SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #3 1/19/98
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 21:58:43 -0600
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Title: "TAKE ME BACK"
Greetings in the Lord!
We're still working out the bugs in this new ministry. Hopefully we have
been able to add every new name requested and delete everyone who asked.
At this point we are sending "first generation" to about 300 people after
only two weeks.
The response has been overwhelming that this is a great need.
PLEASE:
If you want to no longer receive the newsletter "SHOULDER TO SHOULDER",
please let us know. We'll drop you immediately. If you want to continue
receiving it, do nothing.
We would love to hear from you if a particular thought encourages you.
We also welcome ideas, articles, and thoughts ---- some of which we may
pass on to the entire group.
FINALLY:
Feel free to pass this newsletter on to others whom you feel might be
blessed. If you want them to receive it regularly, pass their name and
e-mail address on to us.
I don't know why, but I JUST HAVE TO SHARE THE FOLLOWING.
"TAKE ME BACK TO THE PLACE I BELONG"
It came out of nowhere. There was no warning ---- not a hint of any
kind. "I make a motion that the pulpit be declared vacant."
It happened on a Wednesday night business meeting when most of the
regular members were gone for the long holiday week-end. The stunned
pastor was in such a state of shock that he actually called for a second
to the motion. It was readily made, and the vote was nearly unanimous.
In less than thirty seconds of an otherwise routine business meeting, he
was fired. My own father had just suffered the vitriolic and demonic
attack that has put an end to the ministries of thousands of pastors and
staff members. One of the key church leaders (who years later would
hypocritically embrace my father and tell him how much his ministry had
meant) carefully and deliberately set the agenda, pulled the strings, and
dropped the axe.
He was out. One moment he was pastoring the fastest growing church of
his denomination in the entire state, and the next moment he was a fired
pastor, with a nauseating knot in his stomach, still trying to catch his
breath. Perhaps five building programs in five years had taken their
toll.
Dad was (and still is) a powerful and biblically accurate preacher. He
was an outstanding shepherd throughout all of the years of the pastorate
until he" re-retired" a little over a year ago. He was an outstanding
musician, playing the piano like you would expect to hear on Billy Graham
crusades, singing the great old songs of the faith.
Jo Ann and I were in seminary at the time. We were thoroughly shocked
when we opened the door to our little duplex and found them standing
there after a 900 mile drive. They told us they were taking some
"vacation" time to get away for awhile and go to Illinois where Dad's
family still lived. Mother later told us what had happened.
When they returned to Arizona and had found a little apartment in which
to live, a gracious brother in the church created a position in his
business and gave Dad a job to help initiate a healing process and
provide finances for their personal needs.
It was indeed a dark time in my parents' lives ---- one of the darkest.
But it was not the end.
In fact, it was the beginning of a new era ---- a new day ---- in their
lives and in Dad's ministry.
In the midst of that episode my father's trust in the Lord never wavered.
But, he still hurt deeply. It is possible to be in deep pain and be
walking in faith at the same time. Sorrow and pain are signs of neither
failure nor unbelief ---- they are legitimate gifts from the Lord to
remind us of our humanity and His absolute faithfulness.
During the months that followed, Dad began to sense that the hectic pace
of a rapidly growing church with all the administrative and pastoral
duties had somehow diminished his walk with the Lord. He sensed that he
had been operating more and more in the energy of human flesh,
progressively but yet destructively neglecting the spiritual disciplines
that had made him into the effective man of God he had become and that
had sustained him through twenty-five years of successful ministry up to
that time..
One day, in the darkness of his midnight, he prayed, "Lord, I'm not where
I used to be in my walk with you. And, I'm not where I want to be.
Worse yet, I don't know how to get back to where I once was and long to
be again. All I know to do is to read the Bible. I ask you just one
thing; when I get back to where I once was, please let me know."
