Phil,
How come you only stayed 18 months? If you don't want to tell me for some
reason, it's ok.
Vinny
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2006 3:38 PM
Subject: The Truth Hurts? Not Any More.
> The Pain Of A Pulpit
>
>
> By Phil Scovell
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I was the assistant pastor. It was a small church of about
> 60 people in western Colorado. I had met the pastor a few months
> earlier at a youth camp where I had been the guest speaker.
> Although we had never met, we became close friends almost
> immediately.
>
> My wife and I had been discussing leaving Denver for a
> smaller community. Since I was traveling as a guest speaker,
> mostly in the Midwest and on the west coast, it was important I
> be close to an airport as a matter of convenience. Once I
> expressed my feelings concerning moving into a smaller community
> to this pastor, he immediately began trying to get me to move to
> his town. When I learned the town was only 800 people in
> population, I really wasn't interested. Since I had never lived
> in a small town, it seemed way too small for me. Yet, throughout
> the week, we continued to discuss the possibility. I was still
> skeptical but the pastor had solutions for every objection I
> presented.
>
> One day, he invited me to ride with him to his home. The
> youth camp we were in was only about a 30 minute drive from his
> home so I went. I got to meet his wife and he then suggested we
> go over to his little church. He said it was to check the mail
> but I think he wanted me to get a feel for the place. It all felt
> good to me, too. During the week of youth camp, the pastor
> invited me for a week of revival meetings about 8 months away.
>
> After preaching for much of the month of April in California,
> my wife and I started our flight back home to Denver. On the way,
> we stopped in western Colorado where we were to conduct the week
> of revival meetings scheduled with this same pastor. It took
> only hours to fall in love with the people in this small church
> and small town.
>
> During the week, the pastor began discussing the idea of
> moving to that town and becoming his assistant pastor. He said
> the church would pay me a little each month but I would be free to
> continue traveling and preaching in other churches as much as I
> wished. He assured me I would have no problems getting to either
> of the two airports, one 40 miles away and the other 60 miles
> distant, because people in the church went to these towns nearly
> every day. I could easily fly from there to Denver and make
> connecting flights. The idea sounded better the more we discussed
> the possibilities.
>
> The pastor told me that they had a man who was a member of
> there church who also was in real estate and he suggested we check
> out a few houses in the community. We did. A contractor in the
> church offered us a brand new house he had built 6 months earlier
> which he needed to unload since the building loan was coming due.
> He offered to sell it at cost. I needed, at that time, a 3,000
> dollar down payment. My mother-in-law offered to give us the down
> payment. I put 500 dollars down on the house and within weeks,
> the bank approved our loan and we moved into our new house in
> western Colorado.
>
> Although we did not stay more than 18 months in this small
> western town, I learned more during that time from this pastor
> than through any other church experience in my life. He allowed
> me to become the youth pastor, something I had never even dreamed
> of trying, he taught me how to lead the music, he allowed me to
> organize all the services, and he asked me to handled the weekly
> nursing home ministry.
>
> As the months rolled by, I learned just how much God's Word
> meant to this pastor and how much he loved people. He led people
> to Christ more than anyone I personally knew. He discipled those
> he led to Christ, and he cared for them deeply, including their
> families, as he pastored his flock of 60 people. He became my
> best friend. I spent more hours with this man than any other man
> I ever knew and though I never told him, he has since gone home to
> be with the Lord, he became my hero in the ministry. No one ever
> encouraged me as much as he did. Now for the funny part of the
> story.
>
> This little church where I was privileged to serve as the
> assistant pastor, as I mentioned, had about 60 people who attended
> the services. It was an old building and I believe was
> constructed in 1890. As I said, the pastor allowed me to do
> about anything I wanted to try so little by little, I worked my
> way into various areas of ministry within the church. We even had
> a Christian school with about 30 students.
