Charisa Stories

Tag: Jesus

Contemplating Life Without Forgiveness

I recently discovered an immensely talented musician/producer/singer/songwriter from my hometown of Chillicothe, Ohio. Jerry Salley’s career in bluegrass, country, and gospel music has been remarkably successful.

I am not sure how I missed hearing about his music but count me grateful I found him. His most recent album, Bridges and Backroads, was produced during the pandemic year and it features a tribute to our mutual hometown of Chillicothe.

But one song keeps resonating in my heart as I listen to the album. Without Forgiveness opens during a wedding ceremony as he observes the starry-eyed love of a young couple. They are beginning a journey the writer knows will not always be idyllic. Relationships are hard and often messy. The chorus of the song sums up what that journey could look like if you choose the path of selfishness and pride.

Without forgiveness,
Life’s a long and empty road.
Without forgiveness,
We’d give up and just let go.

I’ve had a long term and probably unhealthy envy of songwriters who can say more in a stanza that I can blabber out in a lengthy chapter. And this next lyric is powerful.

Oh we never want to hurt each other,
That’s just somethin’ that were gonna’ do

We let often let relationships get away from us when we had no intention of wounding that person. Most of us bring baggage into relationships that can cause hurt. We can act out of childhood rejection and painful life experiences in ways we don’t even understand. But God has given us the tool to keep going.

Forgiveness.

Ruth Graham was once asked the key to making a marriage successful. Her insightful response was that “a great marriage is made up of two great forgivers.”

The math is important there. It takes two great forgivers that understand this relational journey requires patience, love, grace, and forgiveness from both partners. Jerry Salley asks the question that many have had answered with heartbreaking results.

And I hate to think what might become of me and you
Without forgiveness

There is a hope that is available to all of us. The song finishes by looking back to a blood stained street on a Friday afternoon long ago.

People on a hillside stand there lookin’ up.
To a Cross that says there’d be no hope for us,
Without forgiveness

That forgiveness from the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ is the gift of grace that changes everything. I wrote about the process in my book Waking Up Slowly.

I imagine the heart of Jesus being broken by our stubborn refusal to consider His forgiveness extended to us and consequently refusing to lean on His power to help us forgive.
There is fear on that road to forgiveness when you take your eyes off of Christ. Your heart cries out in protest. What if they reject, scoff or take advantage of my forgiveness? Jesus reminds us gently that He understands.
When you break those chains and allow God to heal your heart the weight of the world will lift off of your soul. It is a long road to forgiveness. Sadly, it is too often the road less taken. But it is the road that will make a difference in your journey with Jesus.
Satan knows all too well how a world shown God’s love and grace would respond. So the enemy reminds us of grudges both real and enhanced. We turn from forgiveness because our offender does not deserve it. But there is no way I have found to release those grudges without the healing power of forgiveness. Author Will Davis wrote this powerful insight.
“Once you decide to forgive, you initiate the healing process. Forgiveness gives your soul permission to move on to the higher and healthier ground of emotional recovery. Forgiveness is to your soul what antibiotics are to infection. It is the curative agent that will help to fully restore your soul. It doesn’t immediately remove the pain of offense but it does start you on the road to recovery.”
I really like that perspective. The decision to forgive initiates but does not complete our healing. You will, in time, heal. I am asking you to pray that you can begin the healing process of forgiveness knowing that only time and God’s mercy can fully heal. That will start you down that road to forgiveness and empowerment to let go of the grudges that are weighing you down. You won’t get there today or tomorrow. But you will never get there without taking the first step of faith.
Waking Up Slowly: Spiritual Lessons from My Dog, My Kids, Critters, and Other Unexpected Places

Without forgiveness life’s a long and empty road. It doesn’t have to be that way. Jesus offers forgiveness. Accept that gift and give it freely to others. It is a much happier road to travel.

August 30, 2021
Training Camp for Jesus Followers is Now Open!

I love football. The opening of football training camps gets my juices going. I watch some of the greatest athletes in the world getting ready to play a highly skilled game. So what do they start with every summer at training camp?

Footwork and technique drills. Coaches demanding constant repetition of fundamental skills. The best teams are the ones that most consistently execute the basic fundamental aspects of their craft.

