I was able to share this with the singles at Resolved Saturday evening and the rest of the church family Sunday morning, but for anyone who may have missed those meetings I also wanted to share an update here.
Since Jen and I moved to Richmond with our family 3½ years ago, it has been a distinct joy to serve as part of the pastoral team with a particular emphasis on evangelism and singles. It’s been a privilege to labor with the other pastors to serve you, but over the past 6 months, I’ve been sensing a redirection in God’s call to the marketplace where I would have contact with a wide variety of people, especially those that don’t know Jesus.
In this new season, going forward, God has made it clear that He is calling me to be a pillar and a light in this church. A pillar in the sense of being a strong support and encouragement through involvement in a Community Group, serving, and sharing the Gospel as part of the wonderful normal life of this church. God is calling me to be a light in the business world, pursuing excellence for his glory and sharing the Gospel. So, these two things excite me and we have faith for this new journey.
God is helping us to trust Him in this transition. We are experiencing the care and support of the pastors and their wives, whose friendship means so much to us. I want you to know that your pastors have been such a wonderful support in this process. I’ve never felt pressure to do anything but they’ve wanted us to follow God’s clear call of us for our family and so that you are best served.
I want to say thanks to you for bringing us so much joy over the past 3½ years. I have been the recipient of much encouragement and have loved seeing God working in you. Thank you for your love, your care and for making this past season in pastoral ministry for us, a joy.
None of this transition changes our hearts of love for you, the people of KingsWay. We are planning to stay in Richmond to continue to be an active part of KingsWay and pursue God’s plan for us in new endeavors. We look forward to continuing to walk this road together with you.
After the meeting Sunday, Rich Rogness introduced me to a man from Dallas that is in town this month on business. Rich met him last week to discuss rental property. So, Rich, seeing that he was away from home for several weeks, invited him to church on Sunday. He came and seemed to enjoy it and at one point I noticed a few other people getting his contact information.
I so appreciate Rich’s heart to welcome this man into his life and invite him to KingsWay.
Rich also told me about a recent opportunity to share the gospel with a salesperson that came to his home. Thanks Rich for being a great example of a faithful gospel witness and letting the Gospel overflow from your heart to your interactions with people. Your example inspires and motivates me and I want to be like you!
And thank you church for consistently being so welcoming to our guests whether they are from out-of-town or just down the street! God is using your loving actions and caring words to work in people’s lives as was evidenced by the many folks in the recent new members video giving testimony to the welcome and community they have experienced with you.
Game Day for the Glory of God: A Guide for Athletes, Fans, & Wannabes, by Stephen Altrogge
I originally picked up this book because I read a review of it a few months ago and I desired to better serve some of my friends who are local college athletes. But after reading the intro, it was clear that personally, I would gain much from reading this book that is only 111 pages long. I’m not a world-class athlete (according to others) but I love playing and watching sports. Altrogge served me well in this book by helping me to see sports as a gift from God, an opportunity to grow in character and the importance of humility. Altrogge discusses sports in the context of the Gospel and our hearts and I’m not aware of a better resource on the topic. This book would be a great tool for parents to go through with their children, coaches to read with their teams, or the individual athlete or fan to read.
I’m grateful for God’s forgiveness through Christ, because of the numerous times I have fought with sin while playing sports (arguing with refs, ejected from a baseball game, throwing tennis racquets). God has worked in my heart over the years and recently He used this book to help me see my heart more clearly and to enjoy the gift of sports He has given. It truly is an enjoyable read and I believe God will use it in your life.
Apart from our wives, no one does more to support us in serving you than the folks working in the office. So we wanted to take this opportunity to thank them for their behind-the-scenes roles.
If you’ve seen any of the videos on Sunday morning promoting courses or events, sang along with the Worship Team because the words are projected, or given an invitation to a neighbor for a KingsWay event, you’ve benefitted from Jeff Wingo’s gifts. Three years ago, Jeff retired 
from his career at RMA to come volunteer full-time at KingsWay, leading video, projection, and all things technical. He has made such an enormous impact here that I literally don’t have space to mention all the ways he has served and blessed the church. And he does all this with humility (a rare blend for someone with these gifts). Jeff is always willing to learn new things and then figure out how to do them so they best serve others. He is a man who loves doing things well for the glory of God and for the good of the church. Thank you Jeff for serving with such excellence, joy and humility. You are such a wonderful gift from God to us as a church and I am so grateful for your friendship as well!
