I began 2019 serving my church in ways I never expected. In this article, I’ll explain how serving my church moved my ecclesiology from theory to practice.
Turning 55
I turned 55 yesterday. I’ve now reached that milestone age when I can receive discounts at some fast food restaurants and other places. To ask “How did I get here?” would be a rhetorical question, of course. I have aged exactly as the Lord has determined. He has numbered the hairs on my head and determined when they would disappear.
Every day is unique; every year is unique. While we can anticipate what tomorrow will bring, we ultimately do not know (James 4:14). For me, the start of 2019 is a case in point. If you asked me a few months ago what the first few months of 2019 would look like for me, my best guess would have ranked me with some of the false prophets of our day.
Ongoing Work in Africa
Our small church has three pastor/elders: Mike Reid, Nick Rolland, and Tyler Bolkema. Pastor Mike is the only full-tme pastor.
Pastor Mike and his family (wife Emily and young daughter Sophia) are presently in Kenya. They have been there for a month. They will not be home until late April. Their mission trip is in association with International Church Planters (ICP). Our church has worked with ICP for a few years, through a work called the Didache Institute. I’ve been blessed to make two trips to Kenya and teach a New Testament Survey course.
Pastor Mike (and his family) is in Kenya for the purpose of teaching at the Didache Institute, strengthening and deepening relationships that have come as a result of relationships developed with Kenyan pastors participating in the Didache Institute, and helping these same pastors spiritually mature their respective churches.
The work in which the Lord is allowing our church to participate is truly amazing. It’s not extraordinary, as there have been many works like this throughout the history of the church. But it is amazing. It is amazing to see God use our small, little-known, imperfect church to accomplish what I believe are great things for the furtherance of the gospel, in Africa.
With Pastor Mike (our only full-time pastor) in Kenya, it is now left to pastors Nick and Tyler to fulfill all of Pastor Mike’s daily duties (counseling, meeting, preaching, teaching, shepherding). They are certainly up to the task, but they also have full-time jobs away from the church. They both also have large families with all of their children being young.
Serving My Church: A Unique Proposal
One-day, not long before Pastor Mike left for Kenya, I was called to a meeting with the other pastors and one of our deacons. All three men work for a company owned by the deacon. They told me the reason for the meeting was to present me with an opportunity to serve the church in a way I likely never expected. That would prove to be an understatement.
The company has several entities within it: crop insurance sales and commodities trading, snow removal, lawn care, and homeowner and condominium association property management. Pastor Nick’s full-time job is providing administrative oversight and financial accounting for the some 20 homeowner associations the company manages.
The proposal: I would assume most of Pastor Nick’s work responsibilities until Pastor Mike returns, in order to allow Pastor Nick to assume most of Pastor Mike’s responsibilities within the church.
I humbly report to you that my immediate response to the proposal was spiritually mature and eloquent. I said……….. “Huh?”
While not prophets, the leaders of my church rightly predicted that the opportunity for me to serve the church was unlike anything I would have imagined.
The leadership of my church was asking me to do something in which I had no training or experience. Sure, I’ve done a lot of administrative work, especially during the time I led the Ambassadors’ Academy for Living Waters (2008-2012). But administrative work such as bookkeeping, accounting, and banking were well outside my wheelhouse and comfort zone.
While I had questions, I knew there was only one answer I could give to the proposal presented to me: “Yes.”
Serving My Church: From Theoretical to Practical
For years, I have stressed the critical importance of street preachers being imbedded in, sent out by, and accountable to the local church. I have been accurately quoted as saying, “If a street preacher is unwilling to clean the toilets in his local church, then he is not qualified to be on the streets.”
I moved my family to Grace Fellowship Church, in Davenport, IA, in 2016, in pursuit of more–more life and ministerial accountability, more submission to the local church, more biblical intimacy in fellowship within the confines of a local church, and more integrity when banging the drum that beats the message that street preachers must have firm roots in the local church. To be sure, there are many churches across the country where I could find that for which I was searching. And again, Grace Fellowship Church is far from perfect. After all, I’m a member. That, in and of itself, takes away from any aspirations the church may have of attaining completed sanctification this side of heaven (For the record: the church has no such aspirations). But Grace Fellowship Church is where the Lord has me, and it is where I believe He wants me.
Was it a Fool’s Errand?
Some thought it a fool’s errand to move my family to Iowa. Some thought it would hurt my ministry because I moved from a well-known, highly respected church (my words, which I believe to this day) to an obscure, little church that doesn’t even show up as a dot on the American Evangelical map. There were those who thought the move would hurt my ministry because I was moving from an area with great weather and tens of millions of people to an area where outdoor ministry is much more seasonal and the population numbers only in the tens of thousands.