Legendary Coach Vince Lombardi famously began each training camp by gathering wide-eyed rookies and grizzled veterans around him. He would begin by holding the pigskin in front of him and solemnly proclaiming this truth. “Gentlemen, this is a football.”

Vince Lombardi – Green Bay Packers

From that rather rudimentary start he would detail the importance of understanding the fundamentals of the sport. I can learn something from that approach. When I first came to faith many, many seasons ago I was so excited to learn the fundamentals of faith. How do I study the Bible? How do I pray? How do I grow in my faith? But something seemed to happen as I accumulated some seasons under my belt. I forgot the fundamentals. I started looking for the latest trend in faith. I defined myself by movements instead of by Jesus, the Cross and His finished work. For me football training camp is an annual reminder that I desperately need the fundamentals of faith.

Fundamentals are best taught by those who have the gift of teaching and complete knowledge of the skills required. You hope you can find a Hall of Fame coach to teach you. That is exactly what the disciples did when they came to Jesus and asked for His help on how to pray. They had watched Him pray. They knew how important prayer was to Jesus. Now they asked Him to teach them how to pray. Here is Luke’s “play by play” of that moment.

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
He said to them, “When you pray, say:

“‘Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.” (Luke 11:1-4, NIV)

Over much of my fumbling, bumbling Christian journey I would skip straight to the “give us our daily bread and forgive us our sins” parts. I managed to miss the most important fundamentals of this insightful prayer contained in the opening words.

I get to relate to God as my Father! That privilege comes only from my relationship with Jesus. Noted preacher Haddon Robinson stated that in the entire Old Testament God is only called Father seven times and it was always in respect to the Nation Israel. There is never a recorded instance where any individual dared to address the Sovereign God as Father.

Now Jesus comes on the scene and Robinson writes about the amazing contrast.

“When you turn to the New Testament, however, 275 times or more we are told directly or indirectly that when we bow before the sovereign majesty of the universe the word that should come easily to our lips is Father.”

That is a fundamental game changer! I can come to the God of the Universe who knows my sin and my weakness and my failure and call Him Father! Are you kidding me?

I also tended to zoom by the next fundamental. Hallowed be your name. Prayer starts not with a shopping list of what I need God to do but instead with worship and recognition of who God is. We are coached by Jesus to remember how great God is and to recognize that His ways are not our ways. We are taught to remember that His holiness is perfect and His grace is our hope.

Hallowed be your name.

When I learn those fundamentals the rest of the offense falls into place. He is my Father who loves me and wants the best for me. He is holy, powerful, present, and offering unlimited grace. When I put my full weight on those fundamentals I think I can probably trust Him for some bread, forgiveness and strength to overcome temptation.

Training camp is in session for football and followers of Jesus. I pray you and I won’t forget our faith fundamentals in this season.

Are you ready for some football and an inspiring story of remarkable faith?
The journey of legendary high school coach W.T. Johnston will teach some life-changing fundamentals of football, life, and faith. Click here for details.

August 8, 2021
We ALL Bleed the Same

Recently I had the privilege of breaking bread (toast to be accurate) at a breakfast meeting with Pastor/Educator Patrick Nolan. He is a black friend with a smile as big as Texas and heart for the Gospel that is even bigger. Patrick is the pastor at Vibrant Life Baptist Church. We had the most amazing conversation about racial issues, the church, and our culture. Here is what my friend posted on Facebook.

“As we were sitting together and sharing life it occurred to me that people were listening and watching as we had honest conversations about race, religion and politics. Now I believe those who were looking on saw more than an old black guy and a young white guy eating together at the “lunch room” counter. I believe they saw in a real life illustration that the best way to break ethnic barriers is not by rhetoric but rather by relationship!“

I can only challenge him on the young white guy part. I want Patrick to maintain his integrity.

My friend said many things that impacted me but I am still rolling one comment over and over in my heart and mind. Patrick said “I have quit worrying what the world does. What breaks my heart is that the church is not doing more to heal this divide.”

Amen. When I left the lyrics from a song from Mandisa and TobyMac came to mind.

