January 2, 2005 was a Sunday. Being honest I don’t remember much about it. I have memories of a few events that led to that day and a few soon afterwards. The day itself doesn’t stand out. I like it that way.
In June of 2004 we finished at our previous church, Grace Chapel in Halifax. We knew that God was taking us somewhere new. We didn’t know where. After a summer of resting, reflecting and talking to mentors we began to sense a new calling. After exploring a few other ideas, it became clear that God was moving us to the valley.
I remember meeting with Bob Knowles (the New Minas Baptist Church pastor at the time) and the pastoral search team and answering their questions, and hearing their answers to mine. They were looking for their next pastor of children and youth, I was looking for clarity in the calling I already felt. I remember us standing on stage on a Sunday morning in the late fall of 2004 and being introduced to who would become our new church family. I remember the feeling of fear and yet excitement, that God would call us and this church would invite us into this next phase of ministry together. None of us had any idea that what began in these moments would stretch out to twenty years and beyond.
Sunday January 2, 2005 began what has now become two decades of ministry at the same church and in the same community. A lot has changed - for example, we had only two children when we arrived in the valley, and now we have 9 + 1 daughter-in-law and 1 son-in-law. We’ve learned a lot along the way.
Over the years, a few books have had a profound influence on my thinking about ministry. This post will end up being a bit long I imagine, but I plan to share four of those books as I reflect on twenty years of ministry.
Create in Me a Youth Ministry by Ridge Burns.
In June 2004 when we moved on from our previous church, I didn’t know if I was headed back into vocational ministry. I was wrestling with my identity as a pastor and my sense of calling. Not that I didn’t think I was called to be in ministry, but more like I was wrestling with my leadership style not matching up with the stereotypes that were in my mind for the position of youth pastor. In that season God used the wisdom I had gained previously from Bruce Fawcett, one my professors and mentors, and also this book.
I don’t actually remember how I found Ridge Burns’ book, it may have been at a library. It’s not a well known ministry book today, maybe it wasn’t then? In his book, as I remember it, Ridge told the story of his ministry journey up to that point. Through his autobiography I caught sight of his heart and calling. Two decades later I still remember learning how someone could love leadership, structure, organization, planning, and ministry strategy and also love relationships and seeing God at work in the lives of individual teenagers.
Through this season, as God was preparing me for my next ministry role, He was helping me to see, really for the first time, what it looks like to love youth ministry from a ten thousand foot level and also love being on the ground level in the lives of people at the same time. Balancing how I see both family and ministry through these two different lenses has defined a lot of my life since that season. Over the past two decades I have learned that I love strategy and long-term planning and developing leaders, and organizing events and programs… and I also love being being involved in the lives of people and seeing God at work, growing and shaping both individuals and families over a generation.
As I reflect on twenty years here in the valley, I am so thankful for the hundreds of people who have been part of our lives. As God has worked in you he has also worked in us.
A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New by GK Beale.
Almost as soon as I arrived at New Minas Baptist Church I remember a conversation with Pastor Bob about ministry for children on Sunday mornings. Up until then we had been a one service on Sunday church. In the fall of 2005 the goal was for us to move to two services. Other than during summers and on special occasions (and snow storms or power outages), I think we’ve had services since then at 915am and 1100am.
The conversation with Pastor Bob involved him letting me know that the primary job for my first season of ministry at our church was to study and dream and launch a new kids ministry for our church on Sundays. Sunday School was a name we would no longer use, I was to imagine starting with a blank whiteboard for what the next season would look like. As we dreamed and prayed and planned there were a lot of people involved, and a lot of conversations.
I remember several significant moments that shaped me and our church. One of the first things I did was start to recruit leaders. I remember an open invitation meeting for anyone on the church interested in dreaming together and forming a new team. At that meeting I met Dave and Sara Walker who would become part of our new kids ministry team, and also became close friends that we needed as we started living in the valley. I also remember a conversation with Pastor Paul where I said I needed a worship leader for kids… which lead to me inviting Mark Pearce into our first kids ministry team, which resulted in Mark answering my invitation by writing a song which was part of the early days of our new kids ministry. I also remember a conversation sitting in an upstairs classroom (the church cafe used to be two stories) where I cast a vision for creating a kids worship space and several of the men from our church got behind my kids ministry dreams and invented the space in my mind through the summer. Finally, I remember a long drive and a conversation with God… what would we call this new ministry? We needed a name that fit the dream, the valley, our church… after praying and driving for a while I felt like God led me to the name The Orchard and to Psalm 1.
So we’re does a super thick theology book come into this story? After a couple years of developing what became The Orchard we realized we needed to change curriculum. At the time there weren’t many to choose from. Instead of buying one and adapting it to fit our ministry model and environments we chose to create one. Over the next few years I began to write whist has become One Big Story, our curriculum which is essentially biblical theology for kids. At one point early on, one of my mentors and I worked through Beale’s book slowly, a book which has helped shape my thinking on biblical theology and helped me prepare for teaching kids. I realize now that the seeds of my love for the Old Testament and for biblical theology were planed in my heart by Dr. Stephen Dempster, my professor and mentor while I was at Crandall University. Writing this curriculum is something I’ve grown to love. After a few years I developed a three year rotating structure to go through the Bible each year thematically. In the fall of 2024 we started our fourteenth year of One Big Story.