Not a few of my fellow street preachers thought the move would all-but-remove me from the open-air preachers table, so to speak–a table where, at least in some circles, I prominently sat. They were right. Once thought by some (and myself, frankly) to be a leader in the open-air preaching subculture, since moving to Iowa my ministry is now more akin to the obscurity of my local church than the positive and well-earned notoriety of the church from which I came. People with whom I had spent years engaging in evangelistic ministry around the world and in whose lives I had no small influence or relationship are now, sadly, past relationships. I hope the Lord, as part of His divine providence, plans to reunite me with some of these folks. I miss them.
I’m not Complaining
I am not complaining, and I am not looking for pity (although as recently as a year ago I would have angrily done both). No, some of the changes the Lord has wrought in my life and ministry over the last couple years, as a result of moving to Iowa and Grace Fellowship Church, have been some of the greatest examples of His love, grace, mercy, and kindness toward me in the 31 years since He saved me. And, I humbly submit, I’m a better evangelist for it. For this, I am thankful to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Please don’t misundertand me. There’s no braggadocio in my words; no martyr’s complex; no elevation of self-importance or worth. There’s simply the personal realization that for the better part of 20 years I’ve engaged in evangelistic ministry the way I wanted to, when I wanted to, for the reasons I wanted to, while insisting to myself and others that I live what I preach regarding the street preacher’s place in and accountability to the local church. And now, maybe for the first time, as I sat in an office with two of my pastors and a deacon, I was truly going to give up something for the sake of a church–my church–my spiritual home.
As I sat in this meeting with the leadership of my church, thinking about all of what I’ve shared thus far in this article (and more), I realized my ecclesiology and philosophy of evangelistic ministry, by necessity, was about to take another giant step from the theoretical to the practical. I thank God for it.
Serving My Church: What Ministry Will Look Like the Next Couple Months
Once the stunned look on my face had time to dissipate–a look that I’m sure was noticed by the other men–my first question to the men with whom I was meeting was likely an obvious one to many of you: “What about the evangelism ministry of the church?” I caught myself fighting back the pull to say “my ministry.” But those thoughts were quickly abated as I reminded myself that the evangelism in which I engage is a ministry of my church. It’s not mine.
The leadership’s answer to my question blessed me. And, during the first two months of this important, temporary assignment, they have proven true to their word.
Still on the Streets
The leaders of my church are committed to local evangelism as much as they are to world missions in places like Kenya. They are unwavering in their desire and support of me being out on the streets, on a full-time basis.
While I am now in an office Monday-Friday (January-April), the leadership of my church still wants me out on the streets as much as possible. Of course, that’s where I want to be, too. Fortunately (at least in this situation), January-April is pretty cold, snowy, and wet (did I mention cold?) in Eastern Iowa. Street and campus ministry are understandably a bit slower this time of year.
If you follow my ministry with any regularity, you likely haven’t noticed much of a decrease in my evangelistic activity. While there has been some, most of the decrease has been weather related, not work related.
In my new, temporary position, I have the flexibility, as workload permits, to get out of the office during the day to engage in crosswalking and other forms of local evangelism. Most weeks I have the flexibility to take a day and go to the University of Iowa. Pastor Nick and I will likely spend a day at the Emma Goldman abortuary next week. So, rest assured, I am still on the streets.
Some Exciting Opportunities
Next week I will be heading to St. Louis to assist Pastor Geoff Kirkland and Christ Fellowship Bible Church in their annual Mardi Gras Outreach. I will stand in the pulpit Sunday evening, during the church’s Family Bible Study Hour, to bring an encouraging word to the congregation, about personal evangelism.
I’m in conversation with a church in Corpus Christi about spending some time with them later this year to encourage and equip them in public evangelism.
My pastors recently approved a very important outreach for this Spring–an outreach that will involve another church and two evangelists who are very dear to me. My pastors are not quite ready for me to publicly announce the details. I will likely be able to share more, soon.
I Get to Serve My Church
The Lord has given me, in a unique way, the opportunity to serve my church and support my church’s work in Kenya, by using me to make it possible for the two pastors at home to give the necessary time to our church family. So, when I look out the office window and think about hitting the streets, I don’t say, “I’m stuck in the office.” Instead, I say, “I’m serving my church and I’ll hit the streets when I can.”
Pray for me, as I still have a couple months to go in this temporary assignment. Pray my attitude remains what it should be–thankful to the Lord for the opportunity to serve my church.
Pray also the Lord would use this article to encourage other street evangelists to pursue a more committed relationship with their local churches. Maybe that evangelist is you.
Peter Reins says
Lord, I thank you for the tremendous ways you have used and are using Tony to glorify your name and edify the saints. As your Son Jesus would be, may Tony be.
Tony Didlo says
Thanks brother for being a great example for others to follow. It is such a blessing to find an evangelist committed to the local church.