Are you left?
Are you right?
Pointing fingers, taking sides
When are we gonna realize?

We all bleed the same
We’re more beautiful when we come together
We all bleed the same
So tell me why, tell me why
We’re divided.

Why indeed? I am praying for another leader like Martin Luther King Jr who will remind us that hateful rhetoric never, ever, ever changes a heart. Followers of Christ have a message of hope and light that is desperately needed. But we get caught up in the politics of our world and too often snuff out that light. I have probably been guilty more than I care to think about.

I fear our culture will get darker in the days and months ahead. Followers of Christ have to make a decision. We can decide to complain that Christians are no longer respected and valued in the culture. We can whine that the media and elites mock us. Or we can decide to show the kind of kindness, forgiveness, grace, and love that early Christians demonstrated to change a hostile culture. Christianity really functions best as the underdog. We can ask God to give us the strength and grace to be a light in the darkness.

What does that mean? What message makes a difference?

During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith. They began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? Other religions had different versions of gods’ appearing in human form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of return from death. The debate went on for some time until C. S. Lewis wandered into the room. “What’s the rumpus about?” he asked, and heard in reply that his colleagues were discussing Christianity’s unique contribution among world religions. Lewis responded, “Oh, that’s easy. It’s grace.”

Perhaps the fact that grace and forgiveness are rare commodities in this society is a big reason we see such anger and hopelessness. Our natural reaction to those who threaten our comfortable safe haven is to strike back. Jesus knew this would happen and He had some very radical instructions.

“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.” (John 13:34, NLT)

Jesus did not say “I am offering a helpful suggestion to love people that look like you and agree with you.” Our Lord who died for people of all colors and nations commanded that we love one another. People of different colors, political beliefs, and personalities all inconveniently fit into the “one another” category.

If you push back that Jesus was just talking about loving His followers I offer this.

“But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! (Luke 6:27, NLT)

Jesus knows our hearts doesn’t He? If you are “willing to listen” then hear my words to love your enemies. He knew we tend to conveniently not hear verses that challenge our hearts. Am I willing to listen? Are you? I wonder what God could do if we followed those those two commands? And how would it look different if we remembered that we are all created in the image of God. Our different experiences and stories should not divide us but instead create a beautiful tapestry of the amazing love of Jesus.

If we’re gonna fight
Let’s fight for each other
If we’re gonna shout
Let love be the cry
We all bleed the same
So tell me why, tell me why
We’re divided

Did you notice I centered the lyrics? No left or right justification. The only justification that matters is the work of Christ on the Cross. We all bleed the same. He bled for us. The color is red in every case.

As a person with considerable mileage on my life odometer I am convinced the culture will never be healed by politics and programs. But I still believe the power of the Gospel of grace can heal our culture one heart at a time. We can be a part of that revival or we can give up and sullenly wait for eventual glory. May I grace challenge you to get out of your Christian comfort cave? Can I ask you to make an effort to break bread with people different from you? To quote the dating site…”it’s just lunch”! Take a chance and trust God. Go meet with a spirit willing to learn the story and heart of people who look and think differently. And here is the most important thing.

Listen. Listen. Listen.

I think you might be amazed at what God can do in those moments. The God who created this world can heal our hearts if we trust Him. The decision is up to each one of His followers. We can make a difference in whatever sphere of influence God has given us whether it is large or small. Only faithfulness matters and the question must be answered. Are you in?

July 12, 2021
The Legacy of a Loving Father

Singer Dan Fogelberg was one of my favorite singer/songwriters. Today I thought about a song written about his dad called “Leader of the Band”. Fogelberg’s father was a musician and he passed that talent down to Dan. Parts of the lyric made me think of my Dad in his final years..

The leader of the band is tired and his eyes are growing old
But his blood runs through my instrument and his song is in my soul

I thank you for the music and your stories of the road
I thank you for the freedom when it came my time to go
I thank you for the kindness and the times when you got tough
And, papa, I don’t think I said ‘I love you’ near enough

My Dad knew how much I loved him. Still I wish I had told him more. But this is the portion of the song that continues to impact me as a son.

