The First 35 Years!

 

“Our privilege is twofold. We have an amazing task, 

and we get it to do it among people we get to love.” Daryl Dash

 
It’s been a year of anniversaries for me. In May I was honored for twenty years of service as the chaplain of the Burlington Police Department. Then, on July 2^nd our church family joined Jane and me as we celebrated 40 years of marriage and this weekend marks 35 years as your pastor.
  Little did Jane and I realize that as we moved our family from Detroit that we would some day be celebrating 35 years as your pastor in Burlington. We were in the midst of assisting a new church plant on the northwest side of the Detroit suburbs when God called us here. They celebrated their launch of their first Sunday on our first Sunday in Burlington.
  No doubt you have heard the old saying, “If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans.” Wisconsin was not our first choice of places to minister. Jane and I had both gone to school in Watertown and the college we attended sadly had an adversarial relationship with the community. Then, most of our family and friends lived in Michigan. We thought that we might serve the Lord in Wisconsin for five or so years and then head back to Michigan…and an opportunity did arise, but I turned it down. It just didn’t seem like it was God’s will.
  Today this is our home. You are our family. This is our community (please, just don’t demand that we be Packer fans).
  Looking back. Burlington was the smallest town either of us have lived in. In 1988, the city didn’t have a traffic light. I quickly realized how small the city was when I opened a bank account the next morning after we moved in at what was then “the Bank of Burlington.” The woman at the front desk greeted me with, “You’re the minister who moved in last night.”
  Yet I look back with gratitude at the faith and hope of those 30 some people who called us to come. The church had recently gone through some deep waters. That small group had discussed closing, but they persevered. They didn’t just talk about making changes, as so many churches do, they truly wanted change. They were cognizant that it was change or die…and so we did.
  They weren’t astronomical changes. Most were incremental. Many times, we fail to realize that as each of us needs to grow spiritually, churches too must grow spiritually…and pastors must grow spiritually. My approach and philosophy of ministry today is very different from my approach to ministry in 1988. God was going to work on my heart.
  Funerals are the dark valley of being a pastor. God was so gracious to me in my first one at our church. It was for a dear old saint, Bess Norum, who was 95-years young. Bess was a firecracker and had sung in the choir for Evangelist Billy Sunday’s crusades and Bess was ready to go Home. It helped prepare me for my next funeral of a young mother who was a cancer victim and left behind a husband and two young children.
  In thirty-five years, there are thousands of memories. Yet, as I look back, I continually marvel at the faith of our church family. They trusted the Lord. They trusted Him to work through our leadership. There were some big challenges and some deep waters, but they remained faithful. We changed our philosophy of ministry from internally focused to externally focused, our music, our version of Scripture, even our location to our present building. Those are radical changes for a church. Many a church has died because they refused to grow and change. We are here today because of their faith in God and perseverance.
  Looking at the present. The most dangerous place for a believer is to become satisfied and think that they’ve arrived. It’s even more dangerous for a church. Too many churches rest on the victories of yesterday.
  I’m so thankful that our church has a holy sense of discontent. There is a passion to continue to grow in grace and to reach our community with the gospel. Most churches talk about reaching their community but have internal barriers that hinder it like cliquishness, pettiness, legalism, liberalism or politicalization.
  Currently, most churches grow either through children in the church coming to Christ or believers from another area church transferring in, not through outreach. At Grace, we’re thankful for children who come to faith, yet hold that we’re co-laborers with other churches not competitors. Our mission field is our community and those who have not yet met our Savior.  
  I feel so blessed to systematically work our way through Scripture with you so that we grow in our understanding and application of His truth to our lives. This is our family! It’s a privilege to pray for each of you and to share your needs and burdens with the Father. I am so thankful that our church is growing in its understanding that our church is not a “business,” it’s a family of redeemed brothers and sisters. That means that we’re not clones. Our differences become building blocks of unity and spiritual growth. Today our church is made up of those from varied walks of life, marital situations, and economic levels. Committed discipleship is one of our goals as we continue to move forward together.
  What’s ahead? Personally, I’m thankful that I don’t know. Retirement is not in our plans. We still have a fiery passion to take new ground and reach more folk for His glory! We don’t want to coast or be satisfied with the status quo. We want to invest and be part of raising up the next generation to love Jesus and reach our community for the glory of God.
  Yet, there comes a time to step away. Most pastors leave too soon, some though stay too long. Jane and I want to be sensitive that we are helping you move forward into becoming more like Jesus. All of us need to be cognizant of the fragility of life and good health. Experience has taught us that one’s health situation can change quickly. We never want to get in the way of God’s plans or what He’s doing. Afterall, it’s His church.
  One of our next steps is to continue with our master plan and build a children’s wing. We want to plan for the future and next generation. This church is not about us, it’s Him and them.
  Jane and I look forward to one day going Home. Yet we know that we are so blessed to have had a taste of heaven for the past 35 years of serving Him by serving you, our Grace Church family! All I can say is: Thank you for being so good to us! We love you so much!!

