Humbled with a New Perspective

Today I joined our community connections director at the church where I serve and we went to the Syracuse Rescue Mission to help serve lunch as volunteers.  So many moments already impacted my life from this two-hour event.  I’m trying to grasp them all.  Be patient with me as I highlight them in this post. 

First, in my 21 plus years at Northside, I’ve never been to the Rescue Mission to serve a meal.  I’ve led the church to support the Mission, I’ve participated in chapel, preached there, helped with some special outreach events, and respected their work greatly. 

The Rescue Mission does much more than serve meals, but the reality is they serve more than 700 meals a day.  Scott and I were privileged to help set up, and then we both took spots on the serving line.  I watched over 200 people come through and receive lunch.

I saw young and old, male and female, black and white, as well as other ethnicities.  I saw a staff that is committed to excellence and in a very busy environment serves a quality meal.  I saw faces that needed hope, and many that looked very cold. 

I was deeply moved by those who said ‘thank you’.  I can’t begin to imagine the varied stories represented in that long line.  I also can’t believe that at the age of 56, I never recall a time before when I fed the hungry up close and personal.  Jesus words ‘I was hungry and you fed me’ took on new meaning today. 

I saw a lot of people today who work at the Rescue Mission who call Northside home and call me pastor.  That was humbling and a blessing.  The director of their culinary institute with a 95% placement success rate, calls Northside home and is doing a fantastic job serving the Lord in this wonderful place.  He is one of many. 

As I left, I found myself thinking of the 21^st century church.  I love the church, and I mean no disrespect, but honestly, I struggled today to realize how easy it is to talk the right talk, but not serve and back up those words.  My life was changed today.  I will go back there again, and I hope that is many times.  

The director of the operation has nearly 20 years experience, and she did a remarkable job running the food line.  After the main course, my spot was the soup.  It was my honor to fill more than 200 bowls with soup.  The young man next to me served the salad.  I learned he is from Brooklyn, attends Syracuse University, and comes weekly to volunteer at the mission.  The next generation is rising up to serve and value life in ways that are humbling. 

One last thing:  I grew up thinking that if you do enough good deeds (like I did today), you earn your way to heaven.  Works could never save us.  Only Jesus saves.  That being said, those who follow Him will serve out of love and obedience, not to merit eternal life.  I’m learning again – it’s life’s privilege. 

Starting a Prayer Movement - 5 Minutes a Day

Lately, I have found myself as a pastor preaching with the bottom line 'so what?' question on my mind at the end.  I imagine the congregation saying - "Ok Bruce - you've said all this - so what?"  This ending section of the message is designed to leave the hearers with a few very practical applications.  Sometimes these are thoughts to chew on, but often include simple actions to transform life.

At Northside we are calling 2015 'A Year of Impact'.  Our theme for the first five weeks is 'Break Camp'.  We've discussed the value of three simple actions that will be a game changer for 2015 and that is to  look down less, look up more, and look around often!  Let's be less self-absorbed, call on the Lord more often, and watch for divine appointments all around us.

I also began the series with the reminder that we must raise the prayer temperature at Northside.  This past weekend (week 2), I offered some simple encouragements in the area of prayer.  Begin each day with a simple prayer - giving that day to the Lord, and surrendering our lives to Him for His glory.  Secondly, pray for our families and with them as we have opportunity.  Third, I asked the congregation to give five minutes a day this year to pray for Northside.  If you take this past weekends attendance, and everyone would pray five minutes a day this week for the church, that would amount to an accumulation of 634 hours of prayer for Northside this week.

What would happen in any church if all the people would simply commit to five minutes a day praying for the church where they worship and serve?  There are 1440 minutes in a day.  5 minutes is .003% of our day - but we simply need to start somewhere!  We have the time and we have the opportunity.  Eternal matters are at stake, and lives are in the balance.  I challenge everyone reading to start a prayer movement in your church.  It begins with you praying five minutes a day.  Spread the word!

At Northside, worship is one of our top three priorities.  We call it 'I Can't Wait for the Weekend'.  Today I'm finding this especially true as we continue to raise the prayer temperature.  I'm trusting God to do great things for His glory.  It might all start with just five minutes.  Let me encourage you to start now!

Frank Wood - Celebrating the Ministry of My Pastor

Today in a church in a Georgia, people will gather to honor and celebrate the ministry of the Lord Jesus through His servant, Frank Wood.   Frank has been serving the Lord for 50 years.  When I think of pastoral ministry, my mind drifts to Lanny Fox, the man God used to preach and influence me to Christ.  I think of Norman Bell who blazed a trail in the north country and had a huge impact on my life for many years.  I think of Jeff O'Brien and the staff I serve with at Northside.  Jeff has been my pastor (serving as my associate) for more than 20 years.

Today, I want to honor the man I will always call my pastor.  His name is Frank Wood.  Frank graduated from seminary in Memphis, Tennessee in 1978.  He had already been serving the Lord for a number of years but God led him to Memphis to get his seminary education and more ministry training at Mid-America Seminary.  From there, God would lead Frank, his wife Diane, and their daughter Kimberly, to a small remote town in Northern New York on the Canadian border.  That town is Malone, New York which was the home of my family.

I was a junior in college when Frank Wood came to be pastor of the Shiloh Baptist Chapel, which under his leadership would become the Shiloh Baptist Church.  We were a young mission, but with a bright future.  Malone is the county-seat town of Franklin County.  I remember gathering in a rented location for services before we had our own buildings, and 30-40 of us would gather with great anticipation about what God had given our pastor for a message for us each week.  I saw his passion to preach, his love for Jesus, and his heart for Jesus.  I was in college studying for ministry.  He set the bar for what it meant to be a pastor.

As it turns out he would serve as my pastor for four years, 1978-1982.  You may think that is a short amount of time, and in many ways it was.  However, in those four years, Frank baptized me, led the church to license me to the ministry, ordained me to the gospel ministry, encouraged me to go to the same seminary he did (which I did), preached my father's funeral, and performed Kathy and my marriage ceremony.  It may have only been four years, but it was arguably the most critical four years of my life.  From the time I was 20 until I was 24, Frank was my pastor.  I will be forever grateful.

He taught me to care.  He taught me to preach with passion.  He connected me with friends of his in Memphis as he drove from Malone to Memphis when I first started seminary.  I soon was on staff with one of his former classmates and would serve in that church for seven years.  He taught me to believe God for great things, and be bold with vision and faith.  He fueled my heart for evangelism and bringing people to Jesus.  He challenged me, prayed with and for me, spoke deeply into my life and encouraged me.

Many people I have served as pastor have never heard or met Frank Wood - but the truth is - they hear him and see him every week.  God put this man in my life and the lives of thousands of others at just the right time for maximum impact.  I regret not being in Georgia today to bring this greeting personally, but I will preach the gospel in the state Frank grew to love in 1978 and trust God to change lives here today for God's glory with a grateful heart for the man who will always be my pastor.  God bless you Frank - and on behalf of my family - and many more - thank you, thank you, thank you for obeying God's call on your life.