My life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man
I’m just a living legacy to the leader of the band

My Dad was a wonderful, kind, loving, and flawed man. I have the flawed part down. I hope I am following his legacy of joy, kindness and love that he modeled so well. I realize with each passing year how much the leader of the pack impacted me. Every dad impacts the lives of their children. Children listen only sometimes but they are always watching. My Dad probably never realized how closely I was watching.

The last time I saw my father he left me with a memory that will stay with me till I join him in eternity. His condition had worsened considerably after a stroke. When I walked into the hospital room Dad’s eyes came alive and he grabbed my hand with an intensity that clearly communicated that he knew me.

Our family had encountered one difficult employee at the hospital. She had done nothing helpful and she had done nothing with a bad attitude. I looked at my sister Sherry as I held my Father’s hand and said, “We don’t have to take that crap!” To my surprise out of that shell that was my Dad came a very clear and loud response…”I taught you that!”

Those were the final words that he spoke to me. And yes…you did teach me that Dad. And you taught me a whole lot more. You taught me that all of God’s children are to be valued unrelated to color or position. That everyone is important and deserves to be treated with dignity.

You taught me the concept of grace. When I was in junior high I somehow manage to establish “credit” at a hobby store. I ran up a debt that was monumental in those days. When you found out I was terrified. But you taught me that grace means unmerited forgiveness for obvious guilt. You taught me there is a difference between mistakes of ignorance and willful wrongdoing. You taught me what forgiveness looks like and what it means for someone to pay for your mistakes out of unconditional love with no strings attached. I got a little foretaste of how Jesus would pay a debt for me that I could not pay later on in my life.

You taught me that humor is a gift from God. That laughing at life and especially at your self makes it a whole lot easier to deal with daily frustrations.

You taught me a lot Dad. And I will be forever grateful. Perhaps most importantly, you taught me what it looks like to be ready to die. You taught me how to put your family at ease by clearly and consistently letting us know that you were ready to meet Jesus.

God’s Word consistently paints an image of God as our Father. Many people struggle with that picture because they can only relate to an angry, dominating or selfish father. I am so grateful that I had a dad that helped me to understand the real love of a father and what that means when God says I am His child. But I pray that you will believe the love our Father in Heaven even if the earthly role model was not ideal.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
And that is what we are! –1 John 3:1

That is what we are! A child of God our loving Father. That is a pretty good thing to meditate on today.

June 20, 2021
Please Play This Song BEFORE Posting or Tweeting
I have teased for years that I want to develop an app that asks you to pause and pray before you hit send. Failing that, maybe I can convince you instead to play a song recorded by Glen Campbell. The lyrics are from a poem written by Edgar Albert Guest in 1914. Guest immigrated from England in 1891 at the age of 10. He was a newspaper reporter for the Detroit Free Press before becoming a syndicated author of poetry. He became known as the “Peoples Poet” and was said to have published a new poem everyday for 30 years. His works were not critically acclaimed but they connected with the public. Fifty-one years after Guest published “A Creed” the words were put to music by Glen Campbell in a song titled “Less of Me”. (Click on the link to hear it)

Let me be a little kinder,
Let me be a little blinder
To the faults of those around me,
Let me praise a little more.

Just implementing that stanza alone would change the tenor of Twitter immeasurably. I have been thinking a lot about how Americans have allowed social media to divide us. It is especially disappointing that followers of Jesus demonize people over social media posts. Allow me to make my point before canceling me. I know that outrageous and often mean things are posted on social media. Sometimes they are posted by people that I consider to be acquaintances or even friends. Here is the strategy that I am proposing to deal with such posts.
1. Pray for the person posting it. A social media post is an unfortunately permanent reminder of a moment in time. It could be something said in a moment of anger, sadness, frustration, or hurt that doesn’t represent the heart of the poster.
2. Snooze a friend instead of lose a friend. Facebook allows you to snooze a friend for 30 days. You won’t see their posts for that period of time. I snooze them because I do not want to unfriend someone over a post I don’t like.
3. Remember that person is created in the image of God. Maybe they are saying and acting in a way that is disappointing but they are loved by their Creator.
Those on the other side of angry social media discourse are not unlike us. When we fight the cultural war we need to remember that the whole purpose of Jesus invading our space and time was to love and ultimately die for those on both sides of the battle. God’s grace is available to everyone and every single person reading this blog today has thought, said, or posted something that they regret (or should regret).

