Pastors' Blog

May I share a story with you. Last Sabbath afternoon our Board of Elders enjoyed a delectable Sabbath dinner with our friend, Joe Kidder (seminary professor here on campus). After our meal, Joe stood and told a story, a very personal story about a time he and his wife were pastoring a small congregation out west. Once a thriving large congregation, it had been shrinking over the years—a church tussle had led to families leaving until there were just 40 members left. When he moved to that congregation, Joe had high hopes that new church growth strategies would reverse the decline. Instead, after a year the number had dropped to 35.

Joe and his wife were discouraged. One evening he sat down at his computer to write a resignation letter. He had once been an engineer, and now his former career seemed a way out of this disappointment. The doorbell rang, and when Joe was at the door, his wife happened to walk by the computer and saw the letter of resignation. “Are you quitting?” she asked in surprise. Joe nodded. “Shouldn’t we talk to God about this?” He agreed, and so they determined to take the next day, Monday, and spend it in prayer and fasting.

Monday morning Joe went to the church. Knowing where each member was used to sitting, Joe began to move from place to place to pray. Worn down by fatigue and stress, however, he fell asleep on the floor of the church and slept for eight hours. He went home that evening. “How did it go?” He mumbled, “Fine.”

And so began a Monday journey into prayer and fasting for the Kidders. Fifty-two Mondays went by. Little appeared to change. What Joe later testified is that unbeknown to him the changes were transpiring inside his own soul, as day after day and week after week he cried out to God to do something to turn the story around.

One Sabbath some strangers were sitting near the front, parents with their young daughter. Turns out they lived down the street from the church. The wife had begun to sense her need for God and suggested to her husband that they attend church, specifically the Roman Catholic church, the church of her childhood. But the husband remembered his employer (not a Christian) once telling his employees that if they were ever looking for a church to join, it should be the Seventh-day Adventist church. And so the husband suggested the Adventist church down the block. She agreed.

After a series of Bible studies, Joe stood with the young couple in the baptistery. He told about how this couple was a godsend to his own spiritual struggle, how he and his wife had been fasting and praying every Monday for over a year. In tears, he testified that he now realized it was his own heart that had been changed through those weeks of praying. No sooner had he concluded his testimony, then a longtime church member walked to the front from the back of the sanctuary. “I need to be praying for my children away from Jesus and the church.” A woman up near the front rose and confessed her need for her kids and their salvation. Others stood. Before the morning was over, the small congregation covenanted to pray and fast one day a week for their families, their unreached community.

Today there is a vibrant congregation of 600 members. And it all began with “earnest prayer.” When Joe Kidder ended his testimony to the room full of Pioneer leaders last Sabbath afternoon, Bryan von Dorpowski, who with his wife Becky are Pioneer’s head elders, stood. And in a matter of minutes, the leaders agreed to set aside the first Tuesday of every month for a day of prayer and fasting. Sure, people have to work, students have to study, life goes on every Tuesday. But we covenanted to keep that Tuesday day of prayer special and sacred within our hearts, whatever each Tuesday may bring.

As it turned out, Andrea Luxton, Andrews University president, had been thinking since last Thursday about the need for our campus to pray. The challenges that face the church across this continent and around the world, the need to reach a secular culture with the gospel of Jesus and His soon-coming—our spiritual needs are many. And then, in one of those synchronicity moments that only the Holy Spirit can engineer, her conviction and the elder’s decision were joined. And now both the campus and the Pioneer congregation are being invited to set aside the first Tuesday of each month for a day of prayer (and fasting, for those who wish).

It is the right time for our congregation to join forces in prayer. Our own families and children, our mission to connect with campus students and community residents, our soon-to-be-launched “Renovate: Heart & House” initiative, our nation and world struggling through the headlines, our national church and our world church wrestling over God’s vision for the journey ahead—we as a people have every reason to join in calling on God. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you; and you will glorify Me” (Psalm 50:15) is His promise.

“First Tuesdays”—I hope you will prayerfully consider joining this prayer force for the Kingdom of God. Be watching our eLetter and worship bulletins for specific themes and needs over the next 12 months. And in the power of the Holy Spirit, let’s move “forward on our knees” with Jesus.

In a few hours, the leaders of our faith community will gather in historic Battle Creek, Michigan, for the Annual Council of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. For months both the official and unofficial church websites have been hotly debating the matter of unity and administrative control within this faith community. Far-reaching decisions will be made at Battle Creek.

But could it be that Heaven itself awaits an even more critical decision—the decision of spiritual leaders to demonstrate to an on-looking church and world the nature of Christ-like leadership at every level of the church?

