Ten years ago, my wife and I brought our son to
college. He would be a freshman at Liberty
University in Lynchburg, Virginia. It’s
hard to believe that was ten years ago.
Our first trip back to see him was early in October. We attended a gathering led by Jerry Falwell
at Liberty and Thomas Road Baptist Church called Superconference. God spoke to Kathy and me during those days
and in the Charlotte airport waiting for our next flight, we wrote a document I
still have on my laptop of 22 things we learned at that conference. The last one read ‘We could do a conference
like this at Northside.’
We continued the regular trips to Liberty and Thomas Road
during our sons college years, and three years later – 2008 – I took my first
Doctor of Ministry seminar and now I was a student here too. We brought one of our daughters that August
to Liberty. Our son was a senior and our
daughter a freshman. Soon our son
graduated and then our daughter, and then their Dad.
Jerry Falwell walked this barren mountain almost 60 years
ago believing God for great things. He
is with the Lord now, but his sons are doing an amazing job of fulfilling the
vision God put in their father’s heart. What
has happened has been exponential as now Liberty has more than 14000 students
on campus and more than 90000 online.
With more than 100,000 students it is the largest Christian University
in the world.
This week it has all come back so fresh to me. I came back with one of the men on our staff
and we are attending Thomas Road’s ‘Refuel’ conference. It’s the ten-year later version of
Superconference. The conference is put
on free of charge and the meetings have been life changing. Each night I’ve been reminiscing and
remembering the faithfulness of God.
You see in July, that daughter who was a student
returned - called to serve on staff at
Thomas Road. Her husband transferred
from the seminary he was attending to Liberty.
They now serve God on this mountain.
It has been a joy to see their lives close up this week and how God is
using them. In addition, our son who now
serves a church in Delaware, came over to the same conference and it was a
great joy to sit with him in many of the sessions. I've also spent time with current students from Northside who are here studying and some were able to attend the conference.
The hotel I’m staying at, I spent many nights at during my
graduate studies here. I’ve thought of
all that God taught me during those days.
I’ve thought of the classes – the professors – the classmates – and
friendships formed here. I met Roscoe Lilly here over lunch. We had never met though we served in the same
state. We are friends to this day.
I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Northside, the
church where I have the privilege of serving, to my family, to my staff, and
most of all to Jesus for the incredible love and support in this journey. And now to think that we host a conference
called Keep the Fire Burning that was birthed in my heart in a classroom here
and does a similar thing for pastors across the northeast. We are five years into that journey with the
best yet to come.
As I head back to Syracuse tomorrow, my heart is full with the
goodness of God. I’m blessed to know
that He was working ten years ago, and He is still working today. In fact, I’m confident the next ten will be
exponential compared to the last ten. To
that end I dedicate my life to Him and the work of His kingdom for His
glory. I’m going home with memories on a
mountain, ready to take some new mountains for the Lord. It’s time to see more mountain moving
miracles for the glory of God. As Tom
Mullins reminded us today, it’s time to shake the salt that the world can taste
Jesus, shine the light so the world can see Jesus, and fill the city with the
name of Jesus!
