the making of a man of God

Almost every year these days, I get to be in an ordination service, as one of my team members gets ordained. I have been attending them since I started ministry in 1983. Tonight, Rick Roth and Al DiSalvatore got ordained! I am very proud of these guys.

It takes me back to my own ordination. In the past 27 years, I have desperately hung onto the hope that we are prevailing and winning in the Kingdom of God. I was excited when the 90's were about the Decade of Harvest, and when various other changes, ideas, and programs to reach people were rolled out.

But one more time today, I was handed a report that read that 83% of the people in Pennsylvania are unsaved. My district (the fellowship that I am part of) has almost exactly the same number of churches that it has had for decades. Less and less people per capita, are bound for eternal life. For the past 27 years that I have been in ministry, we have lost ground pretty much every year!

So I was in Panera the other day and a young man sort of asked me for advice for a young guy starting out. I thought for a moment and said "don't listen to anyone my age". He was a little startled, but I pressed on: "in my ministry lifetime, my ministry colleagues and I have lost the battle. Half as many people attend church as did when I started ministry in '83. How is that not a failure? The worst thing that could happen is for guys your age to listen to guys my age to learn ministry. You might get infected with the ideas that kept us from prevailing and getting the job done! We have failed!"

So, to the 23 ordained tonight, here's the deal. You certainly have a harvest field that is plentiful. You have so many people to reach! We need you so badly, to help us, and to go beyond us, and to not listen to closely to whatever flimsy ideas we have, because we did not get the job done!

I'm sorry about that.

But you are our hope, you are God's answer, you are what we need- more workers in the Harvest Field! May God help you go much further than we ever have and reach far more people than we did! We need you to help us figure out how to win!