Perhaps the biggest lesson for Christians should be how the power of a unified focus on Jesus can unite even bitter enemies. My heart aches as I see Christians splitting ranks over things that don’t amount to a hill of beans on an eternal scale. I picture Jesus weeping over the churches of America like He wept over Jerusalem. I picture Him weeping over how Christians in this country divide over non-essentials and fail to communicate the joy and life-changing power of the good news of the Gospel. The culture war is important but temporal. The war for our soul is eternal. I sometimes wish I could excise this passage from Scripture but here it is and I can’t ignore it.

““You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. ⁴⁴But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! ⁴⁵In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. (Matthew 5:43-45, NLT)

How is that even possible? It is not possible in my own power. I must trust God for that to occur. I must believe that He is working in the heart of those I disagree with, in my heart, or maybe both of us to focus on what matters. I need to trust that God will ultimately see that justice prevails. I am called to love and be a light for the Gospel.

If Paul were writing to the church today he might change this verse a bit from the original version to the Galatians.

For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.²⁸There is no longer Jew or Gentile, progressive or conservative, complementarian or egalitarian. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

The point is that our only unity is in Christ. The hill that Jesus died on was the hill of salvation by grace. He allowed Himself to be put there to accomplish God’s plan for salvation. That is the hill worth dying on.

The poem continues with these words.

Let me be a little meeker
With the brother that is weaker,
Let me think more of my neighbor
And a little less of me.

C.S.Lewis wisely said this about humility.

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”

The poem finishes with this stanza.

Let me toil, without complaining,
Not a humble task disdaining,
Let me face the summons calmly
When death beckons me away.

When death beckons me away I pray that my legacy will be proclaiming grace and displaying grace. My final lap mission statement agrees with Paul in the book of Acts.

But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God. (Acts 20:24, NLT)

Want to join me?
June 14, 2021
God’s Lessons from HGTV?

During the pandemic I was forced to expand my television viewing experiences. Joni loves HGTV and I slowly began to embrace it as well. Don’t worry men, I balanced it with the NFL Network. I loved to watch Hometown with Ben and Erin Napier as they restored old homes in Laurel, Mississippi. One of their signatures is taking an item that would normally be trashed and repurposing it into something beautiful.

I watched Ben and Erin see the beauty in something I would throw away without thinking twice. And then it occurred to me that God is the ultimate repurposer. God can take lives that are broken and even ugly and repurpose them into something beautiful. Satan lies that God can’t use someone like you. The author of lies says you have no value to God. But our loving Heavenly Father sees the beauty in your broken life. In fact, it is times of brokenness when He is most ready and willing to repurpose your life. Just when you are feeling like your life is worthless here is what the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit whispers to you.

You are my child.
I love you.
You are uniquely designed for a role only you can fulfill.

In Ephesians Paul encouraged the new followers of Jesus with these words.

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the
good things He planned for us long ago. (Ephesians 2:10, NLT)

Did you get that second part? God isn’t scrambling to come up with some trivial task for you to feel better about yourself. God planned before you existed things that only you can do for the advancement of His plan. How exciting is that? Another amazing gift of grace.

In His infinite mercy God does not reveal the ugliness of my heart in one gigantic and loveless revelation that would destroy me. He chooses instead to gently chip away at the rough edges of pride, selfishness, and disobedience. The famous artist Michelangelo would often select a block of marble that others thought unworkable and then begin carving that ugly hunk of rock. He once remarked, “I saw the angel in the marble and I carved until I set him free.” That is what God’s grace means to me. He sees the beauty in the stubborn piece of rock that is me. And He sees the beauty that no one else sees. He lovingly and gently carves away the ugliness until a little beauty begins to come through. But He never gets angry and gives up if another strata of ugly crops up.

As I was writing this an old song from my past came to mind.

Something beautiful, something good
All my confusion He understood
All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife
But he made something beautiful of my life

For five decades God has been oh so lovingly and patiently making something beautiful of my life. If my time ends soon and folks have anything kind to say about me please let them know this truth.

