Question:
Where are you located? Are you a pastor? In other words what church do you pastor?
Answer:
I get asked this question fairly frequently, so I’ll toss out the answer publicly. There’s not really any “advice” involved in it, but I figured this would be a good spot to answer.
I’m from Claremore, Oklahoma as a youngster and have lived most of my life in Tulsa, OK. Currently I live in a little quiet town in central Oklahoma. We have a couple of stop signs, something that passes for a “convenience store” and domino hall. Rumor has it that indoor toilets and that new-fangled “ee-lek-tricity” is on the way soon.
I do not “Pastor” or “preach” in the traditional sense for a local Body, and out of respect for those who do, my response to the question is “no, I’m not a Pastor”. I would label myself a “Bible teaching servant”.
My wife and I are the official “team” of SeriousFaith. I produce the ministry content, build and administer the websites, answer private emails of a ministerial nature, and take care of the daily needs of the ministry work. My wonderful and sacrificial wife, helps wherever needed, keeps my priorities in line for me, constantly comes up with great new ideas and provides invaluable feedback, advice and encouragement. She is truly the definition of “helpmate and friend” and I can’t imagine life without her.
Our friend and Brother, Pedro, in South America, graciously translates the messages into Spanish. He has been a true blessing. We are about to begin translation into “Urdu” for the Pakistani and Indian community. Hopefully that will begin soon, Lord willing.
There are some trusted friends and advisors who keep me focused with their timely advice and opinion. I hate naming people because you’re always sure to forget someone worthy, so I’ll apologize now for the inevitable. I know I’ll forget to mention someone important……
My best friends, Darron and Tracy have been unwavering in their loyalty and love for 20 years. Brother Ken in Ireland is a source of inspiration and always an encouragement. John B. has been the most influential Pastor in my life, teaching me to love God’s Word and not giving up on me when he probably should have. Terry D. and Greg E. are lifelong friends and brothers who have offered encouragement and sometimes a kick in the pants. Kirk, Rafe and Peter are trusted sources of wisdom, advice and feedback who are always available when I need advice. My father-in-law, John, never misses a chance to say something encouraging and kind about my ministry work.
Our friend Jim N. has been there for us in a way that has genuinely changed our family’s life. For reasons that he is aware of, his presence has given us the opportunity to be more focused on, and involved in the ministry work. He’s been a blessing to such a degree, he’s probably tired of me saying “thank you” over and over.
Jim, “the proofer”, is ever faithful to help remove a few of my “typing-too-fast” blunders (I don’t always get things to him on time, so any mistakes and typo’s are my fault, not his). There are a number of readers who have faithfully, regularly and consistently written me over the years, providing feedback, correction and encouragement. They know who they are.
And of course my own family (parents, brothers, extended) have always been supportive and encouraging. No surprise that my Mom actually thinks I’m good at this writing thing. You know how Mom’s are. I could write out my grocery list and she’d think it was worthy of being printed as a book.
Each day we are reaching a growing number of readers all over the world. Off the top of my head, the SeriousFaith content is being used in personal study, group studies, Sunday Schools, prison ministries, home churches, missionary efforts and Bible teachers. Again, off the top of my head, we have faithful readers who use the content in ministry in countries all over the world including Britain, Ireland, Pakistan, India, Ghana, Vietnam, Greenland, Australia, China, all over South and Central America, Canada, Alaska, Russia, most of Europe….. I can’t think of a state in the U.S. that I haven’t heard from.
It is an unspeakably priceless blessing to hear from people all over the world whose Christian lives have been helped by something written on SeriousFaith. It is truly amazing how God can use technology to spread Bible teaching produced in a little “barn office” in rural Oklahoma all over the world.
The ministry work is growing rapidly, the reader list increases daily and God continues to open doors to reach more people. Recently, I’ve been approached about being on Christian radio; we pray for several publishing projects to come to fruition, and we are developing a “net” of websites that we pray will increase our visibility on the Internet, and make it easier for more and more people to find good, sound Bible teaching.
That is a quick description of the ministry. Not sure if that will surprise or disappoint, but there it is.
It is obvious that this is my life’s work and calling. It’s a good feeling to be right in the middle of what you know is God’s “mission” is for your life.