>
> One Sunday morning, the pastor and I were seated on the
> platform. We sat on a small bench, or pew, which could hold only
> two people. The pulpit, fortunately for me, was immediately in
> front of us, about three feet away, so I never had any trouble
> finding it when I led singing or did announcements.
>
> One Sunday morning, as the piano was being played during the
> offering, the pastor leaned over and said, "When you get up after
> the offering to lead us in the last song, be sure and mention that
> Karen is going to sing a solo before I preach." I said I would.
> He said, "Don't forget." I said that I wouldn't.
>
> When the piano notes died away, I stood and stepped to the
> pulpit and we sang another hymn. Forgetting to announce that
> Karen was going to sing, I sat back down. The split second I sat
> down, I remembered. I leaped to my feet and stepped to the
> pulpit. You guessed it. The pastor was already there but had not
> had the time to open his mouth yet so I didn't realize he was
> there. I slammed into the back of him with such force, it is a
> miracle I didn't knock him and the pulpit right off the platform.
> How embarrassing! Everybody laughed, including me, and craning
> my head around the pastor's right shoulder, I announced, a little
> too loudly, Karen was coming to sing and sat back down. I'm sure
> I had a red face. It wasn't any big deal, and as easy going as
> the pastor was, it didn't even phase him. I never forgot it,
> however, but until recently, I never realized the pain that was
> hidden in that embarrassing experience.
>
> Since two other embarrassing memories had recently come to
> mind, which the Lord administered renewing, I wondered about this
> memory. Besides, every time this embarrassing experience came to
> mind, I grimaced inwardly. I tried laughing it off, but since the
> memory itself continually returned, I finally stopped and asked
> the Lord if something was wrong.
>
> Of course, I recognized the humor. It was funny, after all,
> but there was something else I kept overlooking; I was blind.
> When the memory reversed, that is, when the Holy Spirit allowed me
> to see the memory from the vantage point of the audience, I saw
> the blind person poking his head out and around from the right
> side of the pastor standing at the pulpit. He, the blind person,
> was making a joke of the whole thing, as if things like this
> happened every day to him, but realizing the blind person, who was
> me, of course, felt horribly blind.
>
> I had never seen this memory from the front but when I did
> this time, I ask the Lord what I needed to know because I simply
> did not understand what I was seeing or feeling. To me, it was
> just another blind experience so how could anything be wrong.
> When I asked the Lord to show me His truth, I suddenly saw Jesus
> standing off to the right on the platform about ten feet away. I
> smiled. No words were spoken but I knew what this meant; Jesus
> was there and He wasn't going to allow my blindness to hurt me
> even in this embarrassing moment. Now, whenever this memory
> appears, guess what I see? That's right. I see the memory always
> from the front and I immediately see Jesus standing over to one
> side.
>
> The word "renew," or "renewing of the mind," in the New
> Testament means to rebuild or to remodel. Look it up for yourself
> if you doubt it. In this embarrassing memory, a blind man
> suddenly ran right into his own blindness. No, the blindness
> wasn't embarrassing but hidden in the back of my mind was the idea
> that this would have never happened if I wasn't blind. So what
> did Jesus do? He appeared. I don't often see Jesus in any of my
> memories. In this case, He said nothing but showed up to let me
> know that He was the Lord of even this embarrassing blind
> experience. Did you hear it? He is Lord.
>
> This type of embarrassing moment has happened three times to
> me now and in all three cases, I was blind but never recognized
> the woundedness I felt until Jesus showed up and took the pain
> away. So, once I was blind but now I see because I see what
> Jesus saw. Thus, it can't hurt me any more.
>
> Where does Jesus stand in your life today? Is he Lord or is
> the pain still there where He wants to stand? Yes, I know it
> isn't always easy to recognize the truth for what it is. If I can
> help, let me know and we'll pray and find out what is blocking you
> from the truth that Jesus is Lord of everything. Let's see
> together what Jesus wants you to see.
>
> It Sounds Like God To Me.
> www.SafePlaceFellowship.com
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