On January 5, 1903, around noon in St Helena, California, Ellen White, one of the founders of this church and a divinely appointed and inspired messenger of God, sat down at her desk to write. Below in its entirety is a letter she wrote to the leadership in Battle Creek. Could it be what she was shown was in fact what might even yet transpire in Battle Creek right now?

To the Battle Creek Church
One day at noon I was writing of the work that might have been done at the last General Conference if the men in positions of trust had followed the will and way of God. Those who have had great light have not walked in the light. The meeting was closed, and the break was not made. Men did not humble themselves before the Lord as they should have done, and the Holy Spirit was not imparted.

I had written thus far when I lost consciousness, and I seemed to be witnessing a scene in Battle Creek.

We were assembled in the auditorium of the Tabernacle. Prayer was offered, a hymn was sung, and prayer was again offered. Most earnest supplication was made to God. The meeting was marked by the presence of the Holy Spirit. The work went deep, and some present were weeping aloud.

One arose from his bowed position and said that in the past he had not been in union with certain ones and had felt no love for them, but that now he saw himself as he was. With great solemnity he repeated the message to the Laodicean church: “‘Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.’ In my self-sufficiency this is just the way I felt,” he said. “‘And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.’ I now see that this is my condition. My eyes are opened. My spirit has been hard and unjust. I thought myself righteous, but my heart is broken, and I see my need of the precious counsel of the One who has searched me through and through. Oh, how gracious and compassionate and loving are the words, ‘I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.’” Revelation 3:17, 18.

The speaker turned to those who had been praying, and said: “We have something to do. We must confess our sins, and humble our hearts before God.” He made heartbroken confessions and then stepped up to several of the brethren, one after another, and extended his hand, asking forgiveness. Those to whom he spoke sprang to their feet, making confession and asking forgiveness, and they fell upon one another’s necks, weeping. The spirit of confession spread through the entire congregation. It was a Pentecostal season. God’s praises were sung, and far into the night, until nearly morning, the work was carried on.

The following words were often repeated, with clear distinctness: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” Verses 19, 20.

No one seemed to be too proud to make heartfelt confession, and those who led in this work were the ones who had influence, but had not before had courage to confess their sins.

There was rejoicing such as never before had been heard in the Tabernacle.

Then I aroused from my unconsciousness, and for a while could not think where I was. My pen was still in my hand. The words were spoken to me: “This might have been. All this the Lord was waiting to do for His people. All heaven was waiting to be gracious.” I thought of where we might have been had thorough work been done at the last General Conference, and agony of disappointment came over me as I realized that what I had witnessed was not a reality. (Testimonies to the Church 8:104-106)

Could it be what she was shown was in fact what might even yet transpire in Battle Creek right now? Could it be that what “might have been” might even yet become what is now?

Then let us join with brothers and sisters across the face of this earth to earnestly petition God to turn this “might have been” into the very spiritual transformation every leader and member longs for. For without such revival, how can this remnant community ever fulfill her apocalyptic mission?

The Google dictionary defines “synchronicity” as, “the simultaneous occurrence of events that appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection.” Someone taught me the word twelve months ago, and it has opened my eyes to a dimension of life I never really gave much thought to before.

With my new friend Vincent Dehm preaching his heart out each morning this week for our university Week of Prayer—his theme, “Residence: The Holy Spirit Inside”—it seems the right moment to invite you to brood with me over this notion of synchronicity.

Here’s how Douglas Cooper describes it: “Synchronicity is experienced. Once you have placed yourself in oneness with God and He is living in you by His Spirit, you are connected everywhere you go and everywhere you are (think broadband, Wi-Fi, DSL, 4G cellular network!) with the same great creative super-intelligent [Being] that created and sustains the world and continues to expand the very dimensions of the unfathomably immense universe. ‘Meaningful coincidences’ begin to happen. (A coincidence is God’s way of working a miracle anonymously!).” (Gentle Dove: The Holy Spirit, God’s Greatest Gift 17). What’s that have to do with the Holy Spirit? Much—let me explain.

A year ago God used Helmut Haubeil’s little book, Steps to Personal Revival: Being Filled with the Holy Spirit, to change my life—simply because it introduced me to a Bible teaching I had never heard or been taught before. The daily baptism of the Holy Spirit. Oh yes, I knew all about the “early rain” and the “latter rain” of the Holy Spirit, even preached a series of sermons on it years ago. But nobody ever told me that the Bible in fact repeatedly teaches the daily baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Himself taught it: “‘If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who [Greek—continually, daily] ask Him!” (Luke 11:13). Paul himself taught the same: “Be filled [Greek—continually, daily] with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). And “Walk [Greek—continually, daily] in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:18). But did they practice what they preached? “Morning by morning [Jesus] communicated with His Father in heaven, receiving from Him daily a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit” (Signs of the Times 11-21-1895).

