Reckoned Righteous

Moody Man Day 2011

My son Nate (age 7) and I have an annual tradition. Each summer, I take a day off work and the two of us spend the day together doing "man stuff." Last year, for instance, we went to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, and the year before that we went fishing. My wife christened our annual adventure "Moody Man Day", and the name stuck.

When I was planning this year’s Moody Man Day, I wanted to bring more of a spiritual emphasis to our time together, for a few reasons. First, Nate’s been a Christian for a couple of years now, and he wants to be baptized. I wanted to make sure that he understands what that means. Second, I wanted to begin to steer Nate toward maturity and manhood. Most teenage boys I know (and many young adult men) show little to no maturity, and I want to guide my son in a better, more responsible path.

Nate is always excited for our day together, and yesterday was no exception. He was knocking on my bedroom door at 6 AM, ready to go! At a slightly more sane hour (around 7 AM), I told Nate to get his Bible and bring it to me. So he grabbed his ESV Children’s Bible, and I had him look up and memorize Psalm 119:9-11:

How can a young man keep his way pure?

By guarding it according to your word.

With my whole heart I seek you;

let me not wander from your commandments!

I have stored up your word in my heard,

that I might not sin against you.

Once he had memorized those verses, we left the house and headed to the IHOP for breakfast. Over our pancakes, we talked about what it means to be a man.  I told Nate that today was about beginning a new chapter in his life – he is now officially a “Man In Training.”  As we left the restaurant, I told Nate our next destination: I was going to buy him a new sword.

By the time we pulled into the Family Christian Store parking lot, Nate has already figured out that by “sword” I meant a new Bible.  (It wouldn’t do for a Man In Training to carry around a Children’s Bible, right?)  Nate picked out a nice ESV slimline Bible with a cross stitched into the cover, and I had his name engraved on the front cover.  I also told him that we was expected to read his Bible every morning, and to report to me on what he had read.  (This morning, he began reading Mark’s gospel.)

Our next stop was a hobby shop in Lynnwood.  Last Christmas, we bought Nate an HO-scale train set, but the track never stayed together well enough for the train to work properly. So Nate and I picked out new tracks for his train, and I also let him choose a model to buy as well.  Being a bit of a Star Wars fanatic, Nate chose a Snap-Tite X-Wing Fighter.

We then went to a local Starbucks and sat down at an outside table.  After talking to Nate about how a man must learn to follow instructions – from his parents, his employers, but mostly from God – we assembled his X-Wing together, step by step.

I then explained to Nate that since he was getting older, we would let him experience some new things, like the occasional “grown-up” movie.  So our next stop was the movie theater, where we watched Captain America: The First Avenger.  Nate (and I) loved it.  Afterwards, we had a great time talking about a man shows courage and determination, no matter what, and how the characters in the movie showed that courage.

At this point, our plans took a detour.  My wife was planning to check my business’s post office box and deposit an expected check, but she didn’t have a key to check it.  So Nate and I headed back to Mount Vernon, talking about how a man must take responsibility, even if it changes his plans.

After stopping by the post office, we went home (the girls had left for dinner at the American Girl Store, so we had the house to ourselves) and assembled the new train track. It worked!  We had a fun hour just playing with the train and talking, then headed for dinner at Pacioni’s Pizzaria.  (Side note: If you’ve never had prosciutto as a pizza topping, try it.  Yum!)

At dinner, we talked about how a man protects, cares for, and cherishes the women in his life. So after dinner, we went to the mall and bought gifts of chocolate for Naomi, Carolyn, Abby and Maggie.

Finally, we returned home, and concluded our evening by talking about the significance of baptism.  When I asked Nate why he wanted to be baptized, his reply was, “Dad, I want everyone to know that I’m a Christian.”  So, sometime in the near future, we’ll plan a baptism service, and I’ll have the great joy of baptizing my son.

Dads: What are you doing to help your son move toward godly maturity?  You don’t have to do what I’m doing, but do something!

August 23 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments »

How I Became a Pastor (Part 1)

Yes, I’m now a pastor. I still shake my head at how the whole thing came about. 

For a couple of years now, a group of men (myself included) have met at Emmanuel Baptist Church on Wednesday mornings for prayer.  Last April, one of the elders told us of an interesting development from the previous evening’s prayer meeting. A few men from Little Brown Chapel, a small church up in Wickersham (about a half-hour’s drive away), had come to Emmanuel to ask if they knew if someone who would be willing to preach for them (and maybe become their next pastor), since their pastor was stepping down in June.

During our half-hour of prayer time, several men prayed that God would raise up someone to bring God’s word to this small flock.  I, on the other hand, was stunned into speechlessness. The moment that Bruce told us of the need, I knew.  I knew that this was God’s will. I knew that I was going to preach for these people. I knew that I was going to become their next pastor.

When the prayer time was over, three different men separately told me, “You need to look into this, John. This sounds like a good fit for you.”

(At this point, I have to back up for a minute. I’ve always loved preaching and teaching, but for about 6 months prior, I had felt God stirring my heart toward pastoral ministry. I knew that this was impossible – there was just no way it could happen with my current life situation.  But the longing was there, and it was growing.)

I went home and told my wife about it, sure that she would be totally against the idea. And who could blame her? Leave our comfortable church of 600+ with a terrific children’s ministry and top-notch preaching for a congregation of 20?  Plus, Naomi (a missionary/pastor’s kid herself) had made it clear that she could handle anything but being a pastor’s wife.

“I think you should call Christian and follow up on this,” Naomi told me.

So I sent Christian Smith, my pastor at Emmanuel, the following email:

Hi Christian -

This morning at prayer group, Bruce shared with us about the visit to the elder’s meeting from the Wickersham church who are looking for someone to preach. I don’t put much stock in inner promptings, but I immediately felt prompted to volunteer to help this congregation out if the need hasn’t been filled already. I don’t know if this is a good fit (as my pastor, you can perhaps judge that better than I), but I’d be remiss if I didn’t reach out to investigate the possibility.

- John

Three minutes later, I got an email back from Christian, which began like this:

Wonderful! I had you in mind too!

The next day, I got a call from Ray, who heads up the elder board at Little Brown Chapel, and I was all set to start preaching on June 12, and to continue through June and July, at which point “we’d see how’s it’s going.”  (In other words, this was a trial run – kind of like 7 weeks of candidating!)

Oh, and since their departing pastor was going to be out of town on May 15, would I be willing to preach that day too?

(Stay tuned for part 2!)

August 16 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments »