Friday Focus...May is a month of physical goodbyes

As we prepare for our departure from Oglesby, Illinois to Zephyrhills, Florida, we have been spending our time saying some goodbyes to those we have come to love.  The boxes are set aside so that we can give some last hugs to some special people.  Let me take some time to mention a few this morning.

The first is a man, a minister, named Ron who is pictured above.  Ron has become my coach and mentor for the last 2+ years.  I have watched this man disciple pastors to greater effectiveness in their own personal witness of Christ to the unsaved.  He has put valuable resources into my hands that were easily transferred into the training of the church.  Ron also allowed me to lead alongside of him.  How important it is to give space for those you are discipling to experience discipling others.  Ron's example helped me take this step of faith.

This photo is of a lady named Nancy and she is pictured here with her husband Vaughn.  Nancy is with an organization called Q Place which encourages Christians to develop "questioning groups" to introduce unbelievers to Jesus.  What is so great about Nancy is that this is a passion and practice of her life.  I have never seen a "lay person" who could bring a community together like she does around the topic of evangelism.  She introduced me to the "9 Arts of Spiritual Conversations" that I have implemented myself and also taught in the church setting.  I am eternally grateful for her drive that comes from deep within to be just an ordinary person being used extraordinarily for God.

The third and last picture for this post is of a fellow pastor named John.  The only thing wrong with this photo is that he doesn't have his glasses perched on top of this head.  John is a representative to me of many pastors that I have come to know in this area.  John is special in the fact that he was the one who put my contacts in his phone first and also continued to make contact with me over the time spent here.  Sometimes relationships can be very "one way" if you are a pastor.  You are always "reaching out" to someone else but when someone "reaches back" to you, it does something to your soul.  John provided that encouragement to me.  I also learned so much from being around him and his ability to ask just one more question before responding.  The "one more question" offered added information that made his response so much more effective.  I am also thankful that John opened up his church family for me to participate in as one of the congregation from time to time.

These are just some of the relationships that God has brought into my life while in the Illinois Valley that are outside the congregation of Oglesby Union Church.  Can I stress emphatically the need for us to be continual learners and reach out to those "other" brothers and sisters of the faith as our teachers?  Soon we will be in another place and I will be looking for some more Rons, Nancys, and Johns.  Who are yours?

Adam

Ron - https://formissional-ministries.com/
Nancy - https://www.qplace.com/
John - http://www.christcommunityottawa.org/