With that simple prayer, he committed himself to read the Bible through
within the next twelve months. He didn't read it to learn scripture or
get new sermon ideas. He did it just to be spiritually fed. Later he
would coin a phrase I have never forgotten:
"What food is to the body, the Bible is to the soul."
You don't analyze how many times to chew a bite of food, you don't try
to understand how all the proteins, enzymes, and nutrients break down and
enter the blood stream. You just eat.
That's how he decided to read the Bible.
Reading less than ten minutes a day, he completed reading it through in
that first year. He then reasoned, "If I can read it through in a near
by reading only ten minutes a day, then I can read it through twicethis
next year by doubling the time to twenty minutes."
He did it.
The next year he read it four times; the next, six times.
Finally, in his fifth year, the Lord said, "You're back."
You may be wondering how a pastor (or anyone for that matter) could
spend four hours a day reading the Bible. Dad developed what he called a
"Bible break". He figured that if you can take time for a coffee break
throughout the day, you should be able to take a "Bible break" as well.
So, sandwiched in between more lengthy periods of Bible reading and
prayer time at the beginning and end of the day, he inserted several
shorter times.
During that fifth year, Dad and I were enroute to Danville, IL early one
Sunday morning to minister together in a revival meeting. As he drove
down the highway, he turned to me and said, "open my Bible there in the
seat to II Timothy."
I did, and the margins were filled with his hand written notations.
He said, "I read II Timothy last night, and I found thirty sermons I have
never preached before." I was stunned. Suddenly I knew that, with Dad,
it was no longer a matter of "what" he should preach, but now "which" he
should preach.
The story doesn't end there.
He decided, just for the challenge of it, to make a final push for the
next year, and ---- yes, you guessed it ---- read the Bible through EVERY
MONTH!
Did he do it? Well, ---- not exactly.
Actually, he made a mistake in his calculations and finished the twelfth
reading on December 4th. So, he just read it again for good measure ----
thirteen times in one year!
Between 1962 and 1992, Dad read the Bible through from cover to cover ONE
HUNDRED TIMES. That's an average of over three times a year.
Then, in 1993 he changed his reading pattern and began reading only
through the New Testament. Two years ago he narrowed it down even more
to only the Gospels. He told me that in his final years he wanted to
know all he could possible know about the words that Jesus spoke, the
miracles He performed, and the lives He touched.
If you were to visit him in his home in Independence, MO today, you would
find him sitting in front of the fireplace reading his Bible, now a large
print edition with no marginal references. If you had happened along
this past Thursday, you could have helped him celebrate his 83rd birthday
---- January 16th.
How is it with you, my friend? I don't know about you, but time in the
Word is one of the most difficult disciplines of my life, and requires
more determination and exercise of the will against the flesh than just
about anything I do.
While I can never match the standard my Dad set in the same length of
time, I need that time in the Word as desparately as he did ---- and
still does after over 65 years in the vocational ministry.
You and I both probably could well say what that old gospel song I once
heard the Free Spirit singing group sing ---- "Take me back. Take me
back! Take me back to the place where I met you. Take me back to the
place where I belong."
As you anticipate this new week, please let me encourage you to immerse
yourself in the Word of God and bathe your soul in the presence of God.
There's no telling what God will do!
What an exciting time to be alive! God bless you above and beyond all
you can imagine. Whether you are pastor or staff member, fully-funded or
bi-vocational, let God take you back by taking you in ---- into His Word.
Let Him cleanse you by the "washing of the Word" (Jn 15:3). Let Him
heal you by the Word of His mouth. Let Him empower you by the authority
of His Word.
Let us hear from you.
In Christ's Bond,
Bob Tolliver
Life Unlimited Ministries
Ph: 417-275-4854. Fax: 417-275-4855
E-mail: [email protected]
Copyright January 1998 by Robert A. Tolliver. All rights reserved.
Permission is granted to share this newsletter, with full credits, to
anyone you feel would benefit from it.
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