I Feel His Pleasure
I’ll be spending the week at Capital Bible Seminary (CBS) in meetings with Ambassador Enterprises. I thought this would be an apropos time to share a few ministry memories from my fifteen years with CBS. Read my first post about CBS: Discerning God’s Will.
The famous Christian and Olympic champion, Eric Liddell, in Chariots of Fire, says, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure.”
When I “Coach” I Feel His Pleasure
When I reflect on my fifteen years at CBS, with Eric Liddell, I can say, “When I coach/equip, I feel God’s pleasure.” If there is a one word summary for God’s calling on my life it is “Coach.”
And whenever I coach, I want to coach so well that the players I coach could go on to coach others also. Ryan Lewis is one example. I coached him his four years of high school wrestling at Open Door Christian School. After Ryan graduated from college, he returned to Open Door and became their head wrestling coach. What a joy!
Of course, when I use the word “coach” I don’t simply mean athletics. More importantly, I am talking about coaching and equipping people for life and ministry. It is the joy of equipping equippers that has made my fifteen years of ministry at CBS the most fulfilling of any ministry in my life.
And, by God’s grace, I’ve had the privilege of many wonderful ministry opportunities: pastoring three churches, launching and leading several para-church ministries, counseling, teaching, etc. I don’t want to take anything away from any of those ministries. But training pastors, missionaries, counselors, educators, and church leaders at CBS has been my greatest joy.
Joyful Work
That certainly doesn’t mean it was “easy.” My first year I created from scratch ten graduate-level biblical counseling classes. And I taught each of those classes.
All the while, I was doing the administrative work of creating all the documentation and “jumping through all the hoops” to gain appropriate accreditation for the new program. Oh yes, did I mention, I launched the program from scratch?
I also was interviewing every applicant (we eventually accepted over 40 students that first year).
Then, because the program was (and is) equipping-centered and relationship-focused, I mentored every student. I met every other week with every student on an individual basis to provide personal counseling and ministry discipleship.
Of course, I also “enjoyed” the regular schedule of faculty duties like attending meetings, grading papers and exams, working on institution-wide accreditation, etc.
And that’s not to mention the 70 mile commute each way that I “enjoyed” each day!
It was a lot of work.
And, then as now, I was committed to my family as husband and Dad. Spending not only quality but quantity time with Shirley, Josh, and Marie was vital. Plus, I was still coaching Josh in wrestling and Marie in softball. And, active in our new church.
I was busy.
I was having the time of my life.
Honestly, it did not seem like work. I loved the launch and leadership of the Master of Arts in Christian Counseling and Discipleship (MACCD) department at CBS.
Memorable Ministry
I have great memories of those early days—especially of the development of deep relationships that last to this day. It was in those early days that I met and disciple Dwayne Bond, Ellen Barney, Terri Polm, Doug McCracken, Susan Ellis, and Mel Pride. I mention those six names of the forty in our first program, not because they were any more “special,” but because they each eventually worked for/with me in the MACCD.
What a joy to hire my former students and current friends to serve alongside me in ministry.
And we were and are friends—spiritual friends. That’s not just the title of my second book. It’s the longing of my heart—to minister together with spiritual friends in one-another relationships.
The Rest of the Story
Come back tomorrow to read about Ministry for All of Life. In that post I’ll share about comprehensive equipping in biblical counseling.
Join the Conversation
Where do you feel God’s pleasure? What has God called you to, that as you serve Him, even during the hard and difficult times, it feels like a little slice of heaven?