It was Jesus who made something beautiful of my life.

Waking Up Slowly is a 21 Day Journey to become more connected to God and one another. Check it our here.

June 6, 2021
Rethinking Ministry

I can’t quit thinking about my friend Brad Johnson who passed away way too early (in my view) at the age of 57. What I can’t get out of my mind is the staggering impact he had in the lives of hundreds of people. God is using his homecoming to show how He can use a selfless and Christ-centered servant.

Brad did not check off the typical boxes we have for big ministry success. He was not a well known preacher. No books or highly listened to podcasts. A modest social media presence. A lead pastor role that did not work out well. A period when he could not find a “ministry” job and worked at an ethanol production plant to support his family. Praise God he finally landed in a loving community at Hillcrest Evangelical Free Church that valued Brad Johnson’s remarkable relational skills.

So how does this resume produce literally hundreds of stories of how Brad loved, encouraged, instructed, counseled, and shared the life changing message of grace? The answer is actually simple.

Faithfulness.

I know the struggles that Brad had over the years as he moved from place to place. He often wondered why he could not find a place to plant deep roots and preach the freedom giving Gospel of grace and identity in Christ. But he always did one thing consistently through times of joy and times of despair.

He served and cared about others.

Brad learned the lesson that the best way to forget your problems is to serve others with kindness, acceptance, and love. Immersing yourself in the lives of others is messy, sad and difficult. And in a great paradox of our faith, it is the most fulfilling thing you can do. Oswald Chambers talked about the God’s evaluation system and how different it is from our culture.

“The real test of a saint is not one’s willingness to preach the gospel, but one’s willingness to do something like washing the disciples’ feet – that is, being willing to do those things that seem unimportant in human estimation but count as everything to God.”

Paul wrote to the Church at Philippi about the importance of selfless serving.

Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. (Philippians 2:3-4, NET)

God puts opportunities to love and care for others in my path all the time. Sometimes I see them and respond. Sometimes I see them and make excuses why I can’t help. Sometimes I am simply too self-absorbed to see anything but my own problems. Martin Luther King had a wonderful quote that convicts me to be more open to the Holy Spirit’s gentle leading.

“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But the good Samaritan reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”

It was the humble and culturally disregarded Samaritan that had a heart to help. I think that was Brad’s heart. His life is causing me to reevaluate my ministry.

I love writing my books and blogs. I hope that some things I have written have been helpful. I plan to continue writing because it forces me to examine my heart and it keeps me from binge watching Mr. Ed reruns on TV. But I am asking the Lord to increase the personal discipleship and mentoring aspect of my ministry. Brad Johnson demonstrated that there is no more impactful representation of Christ than caring enough to walk with a brother or sister through the ups and downs of life. Brad made you feel like the most important person in the room. He wept when you were sad and laughed like few could when things were good. Brad walked with people without condemnation. He was a person you could share everything, good and bad, and he would love you more for the telling. That is the kind of discipleship that initiates lasting and real change.

Brad’s humble and relational ministry produced enough fruit to fill a Kingdom Farmers Market. You don’t need a counseling degree to love and care for others. You don’t need a seminary degree to walk with someone through life’s challenges with grace and acceptance. You don’t need special training to be fully present to serve others selflessly.

Brad’s wife Deb told me that Brad sometimes lamented that he didn’t have a more prominent pulpit ministry. But this is what he told her…

“If God has chosen for me to be on the background I am okay with that. I just need to be faithful to Him.”

Billy Graham noted that “the highest form of worship is the worship of unselfish Christian service”.

Nearly 700 people packing the auditorium and overflow room saw the powerful impact of selfless service. Another 3,000 have watched the celebration video. My prayer is that God’s message of how he can use a faithful servant will infect us all. I pray that this event will be a super-spreader of love, service, and kindness.

As my friend John Weber often said. God doesn’t call us to be spectacular. He just calls us to be faithful. Brad was sometimes spectacular, but he was always faithful. After seeing the fruit of his life I hope my ministry will never be the same. And I want to live this truth for the rest of my days.

Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13:35 – NLT

May 31, 2021