Can we help you spiritually? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

DNA: The Building Blocks of Who We Are

“Often in life we forget the things that we should remember

and remember the things that we should forget.”

  

  While on a road trip, an elderly couple stopped at a roadside restaurant for lunch. After finishing their meal, they left the restaurant and resumed their trip. When leaving, the elderly woman unknowingly left her glasses on the table but she didn't miss them until they’d been driving for about forty minutes. By then, to add to the aggravation, they had to travel quite a distance before they could find a place to turn around, in order to return to the restaurant to retrieve her glasses. And all the way back, her husband was the classic grumpy old man, fussing and complaining. He scolded his wife relentlessly during the entire return drive. The more he chided her, the more agitated he became. He just wouldn't let up. Finally, to her relief, they arrived at the restaurant. As the berated woman got out of the car and hurried inside to retrieve her glasses, the old geezer yelled to her, “While you're in there, you might as well get my hat and credit card.” 

  According to researcher, Karen Bolla, everyone periodically forgets things. Here are the six things we most often forget: Names – 83%; Where something is – 60%; Telephone numbers – 57%; Words – 53%; What was said – 49%; Faces - 42%. And if you can’t remember whether you’ve just done something, you’re in good company with 38% of the population.

  The Bible has a lot to say about remembering. The word remember is used 234 times in the Bible. But God knows how forgetful we are. In the Old Testament, we find that God continually gave His people memory reminders to assist them in remembering. In the New Testament, we have two of those that were given to the local church so we wouldn’t forget what Jesus has done for us in our salvation: Baptism and Communion.

  For the next several weeks we’re breaking from our series on 1 Samuel for a new summer series: DNA – The Building Blocks of Who We Are. We want to unpack who we are and why we do what we do at Grace. Many of you are new to our church and we want you to know our DNA and why we do what we do. Yet, even for those who’ve been here for years or decades, it’s easy to forget our purpose or what we’re calling our DNA.

  If you asked most Americans what makes being part of a church important, according to The Pew Research Center, you’d hear reasons like…attending church is important because we have children. Others admit that they primarily go to church because they feel obligated. Some attend a church because they’re looking for guidance to help them through life. Some go to church to feel God’s presence. Then, others go to church for fellowship and social reasons.

  While none of those reasons are wrong, they’re not necessarily biblical and they’re not our DNA at Grace Church. While other gospel teaching churches are similar to ours, none of us are clones. Each church has its own distinctives, values, and personality. While we do not believe that we are the best church in the community and we don’t believe in competing or trying to “sell” people on our church. We are though committed to being the best church that we can be for the glory of God. We are committed to building His Kingdom not our little Empire.

  We also know we’re not for everybody. There are many good churches within driving distance of our church. They have pastors and people who love the Lord and are seeking to please Him. That’s why every week at our church prayer meeting we pray for area gospel-preaching churches and we partner together with them on ministries like our teen program.

