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Grow & Go - July 2024

Indy Crossover Mission Trip

Recently, a group of eleven from Oakhill went to Indianapolis on a four-day mission trip to help renovate the multipurpose worship space that is used for the food pantry and fellowship at Cornerstone Christian Fellowship (Metro Baptist Center). Our project was to start on Wednesday, hang drywall, get it painted, and ready for the church to have 45 volunteers show up for a block party on Saturday for Crossover and then worship together on Sunday. This seemed like a tall order upon our arrival, but the Lord knew that He had assembled the exact people needed to get this accomplished in time, on time, and done well.

This trip was not about getting to go somewhere or saying, “Look at what we did and accomplished”. Our team had a certain job that we were tasked to do to help Cornerstone Christian Fellowship according to their needs, and we worked tirelessly together as a group in unity to complete them. As the pastor who led this trip, I can say without reservation that God put together the right group to accomplish what needed to be done in a short window of time. We not only finished the drywall and painting, but our Mission team also helped put new siding on the second floor of the building, going beyond the scope of work we originally came to achieve.

Hershel York said in his new book titled Pastor Well: A Guide to Faithfulness in Pastoral Ministry, “People ask about mission trips a lot, including missionaries. I hear missionaries on the field say they don’t like mission trips because when churches send teams, they cause more trouble than they’re worth. Well, it’s your job to make sure that’s not so. How do you do that? Well, if you send a team on a mission trip, you need to make sure that they are alleviating suffering problems rather than contributing to them. When we take trips, we make sure we have several meetings ahead of time, and we stress this is not Christian tourism. This is not about getting an experience. This is not about having stories to tell. We’ve got specific jobs that we’ve been asked to do, and we’re going to do those”. (1)

Considering what Pastor York said, we were not a burden, we brought light to a church that needed help. We removed boards from windows that had been covered and the light shined in once again revealing the skylight of the city that had not been seen in decades. Our team made food and fed over 300 people for two days, challenged people with the Gospel, and prayed over the hurting. It was more than just hanging drywall and some paint. Our team, with the Lord’s help, set the stage for the gospel to be advanced (Phil 1:12) for years to come. Yes, our team had fun working together to accomplish the task at hand, but each of us also understood our roles and we did them well, giving glory to our great God who is “able to do far more than we could ever ask for or imagine” (Eph 3:20). We had sweet fellowship together over food prepared with love and Bible devotion times that I will personally never forget. I say this after every mission trip, we go expecting to change the world, but it is our great God who always changes us.

Please add Pastor Tom and Pastor Steven to your prayers. They are doing great ministry in a very tough context, where there is much spiritual darkness due to addiction, and poverty among many homeless people who come through the doors in need. Pray for their safety and longevity in ministry, and that God will cause a great revival among the
people of downtown Indianapolis. 

(1) Hershel York, Pastor Well: A Guide To Faithfulness In Pastoral Ministry (Louisville, Ky: Southern Seminary Press), 106-7.

Grow & Go - June 2024

Two of the Sweetest Words in Scripture . . . “But God”.                                    

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:4–5)”.

As a follower of Christ, is there anything more pleasing to the ear than the richness of these words . . . “But God”? Our God gazed upon us, His sinful and rebellious Creation, and not because of anything good in us (Rom 7:18), but completely by His own sovereign and divine power, “made us alive together with Christ” (Eph 2:5). We were literally “dead in our trespasses” (Eph 2:4) when God intervened bringing those in Christ from death to life.

In my own life, there have been many “But God” moments that have occurred. When God in His infinite wisdom recognized that I needed a wife and gave me “an excellent wife” (Prov 31:10). “But God” also knew that a hobby would become an idol that consumed my life, and then use that idol to bring me to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ alone. “But God” gave my wife and I both a season to experience being foster parents and removed any fears we might have had of caring for children. In each of these “But God” moments of my life, our Creator had a plan to reveal my utter dependence on His providence, provision, and care. Countless Christians I have heard say – I have experienced this hardship, this great loss, or suffered greatly, “But God”.

In approximately 45 instances the phrase “But God” shows itself in the infallible Word of God. In Matthew 19:26, “Jesus looked at them and said, with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” In the passage leading up to this text, Jesus instructed the rich man about the difficulties and problems for Him to enter the kingdom of God and then to say, ‘But God can’. In many of these “But God” passages, you see a pattern. A pattern or moment where those “created in the image of God” (Gen 1:26-28) were in deep despair or turmoil, “But God” entered time and space to alter the situation. These two loving and kind words exhorted from the living Word explain to us how immeasurable the gift that Christ has paid a ransom for those who were once children of wrath.

The apostle Paul declared our lost state before Christ and then how much God loves us exclaiming “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rm 5:8). This does not mean that since we have been “born again” (Jn 3:3), our performance now must be perfect to see Heaven. This means that with all my imperfections, and our mess of sin, Christ demonstrates how much He loves us by paying the penalty we deserve on the cross. I hope that we can find rest in the finished work of Christ and recognize those “But God” moments that are conforming us, transforming us, more and more, day by day, into the image of Jesus Christ our Lord. This song below from The Worship Initiative (Shane and Shane) titled Oh But God  helps us see how God changed and is writing our story of redemption and I hope it encourages you to be reminded of your own “But God” testimony and praise Him.

“I was buried beneath my rebellion
Lost without hope of redemption
Blind in my need for a Savior
Oh but God
Crushed by the weight of my failure
Living the lie I created
Digging my grave without knowing
Oh but God
Rich in mercy how You loved me
Too much to let me stay lost
My salvation sent from heaven
Nailing my sin to a cross
Oh but God”.