It sounds glamorous to travel and preach around the country, but in reality it means jet lag, living in airports, sleeping in weird places, and surviving on someone else’s schedule. It is not fun.
But God has allowed a few men to do it, and I am thankful for their ministry to us.
For example, our teen camp preacher this year is Bro. Jonathan Pyle. He pastors in Idaho, but he preached at more than 25 churches, camps, and conferences last year! I hated to pile on him when I asked him to preach our camp, but he said, “As long as God gives me the grace to do it, I believe He wants me to say yes.” His wife is the real hero, because she takes care of the 9 kids at home while he’s gone! She said when talking about their church, “If I can do it, they can too!” God has allowed their church to have a wonderful team of Sunday school leaders and staff who help shepherd the flock as it grows. That is the Moses model. And the Jerusalem church model, too. While the pastor will give account to God for the church, it is the church that edifies itself in love.
Today’s guest preacher, Bro. Sam Davison, is another example of someone who has shown decades of surrender to God in this area of preaching outside of his own church family. It is much simpler to be an isolationist—“forget the rest of the world, I’ve got enough to worry about at home!” But Bro. Davison would preach here and there and God eventually used him to help lead a movement of churches like ours. Long story short, God used his influence and the Southwest Baptist Church in OKC to help move Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College from CA to OK and become my Alma Mater, Heartland Baptist Bible College.
Bro. Davison often recounts his memory of meeting me in high school, and separately meeting my wife in Indiana when she was just a teenager, too. At the time, he was the pastor of a big church and the president of a Bible college… how could he also have time to travel out to Temecula for a preaching meeting? Well, somehow he did, and I’m thankful for it.
Now, God continues to use him to minister in preaching meetings like this all over the country. This weekend he ministered the Word at the men’s prayer breakfast, in our Bible institute preaching class, and in all three services today. He should be “plum wore out,” as they say in Oklahoma, but he’ll turn around and do it all again at the next place, and the next, and the next.
Thank God for His grace. Truly. —Pastor Ryan