  At Grace, we want to be transparent about who we are. Many times when someone has called or visited our church and we find that they’re looking for a certain program or type of ministry that’s not us, we direct them elsewhere. At Grace, we’re committed to the biblical reality that every Christian should be a fully committed Christ-follower. There are times though when because of our values, personality, or DNA, someone will thrive more spiritually in another church. Growing spiritually, becoming more like Jesus, and glorifying Him, is more important than being part of Grace Church. We just don’t want to be an obstacle in someone’s loving and being more like Jesus.

  We are though very, very excited about what the Lord is doing here at Grace and where we’re headed. In the last few years, we’ve seen more come to Christ or get juiced about their faith or walk with the Lord than we have in decades. We’ve experienced a fresh moving of God’s Spirit in our church family, more than ever before. We’re headed in a direction and we want to make sure our church family knows where we are going and remembers who we are.

  For some, this series will be just a good reminder. It’s easy for a church to become distracted or focused on the nonessentials. For others, this will be new. Perhaps you thought that all churches are essentially the same. They’re not. Every church has its own DNA.  

  What is church DNA? Essentially, it’s the essence or soul of a church. It’s the often unspoken assumptions that shape a church’s vision, values, and mission. It’s subtly mirrored in a church’s symbols, stories, and history. It’s difficult to define because it’s invisible, like the air we breathe.

  Sometimes DNA is most easily understood when things are out of alignment when something isn’t quite right. A church that is out of sync with its DNA is one of the greatest causes of conflict in a local church family and creates more damage than nearly any other church issue. Incongruence with DNA can be highly destructive.

  Perhaps you remember several years ago when Sears launched “the softer side of Sears” campaign, it bombed. Why? Because when people think of Sears, they think of tools or appliances, not nightgowns and dress suits. It didn’t fit their DNA. Healthy churches have a clear sense of identity. They know their DNA and they don't readily deviate from it.

  At Grace we want you to know our DNA, so for the next few weeks, we’ll be working through some of our values and what we believe is important. It won’t be exhaustive. It will help all of us though be on the same page, so we can grow together, better pray, and move forward together for His glory…because that’s what it’s really all about – pleasing King Jesus!

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

The first 33 years are the best!

 “If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, 

how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?” David Livingstone

 

  Last week I learned that a friend of mine had a staffing need at his church. I immediately thought of a young man I knew that I felt might fit the position and reached out to my young friend. He wasn’t really interested because it would mean he’d have to relocate from the state he grew up in. 

  As Jane and I discussed it, we chuckled. Many years ago we foolishly determined that there was one state that we did not want to pastor in. Someone wisely said, “If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans.” Jane and I are so thankful and feel very blessed that God’s wiser plans overruled our limited ones.

  This weekend I’m beginning my 34^th year of ministry as your pastor. The national average for a tenure for a pastor is five years. (I always was a bit of an overachiever). There is no place on earth that Jane and I would rather be than serving the Lord at Grace Church. Jane and I believe that we are in the greatest church in the world.

  It seems like it was only yesterday that we pulled up in our U-Haul truck from Detroit. At other times it feels like we’ve been here all of our lives. I do know that we wouldn’t trade it. This is our home. You are our family! We love this community!

  We are blessed with lifelong friends. Earlier this week a man who attended Grace many years ago contacted me just to see how things were going at Grace. He came to Christ at Grace. Though we haven’t see each other in well over a decade, we’re still friends and brothers in Christ.

  When Jane and I travel, if we can, we’ll get together with friends who moved but were once part of the Grace family. God allowed us the privilege of ministering to them and then moved them to another part of His harvest field. What a joy to see how they’re continuing to walk with the Lord, serving Him and seeking to make a difference for His Kingdom.

  Each Sunday my heart is moved as I look out and see the faces of those that the Lord has given me the privilege of being a part of their coming to Christ, or seeing them grow spiritually or had the privilege of baptizing them. Susan Riddle, our church clerk, who is the master of all statistics recently shared with me that with the addition of those recently baptized, I’ve now baptized 200 people at Grace Church. God is so good!

