What does a young pastor facing possible iminent death think a bout his mortailty and legacy? Here's Matt Chandler:- How Cancer Has Changed Me:
It’s made me think a lot more about my mortality. For example, if I die and The Village Church falls apart, do I care? I’ll be honest, I don’t. It seems to me that when you look at history, God raises up certain men for certain seasons in certain places. He pours out his Spirit on them, and when they’re done its very rare for God to continue the work that was done uniquely through him. If I die and The Village ends, I’m alright with that. If believers here find a place where the gospel is preached, and people are being saved, and the mission is being lived out, then I will not have failed.Here are some related comments ( not about Chandler, but the general topic of "legacy") from Darryl Dash:
If I’m going to die in two years, I started asking God what I should do. I put a lot of pressure on myself because in our culture there is the expectation that a ministry has to flourish even after you’re gone. That’s unfair, unhistoric, and maybe even unbiblical. Realizing that took a lot of pressure off of me. I had peace to just faithfully do what I’ve been doing here since day one. Then just let go and see what the Lord does with it.
No matter how many people we pastor, our leadership and influence is temporary. We will be forgotten. Even those who rise from obscurity to become leading leaders, so to speak, will be passed over more quickly than we think.
.......I thought of a conference blurb I read. Most blurbs are easily forgotten, but this one stuck. It announced the conference lineup, including this description of one of the speakers (Daniel Montgomery):
Daniel, the senior pastor of Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, Kentucky, says his vision statement is, ”Preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten.”I love that. That may be the best vision statement for a pastor I’ve read. Don’t aspire to rise from obscurity; aspire to attain obscurity, but preach the gospel in the meantime. That’s the type of pastor we need.
There are probably many saints that have lived so humbly and we don't know their names. Yet, in heaven, it's these humble leaders that Jesus said will be first. I've always remembered George Whitefield's response to John Wesley's attack. Rather than cause even greater division in the Methodist revival, he said, "Let the name of Whitefield perish," and ceded the field to his better organized and more assertive colleague for the sake of the gospel. Such leaders earn the loving embrace of Jesus when they meet Him.
ReplyDeleteI'm shamed to think of how often I fall short of this goal! Especially with social media, where everything is measured in how popular or shared something is (a post, tweet, or video). Can't we be content with an audience of One?
They say that in an orchestra, the hardest position to play is "second fiddle." The same is true in churches.
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