The Long Obedience

One of the most interesting things about ministry is its ability to prove the rules wrong. Productive ministry rarely follows predictable patterns. Often, human logic gets challenged. The successful minister learns to embrace what is counterintuitive.

      We’ve been taught to set goals, measure outcomes and strive for “growth.” While our ambitions are often virtuous, the old joke about “butts, bucks and baptisms” shows that ministry refuses to fit into our categories. The problem with most goal-setting, whether in ministry or in life, is that we tend to measure success by things beyond our control. And for many Christians, the greater problem is that we set goals without ever consulting God about them.

Counterintuitive Fruitfulness

      If someone had told me a few years ago that the most fruitful season of my ministry at Denver Street would come as I prepared to transition out of the pastorate, I probably wouldn’t have believed them. As Michelle and I shift our focus toward preparing to be sent as missionaries to France, the Lord seems to be producing more visible fruit now than ever before.

      Obedience produces fruit. It just does — and sometimes that fruit comes from different fields than we would expect.

      The discipleship group that used to meet in Michelle’s and my sunroom after our kids went to bed was the first ministry I pulled away from. Over the past couple of years, we have watched leaders from this group grow. As they’ve started meeting at another home and another person has started leading the group, they’ve grown!

Unexpected Increase

      In the last couple of months, a man has approached me with a desire to start a church plant. This has been something I’ve been praying about since 2023. We’ve started meeting regularly to discern this calling together through prayer and preparation. Watching the Spirit stir a calling in someone else while I’m preparing to leave my pastorate has been a humbling reminder that God’s work is never limited to one person’s timeline or position.

      All this while the family discipleship ministry we launched in April has tripled in attendance as we work with an intergenerational community to help parents grow in leading their homes in worship.

      None of this was part of my “transition plan.” But all of it has been part of God’s plan.

The Paradox of Letting Go

      The kingdom has always operated by paradox. In God’s economy, we gain by losing, we live by dying and we lead by serving. Fruitfulness often comes when we loosen our grip.

      Jesus told His disciples, “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). The principle of the kingdom is surrender. When we release our ministries, our plans and even our security, we make room for God to do what only He can.

      As I’ve begun letting go, I’ve watched my God bring growth in unexpected places. My capacity has never hindered God.

Confirmation in the Call

      This season of ministry continues to flood my heart with peace about our future ministry to France.

      As I’ve revisited old papers and journals, I can see the threads of this calling woven throughout my story. Friends have reminded me of conversations and moments I barely remember, where I mentioned a burden for Europe. Looking back, I can see that God has been writing this story far longer than I’ve been aware of it.

      Even as I navigate a mountain of unknowns (building gospel partnerships to support this ministry, navigating visas, selling off personal property), I know that I can trust God with what’s ahead because He has been shaping the path all along.

Faithfulness in Transition

      Transitions are rarely comfortable. There are growing pains. A tension between excitement for the future and the grief of what’s left behind needs to be maintained. Every pastor, at some point, has to shepherd both a congregation and a calling. We’re not owners of our ministries. We are but stewards.

      A long obedience means trusting the same God who called us to a place can also call us from it. It means believing that He loves His church more than we do, and that He can raise new leaders, new ministries, and new fruit long after we’re gone.

      Eugene Peterson described discipleship as “a long obedience in the same direction.” We are not called to chase impact or measurable success. We are called to walk faithfully, step by step, in the same direction toward Christ. Sometimes, that direction includes changes we never expected. Sometimes, faithfulness means staying. Sometimes, it means going. But the direction never changes.

      As I sit in this in-between season of no longer fully being the pastor I was and not yet being the missionary I want to be, I find myself more convinced than ever that God honors the long obedience. He doesn’t waste any season of surrender. Every faithful step, even the slow ones, becomes part of a larger journey of grace.

      The long obedience never leads us to greener pastures of our own making, but to the pastures of His providence.