  I’ve had the joy of dedicating countless parents and babies to the Lord. I’ve lost track of how many weddings. You do feel a tad ancient when the children of someone whose wedding you officiated now has college-age children and a slew of grandchildren.

  When you’ve walked with someone through a valley or difficulty, there’s a lifelong bond. What a privilege I’ve been given to be there, to pray with folk, often in their darkest hour and then seen the Lord wonderfully intervene. One of the burdens tinted with joy of a long pastorate is that you must often bury your friends. Yet, heaven is all the sweeter for us because we have many folk who have gone before us…and no doubt there will be more that will, as Bunyan said, cross over “to the Celestial City.” For a pastor who understands his biblical calling, the ministry isn’t a job. Being a pastor means being there for people when their burdens are so heavy to help them carry the load (Galatians 6:2).

  An old rabbi asked a faithful student, “Do you love me?” The student answered, “Yes, you know I do.” “Then do you know what causes me pain?” “No.” “If you’re not close enough to know what causes me pain,” said the rabbi, “then you are not close enough to love me.”

  Being a pastor means that you’re close to people and willingly share their pain. It means being there when someone is struggling with their marriage or a wayward child. It means being there when someone received a medical prognosis of an incurable disease or impending death. It means being there to help someone turn to the Lord and marshal enough courage to pick up the pieces after failure and disgrace. It means being there when someone struggles with doubt or fear or other burdens.  

  We are blessed with a fantastic team. Many of our leaders have now served the Lord in their positions for years. We’re so blessed with godly committed Deacons: Dave Bonnar, Travis Brinks, Ryan Mattila, Ron Strelow, and Mike Weimer. Their counsel, commitment, and discernment is a gift to our church and to me. Rick Hall, as our church treasurer, and Karyn Borucki, as our Financial Secretary, love the Lord and passionately use their gifts to serve Him. And what would our church do without James Hauser, Gary Thompson, Susan Riddle, Jane Carson, and Mike Wiemer. They don’t serve our church for money but because they love the Master. 

  We are blessed with kindred spirits in ministry. Each week I pray for a list of pastors and churches. Many of them serve in our community. They’re not competitors, they’re co-laborers. They have our passion. They want to see people come to Christ and know what it is to be forgiven and on their way to heaven. I’m blessed to have many of them as close friends.

  We are blessed with a community that we love. Dorothy was right, “there’s no place like home.” Jane and I have now lived in three different homes in this community and have dear friends from each neighborhood.

  Many of our community leaders are close friends. It’s a privilege to pray for them and seek to encourage and support them.

  One of the blessings of a smaller community is that you’re often on a first-name basis with many local business owners, managers, or employees. You’re not some nameless customer but doing business and interacting with a friend. It’s a privilege to refer others to them because you know they’ll receive quality service from your friends.

  33 years of serving the Lord in a church family that you love and a community that you love! I’m a very rich man!

  If you study Scripture, you’ll find that the Bible tells us more about what isn’t in heaven, than what is there. One thing that I know, God has allowed Jane and I a little taste of heaven now by allowing us the privilege of serving Him these many years here at Grace. We are so blessed!  

 

 Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

There's No Place Like Home!

“There’s no place like home.”  Dorothy

  Dorothy was right! It doesn’t matter whether it’s a mansion or a shack. There really is no place like home. Jane and I have just spent four weeks in what many call “paradise.” The beach and ocean were only a few miles away. The weather tropical. Yet, I found myself, particularly toward the end of our time, longing to come home. And it didn’t hurt that as we prepared to leave, Hurricane Dorian was looming as an uninvited guest.  

  It’s hard to believe that I am now in my 32^nd year as your Pastor in Burlington. In 1988 we loaded up our car, a moving truck and our then two very young children, left Detroit and moved to Burlington. The community was smaller then and had much more of a small-town feel.