So a year ago I decided to take these verses seriously and pray each morning for a fresh baptism of the mighty Third Person of the Godhead. And as I just said, my life has not been the same since.

Synchronicity? It began happening everywhere. Little and not so little “coincidences” (God’s anonymous miracles, as Cooper put it) that not only caught me by surprise, but were direct responses it seemed to the very prayers I was praying. Synchronicity—what God Himself promises: “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24). Amazing—God is so engaged in the very details of your life (and mine) that He anticipates our prayers and before we even breathe them (sometimes even days before), He initiates a chain of events/circumstances that synchronize themselves to the very moment we petition His throne . . . or the very moment we pick up the phone . . . or the very moment we get an email . . . or the very moment we bump into a stranger . . . or the very moment we look in our wallets . . . or the very moment we are broadsided by a crisis! Synchronicity, “the simultaneous occurrence of events that appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection.” Only you and I now know better—for by faith we can perceive the “discernable causal connection” of the Holy Spirit!

So every morning I invite you to join me with the humble prayer: “Lord Jesus, please abide with me today, and let me abide with you.” Which, of course, is a prayer for the daily baptism of the Holy Spirit, since the Bible is clear: “And this is how we know that He [Jesus] abides in us: We know it by the Spirit He gave us” (1 John 3:24).

By the way, that's not "babble"—it's "Babel," as in the Tower of Babel. Because the accumulating headlines of late, while they may sound like so much babble and background noise, mirror the fatal confusion of that ill-fated attempt long ago to outmaneuver God.

"Now the whole earth had one language and a common speech" (Genesis 11:1). So what's new—the lingua franca of this generation is English, and the modus operandi of communication is social media—one language, one common speech.

But the brewing trouble exploded into the open when that ancient band of humanity united to "'build ourselves a
city . .  . so that we may make a name for ourselves'" (Genesis 11:3-4).

It's that "making a name for ourselves" business that has ever been the Achilles heel of sophisticated thinking. Rome and its prelates and pontiffs, America and its politicians and presidents—the engine driving the machinations of both powers is still the luciferian temptation to "make a name for ourselves." Gullible, fallible humans that we are, we trip and fall constantly for that deadly baited hook, do we not?

No wonder we are witnesses to unprecedented levels of hubris and one-upmanship played out in the arena of "one language and a common speech." When has this generation ever witnessed a papal nuncio publicly (on the screens of a billion smartphones) call for the resignation of the supreme pontiff! And when have we been such gawkers to an unfolding saga of bitter, chaotic, partisan acrimony 24/7 in our news feeds!

Babel. Meaning "confusion." As in "[And God said,] 'Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other'" (Genesis 11:7). Does anybody understand anybody anymore?

"As messages [at the Tower of Babel] were thus passing from one to another the language was confounded, so that material was called for which was not needed, and the directions delivered were often the reverse of those that had been given. Confusion and dismay followed. All work came to a standstill. There could be no further harmony or co-operation. The builders were wholly unable to account for the strange misunderstandings among them, and in their rage and disappointment, they reproached one another [sound familiar?]. Their confederacy ended in strife and bloodshed" (Patriarchs and Prophets 119).

Confusion. Babel. Babble. "For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there" James 3:16).

That's what concerns me about the unraveling headlines from Rome and this nation—that behind the confusion and chaos "every evil thing" hides. Simply put—behind all of this babble is in fact Babel (or Babylon) coiled and ready to strike.

"Then I heard another voice from heaven say: 'Come out of her [Babylon], My people, so that you will not share in her sins . . .'" (Revelation 18:4, cf 2). If we're not careful, the one-language common-speech technology we heed can subtly draw our very souls into the cacophony of Babylonian confusion, all in the name of needing to keep abreast of the news as well-informed citizens. But at what price do we feed at the trough of such confusing slop? Lucifer's original sin of pride and self-worship is fatally contagious.

"'Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth'" (Psalm 46:10). Daily. Quiet. Alone. With Christ.

"When every other voice is hushed, and in quietness we wait before Him, the silence of the soul makes more distinct the voice of God. . . . Amid the hurrying throng, and the strain of life's intense activities, the soul that is thus refreshed will be surrounded with an atmosphere of light and peace. The life will breathe out fragrance, and will reveal a divine power that will reach [people's] hearts" (Desire of Ages 363).