Dream Big: The Henrietta Mears Story
I don’t remember how I found out about Henrietta Mears. I think perhaps I learned about her because Henrietta was a children’s pastor who wrote curriculum for her church’s kids program. Likely someone else pointed her out to me. As I began authoring One Big Story her story was interesting to me. Her Sunday School ministry grew from hundreds to thousands of people. Henrietta Mears was a highly influential Christian educator, author, and leader. She is best known for her role as the Christian Education Director at First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. As her curriculum developed she founded Gospel Light, a publishing company that produced Sunday school materials still in use today. As her ministry grew Mears mentored a generation of Christian leaders, including Billy Graham, Bill Bright (founder of Campus Crusade for Christ), and Dawson Trotman (founder of The Navigators). As I look backwards on how God used this book in my life I can see why her story was appealing to me. I sometimes wonder if I’ll have the privilege later in life, long after I’ve finished in this ministry role, of looking out and seeing influencers in God’s Kingdom who started serving Jesus as kids and youth in our ministries.
What really shaped me from her story was a question her pastor asked her and how she lived out her life as a response. As I remember it, Mears originally was a school teacher who was asked by her pastor to take on the role of Christian education director at her church in 1928. After a brief time she was asked to stay. She agreed and then spent the rest of her life in this same role at her church. Her ministry grew from 100s to 1000s of people. I remember praying while reaching this biography. Several times I’ve had the opportunity to serve in ministry in other places, but I always look back to this book. I don’t say God spoke to me lightly, but the sense of direction I had from Him in this season was very clear. God’s message for me came in the form of a question. It seemed to me that God asked me if I would be satisfied if I was in the same role for a long time, perhaps for my whole career… I’m not sure how long he meant. I grew to agree that I would be satisfied. Calling isn’t about looking around and finding a place that seems bigger or better than where you are, it’s about staying and following Jesus where you are. Two decades later I still agree.
A Burning in My Bones: The Authorized Biography of Eugene H. Peterson
One of the first books I remember buying as a student at Atlantic Baptist College (Crandall University) was a copy of Eugene Peterson’s The Message. If my memory is correct, it wasn’t completed yet by that point in 1995. I think I bought my copy of the New Testament from the college bookstore. I was impressed by how Peterson translated the Bible into language everyone could understand.
A couple years ago I read Peterson’s memoir and biography and was inspired by two things. The first is that he believed his life goal was translating the Bible, but not as I had assumed. His motivation wasn’t about creating a Bible translation, it was really about making the Bible accessible to the people in his church. He saw his work as a translator as a means to encourage the people of his church to seek God through His word. I love that. The second thing that inspired me was that despite other opportunities, Peterson chose to be a pastor for his career and invested primarily in one community of people. In one book by Peterson called Pastor: A Memoir, he reflects on longevity when he says that pastors should stay “long enough to notice the little changes and be part of the slow transformation of a people living in response to the grace of God.”
Final Thoughts
I could write about so many more things… events, all the staff I’ve served with, education that is still on going as I start work this year on my DMIN thesis, camp ministry, my passion now for discipling parents, hundreds of other books I’ve read, or many other mentors… here’s where I’ll finish:
Over twenty years I’ve learned that God has called me to invest in a community long term. I didn’t know that at first, but I’m so thankful. God has created within me a youth (and a kids and a young adults and a family…) ministry. I have had the honor of creating structure and programs and more, of developing leaders, of watching as God has grown our church through great times and also hard ones… ministry is about faithfully serving Jesus by teaching and translating the Bible and loving his people.
The role of a pastor is not to do ministry alone. A highlight for me in ministry is developing teams of passionate leaders. This means recruiting adult leaders and raising teenage and young adult leaders by giving them opportunities to try new things. I have watched as God constantly grows our ministry teams. Watching as He works in and through the leaders I am privileged to serve alongside is simply beautiful.
Ministry often means having a long view in a community and in the lives of people. A couple years ago I watched as my son Reuben and others from our youth ministry crossed the high school stage and were passed their grade twelve graduation diplomas. All of these kids were babies born the year we moved to the valley and started at New Minas Baptist Church. Some of them I held as babies. I have had the honor of watching a generation grow up and find faith in Jesus.
Ministry is a family calling. This is one of the things I have learned over the past twenty years (25 counting my previous church) in ministry. My family has been shaped by being in the ministry. Unlike many other vocations, pastoral ministry comes with a family identity attached that must be embraced for the family to thrive. I am so thankful for the privilege of raising my kids and leading my family inside of our New Minas Baptist Church community. One of the highlights of ministry for me has been watching my family grow and serve Jesus as well. Caleb is a theology teacher and worship leader, Cassidy has an incredible heart for mentoring, Kathryn and Josh have been missionaries and are now house group leaders in their church in Moncton, Reuben is growing as a youth ministry leader and preacher, Jordan often serves in kids ministry and is growing as a new youth worship team member, Molly has an incredible vocal gift and is part of our youth worship ministry, Emily thrives as she serves others in our cafe ministry… and Sharalyn leads alongside me in kids and young adult ministries. A pastor does not do ministry alone, ministry is always a team-sport.
In closing, as I reflect back on these last twenty years, sure there are things I would change. However one thing I see clearly above all others - I am so thankful for the calling of God to invest in and love one community and one church family for twenty years for the sake of the gospel of Jesus developing and taking root in all of us. I don’t know what the future holds, but I’m excited to keep following Jesus by serving in and loving his church.
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