  The next day as I went to open a bank account at what was then the Bank of Burlington, the woman at the front greeted me with, “Oh, you’re the minister that moved in last night.” There wasn’t a single traffic light and seemingly endless one-way streets. Getting lost both in town and on surrounding country roads was a fairly normal experience. The only fast-food restaurants were Hardees and McDonald’s.

  I grew up in Atlanta, worked in Chicago and ultimately moved to Burlington from Detroit. The smallest places I’d lived in were LaCrosse and Danville, IL (communities of 50,000). The small-town atmosphere was a big shock for me. I’d always qualified myself as a “big city” person.   

  Woody Allen once quipped, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him about your plans.” Jane and I were originally on our own five-year plan. In fact, it was more foolish than that. As we were praying for a church and place of ministry, the one place that we told the Lord that we didn’t want to go was – Wisconsin. But in our great “wisdom,” we capitulated and determined that we would come and stay for “five years” and then look for greener pastures in another state and in another church.

  Are you like me? More times than I can remember, I’m so thankful for the prayers that my all-wise Heavenly Father didn’t answer. Because we fell in love. We fell in love with you as our church family! We fell in love with this community! And God gave us two of His greatest blessings – peace and contentment.

  Like many pastors, there were calls of inquiry from other ministries. One, back in the Detroit area, was very strong and tempting. But Jane and I never had peace about relocating. Or, the timing was just wrong. And so because we did not believe that we had marching orders, we stayed and stayed and stayed. Looking back now over three decades, we see so clearly that our Heavenly Father is so much wiser than we are. Doors and relationships have been built both within the church and outside of the church that rarely happens in short term pastorates. Unless the Lord has other plans for my life, this will be my last senior pastorate. Though I am approaching my 60^th birthday, I feel very much like Caleb, who as a very spry 85-year-old, spoke of seeing God’s faithfulness for the past 40 years and had mountains that by God’s grace he still wanted to take for God’s glory (Joshua 14). In many ways I feel as if our ministry is just beginning here and there are many mountains to take by His grace and for His glory.

  To be very honest, it would be very hard to leave this community. This is our home. You are our family! This is where our many friends are.

  Jane and I can well relate to the ministry of John and Mary Fawcett. John was born in 1740 and was orphaned by the time he was 12.  At the age of 16, he heard George Whitfield preach and became a Christian. When he was 25 (and had just wed his wife, Mary) he was asked to serve as the pastor of a small church in Wainsgate. The people of the village were all farmers and shepherds, very poor, most of whom were unable to read or write.  They were not able to pay much, and most of what John received as wages came in the form of wool, potatoes or other produce. When John and Mary began having children they found it difficult to make ends meet. After serving at Wainsgate for 7 years, John received a call from Carter’s Lane Baptist Church – a very prestigious parish that would be able to provide him a much larger salary.  John decided to accept the position.

  The Fawcett family packed up their household belongings and prepared to move. The day came and the congregation was in tears as John and Mary prepared to leave.  Mary is quoted as saying, “I can’t stand it, John! I know not how to go.”  John responded, “Lord help me Mary, nor can I stand it! We will unload the wagon!” And John is recorded to have said to the crowd gathered around them, “We’ve changed our minds! We are going to stay!” They unpacked the wagon and let the church in London know that they would not be accepting the position.

  John Fawcett then wrote this hymn to express his thoughts and those of his wife to the church and community they’d chosen to serve. After his sermon the following Sunday, John shared a hymn that he wrote that expressed their hearts. You may know it, Blest Be The Tie That Binds.

Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.

Before our Father’s throne
We pour our ardent prayers;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one,
Our comforts and our cares.

We share each other’s woes,
Each other’s burdens bear;
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear.

When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again.

  The Fawcetts continued their ministry at Wainsgate for 54 years with John passing from this life to glory on July 25th, 1817, at the age of 77.

  Jane and I do not know God’s plans for our future or our church. Yet, if the Father would let us finish our course here at Grace and in Burlington, we would consider ourselves very rich and very blessed! 

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.