship at a church plant here in the Omaha area. Working under the direction of Pastor Eric Wilmeth, I hope to gain a better understanding of US church planting and experience the rigors of it myself.

Since I will be here for a year, there’s no reason to explain everything now. Over time, all the details should be filled in as I write subsequent blog posts.

Time to dive into this exciting ministry! If anyone would like a copy of the prayer later I distributed last fall, simply leave a comment below and I will find a way to get it to you.

Please pray for me!