As 2008 closes and 2009 approaches, I have been considering what God has called me to and how that should look in the new year. I have been provoked by C.J. Mahaney in his “View from the cheap seats & other stuff” as he has started a series of posts on Roles, Goals and Scheduling from a Biblical perspective. This is definitely worth a careful read. Print it out. Read it. Mark it up. Spend time praying that God would help you to see your roles and how you can best serve others in 2009. May God help us all as we seek to live for him in 2009!
–Steve
Mary “laid him in a manger” (Luke 7). I’ve read this verse many times and yet as I read this today, I stopped in my tracks and re-read it. Isn’t this amazing? That Jesus, fully God, yet fully man was laid in a manger. Basically a feeding trough. A dirty container that held food for the animals. The Son of God was not born in a clean, dignified place as my 4 children were. The Son of God was born in a filthy place. Jesus took “the form of a servant” (Phil 2:7) in his birth, life and death when he stepped onto earth.
I’m amazed that God would come in such a humble way, as a lowly baby to live among sinful people then die in our place on the cross. He was born in humility and died in humility. May we be amazed as we celebrate his birth next week. May this amazement be worship of him, not just at Christmas-time, but the whole year long.
The recent Men’s Retreat Messages are now online here.
Last week, I had the privilege to accompany 14 17-23 year-olds from KingsWay to “The Clash”, a Sovereign Grace Christian Worldview Camp at Messiah College in Grantham, PA. Since returning on Saturday, numerous people have asked me, “How was it?” My typical response has been, “An amazing experience. My head and heart are full (in a good way). I built meaningful friendships with our people, as well as those from other churches.” I am so grateful to God for Jeff Purswell and Nathan Sasser, who organized and taught at “The Clash”. Also, getting to hear Dr. D.A. Carson for a whole day was quite a blessing. This was a week full of sound doctrine taught for the purpose of worship and foundation-building. Add onto that rich Biblical Fellowship with new and old friends. What an amazing week we had!
Listen to this testimony from Amy Roberts:
“Monday after ‘The Clash’ I got into a conversation with a Catholic co-worker over how to know which religion has the right perspective, the nature of man, homosexuality, the reliability of the Bible, and more. To make a long story short, a conversation he and I had two weeks ago caused him to ask questions of the purity of the Catholic church. Equipped with Nathan Sasser’s (who taught several times during our week) worldview evaluation tactics, I quickly observed that his worldview was based on self, not God, and thought of more than a few ways to correct his faulty theology. But what Nathan said about Scripture being self-authenticating (and it’s redeeming POWER) came to the front of my mind. I mentioned to him that many of his questions could be answered by simply going to the source of Christianity: the Bible. Today I gave him a paperback ESV and recommended he start in John and read Romans 3. He took the Bible and wrote down my suggestions.
It’s not every day that your co-worker is eager to read the Bible and find truth. How kind of God to give me an opportunity to interact with someone so hungry directly after a week-long worldview/apologetics/bible doctrine conference! I don’t think the dialogue between my co-worker and I is over. I’m praying for wisdom when to speak and when to listen, when to let the Spirit work apart from my mouth and when the Spirit wants to work through my words. I trust that God is completely sovereign to call Bryan to Himself at any point. I’m just praying that He does.”
Thank you Amy for applying what you learned and for being faithful to God by engaging with your friend about issues that matter! I’m looking forward to hearing how God is at work in you and through you, as well as the other people that went to “The Clash”. The Clash will be taking place again in 2010.
- Steve
This past Sunday Morning, we showed a video about Gospel Translations, a group devoted to making “biblical books and articles freely accessible in as many languages as possible.” We are very excited about how God is beginning to use this ministry. If you’d like to view the video, go here. For more information on how you can participate, visit www.gospeltranslations.org.
- Steve
This is where the future King’s Kids Classes will be in a few months. We so look forward to meeting the new families that will come in the future and be served by these additional classrooms.
